Manage and work on an elevation file. This guide covers the steps to follow, from building your layers to bringing in any reference geometry, and ensuring your map layers are in order.
Key Insights
- The article guides readers on how to create a new file, building the layers necessary for an elevation model. It discusses how to label the layers accordingly and the color codes required for each layer.
- A total of eight layers are initially created - annotation layer, sims layer, text layer, finished floor layer, heavy layer, light layer, medium layer, pattern layer. A ninth layer, C-ground, is added later on as a civil layer.
- The guide further explains how to set up the elevation for drawing by inserting the no plot view and aligning it with the floor plan. It provides detailed steps on how to attach and save your work in the CAD 301 elevation model.
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Let's jump in and work on our elevation file. So I'm going to close A301. I'm going to close A202.
If you have a notification to save, go ahead and hit yes. And let's start our new file. We'll keep CAD301 plan model open in case we want to take a look at it.
So let's go file new, use the template and file save. This is going to be back in our main folder, CAD301 eleve model, elevation model. So I'm going to remove the word plan here and write eleve.
So CAD301 elevation model, I'll hit save. And the first thing we need to do is to build our layers, just like we did back in our old courses. So I'm going to open up layer properties.
You can see right now we only have layer zero, our no plot and def points layer. So let's go through and make all of these layers. If you had them in a template or in another file, you could transfer them in, but in this case, there's not too many.
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We'll just build them and talk about what each layer is going to do. So I'll go new layer. The first one is going to be our annotation layer.
So a-ano-dims-48. Remember, this is going to be at a quarter inch scale to match our floor plan. So it's going to be at the 48 scale factor.
That color is going to be 41. New layer, a-ano-sims-48. That's going to be a layer color of 120.
And we're also going to have a text layer, a-ano-text-48. That color is going to be seven or white. And now we can move on to the layers we need for the elevation itself, which is going to start alphabetically with the finished floor.
So a-fflr, architecture finish floor. The color is going to be a color of one or red. And the line type we're going to change, but we'll do that at the very end so that we don't accidentally change the line type for any of our other layers.
New layer, a-heavy. And we're using the four characters here. You'll see some offices write heavy with five characters.
That's okay, it's not the end of the world, but we write that H-E-V-Y to keep it at four characters. That's going to be a color of yellow, which is two. New layer, a-light, L-I-T-E.
That's going to be a color of 253. We remember that from our hatch layers traditionally. It's a lighter color when it gets plotted.
A-M-E-D-M for medium. We usually use 120 for this, but depending on the firm that you're at, it could be any one of these colors up here. All of these are traditionally plotted at the same pen style.
And the last one we need is a-pat, a pattern. Once again, a color of 253. Now we'll talk about what we change about the a-pattern layer as we're working on our roof hatches.
And you might see that the pattern layer needs to be a little lighter than the a-lights layer. We will talk about that and potentially change it as we go through the course. All right, go ahead and check all of your layers.
And now that all of them are done with the continuous line style, we'll jump in here for the a-finished floor layer. I clicked continuous. We're going to load the center two line style.
So center two. I'll hit okay and okay. And now we can click it again and choose center two.
There we go. Now I have all of my layers, my three annotation layers, finished floor, heavy, light, medium, pattern and no plot. Last one I want to add, I forgot it because it's not an architectural layer.
I'm going to come up and select layer zeros to make sure I copy that. We're going to add a new layer and this is going to be our first civil layer, C-ground, G-R-N-D. This is going to be a color of three or green.
And that's going to sort all the way at the bottom as we start to work through the model. I'll close my layer properties, control S to save. And the last thing we need to do in this video to set up our elevation for drawing is bring in our no plot and bring in any reference geometry.
And the reference geometry we have in this case is our floor plan. So the first thing I want to do is insert, I enter my one third no plot. So I'm going to find no plot view, horizontal one third.
And you'll see that I have an insertion point and a scale factor of one. We'll fix that scale factor in a second. I'll hit open, place on my screen and then once again, I'll just quickly delete that.
I'm going to change my insertion scale to 48, enter, and I'll bring my no plot in. And in this case, I don't really need to place it anywhere specific. So I'll just click in the middle of my screen.
We're going to line up the no plot on the floor plan with the no plot on this view. So I'm going to jump into CAD 301 plan model. I don't need the roof plan first.
What I actually want first is my walls. So I'm just going to change my layer state to floor plan. Go ahead and hit control S to save.
Then I'll come back over to CAD 301 elevation model and attach ATTACH. I'm going to jump up two folders, find CAD 301 plan model. You see it represents the new save state.
