JoeF Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Sorry for the newbie question, but I haven't found an answer in the usual places. How do I create an arched, or any opening for that matter, in a wall? I guess I would have the same question regarding a floor or roof. Quote Link to comment
CipesDesign Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Use a door or window (set to be a cased opening if you like) then change the "top shape" to arch (or any of the other shapes available in the pulldown) Quote Link to comment
JoeF Posted October 23, 2006 Author Share Posted October 23, 2006 Thanks Peter, I hadn't thought to look there. The documentation should probably deal with openings in walls, floors and roofs as an architectural element. As it stands the solution is not that obvious. (At least to me it wasn't that obvious.) What do you do if the opening does not conform to one of the shapes available as a window or door? Quote Link to comment
CipesDesign Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Then it gets trickier! One way is to use a 3d object as the "cutter" in a solid subtraction. But be warned that the wall will no longer be (or behave like) a wall - it'll be a 3d solid (as opposed to a parametric object). I would certainly try to model it with the included tools/objects/etc. first. Also, a lot depends on what your ultimate goal is. Is it a 3d presentation model? A set of CD's? Both? Quote Link to comment
JoeF Posted October 23, 2006 Author Share Posted October 23, 2006 My intention with Vectorworks is to use the model for CD's. Since this is an unusual sort of condition I can probably deal with using whatever fills or linework are needed to recreate the wall in plan. Has anyone tried creating a wall with an opening in Sketchup and bringing it into VW? Would it still be a wall? Quote Link to comment
CipesDesign Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Okay cool. Again, use a door. Use the top shape called "segment" or "elipse". By playing with the parameters in the object info palette (OIP) like "rise" and "spring" I bet you can get what you're after. Quote Link to comment
JoeF Posted October 23, 2006 Author Share Posted October 23, 2006 Thanks Peter, I think the parameters in the OIP will suffice for most wall openings that I may need. I tried creating a face in sketchup with an unusual opening cut into it and then imported it into VW. VW will turn this into a wall, no problem. This could prove quite handy. Quote Link to comment
willofmaine Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Why not use a symbol to create the opening? A symbol of any shape will automatically cut an opening for itself in the wall, and can have any representation you want in the 2D plan view. In the plan view, loci can be used to determine where the wall breaks (so that, for example, casings can be shown wrapping the wall at the jambs). In cutting openings, I think sympols do have a shortcoming in that they will not cut 'concavities' - in other words, a five-pointed star will cut a pentagon hole in the wall, not a star shape in the wall. But an arched opening should not have that problem. I'm pretty new to VectorWorks, but those are my thoughts, hope they're helpful... Quote Link to comment
Grant M Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Why not use a symbol to create the opening? Yes thats how I put complex shapes into a wall without resorting to solids subtractions. For odd shapes (such as stars) you can model the wall around it so that the orthoginal shape cut in the wall by the symbol bounding box is properly filled. Quote Link to comment
panthony Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Here is an example of a symbol inserted into a wall. The symbol was built using solids. I think this is the best way to insert complex objects into walls and keep the wall intact as a wall object. Pete A. Quote Link to comment
JoeF Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 Can you create a symbol that is just an opening? No geometry, just a hole in a wall? Quote Link to comment
panthony Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Joe, Yes...See graphic below. It is possible to create just an opening using poly's or simple lines...extruded then converted to a symbol and inserted into a wall. In the examle above the left rectangle and oval were created as polygons...then extruded to the thickness of the wall with thier fill attribute set to none (I leave the pen style in order to see the object). The right rectangle was built from (4) lines that were extruded to the thickness of the wall giving the appearance of a jamb but having no fill characteristics. As you can see there are several methods available to make a wall opening without using door or window PIO's allthough it sometimes easier to use the door and window PIO's to make simple rectangles or arch heads openings for the fact that you can easily modify their settings on the fly. Pete A. Quote Link to comment
JoeF Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 Thanks, I'll try this out. good to know there are several solutions. Quote Link to comment
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