Framing · Common Problems

This is the condensed English edition. The Chinese edition carries the full detail.

Quick reference

Symptom	Cause	Fix
A 200 partition doesn't produce a 200 runner	The partition type is the thickness including finishes	See below
Prompt asks you to select something, but you can't select it	The output is grouped	Press Tab to drill into the group
Framing sits off-centre / offset	The curtain wall's inside/outside face is flipped	Check panel orientation; use "Reverse" if needed
Glass sloped glazing produces wrong framing	The sloped glazing wasn't set flat	Sloped glazing
Clip-in aluminium panels don't engage	Wrong direction picked in step 2	Pick the clip strip (engagement) direction
Ceiling with a light cove / steps has wrong runner layout	Generated directly as a lower level	Split parts first, then generate per face
Ceiling framing won't generate	Ceiling structure is too high (>1.5 m)	Limit hanger length + add a transfer layer
Generation is very slow	One very large area	Work in zones/blocks
Layered walls won't generate	The base wall must be a plain wall	Not supported on layered walls

General prerequisite: a "base wall"

The base wall comes first for almost every framing command. Framing never appears from nothing — its shape follows the base wall.

• Openings and door voids in the wall → framing automatically adds reinforcement
• Door openings get double studs both ways, plus a header frame
• A window modelled with a curtain wall is fine — the plugin only reads the wall's resulting shape, not how you drew it

Not supported on layered walls

The base wall must be a plain wall carrying the core structure. Layered walls cannot be used as the framing base (a layered wall expresses finishes, not structure).

A 200 partition doesn't produce a 200 runner

Cause: The built-in partition types are 75 / 100 / 150 / 200, and these numbers are the wall thickness including finishes — not the runner thickness.

Measured: selecting 200 partition produces a 150 runner.

Fix: choose the type by the partition thickness your project needs; don't compare the type number against runner sizes.

Curtain wall inside/outside faces

The easiest step to get wrong

When creating a curtain-wall finish, the panel extends outward from the location line, and framing distances are measured from the location line. Flip the inside/outside and the framing lands in the wrong place.

Fix:

• The curtain wall has a direction (is the paving start on the inner or outer face?)
• Use "Reverse" plus the "offset" value to correct it
• Everyone models differently (some start from the outer finished face, others offset from inside) — pick what matches your model, there is no single right answer

Sloped glazing must be flat

WARNING

When creating glass sloped glazing you must remove its slope definition — it cannot be left at 0°, or framing generation is affected.

Likewise, if you use an early mineral-fibre board family that contains a T-bar, remove the T-bar — framing must be written by the plugin itself to be correct.

Clip-in aluminium panels: pick the clip strip direction

This is what makes clip-in panels different:

• Other ceilings: step 2 selects the main runner direction
• Clip-in aluminium panels: step 2 selects the folded clip strip (the engagement point) direction

Pick it correctly and the Z-shaped runner engages the panel exactly. Choose the side your model's groove is on.

Ceilings with a light cove: split parts first

A ceiling with coves, steps, or a picture-frame layout cannot be generated directly as a lower level — the main runners all run one way and the layout skews.

Correct approach:

1. Split the floor slab into parts (Modify → Split Parts)
   • Cut lines must extend beyond the dashed line and form a closed loop, otherwise the split fails
2. Generate per geometric face; the first layer is always a "lower level"
3. Use "upper level" for stepped areas — its only difference is that it must be constrained to the lower level's main runner direction and aligned to a chosen runner

Whether to limit hanger length

The threshold is the ceiling structure height:

Structure height	Approach
≤ 1.5 m	Don't limit — let hangers extend automatically to beams and slabs above
> 1.5 m	Needs a transfer layer / reverse-slung transfer layer; only then limit hanger length (e.g. fixed 400) and rely on the transfer layer to bridge

Back-braces extend up to 2 m by default (customisable); beyond 2 m a transfer layer is required.

Two reasons to use a transfer layer: ① span over 2 m; ② a corridor with very congested MEP services where you can't find an anchor point overhead and must tie to the walls or beams on both sides. Transfer layers default to 1.2 m spacing, with an optional "stiffener" adding a longitudinal angle.

Slow generation

• Don't draw an enormous slab (the classic new-user mistake) — runner counts explode. Work in zones
• Don't create in a 3D view — create on the correct work plane for accurate results
• Don't set gradient/random panel sizes too small, or responses take a long time
• Longer generation time for larger areas is normal

Why cassette runners are slower

Cassette runner families have a serrated profile and are more complex, so they load more slowly. Use them only where the ceiling void is tight.

Surface substrate fill (beta)

Beta feature

"Surface substrate fill" is a beta feature and will keep changing.

• Drawing direction matters: left-to-right draws upward, right-to-left draws downward
• Custom configuration: "Layer 1" must be a line-based detail component family (base it on the built-in one); "Layer 2" takes a family name plus an offset distance
• Small arc radii break the plywood layer → set the arc tolerance to 0.3 (0.5 exceeds the limit)

Known issues (vendor pending)

① A copied glass sloped glazing fails to generate framing

• Newly drawn sloped glazing works; one that was copied from elsewhere does not
• Workaround: redraw the sloped glazing instead of copying it
• Generally, avoid copying elements in from elsewhere

② Plywood layer breaks on small arcs → see the arc tolerance workaround above