Roof Beam Problem

[Joe Carrick]

I am working on a house with an exposed beam cathedral ceiling. I've specified square cut rafters and generally, the sloped beams have square cut ends as desired.

However, when I draw a beam along a valley the ends are plumb cut. I have not tried it along a hip, but I expect the problem will be the same.

Another problem is that in plan view it seems to be very difficult to edit the lengths of the sloped beams, and they always appear square at their ends, regardless of how they intersect ridge beams or other valley/hip beams.

[Curtis Johnson]

Joe:

Can you post a picture or two? How did you create the beams? Can't you do a back-clipped section through the problem beams to edit the edges better? How about clicking on the selected edge and then editing the angle (you might have to re-dimension after doing this). You can use CAD lines as bumper blocks if you make sure you select CAD stops move in the line tab. I haven't worked much with exposed beams ... just trying to think of options. There is a training video on creating log rafters that might be helpful to you.

[Joe Carrick]

Hi Curt,

I'm away from the office right now so I'll have to check the back-cliped section editing. I created the beams simply by selectin the starting point (ridge beam) and dragging to the eave line. This was done in plan, but I was simply surprised that beams running in line with the slope work properly, but anything running diagonally down the slope is much more difficult to get right.

[Joe Carrick]

I just reviewed a tutorial on Mitered Framing which might solve that part of the problem. I will need to try it this evening.

[Joe Carrick]

Mitered Framing does not solve this problem, nor does editing in a cross section view. Interestingly, the valley and hip beams wire frame indication are square cut, but the reneded views show plumb cut. IOW, the rendered views are incorrect but the model is evidently correct.

This is definitely a bug in X1. I don't know about v10 - I would need to try it to see.

[Allen42acj]

We just get Lew to stop calling every thing a bug and up pops a new guy..
How about some pictures Joe?..

[lbuttery]

Bugs or features ?

I just like suggesting ways to improve the software so that it is consistent and intuitive and "easier".

Acutally, I have found and called out very few "bugs".

Lew

[Joe Carrick]

We just get Lew to stop calling every thing a bug and up pops a new guy..
How about some pictures Joe?..

Ok Allen, here are a couple of pictures. The first shows a problem with the X1 Update which renders invisible walls at deck section meetings as white space and I even reduced the walls to 1" thick.

Both pictures illustrate that Valley and Hip Roof Beams are Plumb Cut even though the default is set to square cut as you can see by the roof beams that are parallel to the slope. Also note in the glass house view that the roof beams that intersect at the valley beams are not joined correctly.

[Allen42acj]

Lew
Just kidding,but you used to call things bugs a
lot before..
Now we have Joe to tease ..He seems the grumpy type,more fun to get a smile from

[Joe Carrick]

Right

[Allen42acj]

Hi Joe
I just did this in 10.
Use a polysolid added to the end of your roof beams.
I tried using rafters and roof beams but kept getting the wrong ends..
Easier to accept these things than fight the program..
Do 1 and just copy it..
I have to wait on the rails till X1 gets here..
Hope this helps..

[Joe Carrick]

There's always a work-around, but we shouldn't need it in this case. When I select one of these beams in 3D, the wire-frame image indicates it's actually square cut. This means that the problem is in the rendering.

Also noteable is that when I drew these beams in plan, I went from ridge beam to eave. They all show as extending out beyond the fascia which means I will have to manually edit each one so that they stop at the inside face of the fascia.

I may seem grumpy, but only in cases where the program doesn't do what it is supposed to do. This is a fairly simple rule for a programmer to handle and it needs to be corrected. There are many complaints that I've seen here about the concentration on 3D vs 2D but in this case it's wrong either way. The renderings are wrong, and the sections and elevations are also wrong.

IMO, these forums provide feedback to ART and calling a bug for what it is shouldn't be considered as negative. The intent is to point out where things can and should be improved.

[Allen42acj]

I'm just having fun...
For me it just seems easier to use what works and not get upset..
They do read these post and you can add this to the suggestions..
I think it is better to ask about some thing like you just did before posting suggestions..
Less likely to get over looked that way..

[Dan Park]

Try changing those to invisible walls instead of invisible railings.

[Joe Carrick]

Try changing those to invisible walls instead of invisible railings.

OK, I'll do that this evening. If that's the problem then that should give Support something to work on. I actually thought I had drawn them as invisible walls - perhaps I used the "deck edge without railing tool".

What do you think of the "Beam Problems"?