Here is a quick look at the improved edit-in-place feature for wall endcaps. I must confess that my attempts at using edit-in-place for creating endcaps in previous versions were somewhat half-hearted, as I had become reasonably proficient at creating them by drawing polylines, and the "calculate automatically" feature made creating endcaps from polylines almost painless, for wall styles without stacked components. Perhaps if I had applied myself to the task more diligently, I could have mastered edit-in-place in previous versions, but my few forays generally met with disaster, and I never had time to work out what I was doing incorrectly.
So I approached this feature with low expectations in the 2009 beta, and ended up being very pleased. As previously, I dove in without first trying to read up on the process in the Help - the only "training" was a very short video that was posted, showing the feature in action. I think most people will find the improved feature much more intuitive.
The out-of-the-box CMU-8 Rigid-1.5 Air-2 Brick-4 Furring comes with an endcap style that turns the brick component back into the wall, butting into the rigid insulation, as shown below.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCUyX723Z0RXoDeVToxkgLs9YUPLWbDIAyh9Th5efa_KX6u9vq4jvJsm3_4XP1nrGMgj7qACxPD7viYGKOvxAcJ0bKTqH8gr87pArr4uRrOqH4Wc2JGOrV_jpIBey_4dot0dSMPQ/s320/01-CMU-8+Rigid-1.5+Air-2+Brick-4+Furring_WithEndcap.jpg)
I created a new wall style, based on the CMU-8 Rigid-1.5 Air-2 Brick-4 Furring style, called CMU-12 Rigid-1.5 Air-2 Brick-4 Furring. As you might guess, the only difference is that the CMU component is 1'-0" wide, rather than 8" wide. This will cause the CMU-8 Rigid-1.5 Air-2 Brick-4 Furring (End 1) endcap to do strange things, as it scales things to suit the increased width of the CMU. I could have tried to edit that endcap in place, but chose instead to change the endcap to "Standard" to show just how easy it is to build a similar endcap for the CMU-12 Rigid-1.5 Air-2 Brick-4 Furring wall style "from scratch."
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTy7lcST4pj6VfDGZZYE4DF-5GnzzrcNuM6HYqX7EVAG2OGcb1ZrXOWwhL8uTuKpgFCO4Vk1IYEtLgMhxQ0yzvw2mPbB8r16iia8N9RC1nXTRD9HV-98Ofoq5syhUxKWXILrhGMg/s320/02-CMU-12+Rigid-1.5+Air-2+Brick-4+Furring_NoEndcap.jpg)
Selecting the wall and right clicking brings up the context menu for walls. Choosing Endcaps > Edit in Place starts the WallEndcapEdit command, and results in a prompt to select a point near the endcap.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPBaNEgteTRsIOccIojXDYRlsMLNtLa56MbWXwhM53HszxVVooOZ08vXcv4RhKfX5CKiXoLnrfMo6wam5gR9ELW_qvU0Eg30ytwW32_mAHzKC0w2Y62DkFfvojp9QxJUM7FUEukg/s320/03-Endcaps-EditInPlace.jpg)
After selecting a point near the top end of my wall instance, the GWB component's endcap was hightlighted, so I chose to start with that component. Vertices are represented by round, magenta grips; edges by rectangular ("hyphen-shaped") grips. Hovering over the edge grip at the top of the GWB component yields a tooltip that indicates the options available for that grip. For our endcap, the default Offset option will do what we need.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7CVZeJVxsYpycLFvdjrwtU0Vb-AUmywFivhIN2h8GbeORWcjms9UgDcW2yCm-awkM7y8z_bLBlqBOxHp77ZSbYDAWhpvRLdMcPtrdpZTJkUyAYgnBHTw7QdudAXcN6hHn8dFPg/s320/04-GWB_EdgeEditStart.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4A5OxjLys2giqnQJ3FR0NARZek6o4r9urExTc5nMq-6Ubyz4e57SkemuVZpgA_Af8e_6SX0Va5aeJMAksAUpanKsGAJleg_-7bOxAc0MTUUQbJjGW4wXifd0-6An2hxNgzFOUg/s320/05-GWB_EdgeEditDone.jpg)
The Air Space component does not require an offset, as the Brick component will wrap across the top of it. The creation of the Brick component is a two-step process. The first step involves offsetting the component the same four inches vertically the same way as the other offset components were done.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigUwrFyF_sRSh5x8mmCK1jqxw2yK5IYnG_-epFXqRL7REfOVxDn2yJt3QP9tgpLdGvEXNYzYCFjdxfhcIhzdOGXiFCpWDzIvS5seltBoMbxUeTWh5JpYJNzWuOHbTO3UqY7JIKQg/s320/06-Brick_EdgeEdit01Done.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiChKlHUMYsgndJXIIq_a8umk1uacVwIC25sryzINZJSnYVvMJmoaSAvMbA1uCcsgn53pcRWMgouiXLKIAQkbcJB_UMcqzrd6af80ZIyQT5YA_BHLnPP1v4TCAMqKi81e3BWefTRA/s320/07-Brick_EdgeEdit02Done.jpg)
At this point, having performed a total of six edge grip edits, our endcap is built. Select the save all changes button on the In-Place Edit toolbar to save the changes.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiapG5NQC0GaN27WwyxHk4JVerTCHNTBiMSCCsFlF3IuF7qtO216ng8tlDz2oNLc2CEtosJaNuZsQfGE603XseFe2KsYHa9kmXvzY0T7dZXELzqKodldrbcbd2OaOHjt6Zgz9Qaqw/s320/08-InPlaceEditSave.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5qIE8NVedwkiAD_5uCvT8wG8ZbN1QCWtvnRQ976lQIsKDVSlT6puwbffihdf4BnMXowJFf24ekrACANqOK9rtZAfLBxT_W1tnMrGtuM8M2rFCvs3-al8cgyWGK8v1mLLVmgSgNA/s320/09-WallEndcapStyleDialog.jpg)
The CMU-12 Rigid-1.5 Air-2 Brick-4 Furring wall instance now sports the new wall endcap style, and the brick returns to the rigid insulation, just like its out-of-the-box cousin.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCZvn6IIcLpRgdr4vPiHAWEqafsiQmWoEMKGnV-OqjUupSuw3aRMYECIXboM4bVD3bZzPV0_ZsmIGyKei-geHmk64Bn31HtZJuj-eFjEyKGuqEPUKyYp7uTdtS6xR-B5GOevmbrA/s320/10-CMU-12+Rigid-1.5+Air-2+Brick-4+Furring_WithEndcap.jpg)
In addition to the grip edit features shown here, the right click context menu available during endcap edit-in-place allows you to add and remove vertices, hide and show edges (hide is the equivalent of drawing a polyline segment with a width, that edge will not be visible in the endcap), replace or remove the endcap, save all changes, save as a new endcap style or discard all changes. The AEC Modify tools are also available to aid in creating more complex profiles. Whether you create a lot of custom endcaps or have met with such frustration with endcaps in the past that you avoid them entirely, the improved edit-in-place of wall endcaps in the 2009 release is a feature you will want to investigate, learn and make use of in the future.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLftSCHmK8ythRksYTMODVU_tI-qBPWerTW5HMC_gaG7JIl7Pmjr6O6lINvY4VkbnHDeUcgdd51W8B0bcBhd0fSSFx7pFRIlU70j9J4hYUfIYbh2b02vBOwUyVdK-Xv1W3tyxISw/s320/11-EditInPlaceContextMenu.jpg)
Next Article in the Series: AutoCAD Architecture 2009 - Part 3
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