AEC is the acronym for: Architectural, Engineering and Construction.

AEC commands can be found in the AEC application which are a group of very powerful commands that creates both 3D models and 2D construction drawings all from the same set of tools.

AEC objects, in the main, are drawn using preset styles which are used to define the properties of the objects. Certain properties of an AEC object can be changed using the standard 'Object Properties' dialogue. Other properties must be changed in the AEC Style Manager.

Understanding the 3D commands and setting up your working environment will enable you to work productively in 3D, moving around your drawing to present stunning models, sections and elevations.

• AEC Commands and keyboard shortcuts
• WCS and UCS
• Pan, Zoom and Orbiting
• 3D views, saving and recalling views
• Render Modes
• 2D and 3D flags
• Modelspace Grid

Creating walls using Caddie is quick and easy. Whether you plan to visualise your designs in 2D or 3D the wall tools are the same. Walls are style based, the style determining amongst other things, the number of components to the wall, the hatching and materials used.

In this module you will learn the basics of inserting and manipulating walls. 

There are ten lessons.

Inserting Walls

• Using the Build > Wall command to insert walls
• Some of the options available in the wall dialogue box

Wall Justification

• Left Justification
• Centre Justification
• Right Justification

Editing walls using grip points

• Cyan Triangles
• Blue Squares
• Yellow Arrows

Editing walls using Object Properties

• Wall length
• Wall width
• Wall justification

Inserting a curved wall

• How to insert a curved wall
• The additional grip points on a curved wall

Crossing or abutting walls

• The effects of the automatic cleanup setting being switched on or off.
• The Cleanup Group assigned to the wall for crossing and abutting walls
• The Cleanup Radius that is assigned to a wall when two walls abut each other

Overriding and managing cleanups

• Using the diagnostic display configuration to view and edit the Cleanup Radii assigned to walls when they abut each other
• Changing wall cleanup options using Object Properties

Introducing wall styles

• Selecting the wall style to use when creating a wall
• Interrogating and changing the wall style used on an existing wall
• Tools on the Context Sensitive Menu (CSM) for turning the hatch on and off in a style

Visualising your walls in three dimensions

• The eight different 3D views
• Using a keyboard short cut for top view
• Orbiting your drawing and the constrained orbit
• Changing the height of walls
• Changing the surface hatch of walls
• The Render Modes and materials flag on the status bar

Alternative ways of inserting a wall

• Quick Wall - when, how and why we use it.
• CSM -> Convert to -> Wall on an existing polyline. For when line work representing walls may already have been drawn.
• Bringing in walls from the catalogue - a graphical library of commonly used predefined styles

Having created walls, there will often be a requirement to create windows, doors or openings within them. This module will introduce the basic tools needed to achieve this.

In addition to simple windows and doors, Caddie's Door Window Assembly (DWA) tool allows the user to configure complex combinations of fixed panes, openers and doors to model real world manufacturer's components.

Similar to walls; windows, doors and DWAs are style based making repetitive use quick and easy.

Inserting windows, doors and DWAs, automatically cuts openings in the walls as required, however if just a simple opening alone is required, there is also a tool for that.

Having inserted a window, door, DWA or opening in a wall, it is useful to have an understanding of how it's position is determined with respect to the wall (its anchor), so that if the wall is modified at a later date, any change in relationship between the two is as expected.

In this module you will complete the following 12 lessons:

Inserting windows

• Using the Build > Window command to insert windows
• Some of the options available in the Windows dialogue box

Editing windows using grip points and Object Properties

• The effects of the various grip points
• Using Object Properties to make changes

Anchors

• Changing the anchors (relationships between the walls and features within them)
• The effect of the anchors when modifying the wall

Introducing window styles

• The styles tab in the windows dialogue box
• Interrogating a window style
• Changing basic properties of a window style

Inserting a door

• Using the Build > Door command to insert doors
• Some of the options available in the Door Dialogue Box

Editing doors using grip points and Object Properties

• The effects of the various grip points
• Using Object Properties to make changes

Introducing door styles

• The Door Dialogue Box for styles
• Interrogating a door style
• Changing basic properties of a door style

Inserting Door Window Assemblies (DWAs)

• Using the Build > DWA command to insert a DWA
• Some of the options available in the DWA dialogue box

Editing Door Window Assemblies using grip points and Object Properties

• The effects of the various grip points
• Using Object Properties to make changes

Introducing Door Window Assembly Styles

• The DWA dialogue box for styles
• Interrogating a DWA style
• Changing basic properties of a DWA style

Inserting openings

• Inserting an opening
• Controlling the size and shape of the opening

Editing openings using grip points and Object Properties

• The effects of the various grip points
• Using Object Properties to make changes

The slab command creates a three dimensional flat (or sloping) object which is mainly used for floors but can be used for anything requiring a surface, such as worktops or driveways.

