Wall Styles

Where can I find this command?

Keyboard:

vaWallStyles

Icon:

right click [left click, long click]

Toolbar: Objects

Menu:

VisualARQ > Wall > Wall Styles

Context Menu:

Wall > Styles Properties

Shortcut key:

Select a wall object > (Alt, Shift or Ctrl) + double click

• New wall style
• Edit wall styles
• Wall Style Components

The wall style defines the wall features. The following parameters can be specified for each style: Name, Attributes, Geometry and Wrapping.

Wall styles are defined by different Wall Layers that can be added or deleted at any time.

Wall style composed by 3 layers:

1. Wall layer A
2. Wall layer B
3. Wall layer C

After running the vaWallStyles command, the wall Style Manager dialog box will appear. All wall styles are created and edited from this dialog.

Wall Style Manager dialog box

New wall style:

You can create new styles and duplicate existing ones from the different options in the wall Style Manager.

Wall styles can be created as regular wall styles, or as Grasshopper styles (styles driven by a Grasshopper definition).

When clicking on the New Style... button, select one of the two options available, which will open the corresponding new style wizard:

• Wall style: follow the steps of the wizard to define the new wall style parameters:
  • Name
  • Number of layers
  • Layer parameters
  • Wall height
• Grasshopper style: follow the steps of the wizard to create a new style from a Grasshopper definition:
  • Grasshopper definition
  • Global values configuration
  • Geometry
  • Parameters

Delete a wall style:

You can delete wall styles from the wall Style Manager dialog box. You can only delete those styles that are not being used by any existing wall in the model.

Edit a wall style:

Select the wall style or a wall layer from the top left panel and edit their different parameters from the tabs that appear in the right panel.

In the case of Grasshopper styles, do right-click on the style name to see the Context menu and select Edit, which will launch the Grasshopper style wizard.

Add a new wall layer

• Context menu: right-click on the wall style name to open the context menu and select New > Wall layer.
• New icon : select the wall style and click on the New icon from the dialog toolbar. Select Wall layer.

Delete layers: use the context menu (right-click on the component you wish to delete and select Delete) or the Delete button .

Attributes

Attributes define the features of each wall style and its layers for display and print purposes. The valid attributes are:

• General: Layer, Visibility and Material
• Projection: Color, Linetype, Line print width and Line print color
• Section: Color, Linetype, Line print width, Line print color, Pattern, Pattern scale, Pattern angle, and Pattern color

Note

The layers of different walls that have the same hatch pattern assigned, merge in wall intersections. The non-consecutive layers of the same wall object that have the same hatch pattern also merge if they meet at wrappings.

Geometry

Height: defines the wall height by style. Walls can have a different height by object and by wall layer.

Thickness: this value shows the sum of the wall style layers thicknesses. To modify it, you need to modify the thicknesses of each layer. Walls can have different thicknesses by object and by wall layer.

Wrapping

The wall wrapping is defined by how the wall layers finish at the end caps of a wall, and at their encounter with openings (windows, doors and openings). Wrapping affects only walls composed by 3 or more layers and is visible from the Top viewport, when the plan view mode is enabled.

There are 3 types of wall wrapping by style for the wall end caps and for the encounter with openings:

1. None: Wall with no wrap (at openings and end caps).
2. Exterior: Wall exterior layers wrap at end caps and/or openings.
3. Interior: Wall interior layers wrap at end caps and/or openings.

1. Wall wrapping: None.

2. Wall wrapping: Exterior.

3. Wall wrapping: Interior.

Parameters

In this tab you can create custom parameters by style and assign values by style.

These values can be overwritten by object, from the Parameters section , in the Rhino Properties panel .

Wall components

Layers

You can specify the following parameters for each Wall style layer:

• Name
• Attributes
• Geometry
• Type
• Function
• Wrapping

The Type, Function and Wrapping parameters can be edited from the Construction tab.

Attributes tab for Layer 1 of Standard wall style, in Wall styles dialog

See the following example of a 5-layer wall style with exterior wrapping at the wall cap ends:

1. Interior layer 1 (i.e. Stucco)
2. Layer 2 (i.e. Brick)
3. Layer 3 (i.e. air chamber)
4. Layer 4 (i.e. insulation layer)
5. Exterior layer 5 (i.e. brick)
6. Layer 4 wrap
7. Layer 5 wrap

Geometry

Thickness: this value is a property of the wall style that is edited by each wall layer. However, it can be also edited for each layer of a wall object individually.

Elevation offsets: these values are properties of the wall style that are edited by each wall layer. However, they can be also edited for each layer of a wall object individually.

• Top: changes the height of the wall layer from the upper part.
• Bottom: changes the height of the wall layer from the lower part.

Type

There are two types of wall layers which establish the order of connection with each other:

• Core: layers with priority number 1. Core layers are meant to be the structural ones in a wall, so they will tend to connect with each other.
• Normal: layers with priority number 2. They tend to connect with other Normal layers after the Core layers are connected. They can also be wrapped around Core layers, depending on their wrapping settings.

Function

There are 5 types of function specifications that can be assigned to wall layers. These functions are for information only.

• None
• Structure
• Isolation
• Finish
• Decoration

Wrapping

There are four options available to define the wrapping of wall layers:

• None: No wrap is created.
• Ends: The layer wraps at the ends of the wall.
• Openings: the layer wraps at the encounter with a door, a window or an opening.
• Ends and Openings: the layer wraps at the ends of a wall and at the encounter with doors, windows or openings

Note

Note: Wall layers that are Core type can't wrap.