Placing and Configuring the Rooms
The rooms are compass oriented with one door and one window available per wall, which is plenty in most cases. When more openings are needed, it is very easy to create them.
The first ‘room’ to be placed will be the overall container. Before placing it, it is a good idea to open the configurator explicitly at Configurators > Room Main and double click Standard Room.iam. And use the form to get the model to the defaults for the project. On the Manage tab, click the iLogic Browser command on the iLogic panel to show the browser, then switch to the Forms tab to access the Room Configuration form. On the Main tab, set ceiling height and any other defaults you wish. This just makes it easier to place the rooms as some things will be pre-set. Everything is still fully adjustable after placement so you aren’t locking yourself into anything.
The tabs for the individual walls should be left alone as they will be configured after placement. As you can see in the image below, I have pre-configured the dimensions of the overall model as well…
When done, save and close the Standard Room.iam, and close its form.
To place it, make sure you are on the Assemble tab, then go to the Component panel and click the down arrow on the Place command. Choose Place iLogic Component from the expanded panel, then navigate to Configurators > Room Main and double click Standard Room.iam.
This part is a tad goofy. The main window minimizes a bit, and a new window opens with the room configurator in it. Another window opens with some configuration options. You can configure from here, or after placement. When configuring here, you need to wait for the model to update between each, so other than overall size, I generally wait. In this first rooms case, it is already configured…
…so just click OK in the Place iLogic component dialog, then place the model anywhere…
Select Ground and Root from the productivity panel, and click the files name in the browser. I renamed the room “Overall Model” in the browser, and changed its BOM Structure to Reference, and saved the model at this point…
Create the Openings
The openings are controlled via the form, which is located on the Forms tab of the iLogic browser. I’ll be using the image of the floor plan as a guide, but more than likely you will be working from a more detailed field measurement or plans from the architect. We’ll show those workflows as well as time passes.
You may notice that the View Cube now has a compass ring around it. To turn the ring on, right click the ViewCube and select Options… then select Show the compass below the ViewCube…
This all looks really great, however do we work with odd shaped rooms, and or curved walls?
The odd shaped wall is addressed later in this tutorial, but if you have something really unusual you would need to go in and use Inventor to modify the room. Same with the cabinets. If there is a specific room shape you need shown, that would make a good tutorial one I am done with the basic tutorials.
How do we manage colors, I admit to not being the sharpest tool in the box when it comes to inventor. The video’s show everything in gray. What if we want to show the customer, or print out the design to take to the customer? How do we manage the colors for that?
I will be adding more colors to the material library as soon as I can. Right now, the models should be either white or black –but the white may look gray. I’ll see about doing a quick tutorial on adding materials and colors when I get back to my office this PM.
The latest version of the model is on the ftp site ready for download as well.