How would you model this?

[kmarquis]

I have this building I'm modeling which was built in 1949. I knew the wall below the window was thinner but I thought I would just split the wall and make that portion of the wall narrower at every window or make the wall between the winidows thicker. I noticed in this photo I attached that the wall above the window is the the same thickness as the wall between the windows so my original plan won't work. I have about 150 windows with this condition. I was thinking I would make a Generic Face Based Family and model a void that would cut out the wall. I read that voids are not ideal and slow down the model. If I place a void there will it Can anyone think of any other options?

Thanks,

Karen

[Baldwin_4-6-0]

You could place 2 walls of different thicknesses nested inside of one another and use cut geometry tool. ??

[jameswest77]

I haven't heard the same thing about voids. Sometime they can be tricky, but I've never heard about them slowing down your computer.

I'd consider adding a void to the window family under the interior sill that extends down to the floor.

[Baldwin_4-6-0]

I haven't heard the same thing about voids. Sometime they can be tricky, but I've never heard about them slowing down your computer.

I'd consider adding a void to the window family under the interior sill that extends down to the floor.

I was just giving another option, what I posted would take you longer and would be harder to edit later, the void in the window family would be easier to place around your model 150 times.

[kmarquis]

I totally agree with you and I would normally build this into the window family but the window is getting demolished so that would remove the void as well. I might just have to add in the void family in manually at every instance.

[Baldwin_4-6-0]

Ok, then I might nest the walls and cut geometry like the model I attached. I am personally not a fan of voids unless they are in a family, they are fussy and annoy me (but that is just a person preference).

anyone else have any another options?

[antman]

anyone else have any another options?

With that thickness of wall it's most likely that it's not a single wall, but 3 separately framed walls in addition to the exterior wall - similar to this attached image. They might be surrounding a chase or a column (or even just dead space). I would probably model it that way, with a ceiling and a 'soffit' function wall at the top of the opening. My office would want a ceiling height tag there on the RCP, anyway. All that said, even though this is probably the more technically accurate way to model it, using voids sounds easier. Of course, the few times I've tried to use in-place voids and solids have caused me major headaches. I think I need a tutorial. .-)

[kmarquis]

since this is existing I don't want to model the wall assembly. I've made a Generic Model-Face Based Family and created a void extrusion which cuts the wall perfectly. Hopefully it doesn't cause problems for me later in the project.

Thanks everyone for you help!