Component Modeller Tutorial <Virtual Environment> 5.9

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1 Component Modeller Tutorial <Virtual Environment> 5.9 Page 1 of 24

2 Contents 1. Introduction What is the Component Modeller? What You Need to Know to Get Started This Tutorial The Model Creating Components Getting Started Creating a Simple Component Copying a Component Copying and Editing a Component Importing a Component Setting the Component Handle Placing Components in ModelIT Simple Placement Copying Components Rotating Components Opening Components What is an Opening Component? Create a New Component Place Opening Component in ModelIT Page 2 of 24

3 1. Introduction 1.1. What is the Component Modeller? The Component Modeller is a model building element in the <Virtual Environment>. It allows the user to create a library of components which can then be placed within the model. Components are geometrical entities and can be used to model things such as desks, chairs, computers, etc. These can then be placed in the model by ModelIT. The Component Modeller uses many of the same drawing and editing tools that are used in ModelIT. Effectively the component is an encapsulated piece of geometry, therefore operations that would modify that geometry are not allowed e.g. mirror, though some operations such as rotation and scaling have been built into the definition What You Need to Know to Get Started Standard conventions for manipulating files are used throughout the <VE>. Standard conventions for manipulating windows (moving, resizing, closing, etc.) are used throughout the <VE>. Ask your IT Manager for help if any of these processes are unfamiliar to you. The Component Modeller can only be run from within the <VE>. To get an understanding of the <VE> see the document "<Virtual Environment> User Guide", this explains the various startup options. It will be useful to have a working knowledge of ModelIT, and also to have read the Component Modeller Reference Manual and be familiar with the terminology used to describe the interface This Tutorial This tutorial contains step-by-step instructions that will show you how to use the Component Modeller and how to add components to a model in ModelIT. It is perhaps also useful to read this document at the same time as you run the program. Page 3 of 24

4 1.4. The Model We will assume the user has created a simple model using ModelIT and now wishes to create and add components. This two zone model is shown below: Page 4 of 24

5 2. Creating Components 2.1. Getting Started At any time during the creation of the model the user can activate the Component Modeller by clicking the CompLib button in the Model Builder tab. As when any application is activated the user is prompted to save the current model before the Component Modeller is started. The initial state of the Component Library is to contain a single, empty component; this is shown on the Browser as below: The user may now create geometry in this component, using the same techniques as in ModelIT, but with no geometry restrictions (i.e. elements may intersect). Page 5 of 24

6 2.2. Creating a Simple Component We click the Prism button we get the following pop-up window, we enter the required parameters: This creates a prism with the appropriate dimensions representing our table top. We change the parameters and create another prism: This represents the leg of our table. Page 6 of 24

7 We select this object and copy to the other 3 corners of our table: Unless we want our table to be blue, we click on the which pops-up the following window: Colour Table button, Page 7 of 24

8 When colour 1 (top-left corner) is double-clicked the colour editing window is opened: From this window we select a brown colour, and view our component using the Component Viewer (same as Model Viewer): The colour of objects is important as in the current version of Radiance this is the colour that is used to render the objects. Lastly we go into the Object Bar and edit the default name from Component : to Table (1m x 1m) : Page 8 of 24

9 The Browser now shows this component and the objects within the component: 2.3. Copying a Component If we click on the component: Copy Component button we get an exact copy of the One possible reason for doing this is to create the same component with different colours. Select the table top object and change the colour of this object in the Object Bar: Edit the colours as in section 2.2 above: Page 9 of 24

10 Lastly we edit the component name as defined above Copying and Editing a Component We repeat the copy as above: Page 10 of 24

11 We select the table top object and scale in the X-axis by 1.5: We select the two legs to the right and move them to the correct position: Page 11 of 24

12 This gives us a new table which is 1.5 m by 1.0 m: We edit the name to table B (1.5m x 1m) : Page 12 of 24

13 2.5. Importing a Component Components that have been created for one model can be imported to another model. There are also several standard libraries from which components can be imported. Click on the Add Components button, the following window is popped-up: Using the File > Open menu, the user can browse to find the required component library: Page 13 of 24

14 The standard libraries are located in C:\Program Files\IES\apps\Components. When the user selects a file ( chair.mcl ), the components can be looked at and added to the current library by clicking the Add button. From this library we select Chair 2 which is added to our model (we can select more than one component from this library, or open a new library to examine): Page 14 of 24

15 2.6. Setting the Component Handle The component handle is the point which is used by ModelIT to place the component. You may have noticed in the edited table example the handle was shown at the bottom-left corner: We can reposition the handle by clicking on the point button which pops-up the following: Set component handle Page 15 of 24

16 The handle is positioned at the required location and the pop-up window allows the height to be set (the default being 0.0). It is usual for the handle to be at some easily identifiable location within the model i.e. bottom-left corner or centre of component. If by error the handle is remote from the component it becomes difficult to see the placement in ModelIT. Page 16 of 24

17 3. Placing Components in ModelIT 3.1. Simple Placement Select the zone Office and go down a level into Component mode: to the Surface level and go When this is activated the following window pops-up: From this window the user selects the required component and sets any required transformations, e.g. as shown Table (1m x 1m) with the default settings. Make sure the viewport is in Plan view and activate the Place component button, when we move back into the viewport the cursor is used to drag the selected component to where we want to place it: Page 17 of 24

18 We now select the component Chair 2 and place it in the same way: We can see by zooming in, that the chair is facing away from the table. We select the chair component using the Select object button and delete it (using the Delete button). We go back into the Place component window and change the Rotation angle to 180 degrees: Page 18 of 24

19 We activate the Place component button and move the rotated component into position (note we have changed the grid size to get a more accurate placement). If we activate the Model Viewer button in Component mode we see the selected zone with the placed components: Page 19 of 24

20 3.2. Copying Components Select the two components we have created and activate the Copy button, we can now use the same mechanisms used when copying objects in ModelIT i.e. drag the objects or use a key-in to give a more explicit copy: Page 20 of 24

21 3.3. Rotating Components Select the two components we have just copied, activate the Rotate button, again this works in exactly the same way as rotating objects, the Rotate Object window is popped-up to allow the user to edit the rotate angle, the rotation origin is selected and the component(s) are dragged round this origin to the required position: Page 21 of 24

22 4. Opening Components 4.1. What is an Opening Component? A component given the Category: Opening can be placed on a model in ModelIt at Model and Room Level. A library of pre-built opening components will launch when the Opening Placement tool is used in ModelIT but this brief tutorial will show how to create a custom opening component using the Component Modeller. Page 22 of 24

23 4.2. Create a New Component As before create a new component using the New Component button. Right click on the Component in the Component Browser and select Properties. In the Properties dialog, rename the component so that you can identify it later in the Opening Placement dialog in ModelIT. Change the Category to Opening. Change the view to Front as this is the geometry of the opening that will be placed on the model. It is important to ensure the opening thickness passes through the y=0 plane. For example set the Depth to 0.4m and the Plane to -0.2m. Page 23 of 24

24 4.3. Place Opening Component in ModelIT To place an opening at Model or Surface Level, press the Add Door, Add Window or Add Hole button. This will open the Place Opening Dialog which contains any custom openings created in Component Modeller along with the library of pre-built Opening Components. Select the opening you wish to place and enter the Base height, along with the Width and Height of the opening. Now moving the mouse anywhere near the walls of your model will show where the desired opening will be placed. When you have selected where the opening is to be located, left click to place it. Page 24 of 24