Slabs use styles and these styles can have from one to any number of components. So for example a floor may have three components; a ceiling board, an air gap for the joists and the floor covering.

This module will cover the basics of inserting and modifying slabs. A later lesson will cover more advanced topics, such as adding edge styles to form custom profiles on each or any of the edges.

In this module you will complete the following three lessons:

Inserting slabs

• The different parameters available when creating a slab
• Creating a slab from points and an existing polyline

Editing slabs Inserting a hole in a slab from points and an existing polyline

• The effects of the various grip points
• Using Object Properties to make changes to:

Adding and removing holes in slabs

• Inserting a hole in a slab from points and an existing polyline
• Modifying a hole in a slab
• Removing a hole from a slab

The simplest way to add a roof to a building is by using the roof command. The roof command will create roofs of many different shapes and types.

If however, you need greater control over the roof or you wish to add additional detail such as a hole in the roof or soffits and facias, you will either need to convert the roof to roof slabs or create the roof initially as a set of roof slabs.

Whereas roof slabs are style based roofs are one of the few AEC objects that are not. Therefore all properties of the roof are defined explicitly.

This module will cover the basics of inserting and modifying roofs and roof slabs. A later lesson will cover more advanced topics, such as adding edge styles for soffits and fascias.

In this module you will complete the following five lessons:

Inserting roofs

• Using the Build > Roof command to create a roof
• The options available in the Roof dialogue box

Editing roofs using grip points and Object Properties

• The effects of the various grip points
• Using Object Properties to make changes

Inserting a roof slab

• Creating a roof slab from an existing roof
• Creating a roof using the Build > Roof Slab command

Editing roof slabs using grip points and Object Properties

• The effects of the various grip points
• Using Object Properties to make changes
• Adding vertices to a roof slab outline
• Modifying roof slab edges: (Assigning edge style with soffits and facias will be covered later) - Overhang and Angle

Adding and removing holes in roof slabs

• Inserting a hole in a roof slab from points and an existing polyline
• Modifying a hole in a roof slab
• Removing a hole from a roof slab

How to add a simple straight staircase and railings to a drawing.

In this module you will complete the following four lessons:

Inserting staircases

• Using the Build > Stairs command to insert a staircase
• Some of the options available in the Stairs dialogue box

Editing staircases using grip points and Object Properties

• The effects of the grip points:
• Using Object Properties to make changes

Inserting railings

• Using the Build > Railings command to create a rail
• The options available in the Railings dialogue box

Editing railings using grip points and Object Properties

• The effects of the grip points:
• Using Object Properties to make changes

A structural member can be used to create beams, skirting, coving, columns, posts, bracing timbers or many other objects.

Caddie includes many pre defined commonly used sections such as:
Steel beams
Pipes
Gutters
RSJ’s etc
Ceiling and floor joist
Rebar
Lintels
Architraves
Purlins
Skirting

and you can create your own.

In this module you will learn about inserting predefined structural members and manipulating a structural member. In a later lesson we will cover creating user defined profiles and structural members.

In this module there are three lessons:

Inserting a structural member

• Using the Build > Structural Member command to insert a member
• Some of the options available in the Structural Members dialogue box

Editing Structural members using grip points and Object Properties

• The effects of the grip points:
• Using Object Properties to make changes

Creating your own Structural Members

• Creating a multi-component Structural Member using existing node shapes.
• Creating your own node shapes from polylines.
• Defining the offset and combining components along the length of the Structural Member.

Mass elements can be used for block modelling or the creation of a number of different three dimensional objects. Additionally a pre-drawn profile can be extruded or rotated to create custom shapes.

