How to Model Timber Stud Framing in Archicad

In this video, we'll explore some different tips and tricks for modeling timber wood stud framing in Archicad 24. This particular example is a reference from the CONTRABIM Residential Template. For more details and to purchase for your own use, check out: www.contrabim.com/residential...
About CONTRABIM:
Our mission is to help Architects, Engineers and Builders navigate the complexities of designing and building with 3D Virtual Models in Archicad BIM Software, through thoughtfully produced templates and training programs to help them implement a strategic workflow, enabling them to deliver projects faster, win more work, reduce waste and increase profits.
CONTRABIM Network:
To serve our community, we've launched the CONTRABIM Network which includes access to all of our Archicad Templates, Training Programs and Tools to help fast track users learning and adoption of BIM. Join the community today to get instant access to training and downloads.
Website: www.contrabim.com/
Join: www.contrabim.com/offers/qhVA...
Blog: www.contrabim.com/blog
Linkedin: / contrabim
Facebook: / contrabim
Instagram: / contrabim
(00:00) 1. Intro to Timber Stud Framing
(01:03) 2. Design vs Trade Level of Detail
(01:45) 3. View Map Approach - Design vs Trades
(02:32) 4. Rough Carpentry Drawing Views
(05:10) 5. Stud Wall Framing Members
(08:00) 6. Modeling Exercise - Stud Framing
(11:11) 7. Surface Based Stud Representation
(12:15) 8. Complex Profiles for Studs
(15:20) 9. Bottom Plate Modeling
(17:10) 10. Top Plate Modeling
(19:35) 11. Timmers, King Studs & Headers
(27:00) 12. Stud Framed Corners and In-Fill
(31:35) 13. Sill Plates and Cripple Studs
(37:40) 14. Design Coordination with Stud Framing

[@mariolordeiro8590]

Excellent tutorial John! Thank you! Perfect

[@CONTRABIM]

Thanks Mario! Glad you liked it

[@dylanorlandomelendezcalder1900]

Simply great! Lot of things need to be done by creating complex profiles.

[@CONTRABIM]

Thanks Dylan! This is just another example of a simple element, made a little better by a complex profile...

[@xelcise89]

The chamfered 2x profile is genius! Using 0.1mm offsets to show the divides has been driving me mad! Awesome tutorial thanks so much.

[@CONTRABIM]

Great glad it's helping you out! It may not have been apparent from the video, but the 2x profile has 4 pieces to it so you can get the X in section as well as see in 3d.

[@TLOTTrike]

My method is a combination of three library objects I made. One for wall framing one for floor joists and finally a simple single stud object. All are stretchy and have options for junctions/perimeters. Using objects avoids “walls” interfering with each other. I like your use of a Graphic override to highlight different functions. All the best

[@CONTRABIM]

Nice that should work as well! Yes the interference with in-cavity framing can certainly occur, but setting priorities in layer combos definitely can resolve that issue. Thanks for the comment!

[@LearningArchicad]

Nice. Shared!

[@CONTRABIM]

Awesome, thanks for sharing!!

[@emresenoglu]

hey john - well done for the really detailed and extensive video. have you thought about using curtain wall tool for framing? if so, what are the advantages/disadvantages over using beam+column tools?

[@CONTRABIM]

Hi Emre. Thanks for the comment! So I've been getting a lot of questions on this using railings or curtainwalls to generate framing. I havn't tried these methods extensively myself, but it may be worth an additional video. My initial impression is it can get close for walls without any openings, but once you start introducing variables (which will take place in almost every wall), it becomes more time consuming then laying it out with the basic column/beams. Something definitely worth reviewing! Thanks for the question!

[@chenrunli3354]

I don't know the layers can be shown in wireframe mode before. Thank you for this video. How can I show X mark like yours in the cut section. It's very hard use customized x cut fill for different timber sizes, so I use defaulted joist profile which is basically made of 4 triangular fills. In this video, your profile "2x detailed" only has 1 fill. Can you tell me how can you show the X mark in the section with 1 filled profile only?

