In part 4 of the tutorial, you add floors by picking walls, using sketch tools, and by copying and pasting an existing floor to a different level.
This video demonstrates the following:
Like other elements, a floor is associated with a level. To place a floor in the lower level of the model, double-click the lower level floor plan in the Project Browser. Floors are sketch-based elements.
Selecting the Floor tool opens a sketch mode in which the perimeter of the floor is sketched with a closed loop of lines. Because there are already walls placed in the project which define the shape of the floor, the Pick Walls tool from the Draw panel can be used to sketch the floor perimeter.
Using this tool also creates a constraint between the floor edge and the wall. If a wall is moved at a later time to accommodate a design change, the floor edge will automatically move with it. By placing the cursor over a wall to highlight it, and then pressing the Tab key, the entire chain of connected walls can be selected with one click.
The parallel lines shown along the top sketch line of the floor indicate the span direction of the floor. In this case, the floor is a generic floor, so the span direction is not critical. If the span direction needs to be changed, the Span Direction tool on the Draw panel allows for another line on the perimeter to be assigned the span direction.
When the sketch is complete, click the check mark on the Mode panel to save the changes and exit Sketch mode. A floor can be used as an attachment point for walls, so you are asked if the walls touching the floor should stop at the floor level. The walls are currently using levels as the attachments, so that relationship will be left intact by clicking No.
Floors can also cut geometry out of the walls they are intersecting. Depending on the actual built condition, this may or may not be needed. In this case, the floor does not need to cut the geometry of the wall. To place the floor on the second level, leave the floor selected and copy it to the clipboard.
From the 3D view, you can see the floor in the model as the Paste Aligned to Selected Levels tool is used. The shape of the floor pasted to the second level needs to be modified to match the design intent. Sketching the changes will be easier from the second floor plan view so that view is opened from the Project Browser.
When a sketch-based element is selected, the contextual tab displays an Edit Boundary tool. Select this tool to enter sketch mode again and make edits to the sketch of the floor. Select the right floor edge and move it away from the wall to create an opening between the floor edge and the outer wall. Select another edge, and move it to create a balcony space on the exterior of the building. The Align tool can then be used to align the floor edge with the exterior wall. When the align tool is used, a lock icon is displayed. Clicking this icon establishes a constraint between the aligned elements.
The Trim and Delete tools are then used to finish cleaning up the sketch. When you click Finish edit mode, you are asked again about attaching walls to the floor, and again the response is No. The interior walls from the floor below are shown in gray in this view, because the first floor is underlayed to this view. To have these walls attach to the underside of the floor, select them, and click Attach Top from the contextual tab. Then, select the floor edge to establish the attachment target.
Opening a 3D view, you can see the exterior balcony and the interior loft space that were created by these floor modifications.