adegnan
2004-06-24, 02:05 PM
OK. Here's my tip of the day; love to hear any confirming/conflicting opinions as necessary.
I think that sweeps are one of the best tools to use in family creation. Especially if you are creating multiple families of similar design, you can create profile families of the different components involved.
For instance, with the Andersen windows you can have several profiles: Window stop, window sash, exterior frame, exterior mull, interior mull, casing. Draw those profiles and then set up your reference planes in the family. Make sure your reference planes flex. Set up reference planes related to wall thickness as well.
For instance you want to make sure that your exterior stuff is related to the exterior of the wall, with a parametric dimension for window inset, and you want this stuff to be a fixed depth but move with the wall thickness.
And you want to make sure that the interior stuff- extension jamb, casing, etc. is related to the inside plane of the wall, and that it will expand and shrink with the wall depth-- think about how you change your window extension jamb thickness, that is the parametric component!
So in other words, the extension jamb should be modeled as an extrusion or as a sketched profile, so that you can lock the interior edge to the wall edge, and so that you can lock the exterior edge to the window exterior frame-- and then the depth of the extension jamb will move with the wall thickness. Everything else that is a fixed component can be done with profiles that you load in.
Now, I think that sweeps are the easiest way to accomplish this. You select the reference plane related to wall thickness as your work plane-- IE, exterior of wall for the exterior window frame. Then you can sketch the sash and the inside window stop, which will move with the window frame, by picking the path of the extruded window frame and using your pre-made profiles.
One reason to do the exterior sash as a separate component from the inside window stop is so that you can use different materials/finishes for the interior & exterior of window. For instance, you may want a white exterior and a oak interior. Or you may have a white painted interior and a forest-green exterior. If you make it out of one component, the inside & outside become the same material.
Incidentally, if you disect the Andersen windows that I'm posting, they are not constructed this way uniformly. That is because I've been modifying the ones that were created a few releases ago, a couple years ago, and modifying them for my use. I'm presenting these tips as I've discovered the problems and solutions during the modification of these windows! Some day I'll probably continue to modify the windows and perfect them. For now I'm only "getting them to work." THe great thing is that with the type catalog in place, I can simply modify the window family and re-load the new model in and it will work with all the parameters that area already set up.
Hope this gives some of you more insight as you work & learn.
I think that sweeps are one of the best tools to use in family creation. Especially if you are creating multiple families of similar design, you can create profile families of the different components involved.
For instance, with the Andersen windows you can have several profiles: Window stop, window sash, exterior frame, exterior mull, interior mull, casing. Draw those profiles and then set up your reference planes in the family. Make sure your reference planes flex. Set up reference planes related to wall thickness as well.
For instance you want to make sure that your exterior stuff is related to the exterior of the wall, with a parametric dimension for window inset, and you want this stuff to be a fixed depth but move with the wall thickness.
And you want to make sure that the interior stuff- extension jamb, casing, etc. is related to the inside plane of the wall, and that it will expand and shrink with the wall depth-- think about how you change your window extension jamb thickness, that is the parametric component!
So in other words, the extension jamb should be modeled as an extrusion or as a sketched profile, so that you can lock the interior edge to the wall edge, and so that you can lock the exterior edge to the window exterior frame-- and then the depth of the extension jamb will move with the wall thickness. Everything else that is a fixed component can be done with profiles that you load in.
Now, I think that sweeps are the easiest way to accomplish this. You select the reference plane related to wall thickness as your work plane-- IE, exterior of wall for the exterior window frame. Then you can sketch the sash and the inside window stop, which will move with the window frame, by picking the path of the extruded window frame and using your pre-made profiles.
One reason to do the exterior sash as a separate component from the inside window stop is so that you can use different materials/finishes for the interior & exterior of window. For instance, you may want a white exterior and a oak interior. Or you may have a white painted interior and a forest-green exterior. If you make it out of one component, the inside & outside become the same material.
Incidentally, if you disect the Andersen windows that I'm posting, they are not constructed this way uniformly. That is because I've been modifying the ones that were created a few releases ago, a couple years ago, and modifying them for my use. I'm presenting these tips as I've discovered the problems and solutions during the modification of these windows! Some day I'll probably continue to modify the windows and perfect them. For now I'm only "getting them to work." THe great thing is that with the type catalog in place, I can simply modify the window family and re-load the new model in and it will work with all the parameters that area already set up.
Hope this gives some of you more insight as you work & learn.