Explore the complexities of developing building and wall sections within the same file, with a special focus on managing the insulation layer in AutoCAD. Learn how to manipulate color parameters and layer assignments to ensure critical elements, such as doors and windows, remain visible during the process.
Key Insights
- The article provides insights on managing detailed information within a building section file in AutoCAD, specifically focusing on the insulation layer and its color parameters for better visualization.
- The author demonstrates how to force the characteristics of the insulation to be on a particular layer and color, while ensuring visibility of other elements like doors and windows. This process includes moving and copying entities, forcing color changes, and adjusting layers.
- The final part of the article offers practical advice on integrating detailed information into the wall section sheet file. The author also outlines the next steps in the development process, which includes referencing details and approaching a completion point.
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I'm still in the A303 file, and you can see that on the green color we have our detailed information. You can also see that in this wall area and in this wall area, we are showing the insulation that is extracted from the building section file itself. That information was drawn on the medium layer, the same layer on which we have our doors and our windows and our gutters and everything else.
So what I'd like to do is I'd like to force the characteristics of the insulation in the building section to make that information, at least the information that's exposed here within the enlarged wall sections, to force that to be on the pattern layer, but I want to also force it to be color 120, because hopefully you understand that if I were to turn off the medium layer, I wouldn't see my doors and my windows, and I need to appropriately present the information in the building sections, and keep in mind the fact that I'm trying to develop building and wall sections within the same file. So let's go on and go to our section drawing, and I'm going to zoom back. Now this is one of the areas that we were seeing.
So I'm going to choose these pieces of insulation, do a right button, go to properties. I'm going to force their color to be color 120, and 120 is the color of the medium layer, so I'm forcing the color there, and I'm also going to force its layer to be the A pattern layer, and you will see it turn off. I'm going to close the properties dialog box, control S to save, zoom dynamic.
I'm going to go over to this area for the section here, and do the same thing. So I'm going to choose these entities. I will end up putting them, go to properties, right button properties.
I will end up forcing their color to be color 120, and one thing that is nice about AutoCAD, remember a few minutes ago that this just listed colors red through white, and then we had to go to the 255 color matrix to extract color 120, well now it adds it to the list right there. So I force the color, and I'm going to make the layer A pattern, close properties, say yes, control S to save. When I go back into my 303 drawing, and reload the X ref, you will see that that information has disappeared, but we now need to copy this information into those appropriate section files.
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So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go back into the section file, zoom previous, zoom previous, and I'm going to copy, I'm going to grab the base, the base plate, the gyp board, and the ceiling, and I'm going to copy it from the end of the wall to the end of the wall right here, and I'm going to mirror crossing from the intersection of the base plate. So I brought that over, mirror this from the end of that line because I had centered that line, and then I know that the distance from the end of the gyp board perpendicular to the ceiling is 5 eighths of an inch.
I'm going to go stretch crossing, base point tracking, start off at the intersection of here, go up 5 eighths of an inch, and from that point, I'm going to stretch up to the end, control S to save. Now, so we had the wall segment that went up to there. I'm now going to copy this line, arbitrary base point.
Again, be aware I have my running O snap on. I'm going to copy it up to there, pick the grip at the end, stretch it up to there. I'd like to put some blocking in through here.
I will draw a line from here down to here, offset by one and a half inches. Draw a line, and a line, and two more lines, control S to save. I can trim this or not, it's not going to make a big difference.
I also want to show some insulation up here, so again, this insulation is on the medium layer. I'm going to force characteristics like before. I will pick the entity, do a right button properties.
I will make its color 120, make its layer a pattern. Yes. I'm now going to copy this line from here over to here.
I'm going to rotate it, arbitrary base point, 90 degrees. I'm going to move this line from the end of here, perpendicular to here. Again, because of how the batting line type works, this might be some going back and forth until we can make it just right.
I'm going to move this line back over into that area, so that it's within the viewable area. Control S to save. Go back to my 303, reload the XRef, and we're beginning to see how it works.
I think what I'm going to do is move it down a little bit. I need to move that guy down, so I'm going to go back into my section file. I know that this member, this structural member, from the end of here to the end of here, I know that it's right around six inches tall.
I'm going to move it down three inches. Control S to save. Go back into my 303 file, reload the XRef.
It looks acceptable. I think that I'm going to move it a little bit more to the right. I'm going to go back to the section file, and I'm going to say move this line from the end of here to the dot X of the end of this line, YZ at.
Control S to save. Back off. I'm going to save.
Control S to save. Go back into the 303 file, reload the XRef, and now this information on these two sections looks good to me. One other thing I think I'd like to add, though, on this section, and when we get back to it, we'll do it.
I would like to put some insulation in the area above the family room, and so I'd probably do want us to show some insulation that's going on in through there. And then after we tackle the insulation, we'll come back into this section and add similar data into that drawing. If you would please get this far, and then we will continue on.
Once we have that detailed information integrated, we will then start referencing our details, and we'll be approaching a completion point on our wall section sheet file.
