What is the plane model?

Default reference planes and roofscapes are managed in a plane model. A plane model contains pairs of default reference planes. Each pair of planes has a name. The same is true for the lower and upper default reference plane.

The pairs of reference planes in a plane model are equivalent to the stories of a building. You can assign them to the structural levels of the building structure or to individual drawing files. A project can include several discrete plane models.

You can change the height of the default reference planes in the plane model. Any changes made to the height are immediately reflected in the drawing files to which you have assigned a default reference plane from the building model.

A plane model must not include pairs of planes with overlapping height settings with the exception of the pair of planes that defines the minimum and maximum height of the building.

You can assign the height of a pair of planes to a drawing file or structural level of the building structure. However, you can also use the lower and upper default reference plane from different pairs of planes. This way, you can create components across several floors (e.g. chimneys).

You can also assign default reference planes that are not associated with the plane model to drawing files. You can even select a custom height for the lower default reference plane and adopt the upper default reference plane from a plane model.

You can also use plane models without a building structure.

In the Options - Planes page, you can configure the program to display planes in elevation and isometric views.
In the Options - Desktop environment - Animation page, you can configure the program to display planes in viewports with the Animation view type.

Plane models are saved as XML files in the project-specific \prj\bim folder.