17 replies to this topic

[Richard Taylor]

I'd love to hear thoughts on the best/easiest/fastest/most accurate way to create an engaged shed dormer like the one in the image below. Do you draw the front and side walls of the dormer taller than the main (lower) wall? Or draw the shed dormer on top of the roof first?  Any thoughts/strategies would be appreciated!

Attached Files

•  ENGAGED SHED DORMER.jpg   51.83KB   5 downloads

[David Zawadzki]

Have you tried dormer over opening?

[Richard Taylor]

Have you tried dormer over opening?

 

I don't see that - is that the same as "roof over opening"?

[Christian Stoltzfus]

I don't think you need to draw side walls on the dormer. I did one a while ago and if I remember correctly, I drew 3 shorter main walls and adjusted the height of the center one then added a shed roof. It took a bit of time to get everything to function properly as you need to remove the end trim from your shorter walls and the holes in the roof need to be accurate. Good luck!

Attached Files

•  SHED ROOF.jpg   88.66KB   2 downloads

[Chris Proost]

I've drawn a taller window wall and then increased the heel height of the roof over the window. So essentially, I had three separate walls. Normal height wall/ higher window wall/ normal height wall.

[Richard Taylor]

I don't think you need to draw side walls on the dormer. I did one a while ago and if I remember correctly, I drew 3 shorter main walls and adjusted the height of the center one then added a shed roof. It took a bit of time to get everything to function properly as you need to remove the end trim from your shorter walls and the holes in the roof need to be accurate. Good luck!

 

That's pretty much what I've been working with. The dormer's open inside, though -- no side walls in the plan - so I'm struggling with getting tiny triangular walls to work between the two roofs

[Richard Taylor]

I've drawn a taller window wall and then increased the heel height of the roof over the window. So essentially, I had three separate walls. Normal height wall/ higher window wall/ normal height wall.

 

That's how I have it now, and it looks good from the outside. Now I'm trying to get the sidewalls up off the floor and between the roofs...tricky!

[Bill Wimberley]

Fit bottom of wall to roof?
 

Attached Files

•  wall.jpg   25.51KB   0 downloads

[Richard Taylor]

Fit bottom of wall to roof?
 

 

Hey Bill, long time no see! I'm working with that - it's having some trouble deciding which roof to link to. I think the issue is the roofs are pretty close together.

[Bill Wimberley]

Perhaps try removing the dormer roof and getting your walls right first. Uncheck Cleanup for the walls then add the dormer roof?

[Richard Taylor]

Perhaps try removing the dormer roof and getting your walls right first. Uncheck Cleanup for the walls then add the dormer roof?

 

I've found that "uncheck cleanup" is one of the most useful tools in Softplan! 

[Jeremy Plum]

I've found that "uncheck cleanup" is one of the most useful tools in Softplan! 

when it actually holds and stays unchecked....

[Richard Taylor]

Still struggling with the proper procedure for this. Running it by the Support Guys and Gals...

[Steve Haarmann]

For the side walls the best way is to use two different roofs - make the main roof separate from the dormer roof.

Then you can place the main roof on a building option 1 and turn its visibility off.

The side walls can then be correctly "fit to roof" to the dormer roof which remains on the default.

When finished change the building option for the main roof back to default.

I have used this technique for several other scenarios and it has worked well.

[Richard Taylor]

Here's Tech Support's (Steve Vens) solution, that worked best for me:

 

"The "Gable End Provided by Roof" adds the thin sloped surfaces needed for 3D. I would just edit the two side dormer walls to be "Hidden" (non-printing) and turn "Extract in Model" off (Common tab). Then edit the front three walls and enable "Fit to Soffit" so the siding finds the raked soffit"

[Mark Petri]

I typically do it with walls on the 3 sides. It allows me to control the interior and exterior of the sides of the dormer. So, it typically ends up being 3 wall sections across the front and then top and bottom raked side walls. I sometimes have SP work out the initial dormer, but I rarely keep it the way it was modeled by SP. It all depends on what you are trying to show. The attached is the 3 walls across the front, the side walls, plus a section of siding above to cover truss heels. The interior shows a ceiling and side walls matching up. Not perfect, but represents halfway decent.

Attached Files

•  SP Engaged Dormer 01.jpg   116.22KB   0 downloads
•  SP Engaged Dormer 03.jpg   130.07KB   0 downloads
•  SP Engaged Dormer 04.jpg   92.4KB   0 downloads

[Richard Taylor]

I typically do it with walls on the 3 sides. It allows me to control the interior and exterior of the sides of the dormer. So, it typically ends up being 3 wall sections across the front and then top and bottom raked side walls. I sometimes have SP work out the initial dormer, but I rarely keep it the way it was modeled by SP. It all depends on what you are trying to show. The attached is the 3 walls across the front, the side walls, plus a section of siding above to cover truss heels. The interior shows a ceiling and side walls matching up. Not perfect, but represents halfway decent.

 

Nice! Think I'll have a similar look once I get the ceilings in.

[Richard Taylor]

Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions, I think I've got more or less the look I want in the model now.

 

This particular situation is a challenge, obviously, and hopefully something that a future SP update will make easier to achieve.

 

Generally, the root of the problem (from my perspective) seems to be keeping the dormer walls - the tall front face wall and the sloped side walls - from trying to connect with the main roof and the lower front face walls. A lot of the time I've spent fiddling with this is adjusting the wall joins, turning "cleanup" on and off, and sloping the top and bottom of the side walls to fit between the roofs. "Fit top to roof" and "fit bottom to roof" seems to select the wrong roof.

 

The workaround of setting the side walls to "hidden" and "do not extract in 3D" works for the model views, but it's not an accurate depiction of the actual construction. The idea of putting the main roof on another building option was also helpful.

 

One of the options I worked with was constructing the dormer completely separate from the house, then moving it into position. That *almost* worked, at least until everything tried to reference everything else.

 

In the end, I combined several of the forum's ideas and the Tech Support (Steve Vens) ideas to get it done. I wish I could document the steps for you...but I wasn't tracking that as I went along. Maybe next time?