I have developed a model in which the exterior walls end up with a Right Interior surface and a Left Interior surface. These surfaces can be modified in the Appearance tab to produce the proper exterior surface (e.g. brick or siding), but there is no capability for these surfaces to have a "Drop Exterior Face" to cover the floor.
I tried deleting the wall segments and reinserting exterior walls but got the same results. The wall segments are part of an hexagonal eating area on the outside wall of the house, which forms a tower from ground to second floor. I tried the "Duplicate to Locations" option with valid segments from the second level, but the result on the ground level resulted in wall segments with two interior surfaces and no exterior surface. The second floor has valid exterior walls, with window sills and window frames - the main floor windows have no frames or sills (because it's an interior wall definition).
One of the other threads states that you must continuously define walls in the same direction to complete an enclosed area. I built this model by starting with a closed rectangular shape, then added a couple of tower extensions on the outside - so I think that's the source of the problem. I broke the wall, deleted a segment, then added the five wall segments. It's very strange that the wall model has two interior surfaces, because I can't even rotate the wall to get the Exterior surface. I also added an attached garage to the original rectangle, and have the "double interior" surface problem there!
I would sure be nice if I could just select one side of the wall segment, and tell the program "This is the Exterior surface" and then could select the properties (trim and appearance and drop) I need. I can't do this, so am looking for help to recover from this without redoing all the walls and windows on the ground floor.
I also don't know how this can happen (i.e. it's a bug, and not a "feature"), as in the model all the problem segments are clearly on the outside of the structure. The program could well know which is the external surface because it is next to the terrain. (I'm using Pro).
Any suggestions??
This all sounds very odd. Post the file so we can see what has happened. In these situations it is easier to see the model itself.
Allan
Sounds to me like the walls do not close to form a room and hence are seen within TFP as interior walls
I agree, best to post a copy of the .bld file for others to review
Thanks for the quick response. I am attaching the file.
Doug may have a point here - try zooming in really close on all your wall joints -you may have one (or more)that is open.
Allan
I can add another bit of information:
The walls on the back side of the model became "corrupted" about the same time as I deleted the original walls in the location called family room (they were originally placed on the Ground Floor location). I then added in wall segments at the family room location ( which is 1'8" lower) across the left side and back of the family room on the family room location. That's when there was no Exterior wall. The exterior walls seem to merge even though adjacent sements are on different segments and different locations. But .... maybe there's something I need to do differently there.
Yes you have an 'unconnected' wall on the ground floor where the stairs are. You need to join the walls and make an opening for the stairs. As soon as you connect the walls the drop face appears.
Although things appear connected between different locations there is actually not physical connection. All locations are independent of each other.
Allan
Thanks very much, Alan.
I did as you suggested to close the room by placing a wall at the top of the short stairs, and inserting an opening to achieve a closed room. Didn't work - the external walls I added weren't right! So I eventually removed all openings from that room (including the folding door). I then inserted the external walls. To check the integrity of the room, I deleted the floor, and tried "Insert floor by room" - but it wouldn't do anything. The good news is that the external walls on the modifed hexagon suddenly had the proper properties - i.e. they were recognized as Exterior surfaces. When I inserted the windows, everything was as desired - trim and sash are shown. So now the model knows this is an Exterior wall.
I haven't yet had the courage to put the necessary openings back in the room - but will do it. My next effort will be to redo the walls in the family room which is defined as a different location but has some problem exterior walls as well. Since that room joins to the one I was working on (kitchen), I'll leave the walls closed until I have proper exterior walls in place.
I will provide an update later. Thanks again for the suggestion.
Putting the openings back should not be a problem. Make them narrower than they have to be, insert and then change the width to fit.
Where another room joins that is on a different location, use the Room Divide tool, to make an invisible wall on one of the locations, across the end that joins the other part of the building. This will maintain the 'room' and hence give the Exterior properties.
Save the model under another name before you fiddle with it, just in case you need to go back!
Allan
Thanks to you Alan, I have resovled the problems with the exterior walls. In the end I had to use the Room Divide function to create two invisible walls- one in each location. The difficulty seems to be a result a single exterior wall that spans across two locations, such as you need to use when the foundation walls are stepped down for a section of the sructure (16" in the family room in my case).
A learning experience ....
I am glad you have it sorted out. Yes the two locations are totally independent so the room needs to be complete on each location.
I think you have done it the right way (2 locations) although you could use the lower one only and shorten the walls on the upper part and elevate the walls and the floor but the 2 locations is proabably more reliable. Otherwise you would have to elevate most things you insert and this would be a pain.
All the best your project.
Allan