[@CONTRABIM]

Hi Chenrun! Glad you found out about the wireframe option, which can be super helpful in a number of different applications. I'll do a video expanding on the X shortly! But your right, to get the X in section on beams you need 4 elements or a single element with a slight cutout to get this to work. Columns in plan can be default have an X which does the job! I'll put out a video shortly on this topic

[@pharesg4610]

Hi, is the rough carpentry graphic override combination a custom override that you have created..?

[@CONTRABIM]

The G.O. is a custom one that highlights the different framing members with different colors. Headers, Sill Plate, Trimmers, King Studs, Cripples etc...

[@alexnader81]

Hi John! Question: How does the 2D documentation looks like generated from this? Do you have a workflow in place specific for framing, details, cutsheets, etc or there´s no need for anything special?

[@CONTRABIM]

The 2d plan views and sections turn out quite nice with this approach. Columns get cut and have an X, and beams in section also get an X which helps when you have multiples stacked. You can of course build live details, or can always link back to standard framing details as well. Very flexible... Thanks for the question! Sorry for my late reply!

[@rogershafer6731]

I have a template that I have been using for years. Is the framing setup and overrides available that I could merge into my template?

[@pharesg4610]

Hey, Do you create the king post and trimmer as one object or separate objects then group..?

[@CONTRABIM]

Hi! In this case separate columns and grouped so it's easier to copy around and place together. Thanks for the question!

[@kre4ito]

Awesome tutorial as always, but I have a question. How do you error check your model for duplicates? Because you are doing it by hand and thus always run the risk of human error.

[@CONTRABIM]

Thanks for the comment, and the question. I have a video coming in a few hours to explain how to quality check!

[@CONTRABIM]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKmolpqGj8emkLc check it out here!

[@kre4ito]

@@CONTRABIM Damn. You are a universal treasure.

[@debbielrosenberg]

I'm wondering if you could more specifically describe the graphic overrides you use both for 3d and 2d rough carpentry? I can't seem to get my 3d view to look like yours with the architecture ghosted wireframe and the framing elements solid colors. Thanks!

[@CONTRABIM]

Sure, thanks for the question. So to ghost out the project, I apply an override to pretty much everything, which is the lowest priority rule. Above that, I create overrides for different framing members, based on their element ID containing a specific word. So King Stud/Trimmer/Bottom/Top Plates/Headers etc... All of these can have a specific pen and surface override, and when placed ahead of the general ghosting override, will make them all pop. In between those two groups of overrides, I have a more general Rough Carpentry override, which is based on materials, searching for anything that is wood framing type material and overriding with an black pen and orange surface color. That way it can catch the other misc. framing members to bring forward from the ghosting. Hope that helps!

[@stealfyspray]

How are you navigating so smoothly, for example at 1:32 it almost glides??

[@CONTRABIM]

3D Mouse! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIuml6epj51mptk

[@Rojarquitectura]

Hi John, How do you add the X graph to the beam profile to be visualised in a section view?

[@CONTRABIM]

Hi Diego. You can add the X in the complex profile by splitting the shape into 4 pieces. There are pros and cons of this method however, as the split pieces can count multiple times in component schedules, but for element schedules it's no problem!

[@Rojarquitectura]

@@CONTRABIM Thanks for your answer, but I did that and didn't get the X symbol in a section. Do you know if there is any other way to obtain this result? I think it would be great if AC included this symbol on beams natively as well as it already incorporates it for columns.

[@CONTRABIM]

@@Rojarquitectura Yes that would make a lot of sense for it to include just like columns. There are two things you can try in your complex profile. 1. You can change the building material so you have a type 1 and type 2 for adjacent pieces. 2. On the intersecting boundary lines between fills, you can select those and change the pen of a single edge. This typically works as well. Also some older versions of Archicad may have more trouble with this of merging material fills from complex profiles...

[@CONTRABIM]

@@Rojarquitectura I'll have to put together a quick video on this subject, I'm probably not explaining it right. I agree through that it should be a native option...

