adegnan
2004-06-22, 07:23 PM
Hello everyone.
I thought I'd share my newest learning experience with you, and share the product.:D
I've (successfully, I believe) created the Andersen Picture Window family that has all sizes from 3' x 3' to 6' x 5', with a type catalog so you can selectively load the sizes you want. Also, within the type catalog you can choose whether to load the family with prairie muntins, colonial muntins, or no muntins.
Hopefully I've set up the materials properly so that if you change the "interior material" parameter to cherry, for instance, it should change all interior parts of the window, including casing and muntins, to cherry. Same thing goes if you wanted a Sandtone exterior instead of White. (I've only included white though, if someone wants to provide me with a family with more colors that would be cool! I'm not good with rendering materials and color choices. :oops: )
I've also set up the muntins to automatically adjust through the type catalog. I started out with the family that Steven Campbell provided and I discoverd that I needed to make modifications. To simply let the muntin pattern be calculated based on window size does not work, because for example at the 5' x 5' window size, an additional muntin division would be inserted (60" divided by 10" minimum size= 6 pieces) but on a 3' x 3' size, when you subtract the window frame, you would only end up with 2 divisions instead of 3 divisions. So I decided to drive that array parameter through the type catalog instead. This works out easily with copying and pasting within Excel.
Steven Campbell was kind enough to review my work and discovered that the muntins were not adjusting properly with different wall thicknesses. I believe that problem is now solved. To let you know how I did it, I locked a reference plane to the front face and rear face of the glass extrusion, and locked a dimension to them for the glass thickness which is locked to another reference plane (Installation Flange Inset, I believe.) Then I locked the muntins to those reference planes and I've tested the windows in walls from 4" to 36" and all appears to adjust properly now.
For your reference I've included the type catalog, the CSV-excel file, and the original excel file. I adjusted the rough-opening size to roung-up to the next full inch, which is based upon my real-life experience rather than what the Andersen catalog shows. For instance, a 35 15/16" window should have a 36 1/2" rough opening but I choose to create a 37" rough opening.
I have corrected a couple of minor typo-s in the type catalog. More importantly, I named the window families with a suffix of C for Colonial, P for Prairie, and nothing for no muntin. You'll want this new type catalog as I discovered that if you load the other window types afterward the properties remain the same.
I've also included a second zip file which has the muntin components that I used to create the window model (again thanks to Steven Campbell). I used a lot of his expertise and basis to deal with it but made my modifications to the families to make them work by my method mentioned above.
This zip file is now uploaded for you to use.
So along with this I'll also be creating another family that includes a 3 1/2" exterior trim board with a crown moulding detail at the head. However, as I discovered in this thread http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=4936, I cannot turn off the second void that cuts out the wall material for my wide trim. I'm also having some trouble with getting the window inset to work properly so that on a brick-veneer wall the wide trim piece would be inset at the back of the brick (not at the brick face). So I'll also include that file here in case anyone wants to take a look at it and can give me advice on what reference planes or labeled dimensions must be added to make this work. I want my "installation flange" to sit at the exterior core face of my wall (the wall sheathing) and the wide window trim to cut out the siding, brick, etc. If you can help debug it for me that is great!
This file is not now attached anymore. After talking to Steven Campbell it appears that I'll be able to accomplish this manually with the "installation flange inset" parameter. However I'll have to do some more work on it later. If anyone wants this attachment for their trial-and-error let me know.
Well I hope this file is either useful or educational to all of you.
Plan on seeing more Andersen stuff from me, updating all my other Andersen families that have been previously posted to type-catalog based families. Many fewer files than the first time since I have my conditional muntin families set up decently now.
And as always if you use these and find that I have any flaws, mistakes, or visibility issues please let me know!
Finally I have now included the Double Casement windows on a new attachment here as well. I think I'm going to go ahead and create the single and triple and quadruple mulled windows with type catalogs right away as well.
With my Casing Visibility parameter you should be able to further nest these windows to create picture-window combination units. Turn off the casing visibility for the families you load in, attach them to each other, and then create a new piece of common casing to enclose the mulled unit.
Also-- muntins only display at "fine" detail level. Casing displays at "medium" or "fine."
OK-FInal edit on this post-- I've made a few final changes to the picture and double-window families and re-attached them. Please re-download if you've already used them.
