Learn how to set up floor level and ground lines on layer 0 in order to migrate data from your floor plan. This article walks through offsetting a good distance from the floor plan, setting arbitrary distances, and establishing locations for elevations.
Key Insights
- The article explains step by step how to set an offset distance from the floor plan to avoid too close elevations and overcrowding.
- The emphasis is given on setting arbitrary distances such as 15 feet from the model, and 8 feet 1 inch from the top of the plate to the floor level, and 6 from the finished grade to the ground line.
- Lastly, the article guides on migrating data to new layers, specifically the floor level and sea ground, and how to trim down the geometry for a clean and organized drawing.
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In this video, we are going to set up our floor level and ground lines. Now, I'm on Layer 0, and this is the layer that we're going to start on because we're going to migrate our data to the floor level and C-Ground lines anyway.
So let's begin by setting a good offset distance from our floor plan. We don't want to draw our elevation here because that might be too close—not only to the floor plan but also to the surrounding elevations. So to begin, let's draw a rectangle using the outer bounds of our walls, from this corner to this corner, and then the next thing we'll do is offset this a certain distance away.
Now, this is an arbitrary distance, but in this case, we'll use something like 15 feet so that we don't go too far away from our model but don't stay too close and crowded. Now I'll type “offset, ” 15 feet, ENTER. I'll click here and go out, then click again. There we go.
I'll hit ENTER to finish the command, and ENTER again to restart it. If we check the handout, we can see that the difference between the top of plate to the floor level is 8 feet 1 inch. So type “8 feet 1, ” ENTER, and I'll move away from the building and click. ENTER to finish, ENTER to go back in.
Now, the last distance is our ground line. There's no dimension given, but we know that we're off the finished grade by some distance, so I'll just use a distance of 6. ENTER, click and move away, and click. ENTER to finish.
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This will be the location of our elevations—one here, one here, and then here and here. We can now select the rectangle on the building and delete it. Let's migrate our layers. I'll grab these two lines, click the Layer drop-down, and choose “Floor Level.” ESC, ESC. I'll choose this outer line and assign it to “C-Ground.”
Let's do a Zoom Extents, CTRL+S to save. The last thing we need to do here to see those dashed lines—the center two lines—is to type “LTSCALE, ” ENTER, and choose 48. ENTER. There we go. Now we can see the center lines in our drawing.
Eventually, we will add “No Plot” layers, but before we do that, let's block out our geometry—just our outer walls in this case—and then we can trim our lines down.
So let's go ahead and do that. These outer wall lines are going to be on the “A-Heavy” layer, so I'll choose my Layer drop-down and select “A-Heavy” to set it as my current layer. Now we want to bring lines straight down so that they pass through this geometry. To do that, let's use the Ray command under Draw. It's right here—Ray.
In this case, I want to turn on Ortho, so I'll come down and enable Ortho. I'll also make sure I have Endpoint snaps turned on in my Object Snaps. There we go—I have Endpoint Snap on. We can get started.
With Ortho on and Endpoint Snap enabled, I can zoom in, choose the Ray command, click this endpoint, go straight down and click, then go to the left and click. ENTER to finish. ENTER again to go back in. Choose this endpoint, go straight down and click, then go to the right and click. ENTER to finish. Same thing up here—ENTER to go back in, click to the right and click, then up and click. ENTER.
Coming over here—ENTER to go back in one more time. Click this endpoint once to the left and once up. Click. ENTER to finish. Zoom Extents. CTRL+S to save.
Now we simply need to trim all the geometry. We want to be left with three lines on the inside and two bounding lines. You can do this in any way you'd like, but I found it easiest to use the Fence option by typing “TRIM” and then “F” for Fence. So I'll go “TRIM, ” “F, ” ENTER to enter Fence, and now I can move around my drawing intersecting every piece of geometry I want to trim away.
You can do this in a series of steps, but I'm just moving around in a plus-sign shape, clicking one more time here, dragging away. ENTER to finish. Then I can come in and clean these up. ENTER to finish. Zoom Extents. CTRL+S to save.
Go ahead and move around your drawing, cleaning up the geometry with TRIM. You can try with Fence or Crossing Windows, but go ahead and finish your trimming. When you're done, CTRL+S to save. In the next video, we will add our “No Plot” layers and some extra geometry. I'll see you there.
