Dome Skylight

[brede.207016]

I can't figure out how to model this tricky skylight... Overall it is a dome, 8' radius, about 4' high at the top. It is made of 12 segments that are (obviously) triangle shaped. The trick is getting the base of the segment to be a straight line instead of a curve. The shape is kind of like a triangular sail full of wind.

I can make the whole dome as a mass (that's easy) and I've tried several different ways of solids, voids, etc to get that straight line at the base. No luck so far.

I tried to make the segment in SketchUp and import it, but there are all the usual triangulated lines that Sketchup uses and I can't get rid of them, so that didn't work.

Any suggestions? Should I keep plugging away at my solids and voids or is there an easier way?

[jeffh]

The conceptual massing tools in 2010 could probably accomplish the shape. I am not exactly understanding the shape you need, if you posted a picture I might be able to take a stab at it.

[patricks]

If I understand it correctly, each "facet" is like a "bent" triangle shape. Think of a piece of paper cut into an isosceles triangle shape, hold the bottom edge vertically, then bend the top vertex to one side, so that when viewed from the edge, the paper curves.

I made something like this once, but I had to do it using an extrusion and 2 voids to get the right shape, and then copy that around.

[brede.207016]

Yes that's a very good description, the bent paper. I ended up using my SketchUp model and put the lines onto a layer that I then used VG to turn off... This isn't great because it's not universal but it works for now.

Our office has decided not to upgrade to 2010 until the first service pack comes out, not taking any chances... so I can't try the new massing tools.

"I made something like this once, but I had to do it using an extrusion and 2 voids to get the right shape, and then copy that around."

So I take it you don't have that item anymore? I'm very clumsy when trying to work with solids and voids... not much practice. If you still had it that would help a ton.