Quick start: the first fixture

This page shows the shortest way to a lavatory against the wall – with cold and hot water and a drain, ready for Piping 3D and Drainage 3D – and the most common changes afterwards. Each step has a picture; the details are in the linked tasks.

#1. Open the palette and choose 3D

Ribbon › LuaCAD tab › Block Library. The palette opens at the edge of the drawing.

1. At the top, set the switch to 3D – then you see the blocks with solids, and the lavatory goes into the drawing with its connectors at its elevation.
2. If you only need a floor plan for Piping 2D, choose 2D – the steps stay the same, only the elevation is not needed.

#2. Choose the fixture

1. Click the Fixtures tab.
2. Click the tile of a lavatory – it appears in the preview window next to the palette and below as the selected block. Searching at the top works too.
3. Under Elevation choose "from level", then the level, Distance from FF (finished floor) and the value 0 – the lavatory stands on the finished floor. A standard fixture has its insertion point on the floor; it brings its own connector elevations.
4. Leave Rotation at 0 – it is aligned to the wall in a moment.

#3. Insert: the fixture hangs at the cursor

1. Click Insert … (or double-click the tile). The first time, a window with a picture explains the keys at the cursor.
2. The lavatory hangs at the cursor by its insertion point – for standard fixtures the center of the back at the wall.
3. The Space shows the other base points (corners, midpoints, connectors) to click – handy for a corner.

#4. Align it to the wall and place it

1. Press W and click two points along the wall – so that the room lies to the left of the direction. The lavatory turns parallel to the wall, its front faces the room.
2. Click the insertion point onto the wall (object snap helps). The lavatory is inserted; the next one already hangs at the cursor.
3. Enter or Esc ends – the inserted fixtures stay.

#5. Look at the result

1. Switch to an isometric view, for example with the ViewCube.
2. The lavatory carries its connectors: cold water on the right, hot water on the left (seen from the front) and the drain. A Piping 3D run that starts at a water connector takes over system and nominal size; Drainage 3D connects to the drain.
3. The Current Drawing page now lists it.

#6. Simple editing

• Move, rotate, copy, delete with the commands of GstarCAD – the connectors move along, a copy gets its own.
• Mirror (MIRROR of GstarCAD or M already at the cursor): shape and drain are mirrored, cold water stays on the right, hot water on the left.
• Change values: click the fixture and in the Properties palette change width, depth, height, the distance between the water connectors, their elevation or the display in the LuaCAD category; the property fields (room, description …) are below.

Change several blocks at once on the Current Drawing page – see Changing several at once.

#What next?

• Only the connectors of a fixture the architect has already drawn: Inserting connectors only.
• All fixtures of a floor plan at once: Detecting fixtures in the plan and inserting them.
• Your own blocks: Adding your own folders and Creating a custom block.
• Esc cancels inserting; another button in the palette cancels the running command and starts the new one. A U undoes the last inserted block – each block is its own undo step.