When you import an AutoCAD base plan into ICE. You can use Edgewall to place 4" and 6" walls on DXF/DWG lines. Edgewall allows you to select multiple DXF/DWG lines. When you select multiple lines, you place a separate wall on each line. In other words, you can combine 4" and 6" walls in your layout, separately positioning each wall.
If i-Lines meet at a common point, they will extend or retract to meet each other and snap together to form intersections. However, if you have multiple i-Lines that do not intersect at a common point, after you finish using Edgewall, you can manually place Junctions to connect i-Lines.
Assistance text appears on the top-left corner of ICE 2D plan view. This text tells how to toggle between a 4" and 6" wall and position the i-Line on the DXF/DWG line:
•Press / to create a 6" wall.
•Press . to offset an i-Line, changing the edge of the DXF/DWG line that the i-Line appears on and also the side of the i-Line that that lines up with the line edge.
•Press ? to rotate an i-Line 180 degrees, changing the side of the i-Lineof the line that the i-Line appears on.
The assistance text also tells you how many DXF/DWG lines you have selected and which line you are positioning, for example, "Line 3 of 11." You can use this line number information to track your overall progress. For example, if you you are using Edgewall on 11 lines and you are on line 2, you know that you have nine more lines to Edgewall.
To Use Edgewall to Place 4" and 6" Walls
1.In ICE 2D plan view, click the first DXF/DWG line.
When you select the DXF/DWG line, it turns red.
2.Hold down on the CTRL key, and click the remaining lines.
3.Right-click and choose Edgewall.
You see the Edgewall dialog box open.
4.Navigate to the wall style that you want to Edgewall and select it.
You see a preview of the wall on the edge of the first selected DXF line. Assistance text appears in the top-left corner of ICE 2D plan view:
oTo change the thickness, press the / key. By default, the 4" wall is selected.
oTo offset the wall, press the . key.
oTo rotate the wall 180 degrees, press the ? key.
Tip: Before you start positioning and placing i-Lines on the DXF/DWG lines, make sure that you have all of the selected DXF/DWG lines in view on your computer screen. Having all the lines in view allows you to easily position and place each wall.
5.If you want to draw a 6" wall, press the / key.
In the assistance text, the Current Thickness updates to 6". You also see the wall get thicker in the i-Line preview:
6.If you want to change offset of the wall relative to the selected DXF/DWG line, press the . key.
The offset of the wall relative to the selected DXF/DWG line changes:
7.If you have a wall that is different on side A and side B and you want to rotate the wall 180 degrees so that you can change the side of the i-Line that lines up with the DXF line, press the ? key.
The wall rotates 180 degrees in relation to the selected DXF/DWG line:
8.To place the wall and move on to the next line, press Enter.
You see the next i-Line preview line appear. In the top-left corner of ICE 2D plan view, the line number changes. In this example image, we now place the second line, "Line 2 of 8":
If the next i-Line, or any of the other i-Lines that you place, intersects with an existing wall, it will extend/retract and snap to that wall. As it snaps to the wall, the center of the i-Line will become a solid yellow line:
Tip: If intersecting lines do not snap, you can manually snap them together after you finish using Edgewall. If your i-Lines routinely don't snap when you are using Edgewall, you may have to adjust the snap strength. The default snap strength of 1" will work for most intersecting walls. However, you may have to adjust these values.
9.Repeat steps 7-10 until you place all the walls.
10.If you want to exit out of the Edgewall without placing your the remaining walls, press ESC or right click in ICE 2D plan view.
When you press ESC or right-click after placing some walls with Edgewall, the walls that you have already placed appear in ICE 2D plan view. However, the remaining walls do not.
After you place walls with Edgewall, you should check their connections.
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Topic last updated on 3/16/2023.
