Roof Plans 3D or not 3D, that is the question!

[doug.61606]

I do have the roof itself in 3D, of course, but on the plan page to show it, I want to put in Roof Vents, and Ridge/Valley/Hip notations....

What I want to know is how many people actually go to the trouble to show upper (rectangular, square, or ridge) venting in 3D as part of the model, or do you just create them out of linework, group them and duplicate them in different places on the roof? As much as I would like my model to be perfect, I cannot find any examples of roof vent families in 3D that I can use, and being in a hurry and also maybe a bit lazy, I do not want to take the time to create them from scratch.

Any thoughts, suggestions, etc, would be appreciated...

Thanks

[ejburrell67787]

If they are only going to appear in your roof plan view then do them as drafting details or drafting groups in that view. If you specifically want them to show in 3d views and elevations then model them.

[Chris DiSunno]

Oh, so many times I've asked a similar question. In the end I always wish I had taken the extra time to create a family for these things if I draft them. That way, they will be there for the next job.


Chris

[DanielleAnderson]

I do have the roof itself in 3D, of course, but on the plan page to show it, I want to put in Roof Vents, and Ridge/Valley/Hip notations....

What I want to know is how many people actually go to the trouble to show upper (rectangular, square, or ridge) venting in 3D as part of the model, or do you just create them out of linework, group them and duplicate them in different places on the roof? As much as I would like my model to be perfect, I cannot find any examples of roof vent families in 3D that I can use, and being in a hurry and also maybe a bit lazy, I do not want to take the time to create them from scratch.

Any thoughts, suggestions, etc, would be appreciated...

Thanks

I've never modelled them in 3d. I guess you could if they were really going to show up on an elevation and the client was concerned about that. I have created annotation symbols for all the stuff on the roof (such as venting, anchors, etc), that way it is easy to create a roof symbols legend.

Danielle

[jeff.95551]

If there was a way to make them "smart," I'd go to the trouble in a heartbeat - Imagine a roof ventilation schedule that knows the area of your roofs, and the area of vents required, and then shows the area of ventilation provided. It's a little more complicated than that, of course, but for simple buildings it may be possible. I already do that with light and ventilation calcs, although I haven't figured out a way to associate windows and doors with rooms (and I haven't really tried, either). I usually just draw everything in 2d on the roof, including plumbing vents, mechanical, and roof vents, and I've experimented with using detail lines and model lines, depending on the project.

Related Question - do any of you actually build slopes and crickets into flat roofs? Right now it seems like the extra work is overkill, but since it all has to be figured out manually anyway, it would be nice to systematize. And since contractors can no longer complain about incorrect reference tags, they expect everything else to be perfect, too...

[ejburrell67787]

I have created annotation symbols for all the stuff on the roof (such as venting, anchors, etc), that way it is easy to create a roof symbols legend.
Very clever thinking Danielle! 8-)

[Rhythmick]

Doug,

I encourage you to take the time to create a roof vent family.
Family creation and editing is an extreamly usefull and important tool that free's up design creation limitations.
It's a part of the learning curve I feel is very important.

[janunson]

If there was a way to make them "smart," I'd go to the trouble in a heartbeat - Imagine a roof ventilation schedule that knows the area of your roofs, and the area of vents required, and then shows the area of ventilation provided. It's a little more complicated than that, of course, but for simple buildings it may be possible. I already do that with light and ventilation calcs, although I haven't figured out a way to associate windows and doors with rooms (and I haven't really tried, either). I usually just draw everything in 2d on the roof, including plumbing vents, mechanical, and roof vents, and I've experimented with using detail lines and model lines, depending on the project.

Related Question - do any of you actually build slopes and crickets into flat roofs? Right now it seems like the extra work is overkill, but since it all has to be figured out manually anyway, it would be nice to systematize. And since contractors can no longer complain about incorrect reference tags, they expect everything else to be perfect, too...I have an attic venting schedule that provides all the calculations, unfortunately, Roofs themselves don't report the necessary information, since they don't distinguish between eave and ridge lines, etc.

I've been planning (next time i have the spare time) to build a set of families that i can automate this with - if i have a line-based ridge vent, soffit vent, etc... i can schedule it all together and assign each to a specific volume problem with that approach is i have to manually input an attic volume to vent from. Unfortunately i haven't found enough tools to cross-schedule all the necessary items to automate these calcs yet.

i HAVE modeled crickets and things on large, mostly flat roofs... only when i'm doing details that will encounter those crickets - saves me the drafting/figuring of all the angles and slopes... As far as the little cricket flash behind a chimney or something... no, but i don't do residential very often. If i did, i'd probably make a family for it, just to avoid re-doing that every time.