I installed the *free* SH3d, as described in other thread.
http://www.posetteforever.com/viewt...&p=45088#p45088

After wrangling interface, I opened one of the dozen free plans, then exported it to OBJ format.

Took me several attempts to get into Poser, as I had the scale horribly wrong. Finally, managed it at 500%.

This is not quite right, but I've found a '6 ft Scale' on a freebie site, will try again later...

I'd begun using TurboCAD deluxe on my old PC just before it crashed and locked me out. I did salvage most of the files, but I've taken a year longer than expected to build and commission my CAD Tower.

When I came to install my 'student license' TurboCAD Pro 2016, the download link was invalid. After 'due diligence' checking my product license and serial, the help desk kindly supplied a new link...

Okay, that worked...
     
And the activation code was accepted-- It's alive ! It is ALIVE !! IT IS ALIVE !!!
         

Now I must either convert all my Medieval-ish arch and other modules to the more robust ACIS internal format, or start again...

And, I must re-think many of the plan's details, as there were some niggling 'uglies'.
Also, I lost some notes to that crash. I must 'reverse-engineer' a bunch of stuff...
But not tonight !

Also, 'Robbie the Ratter' aka'005½' has just returned from her 3AM feline patrol soaking wet, is demanding food and fuss...

'Oops' moment. I'd imported the entire SH3D room, walls, furniture and all. I can't hide parts to 'look around' or work the 'measure'. Too much clutter. Tomorrow, I'll try to chop that plan about in SH3D, cut it down to basics and an open-sided set, try again...

With my TurboCAD Pro now installed, I've begun doodling Medieval-ish stuff again. Filled half-a-dozen pages of 'Reporter' note-pad, figured several very obvious work-arounds for sundry plan 'uglies'. Became too hard to keep track of options on lined paper.  I soon had four or five different scales per page, all annotated with essential dimensions and 'Do NOT Scale', to be sure, to be sure...

I hunted about, found a dusty pad of 5mm square-ruled paper on shelf. Grabbed spare 'builders pencil' from my cordless drill case, opened pad...

Surprise ! The first three, busy pages held some of my notes from 2005, with calculations and scraps of plans !! Even better, they make sense !!

I soon laid out the basics of Red Tower's complex 'Keep' corner, this time with the tower offset to better align the fort's quad. Cats stole my eraser, so there's already several 'typos' to correct. Then, an idea struck me; instead of tediously drawing, erasing and re-drawing at one square to the foot --Approx 1:60--  with much bad language as I shuffle walls, I could model portions of the ashlar masonry 'trace' using Lego (TM)...

With one 'pip' per foot, a bucket of pre-loved '2x4' blocks and some budget base-plates from A*z*n should let me work out critical details of wall lines before drawing them.

Meanwhile, I'll inventory the 'Arch-ery' models from my archive, see what I've got. Given I'll be using TC Pro's robust 'ACIS' model engine instead of TC Deluxe's older, buggy version, I may just start over from primitives. With those old models as a guide, I should be able to set up a brisk' work-flow, confident the unprintable 3D Boolean Legacy Bug is not going to interrupt me yet again, yet again...

Okay, the cats have come in from patrol and my bronchitis is *finally* settling down, so I'll try to get some sleep...

Okay, some genuine Lego, many clone-blocks and ten (!) 48x24 stud base-plates duly arrived.

Amazon van-man, shaking large box warily, "Rattles, may be broken."
Me, "Lego blocks."
 

After brunch, I transferred my part-plan, fixed several contentions 'on the fly'. Kept going. And going. And going. Totally ran out of base-plates and red 2x4 blocks.

While more of both come, I'm doing 'inventory' on my TurboCAD files from ~2005. I've listed the 'Arch-ery' modules, and they are sized to fit modular-16 floor heights. They're 14 feet tall, so suit floors that are two feet thick. I now know what sizes of arch modules are available for the plan's rooms and three halls.

I then had a bit of a panic; Did I, um, screw-up the spiral stair 'vice' calculations ? Seems not. Well, not that I can see...
So, 19 @ 10.2 inch risers, 18 'runs' plus two 'landing' wedges, 20º each step...


Feeling brave, I've finally cleared Kath's nice, 'L-shaped'  'Home Office' desk. Removed potted plants etc. Re-arranged lights. Dusted world-globe. For better or worse, desk is now re-purposed as a 'Graphic Design' and writing area...

Had another look at spiral stair calculations, decided 10 inch was too big a rise. So, I'm doubling steps to two turns per floor, with landing mid-way, plus a niche to perch ...

That's 5 inch rise per step, as we have at Kath's side of bed...

Laying out well, sluice areas and bath-hall on paper, I realised I'd missed a trick, will have to revert to an earlier version and widen part by ten feet...

Perhaps I should have bought that electric eraser ??
 
