12 replies to this topic

[Verlin Klassen]

My customer would like to step the soffits all around the house for the visual affect and to install pot lights. He wants the box set back approx. 2" from the edge of the roof and boxed down about 6". Then he wants about a 12" band at the top of the wall just under the box.

Is there an easy way to do this? I know it can all be done with solids, but that looks like a lot of work given that there are so many roof edges and every one of them is sloped either vertically or horizontally. Added to that is that we will want the grey fascia on the front and the wood soffit on the underside.

Also if I draw banding to show the 12" strip, is there an easy way to make it follow the sloped roof?

[Keith Almond]

Id make a single profile to cover both the box and the band, and put them on all the walls as a frieze. That way they should follow the gables properly. NOTE: SHOULD. If you have issues with any specific walls then try adding the same profile as a band in the area's you need.

 

You can't make banding follow a roof ... as far as I'm aware it's ALWAYS horizontal.

 

If you really need 2 different materials, then you may have to resort to solids, but that WILL be a lot of work on the sloped areas. You might try making a beam profile and drawing that around the perimeter, as you can define the slopes of a beam.

[Keith Almond]

You could also edit the wall definition to show two profiles at the very top in different materials they should follow the roof properly. Again ... NOTE: SHOULD sometimes "Fit to soffit" is a little hit and miss too.

[Verlin Klassen]

Is there any way to slope a solid?

In order to get the proper look I need 3 different materials. Grey fascia, wood soffits, and black frieze board.

Adding materials to the wall definition is not impossible, but still complicated because I need to adjust all my horizontal starts, and I have 4 different roof overhangs. Also my wall heights may not all be exactly fitted to the roof. I have spent a LOT of time getting the walls to look right and I don't want to start messing with them.

[Keith Almond]

Yes, you can slope a solid, but it's complex and may not work to well at the top a wall. It involves making the solid a symbol, sloping to a reference and then not extracting the reference in the model. I'll try and find the post I explained it in, to save me doing it again ...

 

Okay have a look at this post ... http://softplan.com/...-boards/?p=7185

 

You might regret starting down this road though ... I suspect that it may get awfully complicated. Messing with the wall may be much easier.

 

You can add multiple beams to get the effect you want, but the textures available are limiting.

[Keith Almond]

Another option is (as Derrik Bauer mentioned in the above linked thread), make some custom handrail profiles and add them to the wall. You can slope them, and you can have multiple finishes on them.

[Ben Ginther]

How about sloped beams? Edit width in Definition.

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[Steve Haarmann]

In 3d it is probably easier to use draw > profile

Create the profile as needed.

[Keith Almond]

The problem with the beams is you are limited to a single finish - well one for beam and one for deck beam - but there's no way to get 3 different material options.

 

Never though about drawing the profile directly into the 3D. I'm VERY resistant to the "BY EYE" method of adding items.

[Verlin Klassen]

I appreciate all the responses. I am working on the handrail idea and will post the results when finished.

[Verlin Klassen]

So here are the results . The dropped fascia and the dropped soffits are done with custom railing profiles. It took a bit of practice to get it to work and even so it is not perfect. The black strip below the soffit is a frieze board. When adding frieze boards it leaves the siding corners running thru so I added black solids in the corners to cover the siding trims. 

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[Verlin Klassen]

Thank-you Derrik. This house has taken about twice as many hours as I budgeted. The customer first wanted a cement board shake, but now is leaning toward a cement board panel with metal joining bars.

For anyone interested the walls, roofs, and some of the foundation this house are designed to be built with Greenstone Structural Solutions panels. You can look them up at www.greenstonestructuralsolutions.ca