Create Wall Recess

[Jeremiah Russell]

Alright, I'm really hoping the hive mind can help me quickly with this issue. I have an old historic building with recessed windows in a masonry wall. Images attached. In order for it to work I modeled the recess and applied it to the wall. However, the window does not resize itself to the new wall thickness and has a huge gap either side of the jamb in plan. Any thoughts on how to best do this?

 

Thank you!

[Matt Panzer]

Could you upload a file containing the wall with the recess and window so I can have a look?

[Kevin McAllister]

I've had trouble like this before. The gap either side of the window in plan is related the combination of the sill being wider than the window itself and the wall feature. I've attached an example that I made. It may actually be related to how VW handles the wall hole component in top/plan as I've seen similar issues even in custom window symbols.

 

As to the original question, you might find some helpful information in this thread on how to solve a similar issue - 

 

 

I think the cleanest option is to model and make your own window symbol. I'm not sure there's any other way to solve the jamb depth issue. You would then have full control over the 2d/3d and wall hole components.

 

Kevin

 

 

 

Window Example.vwx

[Jeremiah Russell]

@Kevin McAllister, do you have any links to resources to learn how to build a custom window symbol? One that can be added to schedule and have control via the OIP? I'm fairly new to custom modeling anymore more complicated than a simply extrude.

Thank you for all your help!

[Gadzooks]

20 hours ago, Jeremiah Russell said:

the window does not resize itself to the new wall thickness

 

This is quite common with VW. Your expectation that the recessed area has now recognised it has less depth (and therefore will work with windows and doors) than wall parts either side is not carried through by the software.

 

This is one of those areas where we users moan about the way the boffins create these features. It seems (and this happens over and over) they don't 'see the thing through'. They devised a way to create recesses and seem not to have bothered to make the feature a real 'winner'.

 

I have a way around this for you @Jeremiah Russell. I think sometimes you need to be the Forrest Gump of design and think 'simple is as simple does'

 

If VW doesn't play ball one way, try coming at it another way.

 

It seems you have your window choice set, so all we have to do is sort the wall.

 

Try it by using two wall types, main wall thickness and then a thickness to achieve the recessed areas.

 

 

 

All you do now is attack the problem 'from the opposite direction' - use create wall projection... to create the arched area to the upper part of your recess.

 

 

Then the wall will take a window (OK, not the one you've shown!) and deal with the thickness of the wall as you'd expect.

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Edit - I think I should prove the Top/Plan view...

 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Gadzooks

[Christiaan]

19 minutes ago, Gadzooks said:

This is one of those areas where we users moan about the way the boffins create these features. It seems (and this happens over and over) they don't 'see the thing through'.

 

This sort of thing does happen a lot. It's presumably symptomatic of software engineers creating features without fully understanding the problem from an architectural point of view. A hard nut to crack. Perhaps @Jim Wilson is already aware of this? If he is then I imagine he already has a plan of attack. If not, perhaps you can chime in here and let us know your thoughts?

[PVA - Admin]

1 minute ago, Christiaan said:

Perhaps @Jim Wilson is already aware of this? If he is then I imagine he already has a plan of attack. If not, perhaps you can chime in here and let us know your thoughts?

I know this and related items are on quite a few managerial and engineering plates at the moment. How we handle things like this is also tied to how we want to move forward in the future, including things like how to handle materials (volumetric, texture and data information tied to something other than classes or layers) as well as where we want to support things like slanted walls.

I don't personally know a lot of the details on this, but I know there are major ongoing projects and that things like the above issue plus a lot of other instances where the system breaks down. Inserting doors or windows across two stacked walls, the surface hatching and bottom/top edge appearance of stacked walls in general. It's all very active in the development conversation and the original post is very much included in the known pain points.

[Jeremiah Russell]

41 minutes ago, Gadzooks said:

 

This is quite common with VW. Your expectation that the recessed area has now recognised it has less depth (and therefore will work with windows and doors) than wall parts either side is not carried through by the software.

 

This is one of those areas where we users moan about the way the boffins create these features. It seems (and this happens over and over) they don't 'see the thing through'. They devised a way to create recesses and seem not to have bothered to make the feature a real 'winner'.

 

I have a way around this for you @Jeremiah Russell. I think sometimes you need to be the Forrest Gump of design and think 'simple is as simple does'

 

If VW doesn't play ball one way, try coming at it another way.

 

It seems you have your window choice set, so all we have to do is sort the wall.

 

Try it by using two wall types, main wall thickness and then a thickness to achieve the recessed areas.

 

 

 

All you do now is attack the problem 'from the opposite direction' - use create wall projection... to create the arched area to the upper part of your recess.

 

 

Then the wall will take a window (OK, not the one you've shown!) and deal with the thickness of the wall as you'd expect.

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Edit - I think I should prove the Top/Plan view...

 

 

For this particular instance, I think this might actually work the best. Thanks for your insight!