Chapter 9 • Ceilings and Interiors 394 FIGURE 9.16 Configuring the View Range for the crop region 6. Click OK. 7. On the Mode panel, click Finish Edit Mode. You now have a plan region. Although it may not seem as though you did any- thing in the plan, when you place a ceiling at 14 ′–6″, you will be able to see it. NOTE The dotted line you see represents the border of the plan region. Although these borders can get annoying (especially if you start col- lecting several plan regions), I recommend that you keep them turned on. It is helpful to know where a plan region is in the model, and it is more impor- tant for others to know that there is a plan region in that area. Also, these borders will not plot. With the plan region in place, we can now place a ceiling at a higher distance from the finish floor. Since we are going to the trouble of placing a high ceiling, we might as well make the ceiling something special. Creating a Custom Ceiling So, what do you do if your ceiling is not an acoustical tile ceiling or a gypsum system? This is Revit! You make a new one. As mentioned earlier, creating a ceiling is similar to creating a floor or a roof. The Properties dialogs are exactly the same. This procedure will guide you through the process of creating a custom ceiling: 1. Be sure you are in the Level 1 ceiling plan, and zoom in on the north- west room. 2. On the Home tab, click the Ceiling button. 3. In the Change Element Type menu, select GWB On Mtl. Stud. To the right and below the picture of the ceiling is the Edit Type button. Click it (see Figure 9.17). Creating Ceilings 395 FIGURE 9.17 Clicking the Edit Type button after choosing the GWB On Mtl. Stud ceiling type 4. Click Duplicate. 5. Call the new ceiling Wood Veneer on Metal framing, and click OK. 6. In the Structure row, click the Edit button, as shown in Figure 9.18. FIGURE 9.18 Clicking the Edit button in the Structure row to gain access to the ceiling’s structural composition 7. In the Layers field, as shown in Figure 9.19, click on row 4. This is the Finish 2 [5] Gypsum Wall Board row. 8. Just below the Layers field is the Insert button. Click it. 9. Click the Down button to move the new row to the bottom. 10. Change the function from Structure to Finish 2 [5]. Chapter 9 • Ceilings and Interiors 396 11. Click into the Material cell and click the […] button, as shown in Figure 9.19. FIGURE 9.19 Clicking the […] button in the Material cell 12. In the Materials dialog, find Wood - Cherry. 13. Give it a Surface Pattern setting of Wood 1. 14. Give it a Cut Pattern setting of Plywood, as shown in Figure 9.20. FIGURE 9.20 Selecting and configuring the material for the ceiling 15. Click OK. 16. Change the Thickness to 3/4”. 17. Click OK twice. 18. In the Properties dialog, change the Height Offset from Level to 14’-6”. 19. Place the ceiling in the room shown in Figure 9.21. Creating Ceilings 397 FIGURE 9.21 The cherry-veneered plywood ceiling NOTE Don’t get discouraged if your final result is not the same as the figure. You took 19 steps to get to this wonderful cherry ceiling; any one of those steps could have gone wrong. Going back through steps and retracing your path is something you may be doing quite a bit. For the adjacent rooms, add the same ceiling. You can keep the same height. You can follow along with these steps, but I encourage you to try to put the ceil- ings in from memory: 1. In the Project Browser, be sure you are in the Level 1 ceiling plan. 2. On the Home tab, click the Ceiling button. 3. In the Change Element Type menu on the Element panel, find the ceiling called Compound Ceiling : Wood Veneer on Metal framing. 4. In the Properties panel, set the height above the floor to 14’– 6”. 5. Pick the rooms shown in Figure 9.22. When you are done, press Esc a couple of times to clear the command. FIGURE 9.22 The north row of rooms will receive cherry ceilings! Chapter 9 • Ceilings and Interiors 398 ad d i n g a Ceiling in eM p t y sp a C e Note that you can add a ceiling to a model if there are no walls defining an enclosed space. To do this, start the Ceiling command in the typical manner by clicking the Ceiling button on the Home tab, as shown in the following graphic. When the Ceiling command starts, click the Sketch Ceiling button on the Ceiling tab. This will allow you to simply draft the ceiling boundaries. Now that you have experience placing ceilings and creating custom ceiling systems, it is time to start adding features. The first items that come to mind are lighting fixtures, but we need to go back even further and figure out how to “cut holes” in the ceilings and add soffits. Creating Ceiling Openings and Soffits Unless you are in a residential dwelling, or a prison, you can look up and notice that a ceiling is merely serving as a host for electrical, mechanical, and archi- tectural appointments. Very seldom will you find a ceiling that does not require a modification in some capacity. This section of the chapter will deal with this issue, starting with creating a ceiling opening. Creating Ceiling Openings and Soffits 399 Creating a Ceiling Opening To begin, open the file you have been following along with. If you did not complete the previous chapter, go to the book’s web page at www.sybex.com/go/revit2011ner. From there you can browse to Chapter 9 and find the file called NER-26.rvt. The objective of the next procedure is to cut an opening into a ceiling to later drop a soffit into: 1. Open the Level 1 ceiling plan. 2. Zoom into the wood ceilings in the west wing, as shown in Figure 9.23. 