In this tutorial you'll master the skills required to create and modify a wide variety of sloped roofs using Autodesk® Architectural Desktop software. This is valuable knowledge indeed, since most residential and many commercial structures require sloped roofs.

You'll learn how to:

• Specify roof parameters including overhang distance and roof slope.
• Create a sloped roof.
• Modify roof faces.

Figure 1: Sloped roofs can happen to you.

The source files required for this project are located in the 2_3_adt.zip (255 KB) file. To transfer these files onto your local hard drive, click the link.

Creating a Sloped Roof
Here's how to create a sloped roof on a single-story house.

1. Open the 9905a.dwg file from the 2_3_adt.zip file.

2. Select OSNAP on the Status bar to turn on the Object Snap feature. OSNAPs are already configured to snap to endpoints, which is required for this lesson.

3. From the Design Roofs menu, choose Add Roof.

4. In the Plate Height box, type 12'6 (equivalent to 12' 6") to specify the desired elevation of the bottom of the roof, or roof plate.

5. In each Slope box, type 45 (the decimals fill in, and the Rise box updates, automatically).

6. In the Overhang box, type 1' to specify the overhang for the roof.

7. In the Upper Height box, type 12' to specify the height of the roof above the roof plate.

Figure 2. Specifying design parameters in the Add Roof dialog box.

8. Select the corners of the structure to create the desired roof.

9. Press ENTER to complete the roof. Because you are looking at a Hidden view of your roof, the interior of the building disappears. See Figure 3.

10. From the View 3D Views menu, choose NorthWest Isometric to display a 3D view of the roof. See Figure 4.

Figure 3: Viewing the top of the new roof.

Figure 4: Displaying an isometric view of the new roof.

Modifying Roof Parameters
Now we'll modify the overall roof parameters and see how to adjust the slopes of selected roof faces.

1. From the Design Roofs menu, choose Modify Roof.

Figure 5: Changing roof parameters.

2. Select the edge of the roof you created.

3. In the Overhang box, type 2'.

4. In the two Rise boxes, type 10" to specify the rise for the roof planes. Note that the Slope values change in response to this modification.

5. Choose Apply to implement the roof parameter changes.

6. Choose OK to exit this window.

Figure 6: Viewing the modified roof.

7. From the Design Roofs menu, choose Edit Roof Edges/Faces.

8. Select the front edge and the side edge of the roof plate over the porch.

Figure 7: Adjusting the roof.

9. Press ENTER to indicate that you don't want to select any more objects.

10. In the Roof Faces (by Edge) area, replace the two Slope values in the table with 30.

11. Change the Height value associated with the Face 1 entry, defined when you selected the edges in Step 8, to -10".

12. Choose OK to exit this dialog box. Note the change to the porch overhang.

Figure 8: Viewing the modified porch.

You will find our version of the file to this point in the 9905b.dwg file located in the 2_3_adt.zip file.

Conclusion
Now that you're familiar with the tools required to create a sloped roof for a house, I encourage you to experiment with them. Soon enough you will be creating sloped roofs in your own drawings.