3D models & coordination
Design Studio can carry the other trades' models alongside your system, so a duct that lands on your main is something you find on screen instead of in the ceiling.
| What | Where you'll find it |
|---|---|
| Import an IFC model | File → Import IFC Model (BIM)… |
| Import a 3D DWG | File → Import 3D Model (DWG)… |
| Ground models to the floor | File → Ground IFC Models to 0'-0" (a tick) |
| Clash and obstruction results | Side panel → Analysis → Clashes / Issues |
| Clearance zones | Right-click an object → clearance zone commands; ANNOTATE → More |
IFC is the one to ask for
If the mechanical or structural trade can export IFC (IFC2x3 or IFC4), ask for that rather than a 3D DWG. An IFC import brings in real geometry, split onto per-discipline reference layers, storey by storey, ready to snap to and ready to clash against.
- File → Import IFC Model (BIM)… and pick the file.
- Everything arrives on layers named for its discipline, so you can show one trade at a time from the Layers pane.
- Leave Ground IFC Models to 0'-0" ticked unless the model already shares your drawing's datum. Models routinely arrive at a survey elevation thousands of feet away.
- Tools → Convert IFC Beams & Members to Structure promotes the structural members into Studio building elements, so they behave like beams you drew.
3D DWG has a real limitation
File → Import 3D Model (DWG)… works, with one honest caveat: the free converter the Studio uses cannot read AEC and MEP custom objects. Ducts come in as plain rectangular envelopes around where the duct is, not as ducts.
That is still useful — the envelope is where you must not put pipe — but it is coarse, and it is why IFC is the better ask when the trade can produce one.
Obstructions the Studio already knows about
You do not need a model for everything. The BUILDING toolbar group places ducts (round and rectangular) and light fixtures directly, and the Studio treats them as obstructions:
- Ducts sit with their bottom at the Duct default elevation and block spray.
- High-bay light fixtures count as obstructions; small troffers do not.
- Beams, columns and roof planes all participate — see Structure & elevations.
View → Show Spray Patterns (Smart Obstruction Detection) draws what each head can actually reach past all of it.
Clearance zones
A clearance zone is a volume you declare off-limits — around a ceiling fan, a piece of equipment, a column. Any head that falls inside one gets flagged.
- Place them from the ANNOTATE group's More menu (radius or rectangle).
- Auto Place Clearance Zones at Ceiling Fans and Auto Classify Fans and Assign Clearance Zones do the fan case in one go.
- Column Clearance Zones… handles structural columns as a set.
- Head Clearance Bubbles draws the required clear space around each head on the plan, with a settable distance.
Reading the results
Open the Analysis tab in the side panel:
- Clashes — where your system runs through somebody else's geometry.
- Issues — heads inside clearance zones, obstruction problems, spacing and coverage complaints, written in plain language.
Analysis runs in the background and never blocks your drawing. On a big job the Studio switches itself to Draft mode, which defers the heavier live work — switch Perf back to Full in Display & Defaults when you want everything recalculated.