3. Select the ceiling in the northwest corner of the building, as shown in Figure 9.23. TIP Ceilings can be difficult to select. If you hover your cursor over the perimeter of the ceiling, you will see it highlight. If the wall or some other overlapping geometry highlights instead, tap the Tab key on your keyboard to lter through until you nd the ceiling. When the ceiling highlights, pick it. 4. After the ceiling is selected, click the Edit Boundary button on the Modify | Ceilings tab, as shown in Figure 9.23. The ceiling pattern disappears and is replaced by a magenta sketch line at the perimeter of the room. 5. Switch to the Home tab, and click the Ref Plane button on the Work Plane panel as shown in Figure 9.24. 6. Draw two reference planes, as shown in Figure 9.24. Be sure to snap to the midpoints of the magenta sketch lines. 7. With the reference planes drawn, click the Pick Lines icon on the Draw panel of the Modify | Ceilings tab. 8. On the Draw panel on the Modify | Ceilings ➢ Edit Boundary tab, click the Boundary Line button. When you do, you will see an expanded list of sketch choices. Pick the Circle choice, as shown in Figure 9.25. 9. Draw a 4 ′-0″ radius circle at the intersection of the reference planes (see Figure 9.25). 10. On the Mode panel, click Finish Edit Mode. 11. Verify that your ceiling looks like Figure 9.26. Chapter 9 • Ceilings and Interiors 400 FIGURE 9.23 Clicking the Edit Boundary button on the Modify | Ceilings tab FIGURE 9.24 Drawing two reference planes to create a center intersection Creating Ceiling Openings and Soffits 401 FIGURE 9.25 Sketching a 4′–0″ radius circle FIGURE 9.26 There’s a hole in my ceiling! With the cutout in place, we need to think about closing this feature with a soffit and, perhaps, another ceiling. Chapter 9 • Ceilings and Interiors 402 Creating a Soffit Soffits are nothing more than walls with a base offset. This makes sense if you think about it. If your floor level moves, you certainly want the distance from the finish floor to the bottom of the soffit to remain consistent. This one is going to be easy! 1. On the Home tab, click the Wall button. 2. In the Change Element Type menu, select Basic Wall : Interior: 6 1/8 ″ Partition (2 Hr). 3. Click the Edit Type button. 4. Click Duplicate. 5. Call the new wall 4 1/2” Soffit. 6. Click OK. 7. Click the Edit button in the Structure row. 8. Delete rows 1 and 7 (the double gypsum layer). 9. Change the gypsum thicknesses to 1/2”. 10. Change the Stud layer to 3 1/2”. 11. Click OK twice. 12. In the Properties dialog, set Base Offset to 14’– 0”, as shown in Figure 9.27. 13. Set Top Constraint to Up To Level: Level 3 (see Figure 9.28). FIGURE 9.27 Modifying the dimensions of the 6 1/8″ wall Creating Ceiling Openings and Soffits 403 FIGURE 9.28 Setting the Top Constraint and Bottom Offset You are now ready to place the soffit. You will add it to the radial hole in the ceil- ing. Normally, you would need to physically draw the wall using the Arc Sketch function. In this case, you can simply pick the radial portion of the ceiling opening. 1. With the Wall command still running, click the Pick Lines icon on the Draw panel. 2. Mouse over the radial ceiling opening. Notice a blue alignment line appears. Make sure it is to the inside of the opening, then press the Tab key twice. 3. Notice the entire circle is selected and the blue alignment line is fac- ing the inside of the hole (see Figure 9.29). When you see this, pick a point to the inside of the hole. 4. Press Esc twice. Your soffit is complete. It is now time to add a secondary ceiling to the inside of the soffit. This pro- cedure will be carried out exactly as it was when you added a ceiling to the entire room. 1. In the Project Browser, go to the Level 1 ceiling plan and zoom in on the ceiling with the soffit. 2. On the Home tab, click the Ceiling button. 3. Select Compound Ceiling : Wood Veneer On Metal Framing (if it is not the current selection already). 4. Click the Edit Type button. 5. Click Duplicate. 6. Call the new ceiling Mahogany Veneer on Metal Framing, and then click OK. . Finish Edit Mode. You now have a plan region. Although it may not seem as though you did any- thing in the plan, when you place a ceiling at 14 ′–6″, you will be able to see it. NOTE The dotted. annoying (especially if you start col- lecting several plan regions), I recommend that you keep them turned on. It is helpful to know where a plan region is in the model, and it is more impor- tant. 14 -6 ”. 19. Place the ceiling in the room shown in Figure 9.21. Creating Ceilings 397 FIGURE 9.21 The cherry-veneered plywood ceiling NOTE Don’t get discouraged if your final result is not