Synopsis

This tutorial demonstrates how to model a simple three room house in Ecotect, assign zones to volumes and spaces, and insert windows and other child objects.

Duration

You will need about 45 minutes to complete this tutorial.

Training and Accreditation

Successfully completing this tutorial fulfills two of the practical skills required for completing Level 2 of the Geometric Modelling training module, and one of the practical skills required for completing Level 2 of the Thermal Analysis and Energy training module.

Resources Required

To complete this tutorial, start a new file in Ecotect. For comparison purposes, you may wish to download the SimpleHouse.zip Ecotect file available in the File Attachments section of this tutorial.

Tutorial

Creating Zones

1. Start the Ecotect application. The application starts with the Welcome Screen. Click on the 3D Editor tab to the left hand side of the screen to enter into the Ecotect modelling interface.
2. Select the Zone tool from the toolbar located on the left hand side of the modelling work area. To start creating a zone, click on any point of the modelling grid - note how the cursor snaps to 100mm increments, as displayed in the Zone/Cursor toolbar. To start, click on the point where the red grid axes appear.
3. Move your cursor along the x-axis - the first partition of the zone stretches along with your cursor, and the distance measured is also displayed. Click when the distance measured is 2600.
4. Now move your cursor along the y-axis and make the next partition 6200 in length.
5. Move the cursor back along the x-axis by a distance of 2600. Check that this point aligns with the point where you first started.
6. To complete the zone, press the Esc key on your keyboard. There's no need to click back on the point where you started - Ecotect automatically fills in the last partition in order to create a closed volume.
7. When you complete a zone, a dialogue box appears prompting you to name the zone you have just created. Accept the default Zone 1 and click Ok.
   
8. Let's create another zone, but using a slightly different input technique. Select the Zone tool. For the starting point of your new zone, use the top left hand corner of the zone you created previously.
9. To draw in the first partition, move your mouse roughly along the y-axis, and then look at the Zone/Cursor toolbar. Notice how the dY field is highlighted. Using the keyboard, type in 3900 and then press [ENTER]. The first partition is drawn along the y-axis to a length of 3900mm.
10. To draw the second partition, move your mouse roughly along the x-axis, and note how the dX field is now highlighted. Using the keyboard, type in 3600 and then press [ENTER].
11. Complete the next partition using the same input method, and then press [ESC] to complete the zone. When prompted, accept the default name for this zone.
12. So far, we have used cartesian coordinates to input the dimensions for the zones we have created. For the final zone, we'll use polar coordinates instead. Click the Zone tool, and use the far corner of the previous zone as your starting point.
13. To switch to polar coordinates, click the Polar/Cartesian toggle button to the right of the coordinate input boxes. The dX, dY and dZ fields now become Dis, Azi and Alt.
14. To draw the first partition of this zone, press the [TAB] key on the keyboard until the Dis field is hightlighted. Type 4700 into this field, but DO NOT press [ENTER] just yet.
15. Press [TAB] until the Azi field is highlighted. In this field, type 0. Now press [ENTER] - this completes the first partition.
16. To draw the second partition, use [TAB] to cycle through the input fields and enter 7600 into the Dis field and then -90 into the Azi field. Press [ENTER], and the second partition is completed.
17. Create the third partition using your prefered input method, and then press [ESC] to complete the final zone. Accept the default name for this zone.
18. Now is a good time to save your work - go to the File>Save menu item, specify a name and location, and then click the Save button. Nicely done.
    

Adding Windows & Doors

1. Let's add some windows into our model, starting with the selected partition as shown.
   
   To select the partition, use the Select tool and click on one of the edges of the required partition. Remember, if the wrong partition is selected, press the [SPACEBAR] key to cycle through all partitions that share that edge until the correct one is selected.
2. Press the [INSERT] key on your keyboard. This brings up the Insert Child Object dialogue box.
   
3. Select Window as the type of child object to insert. Enter the following dimensions for the new window - width 2400, height 1200 and sill height 600.
4. By default, Ecotect inserts the child object into the centre of the selected partition. Enter your own values for the centre point if you wish to vary the location of the insertion point. Click Ok, and the window as specified is inserted into the selected partition.
5. You can also insert windows and other child objects by drawing them manually into a selected partition - this is particularly useful if you are dealing with a non-rectangular shape. To try this, select the partition as shown.
   
6. Click and hold on the Insert Child Object tool, and then select the Window sub-option.
   
7. Now it's time to draw the window. Your cursor is now constrained to the plane of the selected partition, so draw a window with a width of 2400 and height of 1200. Don't worry about where it is located in the wall at this stage. Complete the window by pressing escape after drawing the third edge.
8. To position the window precisely in the wall, you can nudge it. Select the window you've just drawn, and then use the [x] and [z] keys to move it around within the wall (the [y] nudge key won't work, because you can't move a child object out of alignment with its parent object). To reverse direction, hold down the [SHIFT] key. Note: The nudge distance can be set using the Snap toolbar at the top of the screen.
9. Draw in the remaining two windows using either of the discussed input options. The dimensions for these windows are both 2400 wide, 1200 high, with a sill height of 600.
10. Using similar techniques as for creating windows, add doors between the zones as shown below. The dimensions for all doors are 900 wide by 2100 high. Don't forget to save your work.
11. Congratulations! You have completed your first Ecotect model. In the next tutorial, we will add a roof to this model.

The completed model.

Useful Tips

• The default height for a zone is set in the Ecotect User Preferences. To change it, go to the File>User Preferences menu, and then click on the Modelling tab. Change the default zone height as required.
• When creating doors or voids in adjacent partitions, there's no need to model the opening in both adjacent partitions - Ecotect accounts for this when calculating Interzonal Adjacencies.