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From CAD User AEC Magazine  Vol 15 No 01 - JANUARY 2002

Not up to the job of creating UK styles for Autodesk's Architectural Desktop software? It is a time-consuming business assembling doors, windows and walls that conform to UK Building Regulations

Autodesk's architectural desktop hasn't exactly endeared itself to as many architects as the company would like. It could be the result of a natural disinclination to get involved in 3D modelling of buildings - changing many years of experience and immersion in 2D drawing. It could also be, however,  that the product, whilst providing all of the necessary tools for creating buildings in 3D, lacks the localisation required for the UK market.

What this means, in the simplest of terms, is that ADT was developed originally in America for the US market. American building methods are sufficiently different from European, and specifically British, methods, so that you could not take a window frame from an American builder and pop it into a building here and hope to pass UK's Building Regulations. In the US, cavity walls are unheard of, and the timber framed walls, made out of 2 x 6 timbers,  have US fixing features to accommodate their particular style of outside wall coverings.

Because of the different ways in which each country erects its' buildings, each time an architectural programme is introduced to a country, a local team has to set about converting it to local standards and practices. In the UK, France, Germany and so on, unique versions of the software are created that include libraries of acceptable objects, such as doors, windows, roof trusses, wall types and so on.

It costs a great deal of money to do this in each country, and so, companies like Autodesk rely on local companies, who may have already created the local objects for their own purposes, to provide the service.

ADT, you see, is basically an out-of-the-box solution, and provides great tools, but complex objects either have to be created from scratch each time a drawing is produced, or a practice has to devote considerable developing its' own libraries of objects.

CADLogic has become the localisation agent of choice in the UK, having developed suites of objects for its' own drawing software - Architect 2000 and LT Architect. It provides its' libraries of objects which can be accessed through ADT Toolboxes Style Manager, and pasted directly into ADT drawings. It bypasses, also, ADT's failing in this respect, where it is, basically, focussed on the 3Dbuilding concept, possessing few 2D drawing tools.

How does ADT Toolbox Work?
How does it work? The easiest way to describe the benefits of using ADT Toolbox is to compare the steps used to create simple wall styles using both ADT by itself - and using ADT with the ADT Toolbox.

Using ADT alone, the user invokes the Style manager to create a wall style, first of all selecting a metric template from which a metric brick measuring 90mm x 90mm can be selected - evidently not a UK size. The user has to click, therefore, on New Style, and a new dialogue box appears. Furthermore, a base line has to be established for the wall where the first component, the brick, is placed.An offset is then selected (0 for the first offset from the base line) and the width of the brick course. The cavity is added as another component (remember the Yanks don't use cavities) another edge specified, and blockwork is added, edge offset and width applied.

A cavity wall has now been created, but with no cavity closures, - and display properties have to be set up (hatching. etc.), which requires another dialogue box. Already we are into three dialogue boxes for a simple cavity wall. Creating the cavity closure requires polylines to make up the profile of the closer - and another routine to convert the polylines to create the end cap. The only good thing about all this, is that once the style has been created, it is available for use elsewhere within that drawing. If more than one drawing is open then wall styles (and window and door styles, etc) can be dragged from one drawing into antother from the Style Manager dialogue.

Within each dialogue box, a representation of the feature is displayed in the most appropriate manner - windows in front elevation, walls in profile etc. The 2D detailing in the drawing assists in developing the object, showing, e.g., the footing details for walls, conforming, always to UK standards. And, to make the system even easier to use, values for all objects are always on display within the dialogue boxes.

The same principle applies for all features. To use the software productively in the UK, someone has to sit down and create a whole series of styles for the project before they start.

ADT Toolbox, on the other hand, uses simple dialogue boxes - similar to AEC dialogue boxes - which are easy and comfortable to use. They are accessed from the Toolbox Toolbar, and as styles are developed, a 2D drawing within the box demonstrates its' progress. The ADT Toolbox Toolbar is only a short element with just seven icons in it, with short flyouts, adding little to the clutter of the screen.

Wall styles are available in just three types - external (both cavity and single wall), internal and industrial, and are based on UK standards. Each style has the variants to be found in each category - covering bricks, blocks and stone - users just select the required option, and a “Style name” is automatically generated to reflect the wall makeup. This style name can be overridden if required.

Values are keyed in for the outer leaf, airgap and insulation object (clicking on this updates the picture that accompanies the dialogue box, showing how the wall is developing). By clicking on rendering, a thickness can be applied. The height of the wall is then keyed in - and the wall has been defined.

The Base Line justification is important. If users are not careful about laying out the wall and applying the correct justification, it can put the dimensions out. With ADT Toolbox, users can work to the left or right face of the wall - assisted by an arrow on the diagram, which defines which face is the critical one. Hatching is set up automatically to conform with UK standards, although custom hatching can be set up if required.

Adding Windows? The same simple procedure applies, with another simple dialogue box, with the user keying in the values required, the style information, the number of divided lights and the jamb sizes. The accompanying image shows each feature as it is applied, and once the user is satisfied, the style is saved for use wherever needed within the drawing. You do not have to insert the window for it to add the style, but the Add Window Dialogue is displayed so it can be inserted if required.

Create a window in ADT, and you will find that when the window is displayed in 3D, there is no window sill. A separate object has to be created for the sill and attached to the window object. ADT Toolbox has added a small feature that pops up in the toolbar to enable the user to add sills and thresholds. All the user has to do is to indicate the window, click on it, and the sill is added - and can be viewed in 3D.

Doors work in a similar fashion. Doors have to be opened up, though, and with a further tool, ADT Toolbox allows the door to be gripped and swung around to whichever type of opening is required. This is an ADT function. ADT Toolbox has a tool, however, to flip the threshold of a door so that regardless as to which way the door opens, the threshold can be set to the outside of the building. Lintels can be added in a similar manner and viewed in 3D, and showing types and protrusions.

Internal wall styles are created in Toolbox with the same ease as external walls. When wall styles are created in ADT, wall components are assigned priorities to reflect their material so that when walls are ‘T’ed in the resulting junction is formed correctly. ADT Toolbox automatically assigns these priorities based on the material selected, although the user can modify the priorities at any time using the standard ADT Style manager.

Industrial Walls.
Industrial walls are only now just available in ADT. AEC can't do them, and neither can Revit. ADT Toolbox treats them in exactly the same way as it handles all other features, by just adding another predefined object to the all style. Cladding objects are created using the same simple dialogue boxes with the additional control over the top of masonry height and cladding base height, which are added to the wall style, with a sectional view displayed to show how it will appear.

Detailing.
In addition to the tools available for Walls, Doors and Windows, ADT Toolbox contains a large number of 2D detailing tools which cover, Footings, DPC, wall sections, door, window, sill, and lintel sections, trusses, roof tiling, steel detail etc. Each tool presents a dialogue box that allows the user to control the individual dimensions of each component, and ADT Toolbox then creates the 2D detail to those dimensions. What is more these details remain editable; using a Toolbox modify tool and selecting the detail, the user is returned to the original dialogue to make any adjustments and the detail is updated.

Conclusion.
ADT Toolbox has been launched with an introductory price of £295, and can be used with ADT3 and 3.3 - a small price to pay for the hours of tedious toil that will be avoided developing features for each drawing. It also reduces the amount of training that ADT customers normally require. CADLogic will be selling the software via AutoCAD dealers to add it to ADT as a valuable tool. CU

Case Study

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