[@Rojarquitectura]

@@CONTRABIM that sounds great, please, let me know when you post the video, I'll appreciate it.

[@kyledc4105]

How do you avoid side by side placed columns and beams from merging into one element? I have tried setting their intersection priority to zero in addition to adding the notch at the corners but for whatever reason they still merge. Is there a minimum size these notched corners have to be? Would be helpful to have a walk through in detail as to how the complex profile was built or at least access to the complex profile itself. Nonetheless, thank you this tutorial was very helpful!

[@CONTRABIM]

I was using about 1/8" chamfered corners. I don't know if there is a minimum size, but hopefully you got it figured out!

[@LearningArchicad]

Happy New Year We open a call for all those people who are dedicated to creating Archicad tutorials on KZbin or any other digital platform and need to publicize their content. As every year we offer them a space to use our Facebook page and they can publish their work directly there. People who want to take advantage of this opportunity please comment and we will gladly add them.

[@CONTRABIM]

Yes absolutely!

[@hu5tle-]

are all of these stud complex profiles in the template? I don't recall seeing any "bottom plate" members.

[@CONTRABIM]

Yes they are all the same profile (2x) which is modified to get 2x2, 2x3, 2x4, 2x6, 4x4, etc... The bottom plate is just the ID which helps drive the graphic override!

[@jvalal]

@@CONTRABIM ​ Hey John, I'm clearly doing something wrong. I thought I could just pick the 2x from the module sheet and lay it out, but no dice. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqe8n2uDrt6UqtE

[@ericmilberger718]

Just a side - we do very little to no wood framing. Will what you have do steel studs? Or is this just an adjustment to materials to make this happen

[@CONTRABIM]

Steel studs could be done pretty much the exact same way, with with rectangles or by using complex profiles with the beams and columns. Using a single profile with modifiers would produce most common steel stud shapes, or make a few additional profiles for tracks and other shapes. Material I'd adjust to steel stud framing structural/non-structural...

[@Zjaan321]

With a manual method like this (not using a plug-in) how long will a finalised project, 150-180 sqm, take for you to frame up like this?

[@CONTRABIM]

For a project that size, doing the in-wall framing members would likely take 45-90 minutes, just guessing of course! It definitely goes by faster when the structural design is already done, that way you can place columns, posts, headers etc... and then fill in around it. I usually put on some good music and see how fast I can get it done, a race against myself:)

[@elbeto1975]

@@CONTRABIM Have you tried the wall framing tool in the wall accessories, instead? Not sure if it will work for estimating.

[@brendonpuriri9795]

Hey John, have you got those timber profiles available for download?

[@brendonpuriri9795]

We have ArchiCad 25 but am a novice but keen to learn this for costing in CostX via IFC model.

[@CONTRABIM]

I can post it to the blog. It's just a square with chamfered corners, that is split into 4 pieces diagonally so that it creates the X shape in section.

[@CONTRABIM]

Nice! Thanks for the comment.

[@szabolcssoti2810]

Hi John, ever tried to use the railing tool for the stud framing... (in parts)?

[@CONTRABIM]

To be honest I havn't tried that. We had a comment on a previous video about it, and it sounded like it wasn't working so well, and too many complications with openings and headers. I could see how it could be used for bottom and top plates, and maybe some intermediate studs, but what about around windows and doors? I'll have to play with it a little bit, and see if there's a potential there! Challenge with railings is it can be difficult to get good quantities as well from the intermediate members, besides total length and counts, it doesn't give other lengths. Thanks for the comment tho I'll have to do some tests!

[@xelcise89]

I’ve tried a lot of different methods to try and automate this process and both railings and curtain walls seem to be a real pain, especially when you have gable walls (where stud heights vary) or need to show the studs with a cross mark as you would expect (posts/balustrades have very limited symbols on floor plans) I had limited success with the curtain wall tool, but again it really doesn’t want to make the kind of connections/overlaps you would look for in cripple/trimmer studs. I also found it affected my performance eventually - but as Contrabim discussed with me in a previous comment, that may have been because the elements were attempting to intersect/use material priorities with every wall.

