Miscellaneous

DOORS AND WINDOWS

This section discusses the various special options related to the creation of Door/Window library elements.

General Guidelines

Once a door/window is inserted into a wall, the default position of these library parts’ coordinate system is rotated so that the x-y plane is vertical and the z axis points horizontally into the wall. The origin is placed on the bottom center of the wall opening, on the exterior side of the wall. This way, doors/windows can be easily modeled by elements in the x-y plane. See the illustrations below.

Because of the special behavior of these library parts, the 2D symbol is generated from a special built-in projection otherwise not accessible by users (an upside-down side view from a 90 degree direction). The symbol and the 3D shape are fitted to the Door/Window origin by the lower

(y) center (x) of the bounding box, but no adjustment is made along the z axis to enable users to design doors/windows extending beyond the wall in either z direction.

Considering these rules, here are some hints that will help you construct doors/windows that will work properly:

•When constructing the door/window in the floor plan window, visualize it as if you are looking at it from the inside of the wall it will be inserted into.

•Think of the project zero level as the external surface of the wall.

•Elements that should be inside the wall, like the window frame, should be above the zero level.

•Door panels opening to the outside should be below the zero level.

Miscellaneous

Creation of Door/Window Library Parts

When creating Door/Window type library parts, several possibilities exist, presenting different problems:

Creation of rectangular doors/windows in straight walls

•3D related challanges

-Creation of non-rectangular doors/windows in straight walls

-Creation of rectangular doors/windows in straight walls

-Creation of non-rectangular doors/windows in curved walls

•2D related challanges

-Cutting custom wall opening

-WALLHOLE2

-Extending the wall polygon

-WALLBLOCK2

-WALLINE2

3D related challanges

Rectangular Doors/Windows in Straight Walls

This is the easiest and most sraightforward way of creating doors and windows. The use of simple GDL commands such as PRISM_ or RECT is recommended.

If you want to match the surface materials of door/window elements to those of the wall, the bottom surface of the elements should match the outside, and the top surface the inside of the wall. You can achieve this from your scripts using the WALL_MAT_A, WALL_MAT_B and WALL_MAT_EDGE global variables representing the materials of the wall into which the door/window is placed. In the 2D script, the WALL_SECT_PEN, WALL_FILL_PEN and WALl_FILL˜ global variables can be useful, as these give you the pen numbers of the wall contour and fill plus the index number of the fill of the wall on the floor plan into which the door/window is placed. With composite walls, you have to use the corresponding global variables.

See “Miscellaneous” on page 223 for details.

The object libraries come with a large set of door/window macros. These GDL scripts contain common building elements which are used by many doors/windows in the library. There are macros for generating commonly-used frames, panels and many other types of door/window parts. Open some door/window library parts to see what kind of macros they call and what type of parts those macros generate.

Miscellaneous