Getting on for two years ago (June 2017), there was a thread about developing a tool following the lines of Angular Dimension 2 by me and Steve Baumgartner (@slbaumgartner), but for labelling slopes.
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/slope-pitch-dimensions
It had spun off from the Sketchup 2018 Wish List thread, (link in the first post of the above thread).
Well, after a long delay, Steve and I have started to work on an implementation of a Slope Dimension plugin.
Most uses of slope dimensions by Architects seem to be in construction documentation elevation drawings, whereas we are developing it for SketchUp in 3D.
So our first implementation will be for edges, with the slope dimension in the vertical plane including the selected edge.
But part of the earlier discussion was about putting a slope dimension on a face, not just an edge.
We have several questions about whether, and if so how, to do that.
First, DO Architects typically show slope dimensions on (for example) roof faces in SU models at all, or do Civil Engineers on sloped terrain for roads or railways, which could then be shown in plan view in construction documents, as well as in the 3D model?
Second, IF they do, how is it shown in a plan view?
I’ve only managed to find one example of a plan with pitch marked on the roof face. Arrow pointing down the slope (which I think is more common than up, unless annotated ‘up’?). And the triangle (without hypotenuse) symbol showing 6:12 pitch, with run direction horizontal. Still not obvious from that symbol which is the high end. Maybe it doesn’t matter, and you infer it from the context?
We’d be very grateful for some other ‘worked examples’ of how it’s done in a plan view (if it is commonly done at all), and suggestions for how to draw that in a 3D model in addition to the above example.
Thanks if you can help us.
In particular, to those who responded to the previous post with an example or comment about displaying a slope dimension, have you anything to add on the idea of a plan-view dimension?
And for anyone who works in metric, even information about how you show pitch in metric in an elevation drawing would be helpful - virtually all the examples quoted, or that I can find by google search, show the US convention of rise in 12" run.
Sorry if you responded and I’ve missed adding your tag here.
@Neil_Burkholder, @Box, @Geo, @bmike, @Anssi, @JQL, @MobelDesign