Question about Architectural design within onShape

PJL

Hi onShape community!

I'll consider myself as a good enough 3D CAD designer in order do realise any mechanical (or other kind of) 3D part desing with onShape but... I'm kind of totally nooby about arch(itecural) design ; and of course I'm in need of this for a personal project.

my purpose : generate a *.dwg for a building interior layout creation (in order to provide it my architect).

I 100% suceeded drawing in a part_studio a 1st sketch for the "walls".
I have created a 2nd sketch (to be considered as a 2nd 'layer'), in order to design the internal partitions of the inner wall spaces. It was awesomely easy & fast to do, with a very efficient way to optimize the future implementation, simulate different variations of wall length,... .
At this stage, I've created a Drawing... and here comes the problem:

• I'm able to insert as 2 individual "drawing plan" my 2 sketches... but they are "unlinked", meaning I have to move & adjust with the eyes the inner partitions sketch upon the walls. The bad point here is that even if I've reache a nice level of position adjustement between the 2 sketches, I can't make any Dimension drawing between entities which are not part of the same "drawing plan" (which is of course what I want to do ).
• I've tryed to 'Copy sketch' / 'Paste sketchs' from one to another... result is a total mess, too long to manually readjust.
• I've tryed too to 'merge' the 2 by an intermediate Assembly... which works fine (from a visual prospective) as an assembly.... but which give a "empty" visual result as soon as I'm trying to inject it in my drawing.

I've workarounded the problem by creating a 3rd sketch, where I've redrawn the whole bunch of lines I want... but this is not viable for an advanced project (total loss of dynamicity.. which is the plus value of such a soft)

Do somebody have already encountered such a case?
What would be the best practice in order to have as a final result a *.dwg file for a global skecthes output?

Any tips will be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

xTimRice

You could try extruding the sketches all into one solid body. Then you can insert that part into the drawing and dimension like normal. 

eric_pesty

Create an assembly and insert both sketches in there, then make a drawing of the assembly.

PJL

eric_pesty said:

Create an assembly and insert both sketches in there, then make a drawing of the assembly.

Thanks eric for this input. Already tried but doing this way results in an empty drawing, with a notification saying "all instance have been hidden"...

...And I just found the contextual menu "Hide/Show > Show sketches"... which makes the magic happens: it works fine!

martin_kopplow

Why not just work in 3D? Life isn't flat.

I'm having a hard time understanding why so many architecs don't finally embrace 3D design. My doughter is currently studying architecture, and guess what: The professors still teach drawing floor plans like they did when I went to university in the 80ies. I have done some architectural work myself, as a side job now and then, and just went on designing all the stuff in 3D: Factories, museums, the like. Usually the results were eye-opening for all involved, when I could look at my model and answer questions no one would have dared to ask before. Like: Will the electricians be able to bring their enclosures through these doors, staircases etc. already assembled or will we need to have them assemble them on site (and pay extra, or would a larger door be cheaper, overall)? Will the dinosaur exposit go in that niche next to the hall? Is that giant screen on the lounge wall fully visible from the downstairs sitting area? How long exactly is the cable routing to the conference room?

My architectural approach in CAD (and thus Onshape) is to just design in 3D like I always do. With the tools we have today, there is no need or justification for 2D architecture any more. Once you have the 3D model, you can create elevations or section drawings (floor plans are kind of section drawings, too!) wherever you want or where client or subcontractors need them, and export a .dwg file (which in itself is an anachrosism, now we have cloud based CAD). It is really that easy. And with Onshape you could walk them through the house online at any time and let them view all the current floor plans on their tablets. I've done that, and it works great.

Architects: I might work for money if someone needs help. ;0)

vondes_vodes

The transition from 2D to 3D design in education and practice can be slow due to various factors, including tradition, the learning curve associated with new software, and the inertia of established workflows. However, as you’ve pointed out, modern tools like Onshape are making it easier and more intuitive to work in 3D, offering the ability to share and collaborate on designs in real-time. Discount on Revit 2024. Your approach to using CAD and Onshape for designing in 3D and then generating the necessary 2D drawings as required is a smart workflow that leverages the strengths of both dimensions. It allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the project at every stage, from conceptualization to construction.