Creating the Elevation Drawing
Elevation drawings are 2D exterior views. Exterior shape, roof types,
exterior materials and structure heights are recorded. To ensure the
accuracy of elevations, first complete the following steps:
1.
Set the correct height and offset of the walls throughout the plan.
2.
Double check sizes and offsets of openings.
3.
Define the floor joist plan(s)—an important step, as joist
components will affect the offset of walls, and the position of
roof.
4. After the floor system is installed on each plan, a roof must be
added where there is not another floor above.
Go to the roof drawing mode and select “AUTO ROOF”. (Use
TRACE ROOF if this 1st method fails to create a roof).
Assembling the Floors for an Elevation
Before you can generate the elevation for a plan, you must first
specify which floors are to be used in the building and the order in
which they are to be assembled. This is done using the Assemble
Floors menu.
To Assemble the Floors for an Elevation
1.
Open one of the drawings for the plan, for example the basement
floor plan.
2. Select Build  Assemble Floors. The Assemble Floors menu
opens:
Note:
Drawings in the current folder appear in the Available Floors
window.
3.
Highlight the lowest floor that you want to include in the elevation
views of the plan, for example highlight the basement drawing,
and then click the Add button.
4.
Highlight the next floor, and click Add.
5.
Repeat step 4 until all floors for the plan are assembled.
Note:
When you use the Assemble Floors menu, always start by adding
the lowest floor first, then the next highest floor(s). The drawings
will then be stacked in your elevation in the order that they appear
in the Current Assembly window of the Assemble Floors menu.
6.
Click the OK button.
Note:
To remove a floor from the Assemble Floors menu, highlight it in the
Current Assembly window and click Remove.
· To clear the Assemble Floors menu, click Reset.
· The Assemble Floors menu remembers the set of floors
assembled for each folder until you Reset it. Therefore, once you
have specified which floors are to be used in the building and their
order, you can immediately create elevations, cross sections, 3D
views, opening schedules and material list reports for the plan
without having to repeat the process of assembling the floors.
To Create an Elevation for the Plan
1.
Select Build  Elevation. The following Direction menu opens:
Note:
· The up, down, right, and left arrow buttons in the menu
generate back, front, right, or left views of the building.
· The center button creates a bird's eye view of the building (view
from the top-down).
· The perspective of the building you choose when you press an
arrow button depends on the direction of the floor plan. For
example, if the front of the building faces the right side of the
screen, a front elevation of the building will appear with a click
of the right arrow button.
2.
Click the up arrow. The SoftView program module opens to
display the elevation view you specified.
Updating the Elevation with Floor Plan Changes
SoftPlan and SoftView run concurrent with each other. If you make
changes to any of the floor plans for the building, these changes can
be quickly updated to the generated elevation view. To update these
changes in the elevation:
1.
Select SoftPlan from the Windows Taskbar.
2.
Make any necessary changes to any of the floor plans listed in
the Current Assembly window of the Assemble Floors menu.
3.
Redisplay the generated elevation for the plan by selecting
SoftView from the Windows Taskbar.
4. Click the Go button on the SoftView screen. The elevation is
updated with the changes you made to the floor plan.
Saving an Elevation
You can save the elevation you generated either as a SoftPlan
drawing or as a bitmap image.
Note:
· An elevation saved as a SoftPlan drawing becomes a drawing
that can be edited.
· You can generate a bitmap image of an elevation when highquality printouts are needed.
To Save an Elevation View
1.
While the elevation is displayed in SoftView, select File  Save
As.
The Save As menu opens.
2.
Choose the folder that you want to store the elevation view in.
3.
From the Save as type: drop-down menu, choose the file format
you want to use. See Illustration 1.
Illustration 1: Saving an Elevation
4.
In the File name entry space, enter a name for the new drawing.
5.
Press the Save button.
The Finished Elevation