how to make beam system visible in framing plan?

[iru69]

I've been creating my framing plans the old fashion way - lots of drafting lines over a floor plan. However, I was checking out the "Beam Systems" tool, and it seems pretty neat. However, I can't get my beam system to show up in my framing plan properly.

At least for residential construction, the standard convention is to show the walls of the plan below the floor or roof your framing. So if you want to show your second floor framing, you'd take a view of your first floor and show the framing of second floor joists on top of it.

So, what's the magic combination of buttons to get the second floor joists (the beam system I've created) to show up overlayed on a view of my first floor plan?

[sjsl]

Is your display setting set to "coarse or fine"? In coarse view you will not see your framing except for lines if the view setting and depth are correct. In fine mode you will see the actual size of your framing. Did you also create a framing plan or are you trying to use it all togther?

[iru69]

Is your display setting set to "coarse or fine"? In coarse view you will not see your framing except for lines if the view setting and depth are correct. In fine mode you will see the actual size of your framing.
Thanks for your response. Yes, I have the view set to course, so I see just the "stick symbols" when my view is *above* the beam system. But whether it's stick symbols or the actual size of the framing is not the issue. I want to see the stick framing that is located above when my "view" is *below* the beam system.

Did you also create a framing plan or are you trying to use it all togther?
Not sure what you mean. I created a copy of my architectural first floor plan view. I set the discipline to "Structural". I created a beam system that comprises the second floor framing that is in the same plane as my second floor. How do I get it to show up in my first floor view?

[SkiSouth]

. How do I get it to show up in my first floor view?Use an underlay of the reflected ceiling plan of the first floor - turn ceilings off in first floor view

[jamesd10181097]

the easiest way that I have found to do what you are asking for is to:

Start a new view of a floor plan for level 2
Apply a view template for structural framing plan
Set the underlay to Level 1


applying a view template changes the view range to the approriate settings to see the framing but not all the stuff above however it also turns off the underlay which is why I turn the underlay back on after applying the view template.

If you are not familiar with applying a view template it is done by:

on the View pulldown select Apply View Template the select the appropriate view type, in this case Structural Framing Plan

Hope this helps

[iru69]

the easiest way that I have found to do what you are asking for is to:

Start a new view of a floor plan for level 2
Apply a view template for structural framing plan
Set the underlay to Level 1
Thanks for the reply. Okay, I tried it this way, but...

In example 1, the beam system is grayed out and I don't see the door and window openings. If I extend the view range, I can get it to not be grayed out, but then the beam system members criss-cross... and I still can't get the door and window openings to show at all (and yes, they're turned on in visibility settings - you can see the nested header in my door and window families showing up grayed out).

In example 2, I set the view range to cut through the floor below - now the doors and windows show up but the beam system is grayed out. If I change it to course, the beam system disappears altogether.

Any suggestions?

[iru69]

Use an underlay of the reflected ceiling plan of the first floor - turn ceilings off in first floor view
Okay, this appears to be the most promising.

Stick symbols, and door and window openings show up correctly.

One big issue remains though - if I want to show the actual framing members, there's a real problem: supporting beams show up *over* the supported joists. This is obviously the reverse of what you want to see, though unsurprising since we're essentially looking at a RCP.

I think I'll give it a go with just showing stick symbols, and see if it will work for me.

I am aware that I could take two or more views and overlay them on a sheet. I generally find that an unacceptable way of working - it may provide decent end results, but it's crummy to not be able to see the entire framing plan (or whatever kind of drawing it is) when working in the view.

I have to say that I find it completely mind-boggling that the Factory created these cool structural tools but provided no way to properly incorporate them into standard framing plans. I'll try to incorporate some of the above, but I get the sense I'll still be doing a lot of what I was doing when using AutoCAD - a bunch of drafting lines on top of a floor plan view.

[jamesd10181097]

another option is to set up the drawing the way I was describing before but over the windows you need placing a plan region, a plan region will allow you to selectively change the view range for a small area so you can set the cut plan lower at the plan region than at the rest of the plan

[s.ault]

i know this is an old post, but is there now a good solution to this? i want to cut a framing plan to show headers and walls cut appropriately but show the framing above as well. the top view range constraint is useless for this. i also looked into adding symbolic lines to the beam family with no luck. looks like plan regions are the only other viable option? anyone have another suggestion?

thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[Graham Briggs]

s.ault:
Did you find a way to make it happen? What version are you using. Prior to 2012, there was an easy solution. In 2012, I'm looking for a new work-around.

[douggodfrey]

I thought I was the only one who shows their framing this way. Good to know I'm not alone. The solution I use which avoids all the workarounds listed above is to open the beam family and draw an invisible model line vertically down approximately 5 1/2' from the bottom of the beam. This invisible model line will now cross most view ranges. Reload the family and now they show up.

[martinezdesign]

I'm always a bit worried about actually modifying the geometry to achieve more desirable visibility graphics control. It oftentimes leads to unexpected problems down the road, leading to more workarounds. What I've ended up doing to show overhead framing is creating very small plan regions over each frame member such that the cut plane is over the framing member and sees beyond the framing (even just having a bit of the plan region over the framing member will cause the entire framing member to then show), and then applying a filter so that my framing members have the <Overhead> line type. I don't have a terrible amount of overhead framing to show, so this has been working for me. Not ideal, but at least I'm not modifying the actual properties of the geometry in question, which is typically a safer route.