Part 2. Form Z

In Form Z I used the Import command to import the DXF file from Powerdraw. I accept all defaults during the import procedure. At this point, it's best to check if the import is at the correct scale. The best way to do this is to use the Query command on a line who's length is known. (Hint: Use a Segment topological level to do this) If the line's length is incorrect, use Select All and then Scale the drawing accordingly.

Now you are ready to build the model. Instead of discussing every tool I used, I'll highlight a few. First, I establish a system of layers that refer to the different materials I will be rendering with in StudioPro. Obviously, these are only guesses but it's important to start planning at an early stage. The canted walls were created using a combination of the Rotate tool and the Define Arbitrary Plane tool. The Define Arbitrary Plane tool allows you to work on any plane at any angle, and allowed me to create the canted walls in this design. The remainder of the model was created using the Boolean operation of Difference, which simply carves one object out of another. The final modeling step was to cut a Section at the two floor levels so that these Sections could be sent back into Powerdraw to finalize the floor plans.

Once the model is complete you should save the file as a Form Z document. Then you will need to customize the file in order to send it into StudioPro. Assuming you are on version 2.8 or later of Form Z, you need to do the following. Isolate each layer of your model. Select All and use the Join tool in order to create a single object for that layer. Do this to each isolated layer. You need to do this so that you will not open the DXF file in StudioPro and find several hundred objects waiting for you to apply a color or texture to them. This is also why it's important to make early decisions about which parts of your model will have the same color or texture applied to them. At this point, erase all layers with two dimensional information on them so that they will not be included in your DXF. Also, make sure you are looking at your model from the Top view. Once you've used Join on all the individual layers and purged all 2D information, you are ready to save the file as a DXF. Save the DXF, quit Form Z and don't save changes.