Before using the software to perform massing studies, learn these terms.
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Massing | The process of visualizing, studying, and resolving building forms using mass instances. |
| Mass Family | A family of shapes, belonging to the mass category. An in-place mass is saved with the project; it is not a separate file. |
| Mass Instance or Mass | An instance of a loaded mass family or an in-place mass. |
| Conceptual Design Environment | A type of family editor that creates conceptual designs using in-place and loadable family mass elements. |
| Mass Form | The overall form of each mass family or in-place mass. |
| Massing Study | A study of one or more building forms made from one or more mass instances. |
| Mass Face | A surface on a mass instance that can be used to create a building element, such as a wall or roof. |
| Mass Floor | A horizontal slice through a mass at a defined level. Mass floors provide geometric information about the dimensions of the mass above the slice, up to the next slice or the top of the mass. |
| Building Elements | Walls, roofs, floors, and curtain systems that can be created from mass faces. |
| Zoning Envelope | A legally defined volume within which a building must be contained. Zoning envelopes can be modeled as a mass. |