residential roof question

[kshawks]

I am working on a house project (see attached plan). For the most part the house has 10 foot high ceilings. however the entry foyer and dining room in the front of the house have 12' ceilings. the owner found a specific look for the front entry that they want me to mimic. I have tried to get this roof to work but I cant seem to get it. I can get the basic foot print completed for the majority of the house using roof by footprint. I use extruded roofs for the the 12 foot high roofs and that works okay there. The problem I seem to be having is how do i cut the main house roof from around the 12' roofs to get the look they are after.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[dhurtubise]

Im not sure i understand hopw you build it. I also dont understand why you are using extrisoin. Can you post the floor plan please?

[Andy.88917]

Just from my residential design experience I know you want to try and raise those plate heights high enough that the gables don't die into the roof like this because of the water trap or ugly cricket that would be required.

On another note. I do roofs like this every day and this is one reason I cannot convince myself to move to revit. I do this easily in ACA all the time (and render it). Is this easy in Revit or as hard as I and dhurtubise think it is?

[Gadget Man]

I think that the easiest way to create this roof would be to create two separate roofs and join them (see picture below). With more time and patience you could "sculpture" it from a single roof but I don't think it's worth the hassle.

P.S. It took me about 10 minutes to work it out (including modelling the walls). If you have trouble let me know and I will walk you step by step :)

[dhurtubise]

Just to correct. I never said it was a hard one. I was just asking for his actual construction to get an example together. As you can see Jerry beat me to it :-)
Don't think it's a big deal either. Well not one that is worth staying in ACA according to me ;-)

[MRV]

Boy, I feel sorry for the one using ACA for residential design. We tried it for several months and wanted to SCREAM every morning... You really ought to try out Revit... (free 30 month demo, you can get familiar with that).

For the roofs, I often do separate roofs, and use the "Modelling/Opening/Vertical Opening" command to trim the roofs.

[Andy.88917]

Every couple of versions I give Revit a demo shot. I just can't keep up with my ACA and the customizations I have done. We are a firm of me and a draftsman and we are cranking out about 150 houses a year (including renderings on every job). If I could figure out how to customize Revit to do what I am doing already in ACA I might consider it but being so busy I don't have the time to spend on customizing Revit or even know if it's possible.

[patricks]

Wow, 150 houses/year, even with the current economy? Yes there is a bit of a learning curve, but in the long run it would probably pay off, many times over. You should try getting into Revit if your work ever slows down at all.

[Andy.88917]

To tell you the truth, my work has actually picked up in the last 3 months. It's crazy, tons to do and more coming in every day! In fact I am looking to hire another designer, just can't find the right person right now.

I just pray that it keeps up until we are out of this economic crunch!

I would love to see some examples of residential work done in Revit. It seems great for commercial but I have always thought the residential end of Revit is lacking.

[azmz3]

I work for a company that mainly does industrial/prisons, and I am doing Two-Unit Condo, split level plan for an old client of the Principal Architects here, the only thing I had a problem with was getting the door tag to read the way the Architect wanted it, since Revit does not do Super/Sub Scripting like AutoCAD. Once I got a custome tag made, its no problem to go from REsidential to commercial and back again.

[eric.piotrowicz]

If you are seriously considering bringing on additional help then you have the perfect oppertunity to get on board with Revit. Bring in an experieince Revit user to transition yoor firm over and help with the training. If you can find the right person it could make the switch go fairly smoothly and you'll be wondering how you got by before without Revit.

[Carlos GT]

I work for a company that mainly does industrial/prisons, and I am doing Two-Unit Condo, split level plan for an old client of the Principal Architects here, the only thing I had a problem with was getting the door tag to read the way the Architect wanted it, since Revit does not do Super/Sub Scripting like AutoCAD. Once I got a custome tag made, its no problem to go from REsidential to commercial and back again.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of door tag your architect want?

[Carlos GT]

To tell you the truth, my work has actually picked up in the last 3 months. It's crazy, tons to do and more coming in every day! In fact I am looking to hire another designer, just can't find the right person right now.

I just pray that it keeps up until we are out of this economic crunch!

I would love to see some examples of residential work done in Revit. It seems great for commercial but I have always thought the residential end of Revit is lacking.

Check this out. This is a very simple residential project using Revit 08. The best part is that the door, windows and wall shedules are only a few clicks away.

[azmz3]

This is the type of tag he wanted to see, for both doors and windows.

[Carlos GT]

This is the type of tag he wanted to see, for both doors and windows.


Sorry I am still using Revit 08. But just tell me what information you want out of your door.

[azmz3]

It wasnt any specific information, he just wanted the door/window tag to look like a residential tag, showing the height/width of the door or window, and the window operation, either fixed or slider

[tc3dcad60731]

I am not sure if the question was actually answered or not. I would do one of two things or sometimes both depending on the situation. Adjust plate heights OR make the roofs seperate and then join them. Roofs can be difficult no matter what software you are using. You just have to get use to the program.

[kpaxton]

kshawks,
As far as i can tell, the advice from Jetisart is how to properly proceed. You'll want to create the final out of two independent roofs, extended into one another and join geometry. The smaller roof will be placed at the higher plate height and the lager at the lower (10'-0"). And yes, as Andy says - avoid the water problems!!!

Andy,
I can certainly understand your reluctance to give Revit a chance. It's hard when you've got a 'system' worked out for you and the schedule doesn't give you time to breathe. However, once someone has a 'system' down in Revit- which may take a little time if the users aren't fully up to speed - the benefits may be actually greater.

I use Revit in my day-to-day work also, doing similar if not more complex projects with roofs (and everything else) like these. Including renderings. Everyone's experience is different, but I personally wouldn't go back to ACA to do these types of projects. Again, I can relate to the 'having no time' syndrome - but then that's not a new problem - all of us face that on a day to day basis. The key is sitting down and coming up with a proactive, realistic implementation plan to 'ease' Revit into the workflow. If you'd like to talk sometime - let me know. (I'll be at AU this year in Vegas):beer:

Regards,:beer:
Kyle


I am working on a house project (see attached plan). For the most part the house has 10 foot high ceilings. however the entry foyer and dining room in the front of the house have 12' ceilings. the owner found a specific look for the front entry that they want me to mimic. I have tried to get this roof to work but I cant seem to get it. I can get the basic foot print completed for the majority of the house using roof by footprint. I use extruded roofs for the the 12 foot high roofs and that works okay there. The problem I seem to be having is how do i cut the main house roof from around the 12' roofs to get the look they are after. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.