Add a pilaster or lintel

Thicken part of a panel — a pilaster rising from the base, or a lintel over an opening.

A pilaster is a thickening of the panel wall that extends up from the bottom of the panel. A lintel (corbel) is a thickening placed above the panel base — typically over or under an opening. Both are defined the same way, one row per section, in the same dialog; whether a row is a pilaster or a lintel is simply a matter of where you place it.

Pilaster / Lintel Details dialog

The Pilaster / Lintel Details dialog, shown with the sample building’s data.

Steps

  1. Open Pilaster / Lintel for the panel — from the toolbar, or from the Main Panel Details feature checklist.

  2. Enable a row. Its fields activate.

  3. Set the row’s values:

    Field

    What it sets

    Enable

    Draws this section. A disabled row keeps its values without drawing — useful for staging sections in a template panel.

    Snap To (L / R / T / B)

    Registers the section against a panel edge. Snapping to any edge derives the position for you, so Measure From, Distance, and the elevations grey out. Snapping to both T and B spans the full panel height, so Height greys out too.

    Measure From (L / R)

    Which side of the panel the Distance is measured from.

    Distance

    From the chosen panel side to the nearest side of the section.

    Elev Left / Elev Right

    Elevation of the section’s left and right ends. Leave 0 for the top of the panel.

    Width

    Horizontal size. A value of 0 extends the section to the other edge of the panel.

    Height

    Vertical size. A value of 0 extends the section the full height of the panel.

    Add’l Thk

    Additional thickness beyond the panel face. The section’s total thickness is the panel thickness plus this value — e.g. 3 1/2” entered on an 8 1/2” panel gives a 12” pilaster.

    U / D

    Which panel face the section projects from — Up (the top face as the panel lies in the casting bed) or Down (the face cast against the form).

  4. Add more rows if needed — the dialog holds 24 sections, shown six at a time; switch pages with the 1-6 / 7-12 / 13-18 / 19-24 selector at the bottom.

  5. Confirm. The feature’s master toggle turns on automatically once at least one row is enabled.

  6. Redraw the panel. Each enabled section is drawn as a thickened outline at its combined depth (panel thickness plus Add’l Thk), shaded, and dimensioned; if the panel’s chamfer option is on, the section’s edges are chamfered to match.

Notes

  • Edge-snapped sections are drawn at casting width. A section snapped to the left or right edge has the panel’s edge gap deducted from its drawn width, so it lines up flush with openings that share that edge.

  • Openings stay clear. The shaded thickened area is clipped around any opening that falls inside it — the opening is not shaded over.

  • Other features adjust around the section. Ledgers that cross a pilaster or lintel are either trimmed from it or segmented onto its surface — chosen in the Ledger / Top Plate dialog (see Add a ledger and top plate). Weld connections placed on a panel face (U or D) are adjusted to the section’s surface.

  • Sloped panel tops. A section snapped to a sloped panel top follows the slope; its longest vertical edge is the specified height.

  • Full-width base thickening. Set both Distance and Width to 0 and set Height to the change elevation to make a panel thicker at its bottom than its top.

  • Negative values are accepted for special cases — e.g. a negative Distance starts the section outside the panel edge, for a projecting haunch or an interlocking panel.