I thought I'd share my newest learning experience with you, and share the product.:D
I've (successfully, I believe) created the Andersen Picture Window family that has all sizes from 3' x 3' to 6' x 5', with a type catalog so you can selectively load the sizes you want. Also, within the type catalog you can choose whether to load the family with prairie muntins, colonial muntins, or no muntins.
Hopefully I've set up the materials properly so that if you change the "interior material" parameter to cherry, for instance, it should change all interior parts of the window, including casing and muntins, to cherry. Same thing goes if you wanted a Sandtone exterior instead of White. (I've only included white though, if someone wants to provide me with a family with more colors that would be cool! I'm not good with rendering materials and color choices. :oops: )
I've also set up the muntins to automatically adjust through the type catalog. I started out with the family that Steven Campbell provided and I discoverd that I needed to make modifications. To simply let the muntin pattern be calculated based on window size does not work, because for example at the 5' x 5' window size, an additional muntin division would be inserted (60" divided by 10" minimum size= 6 pieces) but on a 3' x 3' size, when you subtract the window frame, you would only end up with 2 divisions instead of 3 divisions. So I decided to drive that array parameter through the type catalog instead. This works out easily with copying and pasting within Excel.
Steven Campbell was kind enough to review my work and discovered that the muntins were not adjusting properly with different wall thicknesses. I believe that problem is now solved. To let you know how I did it, I locked a reference plane to the front face and rear face of the glass extrusion, and locked a dimension to them for the glass thickness which is locked to another reference plane (Installation Flange Inset, I believe.) Then I locked the muntins to those reference planes and I've tested the windows in walls from 4" to 36" and all appears to adjust properly now.
For your reference I've included the type catalog, the CSV-excel file, and the original excel file. I adjusted the rough-opening size to roung-up to the next full inch, which is based upon my real-life experience rather than what the Andersen catalog shows. For instance, a 35 15/16" window should have a 36 1/2" rough opening but I choose to create a 37" rough opening.
I have corrected a couple of minor typo-s in the type catalog. More importantly, I named the window families with a suffix of C for Colonial, P for Prairie, and nothing for no muntin. You'll want this new type catalog as I discovered that if you load the other window types afterward the properties remain the same.
I've also included a second zip file which has the muntin components that I used to create the window model (again thanks to Steven Campbell). I used a lot of his expertise and basis to deal with it but made my modifications to the families to make them work by my method mentioned above.
This zip file is now uploaded for you to use.
So along with this I'll also be creating another family that includes a 3 1/2" exterior trim board with a crown moulding detail at the head. However, as I discovered in this thread http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=4936, I cannot turn off the second void that cuts out the wall material for my wide trim. I'm also having some trouble with getting the window inset to work properly so that on a brick-veneer wall the wide trim piece would be inset at the back of the brick (not at the brick face). So I'll also include that file here in case anyone wants to take a look at it and can give me advice on what reference planes or labeled dimensions must be added to make this work. I want my "installation flange" to sit at the exterior core face of my wall (the wall sheathing) and the wide window trim to cut out the siding, brick, etc. If you can help debug it for me that is great!
This file is not now attached anymore. After talking to Steven Campbell it appears that I'll be able to accomplish this manually with the "installation flange inset" parameter. However I'll have to do some more work on it later. If anyone wants this attachment for their trial-and-error let me know.
Well I hope this file is either useful or educational to all of you.
Plan on seeing more Andersen stuff from me, updating all my other Andersen families that have been previously posted to type-catalog based families. Many fewer files than the first time since I have my conditional muntin families set up decently now.
And as always if you use these and find that I have any flaws, mistakes, or visibility issues please let me know!
Finally I have now included the Double Casement windows on a new attachment here as well. I think I'm going to go ahead and create the single and triple and quadruple mulled windows with type catalogs right away as well.
With my Casing Visibility parameter you should be able to further nest these windows to create picture-window combination units. Turn off the casing visibility for the families you load in, attach them to each other, and then create a new piece of common casing to enclose the mulled unit.
Also-- muntins only display at "fine" detail level. Casing displays at "medium" or "fine."
OK-FInal edit on this post-- I've made a few final changes to the picture and double-window families and re-attached them. Please re-download if you've already used them.