Soffit lights and outlets

[winterdd]

Hey guys, how do you place your soffit lights and even soffit outlets? I cant get it to accept the symbols.

[joey_martin]

Just use the 2D symbol and move on, don't bang your head trying to get those to work corectly.

 

Go to CAD>CAD BLOCK MANAGEMENT and look for the outlet and light 2D symbols and INSERT and it will drop them in your plan, which you can save to your library for future use.

[Michael_Gia]

Are you having a problem with placing a soffit light and then seeing it shift out towards the stratosphere?

 

I battle with these and eventually get them to work by clicking on "open symbol" to edit the placement from floor or ceiling and then offsetting the values, which by the way are not logical in the way they affect the elevation or placement of these symbols.  At least I haven't figured out how they work.  It's hit and miss.  Sometimes just moving a soffit light 2 inches to the right can make it fly out into space or another dimension altogether. 

 

Unfortunately, I need them for my exterior renders because I think they make the facade look nice with some soffit lights illuminating the facade and creating shadows.  

 

Unless there's another way?

[joey_martin]

6 minutes ago, Michael_Gia said:

Unless there's another way?

Just add a point light for rendering where the 2D symbol you place in the soffit is. 

 

[winterdd]

5 hours ago, joey_martin said:

Just use the 2D symbol and move on, don't bang your head trying to get those to work corectly.

 

Go to CAD>CAD BLOCK MANAGEMENT and look for the outlet and light 2D symbols and INSERT and it will drop them in your plan, which you can save to your library for future use.

Whewww! That what i was doing except manually drawing the symbol and then using the arc command for my electrical connections. If this is the way to go then it wasnt cheating it after all. Thanks.

[Ridge_Runner]

1 hour ago, ChiefUserBigRob said:

That what i was doing except manually drawing the symbol and then using the arc command for my electrical connections. If this is the way to go then it wasnt cheating it after all. Thanks.

That's the way I've done it for years. Like Joey says, just do it and move on. Add a 3D light (like Joey says) if you need it for 3D images.

[winterdd]

I'm surprised chief hasn't made a fix for this as advanced as the program already is. It seems to be the norm around here lately. Everybody wants soffit lights  (which I totally understand) and outlets in the soffits for Christmas lights. I just hate faking things.

[Chopsaw]

1 hour ago, ChiefUserBigRob said:

I just hate faking things

 

You can fake your floor plan but it is not easy to fake the 3D model or the electrical schedule or the material list so you might as well muck with it and get it done.  Then make another suggestion to chief because it definitely could be easier with a little better programming.

[Dermot]

Electrical objects won't automatically attach to roof soffits.  If you would like them to, then you should probably submit a feature request.

 

For now, I would just place a ceiling mounted light or outlet from the library and adjust the height so it is positioned properly.  You may also need to use the Open Symbol tool to turn off the Flush Mounted option so that it is flat and doesn't try to follow the slope of the roof.  You should not need to "fake" anything by placing cad blocks or added lights.