Wall Input

Wall input options

At the top, a construction for the new wall can be selected. Using the icon to the right, the construction can also be changed directly without leaving the wall input.

Wall type: If no construction has been selected, the wall type can be specified here. Otherwise the wall type of the selected wall construction is displayed.

Texture set: If no construction has been selected, a texture set can be chosen here using the browser.

Wall thickness, reference axis: can also only be entered if no construction has been assigned. The wall then automatically has only one layer (layer 0) with the thickness of the entire wall.

Connect: When walls meet other walls during input, they are normally trimmed to those walls, i.e., connected. The drop-down list has the following options:

All: All walls are connected without further confirmation.

Single: The program asks for confirmation at each connection.

None: No wall will be connected.

(empty): When the actual wall input is invoked, this drop-down list appears and one can select one of the above options.

Positioning: A wall is entered by two points in the floor plan. In positioning you can choose which line is spanned by those two points: visible side or back side, centerline, reference axis or choice. With the 'Choice' option the side can be selected graphically after entering the two points. If the setting (empty) is chosen, positioning can again be specified for each wall input.

Input direction: Walls can be entered from right to left or from left to right, while the visible side remains on the same side. With the Choice option the wall can be rotated graphically (right mouse) after entering the two endpoints.

Current storey: Although the program already recognizes a current storey at this moment, one can still change the current storey directly within the wall input.

Determining wall heights

There are various options for the vertical position of the bottom and top edges of the walls. The upper storey plays an important role here:

The upper storey is found automatically based on the bottom-edge storey; the designation (GF, 1F, ..) does not matter here. The upper storey is defined as the storey that lies above the current storey in which walls are being entered. Only storeys that belong to the same storey group are considered.

Example: A wall belongs to the ground floor of the group "Main building" and the top edge should be taken from the bottom edge of the upper storey. The program then finds the storey OG1 above it from the same group "Main building" and ignores OG2 from the group "Extension".

Reference for the bottom edge of the wall: The following reference option is available here:

Bottom edge of current storey: The bottom edge of the wall refers to the bottom edge of the storey to which the wall belongs.

Distance to lower reference UA: This is the distance between the bottom edge of the wall and the reference height chosen above.

Bottom edge absolute: This value cannot be entered and is calculated and displayed automatically by the program.

Reference for the top edge of the wall: For the top edge, a reference can be chosen:

Bottom edge of current storey: The top edge of the wall refers to the bottom edge of the storey to which the wall belongs. Together with the distance (next field) this allows direct entry of the maximum wall height, as was common in program versions prior to V14.

Bottom edge layer 0 upper ceiling or Bottom edge layer 0 upper ceiling: The top edge of the wall refers to the bottom edge or top edge of layer 0 of the next ceiling located above the bottom edge of the wall. To do this, a ceiling is searched for that lies at least 1.8 m above the bottom edge of the current storey. If no ceiling is found up to 1.8 m above the upper storey, the wall is limited by the bottom edge of the upper storey.

Bottom edge layer 0 is typically used for interior walls that end below the structural support of the ceiling. The structural support is typically located in layer 0: concrete layer, ceiling beams or cross-laminated timber.

Top edge layer 0 is used for walls that pass through the main structural support but still end below the stiffening layer, e.g., below the OSB panel.

Bottom edge of upper storey: The top edge of the wall is positioned relative to the bottom edge of the next higher storey. This will be the correct approach for most walls. If there is no upper storey, walls will automatically be extended up to the roof with this option.

Distance to upper reference OA: This is the distance between the top edge of the wall and the reference height chosen above.

Maximum wall height: This value cannot be entered and is calculated and displayed automatically by the program.

Point entries during wall input

Wall input using the arrow keys

For orthogonal walls, input via the arrow keys is the fastest method. The arrow key on the keyboard determines the direction and the length of the wall is entered in a small dialog box. This is demonstrated with a small example in the video.

Wall input using relative coordinates

For oblique walls you often need a coordinate entry. The simplest method is to use relative coordinates. With relative coordinates the coordinate entry always refers to the previous point.

Wall input using absolute coordinates

With absolute coordinates the coordinate entry always refers to the origin.