Dept. of Unfair - Rooms/Spaces Boundaries vs. Ceiling Boundaries

The ceiling tool cannot detect the room bounding capability of linked files or columns. When using Auto Ceiling the tool is oblivious to the boundaries that are defined by these elements.

Room tool seems fine:

Ceiling isn't fine:
I can't say that I was surprised since this issue has been with us all along but I had hoped with the release of 2009 that we'd see this fixed. Further I hoped that the linked file could also provide the same function. On the surface, to me, it seems like the "same" calculation for either tool.

The "fix" for the column condition is to let the walls trim "inside" the colums so they touch each other. The ceiling sketch will ignore the columns and be a bit bigger than need but the column will mask the ceiling. Not perfect but easier than sketching around the perimeter for each ceiling. If necessary you can still do that. For linked files you'll need to sketch the ceilings.

STC - Can't Place Room Solution

And the winner is:

Under some circumstances you cannot place a room when a roof is the room bounding element beneath your room. I can only assume this is because a roof is expected to be above a room for volumetric calculations. If you adjust the bottom of the wall to sit on the roof it will work or what we did is...

We created an opening in the roof so we could place a floor instead. Problem solved. Technically speaking it is more consistent with the construction methods for a penthouse anyway. It definitely did provide a "what the" opportunity though.

For more depth you can review Erik's blog post.

STC - Can't Place a Room

STC = "Stump the Chump"

Question: User can't place a room element within the boundaries of penthouse walls. The penthouse is sitting on a Roof Level. There is a roof above and below the walls. There is a parapet level three feet above the Roof Level. The penthouse is eight feet tall and the walls are room bounding.

So what do my readers think is wrong? Something to do with View Range, Room Bounding, Phasing, Design Options?

I'll post the answer tomorrow!

Linked Files - Room Bounding

This might seem simple and a little detail but large projects using linked files have needed this ability for a long time! Something so important but so subtle and little in just another dialog box among many.


This little check box means that your linked exterior curtain wall project can provide the room bounding your core/shell/interior project needs so you can avoid creating lots and lots of room separation lines. I'm also interested to see if users can harness the feature to enhance Unit Plan workflow perhaps. Happy Linking!