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Autodesk Architectural Desktop: Creating and Modifying


Sloped Roofs

By Nancy Fulton
In this tutorial you'll master the skills required to create and modify a wide variety
of sloped roofs using Autodesk Architectural Desktop software. This is valuable
knowledge indeed, since most residential and many commercial structures require
sloped roofs.
You'll learn how to:
Specify roof parameters including overhang distance and roof slope.
Create a sloped roof.
Modify roof faces.
The source files required for this project are located in the downloadable ZIP file.
To transfer these files onto your local hard drive, click the link.

Figure 1: Sloped roofs can happen to you.

Source Files (zip - 256 Kb)


Creating a Sloped Roof
Here's how to create a sloped roof on a single-story house.
1. Open the 9905a.dwg file from the downloadable ZIP file.
2. Select OSNAP on the Status bar to turn on the Object Snap feature. OSNAPs
are already configured to snap to endpoints, which is required for this lesson.
3. From the Design Roofs menu, choose Add Roof.
4. In the Plate Height box, type 12'6 (equivalent to 12' 6") to specify the desired
elevation of the bottom of the roof, or roof plate.
5. In each Slope box, type 45 (the decimals fill in, and the Rise box updates,
automatically).
6. In the Overhang box, type 1' to specify the overhang for the roof.
7. In the Upper Height box, type 12' to specify the height of the roof above the
roof plate.

Figure 2: Specifying design parameters in the Add Roof dialog box.

Figure 3: Viewing the top of the new roof.

8. Select the corners of the structure to create the desired roof.


9. Press ENTER to complete the roof. Because you are looking at a Hidden view
of your roof, the interior of the building disappears. See Figure 3.
10. From the View 3D Views menu, choose NorthWest Isometric to display a 3D
view of the roof. See Figure 4.

Figure 4: Displaying an isometric view of the new roof.

Modifying Roof Parameters


Now we'll modify the overall roof parameters and see how to adjust the slopes of
selected roof faces.
1. From the Design Roofs menu, choose Modify Roof.

Figure 5: Changing roof parameters.

Figure 6: Viewing the modified roof.

2. Select the edge of the roof you created.


3. In the Overhang box, type 2'.
4. In the two Rise boxes, type 10" to specify the rise for the roof planes. Note that
the Slope values change in response to this modification.
5. Choose Apply to implement the roof parameter changes.
6. Choose OK to exit this window.

Figure 7: Adjusting the roof.

7. From the Design Roofs menu, choose Edit Roof Edges/Faces. 8. Select the front
edge and the side edge of the roof plate over the porch.

Figure 8: Viewing the modified porch.

9. Press ENTER to indicate that you don't want to select any more objects.
10. In the Roof Faces (by Edge) area, replace the two Slope values in the table
with 30.
11. Change the Height value associated with the Face 1 entry, defined when you
selected the edges in Step 8, to -10".
12. Choose OK to exit this dialog box. Note the change to the porch overhang.
You will find our version of the file to this point in the 9905b.dwg file located in
the downloadable ZIP file.
Conclusion
Now that you're familiar with the tools required to create a sloped roof for a house,
I encourage you to experiment with them. Soon enough you will be creating
sloped roofs in your own drawings.

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