Recently in Polygonal units Category

Today we will create a non-standard unit as shown below. The shape isn't supported by interiorCAD directly, but it is a good opportunity to show some of the more advanced features of interiorCAD:

The left and right segments don't have a top board, but the middle one does. interiorCAD doesn't support this right out of the box, so we will use a workaround. First of all, we will use the case dialog to completely switch the top board off:

Now we use the front design dialog to create three vertical segments. None of them will get a top board. Then we create the partitions in the left segment, ensuring the board is a fixed shelf (the shelf can get selected in the front design):

As we have selected the fixed shelf, we can also make it to divide the back by choosing the corresponding option below the popup menu:

Now we can select the top segment and switch off the option �Has back�:

We can use the copy and paste buttons above the front design to copy the settings of the left segment to the right one:

Both the left and right segment now have a fixed shelf, no back in the upper segment and no top shelf. Unfortunately, even the middle segment has no top shelf - yet. Now we use a partition to create the top board as a fixed shelf. The top segment only has a height of 0.1 millimeters so it will not be noticed when building the unit:

This short tutorial outlined some advanced interiorCAD features:

• Unit sides and boards can get switched off individually if necessary
  
• Partitions and shelves can divide backs
  
• Backs can get switched off for each individual segment
  
• We can use partitions of minimal sizes to cover special situations
  

Thanks to interiorCAD it is easy to create units based on polygons. In special cases some things are worth your attention to avoid unexpected results.

When using a polygon as a base for non-rectangular units, the polygon can be viewed from one of the following directions, front, top and right. A view from the left should be avoided. Better flip the polygon first:

The polygon should be rotated so the front is laid in the direction of the x-axis. Dividers will always be created rectangular to the front:

The assignment of the polygon's parts to the unit's sides is important. Sometimes it needs some experimentation. In the following example, the first assignment leads to a correct unit. The second assignment would lead to unexpected results because the left door wouldn't have a top frame part:

The polygon always should have a minimum of four and a maximum of eight sides. If you need a unit with three sides only, it is helpful to add a wee small fourth side to get a proper unit like shown in the following example:

When dealing with polygons with more than four sides, alternating assignments are not allowed. In the following example, the first assignment will not create a correct unit, the second assignment will:

We hope these hints are useful for you and help you to get even more out of interiorCAD.

In the interiorCAD menu, you'll find the entry »develop unit shape«. This command is extremely useful if you have based a unit on a polygon and you are in need to change the polygon afterwards.
You can also use this command if you want to create multiple units which only differ in the base form but use the same front design and other settings. Simply create a copy of the symbol before performing the following steps.

To change the form of a unit, create the new form as a polygon. Please ensure the polygon is selected in the drawing. Now open the interiorCAD menu and choose ?Develop unit shape?. In the following dialog, select the unit to be changed and klick on the button ?OK?. That's all.

By the way: This way you can even convert a "normal" unit you have created using the commands ?create unit? or ?insert unit? to a unit which is based on a polygon.

Corner units are useful especially in kitchen design. interiorCAD offers an easy to use tool to make the design as easy as possible. See the attached PDF document which points out further details.