Dome roof? (With materials)

[kappy]

Hey guys, I've been trying to create a Dome roof, (half sphere), and I simply can't get it done how I want to. (I've been reading different threads here on the forum, but still I feel like it isn't going great.)

So how do I do it? I want a half globe to become a roof, with materials! So I can't just make an in-place component/mass and move on.

What I feel is very weird, is that when I create this dome as a mass, I cant do a "Roof by Face" with it, it won't find the surface, but when I choose "Wall by Face" it works perfectly?!.

Anyone got any input?

[Alfredo Medina]

"Roof by face" doesn't work on a sphere, unless it has thickness. A simple solution is Component > Model in place. Classify it as Roof. Make a revolved solid, and assign a material to it from the properties window. See illustration.

[mthurnauer]

I was able to make a conceptual mass and then pick the surface of the dome and make it a roof by face. I had done this with previous versions and I just tested it in 2011 and it worked for me.

[Alfredo Medina]

Did the conceptual mass you did have a thickness? I think it needs a thickness for the "Roof by face" to recognize it. I just inserted the Dome mass family into the conceptual mass editor, loaded into the project, and the Roof by Face tool did not find the spherical face. It did not work also when I tried directly from Massing & Site > Place Mass, selected the Dome, and inserted into the project.

[mthurnauer]

I created an in-place mass as a 180 degree revolve and the mass was essentially the half-dome already sitting on top of a half cylinder. I was then able to do roof by face and pick the dome surface and it worked fine.

[kappy]

I created an in-place mass as a 180 degree revolve and the mass was essentially the half-dome already sitting on top of a half cylinder. I was then able to do roof by face and pick the dome surface and it worked fine.

Could you do a step-by-step guide or a fast movie or something haha? I can't frikkin get it right and it annoys the hell out of me! haha.

[Alfredo Medina]

Revisiting this thread, Mthurnauer was correct, and I was wrong, thinking that the mass dome needed a thickness to accept a roof by surface, but not: just with the surface of a mass, created by using "Create form" with an arc and a line, the roof can be applied to the dome's surface. Something I like about he Revolution method, though, is that I can control the section of the dome more easily. Anyway, the illustration gives an idea of how to do the dome roof by this mass method. I am still curious about why it does not work when one inserts the dome from the mass folder.