Surface Edit - Concepts

The Surface Edit command provides access to all surface properties in AGi32. Once surfaces have been created in AGi32, a 3D CAD model is imported, those existing surfaces may be modified with the Surface Edit command.

Many selection options are provided. You may individually select entities with the Single (Any Type) option. You may globally select multiple entities with the Window (Any Type) method. Finally, you can filter for Room or Object entities by using the Window (Rooms Only or Objects Only) selection methods.

All of the entities loaded into the Surface Edit dialog may be operated on globally, on an entity by entity basis, or on a surface by surface basis. The power of this command lies in its ability to make sweeping global changes or small surface by surface modifications, within the same command, as needed.

Application Examples

• Consider an exterior daylight analysis by computing a shadow study a for an exterior site. Before daylighting calculations can be applied to the surfaces, the surface types must be assigned the daylight Exterior attribute. You may select all of your surfaces at once using the Surface Edit-Window (Any Type) selection method, then window around your entire site. Once all of the entities have been loaded into the dialog, Tag All Surfaces, then change the Daylight Exterior modifier to Yes.
• Assign all Daylight Transition Glass (Transparent) values a different Transparency value globally. Select all of your Daylight Transition Glass (Transparent) surfaces at once using the Surface Edit-Window (Objects Only) selection method. Once all of the entities have been loaded into the dialog, use the Move to Next Surface or Next Component icons to move to one of your Daylight Transition Glass (Transparent) entities. (Hint: Watch the Surface Type cell for confirmation). Use the Tag Surfaces with Same Surface Type as Current Surface option to select all of your Daylight Transition Glass (Transparent) surfaces, then change the Transparency value to the desired value. Don't forget to press ENTER to confirm your values.
• Replace Daylight Transition Glass (Transparent) surface types with Daylight Transition Glass (Diffuse) surface types for diffused daylight designs (such as skylights).
• Change the surface color of related entities globally, such as partitions, chairs, cars, etc.
• Apply a texture to a surface, or multiple surfaces, easily. Modify the texture application size, in this dialog as well, if the initial texture application does not look right. Note: You'll need to preview texture application in Render mode.
• Change the mesh level of a wall panel with surface mounted luminaires to reveal a smoother light distribution and better quality renderings.
• Create photoluminous (self luminous) surfaces, such as Neon or glowing TV screens, by assigning a Luminance value, and color, to the appropriate surfaces. A Luminance Calculator can help you convert between common self emission values.
• Flip surfaces and make surface Single Sided to make objects behave like rooms (especially imported objects), so that you can "see" inside the space without having to walk inside in Render mode.
• Relabel surfaces and assign component labels to related surfaces for easier manipulation in the future. For example, you can assign the component label "frame" to multiple entities in a "chair" object, so that you can edit the "frame" component as one selection (e.g., change color, apply texture, etc.).
• Convert the surfaces in a roadway calculations model to one of the two Roadway surface types so that they will be considered in the roadway calculations.
• Modify a Road Surface's reflection characteristics by selecting a different R-Table and/or Q₀ value.