Learn how to design door and window openings in an architectural plan, with instructions on the use of precise geometry, trim and extend tools, and accurate offsets. This step-by-step guide offers professional insights into architectural drafting techniques for both the novice and the seasoned designer.
Key Insights
- This article reveals how to create door and window openings in architectural designs by using precise geometry and offsetting by distinct measurements such as three feet and four feet for windows, and three inches for door jambs.
- The tutorial provides detailed steps on how to use the trim and extend tools to clean up geometry, specifying cutting edges and using shift to extend lines. It also emphasizes the need to be meticulous to avoid deleting necessary lines.
- For doors, the author outlines a method that combines offsets, which can be useful when changes are added to a project in future editions. The importance of using object snaps when using exact geometry is also highlighted.
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Let's continue with our door and window openings. Let's talk about the two windows here and here.
These two windows are in the exact same location on opposite sides of the house. It's a three-foot offset down from the exterior edge, and then a four-foot-wide window. Let's do that together.
Offset, a distance of three feet, Enter. From this top edge, down and click. I'll hit ENTER to say that I'm done.
Enter to go back in. Four feet, Enter. I'll choose this edge and come down and click.
Enter to say that I am done. Now we can use Trim to clean up this geometry, but remember, let's choose our cutting edges so we ignore this geometry in the middle of our space. T for cutting edges, Enter.
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And I'll select these lines. That will add four to my selection. And I will also choose these lines.
That will add two more, bringing the total to six. Enter to say that I am done. And now I can pick one, two, three, four, five, six.
Enter to say that I am done. Let's add this door over here. Again, this is going to be a three-inch typical jamb from this line.
So I will go Offset, three, Enter. I will come down from this edge and click. Enter to say that I am done.
Enter to go back in. Two feet eight, Enter. Here and down and click.
Enter to say that I am done. Now let's use our Trim and Extend with cutting edges. Trim, T, Enter to establish our cutting edges.
And I will pick these four lines here. Enter to say that I am done. Remember to use Shift to extend these lines: one, two.
Releasing Shift gets me back into Trim, and I'll trim here and here. Then I will make a fence selection by clicking, moving my mouse across, and clicking again. Enter to say that I am done. While we're here, let's jump right into this bathroom.
In this case, I can use the shorter line because I'm going to use my Shift to extend. Let's go Offset, three, Enter. I'll use this edge here.
Enter to say that I am done. Enter to go back in. Two feet four, Enter.
I'll choose this line, go to the right, and click. Enter to say that I am done, and I'll go to my Trim tool. In this case, I do not need to select cutting edges because there's no intersecting geometry.
So I'll hold Shift to extend and extend. Release Shift, and in this case, I'll use my click and drag to create a lasso fence. Be very, very careful not to accidentally lasso across these lines or else they will be deleted.
I'll hit ENTER to say that I am done. Our final two doors are here for the bedrooms, and in this case, we can start with the door on the right, which is our three-inch typical, and then our two feet eight, and then we will do the door on the left. This is slightly different from our previous workflow, and I'll show you why in a second.
Let's go Offset, three, Enter. I'll choose this line and go to the right and click. Enter to say that I am done.
Enter to go back in. Two feet eight, Enter. Clicking this line, I'll go to the right and click.
Enter to say that I'm done. Let's trim this door up and finish it completely, and then let's add the other door in. I'll go Trim using Shift to activate my extension.
I'll extend this line and this line, and then I will release Shift, click, click, click, click. Enter to say that I'm done. I'll do a Control + S to save, and now let's put this door in over here.
Remember, we combined our offsets in the previous course, but let's pretend that this door has come in in a future edition for our project, and we know that it is a two-foot-eight-inch door, and that it could be the same exact size as this door, and it is. Now, our first offset is different, so let's go Offset, two feet four, Enter. I'll choose this line and come to the left and click.
Enter to say that I'm done. Enter to go back in. Now, let's check out our command prompt.
What does it actually say? It does not say type, but it does say specify. Specify an offset distance. That means click or type, and in this case, we've been typing for every single offset, but I want to show you that clicking is also an option.
Remember, this door is also two feet eight inches wide, which is the same as this gap here, so I could click this endpoint and then click this endpoint, and it will establish a distance of two feet eight. When I create my door opening, Enter to lock it in, and I use Measure Geometry, I can see that the two-foot-eight distance was specified by clicking my endpoints. I'll do that one more time.
Offset, it says specify, so click or type. I'll click this front endpoint here, and then this front endpoint here, and then I'm back in Offset. Click, click, Enter to say that I'm done.
My Quick Measure shows me that it is two feet eight inches between those lines. Remember, if we use exact geometry, and we are very specific with our offsets and our trims, we can use that same geometry as long as we use Object Snaps. Let's finish this door by going to Trim, holding Shift to activate Extend, click and click, releasing Shift and trimming out these lines.
Enter to say that I'm done. Zoom Extents, and Control + S to save. In the next video, now that we have done our floor plan outline, we can begin to create our sheet files.
I'll see you in the next video.
