Hey guys so I have this building here in my screen shot and im trying to put a cladding on the facade evenly. It has an angle to it but what would be the best way to apply my material evenly throughout the surface since there are various window components, floor slabs, ceiling slabs. Is it possible to do it without having to explode everything and connecting it so that its one full surface? If so that’s probably the way I’d want to do it as exploding usually causes a disaster…
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Hi Steven,
I think I can help. A few questions:
- are you using (drawn) a storefront glazing or cold formed steel framing system?
2] what type of material(s) are you thinking about for the facade?
As with everything in SketchUp, there’s more than one way to accomplish what you’re trying to do.
It looks like you’re using what I call the “layer cake” method of modeling a building: walls, floor, walls, floor,… just like a layer cake with frosting in between. But the exterior cladding among other things exists for more than one floor. I mostly go about it by modeling the cladding as a thing of it’s own for the full height of the building, and then applying a texture is straight forward. It means exterior walls have four surfaces in them, but, if you use Flextools, you can set it to punch four surfaces to insert a window.
There are other approaches where you enter each group and hide the edges for butting parts so it looks seamless. @eneroth3 made a plugin to help with that, I think. Making the pattern match from one to the next might take a little work. I don’t work this way, so maybe some else who does might give better advice on this.
Hey Lindsey I’m using a brushed stainless metal cladding for the facade that looks like the image below… and I’m using a black framing for the window encasing material for the facade. The actual tiles are below since I’m doing it in metal.
Hi Steven,
Great. As @RTCool mentions there are several different approaches. Some are more or less applicable to the design phase of the project and the amount of “model” detail one desires.
My experience with the type of SS metal cladding you have shown us, is for this material to be applied to a solid weatherized surface.
Importantly, I do not recommend “exploding” your design. From my experience and my understanding of best practice, all geometry is best modeled when it is “wrapped” in a component or group.
For modeling, my first approach would be to make a wall segment (as a component or group) and apply the cladding above as a texture to the exterior face and a material representing your interior face. By adjusting the sectional shape (outer face) of the wall, you could create the angle you desire.
A second approach would be to make a plane (as a component or group) of one or two inches of thickness, apply the texture and then locate the plane onto the framing you have created. Using the Rotate Tool you could adjust for the angle you desire.
For my modeling, I create assemblies (components or groups) similar to the assemblies created in construction. My approach is to “model” similar to how contractors “construct” and how 2D drawings will ultimately be created.
As the design moves from Schematic to Design Development to Contract Documents, the model assemblies become a little more detailed/complex, reflecting the refinement and material selections for the design.
As an example during Schematics, when I create commercial ceilings for a room/space I use a plain plane (component or group) of about 2 inches thickness, as seen below:
As the project develops, I add T-Bar, lights, HVAC and sprinklers (as separate components or groups), as seen below:
This is an example of my workflow.
I look forward to assisting you some more, as further questions come to mind.