Work Planes vs. Levels for Structural Components

[zanno]

All,

I am wondering what people's thoughts are on the use of work planes vs. levels when placing structural elements. For the most part it makes sense to use levels, whether an element is offset from that level or not, when modeling the majority of structural framing members. However, it seems cumbersome and possibly difficult for other users to navigate a long list of levels which are not "building" levels and will never be placed on a sheet. Would it make sense in some cases to use work planes instead, and if need be, to simply lock the work planes to an associated level? If so, for what conditions would it make the most sense to use work planes in lieu of levels? Any thoughts or experiences would be most appreciated.

Cheers,

Rosanne

[Tib]

I would only use levels to identify floors of the building. If you need to model something in between floors, associate the new model elements with one of the levels in case the level elevation changes and the new modeled elements need to move with that level.

If the level elevation changes and this will not have an effect on the new modeled elements, then use reference planes.

On the first couple of projects we did, we used levels for anything that was between floors. These were large projects and the excessive number of levels was a massive pain down the road.