How to use the Elevation workspace

Open the elevation grid

1. 1

   Switch to Views

   In the top bar, the workspace switch has three buttons: 2D, 3D and Views. Click Views. On a narrow screen it shows as an icon only.

2. 2

   Read the four facades

   The Elevations grid shows the four sides at once: South (Front), North (Back), West (Left) and East (Right). Each shows the whole building with every floor level and the roof. Click one to select it.

   

3. 3

   Open a facade to edit it

   Double-click a facade. It opens full size, with the side and compass direction in the header.

Move doors and windows on a facade

1. 4

   Drag an opening along its wall

   Drag a door or window left or right to slide it along its wall. The plan updates at the same time, because both views edit the same document.

   

2. 5

   Drag a window up or down

   Drag a window up or down to change its height on the wall. The readout shows its sill and head height while you drag.

3. 6

   Use the guides

   While you drag, the opening snaps to guides: Sill, Head, Center, Left edge, Right edge, Wall centre, Equal gaps and Wall end. Live dimensions show the clearance to its neighbours.

4. 7

   Place freely

   Hold Alt while dragging to turn snapping off.

5. 8

   Go back to the grid

   Click Back to elevation grid, or press Esc.

Draw a section through the house

A section shows a slice through your home: walls, floors, stairs and the roof that the line cuts, and everything you would see behind it. It is drawn from your plan and updates by itself.

1. 9

   Draw the section line

   On the 2D plan, pick Section line under Measure & label (or press Shift+K, or right-click and choose Create section here). Click where the line starts, click where it ends, then move the mouse to the side you want to look at and click. On a phone, tap twice: it looks at the side with more of the house, and Flip view turns it around.

2. 10

   Adjust it on the plan

   Drag the line to move it, or drag an end badge to change its length or angle. Use Flip view (or F) to look the other way, and double-click a badge to rename it. While it is selected, a live preview in the corner shows the section.

3. 11

   Open the section

   Double-click the line, click Open on its toolbar, or double-click its card under Sections in Views. The corner map shows where it cuts. Turn Furniture, Room names, Level heights, Dimensions and Things behind the cut on or off in the right panel, and Show on plan takes you back to the line.

4. 12

   Print it

   In Export, sections are listed under Sections in Drawings to export. The tick is the same as Include in export on the section; a section that is left out shows a crossed-out printer on its card.

Look at one wall face on

Wall view shows a single wall, from either side, including the room side. It is the best view for kitchens, bathrooms and anything that stands against one wall.

1. 13

   Open Wall view

   In the Elevation workspace, click Wall view. Pick the wall in Wall to edit. If you select a wall or a door on the 2D plan first, Wall view opens on that wall directly.

   

2. 14

   Look at the other face

   Use the flip button to see the other side of the same wall. The header says which way you are facing.

3. 15

   Move openings on the wall

   Drag a door or window along the wall, or a window up and down. Hold Shift to move freely, or Alt for 1 cm steps. Use Fit wall to view if you lose it.

4. 16

   Open the wall sheet

   Click Sheet for the section, the schedule and a PNG of this wall. Choose Front (elevation) for the wall face on or Side (section) to see how far things project. Schedule lists everything standing against the wall.

Print elevation sheets

1. 17

   Open Sheets

   Click Sheets in the Elevation workspace. The Building elevations view shows one side of the building at a time, drawn to scale with heights from ground level.

   

2. 18

   Pick the side and the labels

   Pick the Side of the building. Toggle Dimensions for widths and heights and Labels for the name and size on each opening. Click an opening to see its sill, height and head.

3. 19

   Download

   Under This side, pick PNG image or PDF sheet. Under All four sides, pick PDF, one sheet per side. To put elevations and plans together on one sheet, use Export in the top bar instead.

Tips

• Heights on elevation sheets are from ground level (GL). Floor levels show as FFL marks, and sills are measured from their own floor.
• Elevations follow the roof. With no roof set up, wall tops are drawn flat; add a roof and it appears in every elevation.
• Use the facade view to line up windows on the ground floor with the ones on the floor above.
• A window that reaches above its wall or runs past the end of the wall is flagged in a warning under the drawing.
• Every change you make in elevation is a normal edit: Ctrl+Z undoes it.
• A section always cuts every floor at once, so one line through the stairs shows the whole house from the ground to the roof.

Common problems

The elevation is empty

Elevations need walls. Draw walls on at least one floor, then the building appears from each side.

I cannot drag an opening on a curved wall

Curved walls are drawn flattened onto their chord in elevation, so they cannot be edited there yet. Move those openings on the 2D plan.

An opening cannot be edited from this side

It may be on another floor (switch to that floor), or on a wall seen at a sharp angle. Use the facade the wall faces, or Wall view.

Some windows are missing

Openings that sit behind other walls from that side are not drawn. The warning under the drawing says how many.

The walls are all the same height

Walls with no height set are drawn at the default height. Select a wall on the plan and set its Clear height.

The front of my house shows as the back

Plans are north-up, so the side at the bottom of the plan is the South, front, elevation. Draw the plan with the street side at the bottom.