Walls slanted

[designdrafting1]

Proposed structure is a vintage pump house with slanted and tapered walls forming a pyramid with a hip roof on top. How would one draw this preferably using the wall tool ?

[Allan Chesney]

Sorry but this is not possible at present, using the wall tool, as there is no provision to tilt them (I think it is on the way though).

I can think of ways to do it but it involves a bit of creative use of the floor tool.  Are there windows involved, and how does the door hinge?

If you are the designer/builder, can I suggest vertical walls? They would be much easier to draw and build!  Wouldn't look anywhere near as interesting though!!

Let me know if you want to get creative with the floor tool (and the window/door situation) and I will explain in more detail. There is a bit of fiddling involved.  The image example is basic idea but no window details etc.

Allan

[designdrafting1]

Your sample looks good, I am stuck with the slanted walls as client wants the building to have the vintage look.
I'm O.K. with the fiddling a bit and appreciate your expertise in this matter.
Thomas

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Thomas,

The technique I used was to start a new blank project, draw a piece of floor (By Picking Points) to the shape of one side, Right click select Cut Opening to create the door opening, TURN OFF THE TERRAIN, then File / Export it as a 3DS file. You can then right click in Exterior Structures - Storage and Enclosures (for example), select Add Element and import it (using 'Import geometry from file').

Do the same to create the window wall. You must get the size correct before you export because, although you can change the total size after import you cannot changethe angle and it will expand or contract the window/door opening also.  For a full description how to do all this see the PDF attached to this post: http://forums.turbofloorplan.com/index.php/topic,1130.0.html.

After import you can change the "walls" to the angle you want by changing the Orientation  / Y axis in Properties.  You will have to turn off Collision on the status bar so you can move each of the sides into each other to achieve close joins on the corners. You may also need to select the texture on the edge surfaces and move it using the Mapping arrow buttons, so that the textures line up on the corners.

The roof is just added 'By Picking Points'. You may have to lower the "walls" (Right Click Elevate) if they are above the terrain and above the roof insertion level.  There is a bit of fiddling to get all the bits to line up. Remember you can use the keyboard arrow keys to move the "wall" objects by just 1mm (or fraction of an inch) at a time. Set this Nudge distance in Settings / Programme Settings / Drawing Aids.

Doors and Windows have to be handled the same way. Doors and windows have to be inserted into a wall, so you will have to shrink the wall around the window so it is almost nonexistant. So - draw a short piece of wall that is thinner than the slanted walls you made before and turn off the baseboard etc. Insert the window you want, lower the window so that it is almost at the bottom of the wall, reduce the wall height so it is just above the top of the window and drag the length of the wall right up to the edges of the window so that the wall becomes just a tiny strip around the window. You can now Export it again as a 3DS, import it into your Catalogue, then insert it, slope it and move it into the the window opening.  Do the same with the door - but presumably it will not slope(!).

I hope you have got the concept with this and the explanation is not too brief.  Ask again if anything is not clear.

Allan

[designdrafting1]

Allen,

Thanks for the instructions, very complete and I'll work with them.

Thanks Again
Thomas