Wall Opening, Best Practices

[brettSF]

I'm very new to Vectorworks, and trying to implement best practices as I go. I have a lot of questions and will try to separate/group them as necessary.

I have two different types of wall openings that in concept are the same, but from a best practice standpoint may have different answers. Relevant images can be found here:

http://imgur.com/a/ZxtYK

The first opening type is a frameless sidelight for a door. This was accomplished by creating a Window and eliminating the sash and jamb. The second is simply a Door set as an Opening.

The two questions I have related to this instance are:

1. Is it possible to graphically have the wall finish material appear as an End Cap at either opening? Obviously you wouldn't have exposed framing... In my mind, possible solutions include:

• Give both the Opening and the Window a 5/8" thick Jamb and assign the relevant hatch
  
• Create one 8' tall Wall that starts and stops at the openings (and in the instance of the window, model it in as a 3D object) and then draw a second wall from 8' up to the ceiling.
  

2. Is it possible to resize an Opening or Window by dragging? This would be helpful in an instance where the opening needs to align with certain things, rather than being a measurable distance.

[brettSF]

After some additional experimenting:

Adding a jamb for the Window doesn't work because you cannot selectively eliminate the jamb on the door side or at the floor. As for the opening, I find that adding the jamb graphically accomplishes what I'm looking for.

Window question still stands!

[zoomer]

First,

you can set Caps on Walls by start, end, both, non - in wall dialogs as needed.

For openings in Walls created by doors and windows, you will set these Cap

settings in doors or windows settings.

If I want a Wall opening but no visible door/window I simply use a "Wall Recess"

but don't think that will control the Caps ?

For Doors and Windows there is a setting to have "opening only", so no need to

delete anything or set invisible.

And a "Framed Opening" which I use sometimes as often there may be kind of

a Frame, protecting the wall, in reality.

[mike-h]

Hi all

 

This thread comes close to a query that I can't seem to resolve despite some searching. My door and window openings show the full wall buildup, it makes sense to me to cap the walls at the openings, preferably with the external/ internal finishes running up to the windows (set back 100mm from outside and similar from inside. Zoomed says "For openings in Walls created by doors and windows, you will set these Cap settings in doors or windows settings.", but try as I might I can't see a reference to capping within the Window settings, or the object info palette for the windows. Can anyone give me a pointer? Apologies if I have a blind spot on this one.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

(VW2017 imaci7)

[PVA - Admin]

2 minutes ago, mike-h said:

Hi all

 

This thread comes close to a query that I can't seem to resolve despite some searching. My door and window openings show the full wall buildup, it makes sense to me to cap the walls at the openings, preferably with the external/ internal finishes running up to the windows (set back 100mm from outside and similar from inside. Zoomed says "For openings in Walls created by doors and windows, you will set these Cap settings in doors or windows settings.", but try as I might I can't see a reference to capping within the Window settings, or the object info palette for the windows. Can anyone give me a pointer? Apologies if I have a blind spot on this one.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

(VW2017 imaci7)

 

Could you reply back with a screenshot of what you are currently seeing please?

[mike-h]

Thanks for the reply, Screen grab attached inc obj info palette. 

[PVA - Admin]

I'm not positive if it is possible to control this with a Styled wall, but if your wall is being textured By Object in the Rendering tab of the Object Info palette, then the part listed as "Holes" is what controls the texture of these surfaces:

 

[mike-h]

Thanks Jim, I am working with styled walls and am keen to continue doing so. If I go to Edit Wall Style then the option to texture the holes only appears if I abandon the component textures, which loses all the detail of my wall build up. If I just look in the object info palette then I am rendering 'by component', but that is a wall style and doesn't give me the holes option - it seems to treat the wall as a single component if I understand correctly. If I change it to 'by object', then as with the Edit Wall Style route, I lose all the detail and textures from the wall. This must be a common issue surely?! Particularly as the pink insulation layer is the VW default within an (adapted) VW wall style?

[cberg]

Maybe I am misinterpreting your question, but I was wondering something similar.  How can you case an opening with components that wrap as they would in conventional construction.  Here are all the options I tried, but maybe there is a trick I am not considering... 

 

Edited December 6, 2016 by cberg
spelling

[mike-h]

Thanks for those thoughts. As we are paid up VSS subscribers I gave them a ring, they are aware of it as a shortcoming (surely we just want an option to cap wall at openings, preferably with some control - brick/ masonry return, timber lining etc., to outside and inside - maybe related to the splayed openings tool?). Meantime suggestions were just workarounds. What I have done is align working plane to the wall, draw a rectangle the size of the opening, offset and extrude it to make a window lining which is what we would like to do as we move to working drawings, but its a bit labour intensive for where we are at the moment (Pre-Application enquiry)!

 

Mike

[cberg]

I'm assuming this may  already be a wish list item?  If not, let's move it on over to the other side!!!

Edited December 8, 2016 by cberg
typos

[PVA - Admin]

Looks like someone has it in already yes. Adding this thread to the request.

 

VE-95271

[ptoner]

On 08/12/2016 at 8:18 PM, JimW said:

Looks like someone has it in already yes. Adding this thread to the request.

 

VE-95271

 

Yeah, I raised this issue a month or two ago with VSS also.
Makes no sense, the current set up with wall styles having their innards exposed in the model. Hope it is resolved shortly, as we have 30+ staff whose models look bad due to this issue.

[mgries]

I suggest a generic "Wall Opening" tool, separate from Door or Window tool, to control all of these issues. It could contain all the necessary options for capping, without having to integrate it with the display settings for actual AEC objects. A cool feature to add on top of this would be to designate the opening for the purposes of ventilation, potentially allowing application of vent coverings to be built into the tool.

[mgries]

Related to this, I have a wall opening display question I would love answered:

I have used the door tool to create vent openings in the stem wall below (vent openings to crawl space). In plan, I would like to show my wall break lines to be dashed, but I can't get this to work. I am displaying opening set to "no break", which gets me half way there. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to control the display of the perpendicular break lines. See screenshots... I hope someone can help me...this is driving me crazy!

[nrkuhl]

I came across this while trying to figure out a similar thing for myself - you can make it look right in top/plan view via the component wrap control in the door settings (same screen as the splay controls).  It does not appear to draw any 3d geometry though.

 

Also, I messed around with the settings, and every time I hit ok on a new iteration, it appears to have drawn the wrapped components in a different spot - my size reference was set to RO the whole time and I told the door to wrap 1 component from interior and exterior, and the components were drawn within the RO (as though they were a jamb).  I didn't like that, so I reset to 0.  I then tried setting it via the OIP and got weird results that made no sense with extra lines projecting out and such.  I decided to try it a third time, and went back to doing the settings via the settings dialogue for the door, and this time it drew the component wrap outside the RO, so the opening size was unchanged.

 

Anyone know what the expected behavior for the setting should be in regards to RO and positioning?

[mgries]

2 hours ago, nrkuhl said:

component wrap control

that's an interesting idea! Let me give it a shot

[mgries]

I'd like to bring this other post related to customizing wall openings into this thread. It discusses how to make openings with curved corners. Looking at both threads, it makes for a very strong argument for creating a stand-alone wall opening tool.  As I mention in the other thread (link provided), there actually was such a tool posted to Vector Depot. Only problem is, it doesn't work in versions of VW beyond 2013. Can anyone please update the script for this thing to make it work in 16, 17 or 18?