Ooh, a box of 2x4 bricks has just arrived, but an hour too late for me to head out to DIY for list of stuff. Good time to change cat-litters...

Added: And drag bins out for tomorrow's collection...

Then realised I must re-arrange sluice / bath-hall area again, lengthen it by ten feet.

While doing that, I saw the building was getting out of proportion. The ends and sides must be bigger by two bays...

On paper, I could interpolate interpose insert a sheet. On a Lego base-plate, I'll just have to shuffle everything on RHS along...

After studying my 10', 20' & 30' arches, nothing made sense; why did I pick those arch-brick / Voussoir numbers ??

Baffled, suspecting I may have miscounted a couple of whatsits, I looked at my many door-ways & windows.

22" inch doorway, 11 whatsits, so cut from a 22-'ogon.
26" inch doorway, 13 whatsits, so cut from a 26-'ogon.
38" inch doorway, 19 whatsits, so cut from a 38-'ogon...

Gotcha.

The 10', 20' and 30' arches were the first I'd made, 'sized by eye'. Doorways were 'second generation', from when I knew better.

Another 'gotcha' is that eg 10' arch = 120" inches would need 60 whatsits, cut from a 120-'ogon. No key-stone. But a 118" arch would need 59 whatsits, including a key-stone, at the cost of an inch either side.
That's a win !!

Now I just have to make them with the still-unfamiliar ACIS tool-set. First, though, I've to retrieve the screen-layout template from old TC, hide some of the zillion tool-bars that clutter TC16_Pro's default views...


Um, I've decided 10" ( 10.x") inch riser spiral steps are too steep. I'll switch to 5" (5.y") risers, with a landing half-way. This also allows mezzanine access if required...

Waiting for postie, then off for some groceries. Dental check-up this afternoon...

The extra Lego (TM) base-plates arrived sooner than expected, as did a really big box of 2x4 blocks, so I set to work.

Despite repeatedly miscounting corner's hall size, I added two extra bays to each side of quadrangle. Hard to describe in words, so I took some 'WIP' pics...

I also took tripod 'mapping' photos of the base sections lest low-flying cats trash my model !!

Remaining corners will have similar layout to corner's hall, but taller, with balconies on those flanking 10x30 arches.

I haven't finalised the missing VIP wing's layout, not even spiral vs regular stairs...

Here's a typical mapping pic.
Square with central, white spot is tower's spiral stairwell...

Lego blocks celebrated their 60th birthday yesterday

____________

      

I wonder when it went off-patent ??

--

I woke at some daft hour this morning, shouted, "HA !! PRIVATE SPIRAL STAIRS FOR EACH VIP SUITE !!"

Luckily, I also grabbed note-book and sketched lay-out so I could reverse-engineer my solution over brunch...

Now to doodle the details...

Turns out that a spiral stair with 18+2 segments per turn, 18º per segment, with a 5 inch rise, will be up by 20 inches when it reaches a landing on quarter-turn.

And, a wall being two feet ( 24 inches) thick, that's just enough for four steps down with riser 5 inches and run 8 inches to access private room off the spiral. Think of those Medieval buildings with a peep-hole to watch proceedings in the Hall below...

Getting the straight VIP stairs for that wing just needed a 6 inch rise, 12 inch run, with a landing every 4 feet rise, the one at 8 feet rise being wider and 'U' shaped...

Just a mo...

If I made those private spiral stairs with eg 8 inch risers, I could keep the 'cut through' between the private rooms *level*. No tricky steps in VIP suite...

Also have to watch head-room under such level parts...

Back to the drawing board to figure the detail !!

Playing with spiral stairs, it is very hard to draft steps that are not standard paper's 2, 5 or 10º.

But, I found a site that does custom increments, on a wide choice of page sizes, as free PDF...
https://incompetech.com/graphpaper/polar/

I've just dialled up 20º spokes, 5 rings (representing 2', 4', 6', 8' & 10' feet) and an open centre for least clutter.
FWIW, this facility may also be handy as a 'reality check' when laying out arches...

They also do traditional 'squared' format and a zoo of other stuff...

I fired up TurboCAD Pro 16 to take a closer look at my old, archived stuff, soon got lost in the menus...

After a while, I realised I could put TC across two screens, with 1+4 views open per my decade-old (!!) TWL layout file. Use my left screen for icons and windows' File Explorer. Leave TC's off-line HELP mega-PDF (1541 pages   ) open on the squarer, old screen at right...

After rather longer, I found where and how to increase icon & font sizes, then switch to 'CLASSIC' style, which is legible 'dark-grey-on-white', rather than 'smudged greys on black'...

I think I'm nearing my limit for tonight-- To get much more done, I'd need so much caffeine, I'd be up beyond dawn...

I've just found how to turn REDSDK off; drawing is slower, it says, but I cannot see a difference, and the smaller views don't bug me for arcane stuff...