Elevations

Open the elevations

134

1. 1
   Step 1: Switch to Elevations

   Press 4, or click Elevations in the view switch at the top right. Press 2 to go back to the plan.

2. 2
   Step 2: Pick a side

   The list on the left has the four Exterior views and your Saved views. Each one says which way it is looking, such as Looking north.

3. 3
   Step 3: Read the drawing

   The drawing opens fitted on white paper. Scroll to zoom about the pointer, drag to pan, and hold ⇧ while you scroll to pan sideways. On a touch screen, pinch to zoom.

4. 4
   Step 4: Add a view of your own

   Click New for a bay or an angled façade. Pick a Camera (Front, Right, Rear or Left) or type the way the Façade faces (° from north), check the Live preview, then click Create.

A project holds up to 12 saved views. Each new view is one undo step.

The buttons at the bottom right of the drawing are Zoom out (⌘-), Zoom in (⌘+) and Zoom to fit (⌘0), with the zoom level between them. The zoom goes back to fit when you open another view. Lengths show in the project’s units.

Change how it looks

Pick the style under Drawing style in the settings on the right. In Split, the elevation pane has the same switch in its header. A saved view keeps Drawing or Colour in the project. Render on a saved view, and the one style the four compass views share, last until the page reloads. Picking a style sets Material notes, Shadows and Trees & people to that style’s own; change a switch afterwards to override it.

The switches sit under Show and the scale under View. The scales are 1/8″, 3/16″, 1/4″, 3/8″ and 1/2″ = 1′-0″, 1:100 and 1:50. Under the scale, Floors lists the floors the drawing shows. Key plan is a small plan of the open floor with every view’s marker, the open view highlighted.

Rename, turn or delete a saved view

Open a saved view. Under the key plan, type a new Name, or change Façade faces (° from north), from 0 to 359.9°. Each change is one undo step. Delete removes the view, and the note that follows has Undo. The four compass views show Follows the north arrow: they can’t be renamed or deleted.

Change a door or window

Click a door or window in the drawing, or pick it from the Door or window list. A card opens over the drawing with its tag and floor. Each change is one undo step and shows on the plan and in 3D. Show in 3D and Show on plan take you to it.

When the wall has no room for the new size, the change is refused with Not enough room on this wall for that. In Split, a door or window you select on the plan is highlighted in the elevation. For how sills, heads and storey heights relate, see Heights and levels.

Façade notes

Façade notes point out windows whose heads or sills don’t line up, a window too close to a corner, and an upper window that sits off the one below. When everything lines up it reads No façade notes: heads and sills line up.

From the plan

• Each view has a numbered marker on the plan. Hover over it for a preview and click Open.
• Right-click an outside wall and choose Elevation of this side to open a view square to that wall.
• In Split, click Elevation at the top left of the right pane, or set Right pane to Elevation in View options, to see the plan beside the open elevation.
• The plan summary lists every view as a thumbnail under Elevations. Add view adds a view facing 45°, between the compass views; it is greyed out at 12 saved views.