Discover how to create window openings for a building model. Learn the method of specifying dimensions, implementing offsets, using the trim command, and ensuring a neat finish with no geometry left behind.
Key Insights
- The article provides a step-by-step guide to create window openings on a building model, starting with specifying the offset from the side of the building, followed by determining the window's total width.
- Various commands are used for this process, including the trim command (T, R, enter) to remove unnecessary lines and the offset command (O, enter) to set the distance from the side of the building.
- The process is repeated for each window, with specific dimensions given for each, demonstrating its repetitiveness, which aids in practicing the method while working through a model.
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Let's begin with our window openings. We can see that the front of the garage and the front door are openings in the exterior of our building, but we'll do our door openings later.
Let's just do windows for now. Let's start here on our building. So I'll zoom in.
I can see that this window is right in the middle of the wall, but the dimensions we're given are 2 feet 1 inch offset from the side, and then a 6 foot total width of our window. Let's do that together. O, enter for offset.
2 feet 1 inch. Enter. I'll grab the exterior wall here.
Bring it in and click. Enter to say I'm done. Enter to go back in.
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6 feet. Enter. Now I can choose this line and come across and click.
Enter to say I'm done. And this is a simple trim. T, R, enter to activate the trim command, and we can pick 1,2, 3,4. Enter to say I'm done.
Control S to save. Let's move into this one now. Same process.
We see that this offset's a little different. It's 2 feet 10 inches, and then a 5 feet wide window. O, enter.
2 feet 10. Enter. From the exterior edge here.
Enter to say I'm done. Enter to go back in. 5 feet.
Enter. I'll grab from this line to the right and click. Enter to say I'm done.
This is also a trim, but notice these lines go off the top of our drawing. In this case, we want to specify cutting edges, because we can see that the lines above intersect with some other geometry. So I'll zoom back in.
I'll go T, R, enter to activate trim. I'll hit T, enter to select cutting edges, and going right to left with a crossing window, I'll pick these four lines. Now I can hit ENTER, and I can trim these out.
1,2, 3,4. Just like we did before. But when I hit ENTER and zoom out, we know for sure that none of that geometry is left behind in the top part of our model. I'll do a Control S to save.
Now let's zoom in on the window here. This window is a total offset of 2 feet 11 from the corner, and it's 5 feet wide. Let's go offset, O, enter.
2 feet 11. Enter. I'll choose this line and go down, click.
Enter to say I'm done. Enter to go back in. 5 feet.
Enter. Here to here. Enter to say I'm done.
Once again, we can do a quick trim. T, R, enter. Here, here, here, and here.
Enter to say I'm done. You can see that this process is quite repetitive, so it's great practice while working through a model. Finally, let's do the last window on this side of the building.
It is our bath window, right above the toilet. That's a total offset of 3 feet 4 inches from the top corner, and the window itself is 2 feet wide. I'll go offset, O, enter.
3 feet 4. Enter. From this corner down. Enter to say I'm done.
Enter to go back in. Next is 2 feet. Enter.
Here to here. Enter to say I'm done. Once again, I'm going to make sure I select cutting edges in my trim command and only grab these four.
So I'll go T, R, enter for trim. T, enter for cutting edges. I'll pick these four and hit ENTER.
And then I can go 1,2, 3,4. Enter to say that I'm done. Let's go zoom extents. Control-S to save.
And in the next video, we will finish the window openings for this project.
