Walls, openings and elements

These are BIM tools. Most are on Tools › Build and in the tool palette, and each is also a command the agent can run, so a wall you draw and a wall the agent draws are the same edit.

Draw walls

1. Press ⌥W for Wall.
2. Click the start point (it snaps as Measure does).
3. Click the end, or type a Length (Tab to Angle) and press Return. Without a typed angle the wall follows the pointer to 15°.
4. Keep clicking or typing for the next segment. Press Return on an empty Length to end the chain, C to close it back to its start, or click the start point. Esc drops the segment in progress, then leaves the tool.

Each segment is one undo step. A wall rises to the storey above (10′ on the top storey); with no type it is 8″ thick if exterior, 4½″ if interior. Corners, T junctions and crossings are cleaned up in plan and 3D.

Give walls layered types

The Wall Types tab (beside Parameters, once the project has a type or a wall is selected) lists each type with a section drawn from its layers, its total thickness and its layer table: material, thickness and function, exterior first.

1. Click New wall type…. It starts as WT-<n>, 8″ CMU.
2. Edit its layers. Every wall of the type rebuilds to the new thickness, its location line staying put.
3. Select walls and click Give selection.

A selected wall's inspector shows its Wall type and Location line (centre, core centre, exterior face, interior face). Plans draw a typed wall with one hatched band per layer and a legend.

Limit. No starter library of wall types ships yet. A type cannot be removed while a wall uses it.

Place doors and windows

1. Press O for Door or ⇧O for Window.
2. Hover a wall in plan. The centre snaps to the inch.
3. Click to place the last door or window type used. For a door, press Space first to turn its swing over.

Flip Door (⇧N) turns a placed door's swing.

Manage door and window types

The Types tab (shown once the model has a door, a window or a type) lists each type mark with its Width, Height, Operation, NOA, Design pressure, Impact and Frame, each edited in place. Change a size and every door or window of that mark resizes about its centre.

• From catalog adds a generic type.
• Give selection gives the selected doors or windows the type.
• An exterior type with no NOA number shows "needed for permit". The field stays blank until you fill it; the agent asks you for the number rather than make one up.

Limit. Doors and windows draw as simple boxes in 3D for now.

Edit an element's properties

Select an element: its Properties in the inspector take a wall's height, thickness, base, name, exterior and storey; a door's or window's width, height, sill, type and name; a slab's thickness and top; a room's height, base and name; a column's width, depth and height.

• Press Return or pick a value to apply it, as one undo step.
• With several elements selected, the fields they share show; a value that differs reads Varies, and a kind filter ("All (5)", "Walls (4)"...) narrows a mixed selection.
• A value the model refuses (a door taller than its wall, say) says why under the field, with the fix.
• A field of an element's own shape takes a parameter expression and follows it. See Parameters and configurations.

Stairs

1. Press I for Stair.
2. Press at the first riser and drag the way it climbs (to 15°, Shift for 1°). Tab cycles straight, L, U and spiral; an L or U takes one more click on the side it turns to.
3. The outline, riser count and run show as you drag.

Risers default to the count nearest 7¾″ for the height to the storey above, treads to 11″, the width to 3′-0″, and the opening in the floor above is cut. A selected stair has grips in plan to move it, turn it and set its landing. The inspector gives its riser, run and headroom.

Railings

Press ⇧I for Railing. Hover a slab edge or a stair side: click to place a guard or handrail on it, Shift-click to add more edges first. Click away from any edge to draw a free railing point by point; click the last point to finish. Guards default to 42″ with balusters, handrails to 36″. A railing placed on a slab or stair follows it.

Curtain walls and storefronts

Press ⇧U for Curtain Wall. Click a wall in plan to host a 15′-0″ × 8′-0″ storefront in it; elsewhere, click a start and an end for a free curtain wall. Bays are about 3′ wide with a transom at 7′. Panel kinds in the inspector sets cells to glass, solid, door, window or empty.

Roofs

1. Press ⇧G for Roof from Walls. Pick the form (hip by default), Slope and Overhang, then click Make roof. The roof follows the walls of the highest storey, also when they move.
2. Roof Edges (⌥G) turns the view to plan: click an edge to switch it between sloped and a gable end, drag it to set its overhang, or type a slope (6:12, 6/12, 26.57 deg or gable).
3. Attach Top to Roof (⌥⇧G) runs the selected walls up to the roof.

Limit. You cannot draw a roof's outline by hand yet; the agent can make one from an outline you describe.

Ceilings and finishes

• Ceilings from Rooms (⌥I) adds one ceiling per room at the room's height and turns on the Ceilings layer, which is off by default and shows in 3D only.
• A selected room's Finishes (Floor finish, Base, Wall finish, Ceiling finish) offer the project's materials as you type. Once a room has a finish or a ceiling, the Sheets tab lists a room finish schedule.

Fixtures and furniture

1. Press ⌥L for Library. Pick a category (Kitchen, Bath, Laundry, Bedroom, Living, Office, Electrical, Plumbing) or Search.
2. The item follows the pointer with snaps. R turns it 90°, M mirrors it.
3. Click to place it. Within 1′-6″ of a wall it backs flush onto the wall and follows it from then on.

While you place one, and on a selected fixture, its use clearances show; overlaps with a wall or another fixture show in the warning colour.

Limit. Clearances are generic layout aids, provisional, not code.

Electrical and plumbing basics

• Receptacles, switches, lights, a ceiling fan, a smoke and CO alarm and a panelboard are under the Library's Electrical tab; the water heater under Plumbing.
• Run (⌥N) draws a pipe, duct or conduit run point by point in plan; Tab cycles its system. A click on a fixture after the first point ends the run there.
• Select a switch, Shift-click its lights and choose Link Switch to Lights (⇧Y).

Devices and runs are on the MEP layer, off by default in 3D and always drawn in plan. Electrical and plumbing plan sheets appear in the Sheets tab once the model has them.

Structure

Structure is geometry for coordination: nothing is checked for load.

• Levels: the panel beside the storey switcher in plan; edit an elevation in place, or Add Level.
• Column (Q): click a point or a grid crossing for a 12″ square column up to the storey above. Columns on Grid (⌥Q) puts one at every crossing of the grid on this floor.
• Footings from Walls (⌥⇧Q) puts a strip footing under every exterior wall.

Limit. Grids, beams and single footings have no pointer tool yet: ask the agent to place them.