SoftPlan Architectural Design Software Drawing Modes. - Generates elevations, cross sections, material lists, roof, floor and wall framing and 3D Images from the floor plan. For residential homes and light commercial building plans. Easy to use cad software for buildings.

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Drawing Modes

While drawing the floor plans there are Modes that have all the specific tools necessary to complete the drawing. These modes are used as part of the floor plan drawing. Tools like "Autoroof", "Joist poly" and "Roof an Opening" all greatly improve efficiency and accuracy of the finished product. Because all these modes are part of the floor plan consistency and accuracy are assured.
Apart from the drawing modes below, 5 user defined modes are available. These custom modes can be used for preset visibility options, eg, you may want to only see walls and openings with no notes or dimensions displayed.

DRAWING

Drawing mode is where most of the main building components will be added to the floor plans. You could call this the "living slice" as most items added in the Drawing Mode will be above the flooring and below the ceiling.
In this mode walls, openings, dimensioning, notes etc are placed on the plan. Symbols like furniture, people an many other objects can also be added. The addition of kitchen and bathroom cabinets along with appliances adds to the finished drawing and will help clients visualize as the items placed on the plan will be displayed in 3D.
An opening schedule can be automatically generated and positioned on the plan showing product code, size, swing direction and quantity used. All materials added to the plan will appear on the material list in SoftList.

AREA

This is generally a measuring tool allowing the tracing of parts of the floor plan. This tracing will then display the area and perimeter. Areas that are measured can be named and assigned to SoftList for material calculations. The choice of 15 area calculations provides for flexible take-offs. Areas can be selected with "Auto-Trace", a function that will locate and position the area to be measured. Area boundary can be inside, bearing or exterior wall position, allowing for accurate measuring.

CEILING

Like the flooring system, ceiling mode allows joists and ceiling material to be added with a single, trace a shape function. Single joists and holes can be positioned in a ceiling system.
As with all modes where items are added to the plan materials will be displayed in 3D and quantities allowed for in SoftList. "Auto-Trace" will position ceiling joists and associated materials to each room with a single click.

ELECTRICAL

With electrical mode you can add all the information required for placement of the electrical fittings.
This electrical layout can be printed and provided to the electrician as part of the work contract if desired. Functions include "Auto-Place Outlets" that will add power points to the floor plan.
A table like electrical schedule can be generated and positioned on the plan, showing item, quantity and symbol.

FLOOR SYSTEM

The Floor System mode is when a flooring system is added. Concrete slabs, floor joists and flooring materials, all added with the use of the tools supplied. Joist Poly allows the addition of a ring or band joist, floor joists and flooring material simply by tracing the outline shape of the are to be floored.
For finer detail single joists can be added and joist direction altered to suit the construction requirements.
The walls that were added in the drawing mode will be visible so that accurate flooring system placement can be achieved. "Auto-Trace" will position slabs, joist assemblies and associated joists to the floor plan.

FRAMING

Framing mode will automatically generate wall frame panel diagrams. Panels can be numbered, junction styles edited and dimensioning formats set before generating all wall panels on the floor plan.
Once displayed as a separate drawing, editing of panels to specific design is quick and dimensions easily placed.

INTERIOR

Interior Mode is for detailed interior design of the plan. It allows for the placement of items like Paint, Wall Paper, Skirting Board, Cornice, floor coverings and Bulkheads. Each of these materials types can be named as required. Interior materials added to the plan will be quantity estimated by SoftList and viewed in 3-Dimensional Images.
"Auto-Trace" can be used to place these materials on the plan, on a room by room basis, or one at a time for precise detailing.

Interior mode is for precise detailing, one material at a time, where Room Mode is for quickly adding all the finishes with a single click to each room, then edited in Interior Mode if needed.

REVIEW

reView mode allows you to view drawings that have been returned from non SoftPlan users that have had markups or comments added. reView schedules can be created and drawings adjusted as necessary.

More on SoftPlan reView.

PROFILE

Although not really a drawing mode more an editing mode, profile displays the plan and lays out the walls and beams so as to display their elevation offsets (vertical positions). This assists greatly with split levels and verandah beam placement. Full editing functions allow for accurate placement of materials.

ROOF

Roof mode is probably one of the most important parts of SoftPlan as it is capable of adding very complex roof shapes over the floor plan drawings. With "Autoroof" many roofs can be applied with a single click. Hip, Gable, Dutch Gable, Dual Pitch and curved roofs added with ease. Generate a profile or birds eye view in seconds or use Quick 3D to view the complete building.

ROOM

Room Mode allows for the defining of interior finishes on a room by room basis. Eg, the living room may have Colonial skirting, a Chamfer chair rail, Cove cornice, hardwood flooring and painted walls.
Defining each room is a single click to apply all these materials. Once defined materials will be displayed in 3D, cross sections, 3D imaging and material lists.

SITE

Site Mode is a separate drawing mode. Site Mode allows for the entry of survey specific information, like contours, services, property boundary by survey co-ordinates. A foot print of the floor plan can be generated and saved as a separate drawing file.
See Site Plan Once spot heights have been placed "Auto-Generate" contours can be used, with settings for contour interval and minimum and maximum values.

SOFTLIST / TAKE OFF

SoftList or Take off mode provides the tools to take off measurements from non SoftPlan drawings and images, eg, imported DXF, DWG drawings and BMP or JPG images. This allows the quantifying of materials from line type drawings created by traditional CAD based systems.
Using a highlighter type method to trace over items to measure area, volume and length. The values from these highlighters is then transferred to SoftList and can be used directly or manipulated with formulas to display results in the required format.
Take off mode can be used in conjunction with SoftPlan's materials, eg, walls and openings can be counted automatically by SoftList and footings can be measured with highlighters in take off mode. This provides complete flexibility when estimating.

SOFTVIEW

SoftView mode allows you to preset view parameters prior to generating 3D images. Items like camera field and direction of view, sun options for location of building, date and time, for sun shadow studies. Other items include light sources to create realistic 3D imaging.

CUSTOM MODES
5 Custom Modes are provided. These are modes that can be set up with their own view parameters. Eg, you may want to have a Mechanical Mode that will display all the services to the building, like water, power and air conditioning etc. Modes can be named according to use and specific icons displayed when mode in use.