Mass elements are style based. The style defines a number of parameters including:

• Hatch
• Materials

In this module there are two lessons:

Creating mass elements

• Using the Build > Mass Element command
• The options available in the Mass Element dialogue box

Editing mass elements using grip points and Object Properties

• The effects of the grip points
• Using Object Properties to make changes

Using AEC objects also gives us the ability to create plan sections. The user has total control over the heights and detail that is shown.

Producing a vertical section is very similar to creating a horizontal section.

In this module there are three lessons:

Creating Sections and Elevations

• Using the quick section to create both sections and elevations
• Editing and regenerating sections, individual and multiple
• Filtering objects when creating sections and elevations

Creating Horizontal Sections (plans)

• Using the Quick section to create a horizontal section
• Creating a viewport showing a horizontal section of the model
• When to use quick section or a viewport to present your section

Enhancing the presentation of horizontal sections and elevations

• Using sub-divisions to give depth to your sections and elevations
• Converting AEC sections to 2D linework

Drawing a single storey house using Caddie’s AEC Build tools, one can simply draw out the plan adding furniture, text, dimensions and so on as if one is using Lines to produce your drawing. However when it comes to multi-storey buildings, then it is worth considering structuring your drawings to enable easy working and display of objects on a floor-by-floor basis.

When drawing in a conventional, 2D, way, often, each floor is drawn as an individual plan, however when using Caddie’s AEC Build tools, we have the ability to generate elevations straight from our building models. In order to make full use of this ability to auto-generate 2D content we ‘stack’ our floor plans as they would be in the finished building, i.e. one floor on top of another, then produce the elevations and sections from this ‘stacked’ model.

A level does not necessarily mean a storey. It can be any level/height/plane that you want to work on. A single storey can have multiple levels for example:

• Floor level
• Skirting level
• Cill level
• Wallplate level

In this module there are two lessons:

Overview of levels

• The levels configuration dialogue box
• The parameters defined for a level
• Adding new levels for different storeys
• Adding a level to give an overall view of the model

Creating a building using levels

• Creating x Inserting AEC walls from a polyline on a specific level
• Copying objects between levels
• Inserting AEC windows and doors on a specific level
• Inserting slabs on a specific level
• Adding a roof on a specific level
• Adding railings, columns, and dimensions on a specific level
• Creating viewports to show specific levels of the building

Spaces are three dimensional volumes which can be used to represent areas within buildings or other models. Spaces enable the user to easily extract information such as areas and volumes for use in energy costings and many other functions.

Spaces can be created from:

• Boundary points
• Polyline
• Inside point, with or without islands
• Hatch

In this module there is one lesson:

Working with spaces

• Creating and configuring spaces
• Modifying spaces using grip points and object properties
• Scheduling spaces
• Adding and scheduling multi-view blocks to spaces
• Automatic updating of space and symbol schedules
• Editing Spaces using Object Properties and Grip Points
• Creating a zone and zone schedule

There are two distinct ways to create schedules in Caddie:

• Blocks and block attributes can be scheduled to a simple table. This creates a static table with limited intelligence.

• Alternatively, the AEC scheduling can be used to schedule many automatic and user defined properties relating to any objects in the model. Should the objects change the table can be set to update automatically. Furthermore objects can easily be added and removed from the table. Schedule tags can be used to show any of the above properties visually on the model.

In this module there is one lesson:

Creating schedules

• Using schedule tags to identify objects
• Accessing the scheduled objects directly from the table
• Manually and automatically updating scheduled tables
• Simple scheduling of blocks and attributes using tables

Discover how to exploit the Caddie Catalogue and how to create your own library.

In this module there is one lesson:

Using the catalogue

• Hiding and showing the catalogue
• Downloading additional catalogues
• Inserting blocks, patterns, and styles from the catalogue
• Adding content to the catalogue

Having created a 3D model, you may want to share it with other people.

In this module you will undertake one lesson:

Presenting your model

• Exporting your model as a picture
• The different Render Modes that can be viewed and printed using viewports
• Further enhancing your model using the Visual Image Output (Vio) photorealistic rendering
• Using the Visual Image Output (Vio) Photorealistic Rendering for a Walkthrough of Your Model