Creating spaces with the Space tool

Spaces are path objects that have the characteristics of a building space or room, which include information such as the space name, number, finish information, and height. The space label can be a pre-defined or user-defined symbol, and it can display not only name and number, but virtually any desired information. Space objects automatically calculate their area, volume, and perimeter.

The Room Name Simple tool (in the Dims/Notes tool set) creates a text label only; it does not attach room finish, area, IFC, or GSA information to a space object.

To draw a free-standing space with the Space tool, click either the Rectangle or the Polyline mode. If the walls are already drawn, click the Picked Walls mode or Inner Boundary mode to create a space bounded by visible walls.

 

 

Creating spaces from picked walls

To create a space within a selected set of visible walls:

Click the tool.

Do one of the following:

Click Space Style on the Tool bar to select a resource from the Resource Selector.

From the Attributes palette, set the 2D attributes for the space (fill, pen, opacity, and line thickness), and then click Preferences to open the Space Preferences dialog box and specify the tool’s default parameters.

The parameters can be edited later from the Object Info palette.

Click Picked Walls mode.

Click each wall that forms the wall set and then press Enter, or click the check mark button on the Tool bar. The space is created and automatically associated with its bounding walls.

Add information specific to the space.

Optionally, create a style resource from an unstyled object (see Custom plug-in object styles without catalog options).

Creating spaces from the inner boundary of walls

Alternatively, select AEC > Space Planning > Create Spaces from Walls to create spaces from a set of enclosed walls on a specified design layer (see Creating spaces from walls).

To create a space within a closed set of visible walls:

Click the tool.

Do one of the following:

Click Space Style on the Tool bar to select a resource from the Resource Selector.

From the Attributes palette, set the 2D attributes for the space (fill, pen, opacity, and line thickness), and then click Preferences to open the Space Preferences dialog box and specify the tool’s default parameters.

The parameters can be edited later from the Object Info palette.

Click Inner Boundary mode.

Click in an open area of the drawing that is bounded by walls; the walls must be visible, joined together, and on layers that have the same layer scale as the space layer. The space is created and automatically associated with its bounding walls.

Add information specific to the space.

Optionally, create a style resource from an unstyled object (see Custom plug-in object styles without catalog options).

Drawing spaces with the Space tool

To draw a space with the Space tool:

Click the tool.

Do one of the following:

Click Space Style on the Tool bar to select a resource from the Resource Selector.

From the Attributes palette, set the 2D attributes for the space (fill, pen, opacity, and line thickness), and then click Preferences to open the Space Preferences dialog box and specify the tool’s default parameters.

The parameters can be edited later from the Object Info palette.

Click Rectangle mode, or click Polyline mode and then select the type of control point for the polyline vertices.

Draw the space as follows:

For a rectangular space, click to begin the rectangle, and then click again to finish the rectangle and create the space.

For a polyline space, click to begin the polyline, and then click to set each polyline vertex. Click the start point to end the polyline and create the space.

The space is created with the attributes and settings you specified.

Add information specific to the space.

Optionally, create a style resource from an unstyled object (see Custom plug-in object styles without catalog options).

Adding information to spaces

After all spaces have been created, select specific spaces and add more information to them from the Object Info palette, such as a space name and room finishes. The items that are changed most frequently are available on the Shape tab. To access the full set of space properties, click the Settings button to open the Space Settings dialog box.

The properties that are available from the Object Info palette are determined by the Advanced Settings pane on the Space Settings dialog box. See Space settings: Advanced Settings pane for details.

Copying attributes to other spaces

If several spaces need to have attributes in common, such as the same space name and room finishes, copy the attributes from an existing space and apply them to the other spaces.

To create spaces with many parameter, attributes, and information in common, it may be more efficient to create a style resource that can also be reused in other files; see Concept: Plug-in object styles. 

To copy attributes to other spaces:

Click the tool and then click Preferences.

On the Space Preferences dialog box Advanced Settings pane, select the attributes to transfer between spaces from the Eyedropper Transfer Properties window (see Space settings: Advanced Settings pane for details).

Click the Pick Up Attributes mode from the Tool bar. Click the space with the attributes you want to transfer.

Click the Apply Attributes mode from the Tool bar, and click each space that should have those attributes.

Alternatively, press the Ctrl key (Windows) or the Option key (Mac) while you click to activate the Apply Attributes mode.

Space settings

Editing space boundaries