[@AlekseiSljusarev]

Roofmaker library and Roof Construction objects in ArchiCAD library solve many problems. Just setting layer priority to 0 will make lines betwenn studs visible. Also it is much easier to make schedules since you have "lumber size" value in those objects. In addition you can make your own Claffification and a ste of custom Properties with formulas to gather studs, sills, struts diagonals etc into one schedule. You can make some formulas (tbh a veeeeery long formulas) to create a property for cross-section, regardles of the type of object. But it is a real pain to make work projects like that. My personal record is a full work project for architecture + framing + plumbing + ventilation + heating for a 2-storied 1700 m2 school building in Norway. Done in 2 months.

[@xelcise89]

Aleksei Sljusarev that is true - I do really like the roof maker tool objects. How do you place them though? One at a time, as there’s no roof to generate them with automatically? Also do you ever find contractors asking about the representation not being traditional (ie no cross symbol for rough cut timbers etc? I’d love to see some images of that project - sounds awesome.

[@MikeMontgomery1]

Do you have a method for scheduling both the column and beam framing members to produce a list of lengths into one column? The column uses 'height' while beams use 'length left' or 'length right'...I am trying to combine those lists into a single column for a cut list.

[@mariansdraila]

28:40 That type of corner blocking is not ideal because that corner becomes a thermal bridge.

[@CONTRABIM]

Good point, it could be insulated out, but plenty of different methods to frame a corner depending on what type of R value you need and what structural eng wants to see...

I think this method is a complete misapprehension (of the BIM approach, and the core phylosophy of the Archicad). The main advantage of the BIM approach (and the usage of an advanced BIM modeler, like AC) is - at least I think - is not based on the possibility of modeling every piece of the building manually, but the possibility of correction and editing later on. Take into consideration e.g. a small correction of a partition wall or a door/window in a wall: in a normal AC model, it takes a few clicks. But in this model, you have to make dozens of steps to adjust the individual parts of the frame, even if a smallest change is to make. A major redesign is better to start over from scratch. The AC have the Goodies Suite add-on bundle, which has the wall framing accessory in it. It's not perfect, but I've tried it to make a whole residential bulding's wall framing with it. It worked well, it could follow the changes of the model's corrections in the framing, quite well. Actually in Hungary, the framed wall structures are not common, so I'm not quite familiar with these kind of structures - but I managed well with it. All the parts of the wall-framing could be modeled automatically, almost all of the parts were adjustable, according to the needs. And actually, I had to adjust almost all of the model's details during the design process after putting the frame in (almost all of the d&w moved&adjusted, most of the partition walls should be adjusted) - and the framing accessory did the most of the job (only some minor adjustments should have been taken). And another suggestion: to avoid the automatic welding/joining the elements is easier by using different materials/hatchings (even with the same materials/hatchings duplicated), than using the faceted corners. And the faceted corner method produces unwanted additional lines on elevation views.

[@CONTRABIM]

Hi Itsvan! Thanks for the comment! Super appreciate the notes and viewpoint. I agree that there is a time and place for modeling framing, and doing so too soon will create more work later on. That said, on small projects I'd still prefer modeling with the beam/column tools, as there's a little better control than with the goodies framing add-on. I've played with that quite a bit, and it needs some GDL adjustments to work with composite walls, and honestly I like having more control over individual elements than a single object. But that's the great thing about Archicad, is there are so many different ways of doing things. This video in particular was in response to an overwhelming amount of questions for how to model wood stud framing, so this is at least 1 approach:) Thanks for the comment!

[@wheres_bears1378]

Is this video from a particular course or playlist? It seems to just jump into the middle of a full course and it’s hard to get the gist of what’s going on

[@CONTRABIM]

The intro portion of this video is just intended to create some context, second half demonstrates the modeling technique which is a very manual approach in this case. The overall file was from the CONTRABIM Template training we did back from 2020, so a little older in this case...thanks for the question tho, hope this helps clarify!