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Autodesk Architectural Desktop: Door, Windows, and

Openings

By Ed Goldberg
What would a building be without doors and windows? Not only do these objects
provide access, light, and ventilation, but they also act as design elements in the
building composition. In Autodesk Architectural Desktop Release 3 and 3.3, the
Doors, Windows, and Openings objects are totally parametrically controlled and
easy to modify. And they are directly related to the software's intelligent Wall
Objects. Once placed in a wall, these objects can quickly be moved or modified
while maintaining their relationship to the wall. Try the following tutorial to
experience using these intelligent AEC objects.
Note: Because Doors, Windows, and Openings are similar, the
following tutorial, although describing doors only, applies to all three
objects.
Creating the Wall
1. Create a new drawing using the Walls_Tutorial template. If you do not have the
Walls_Tutorial template, you can download it from here.

Walls_Tutorial (zip - 91 Kb)

Figure 1: Zoom in all viewports to see design changes from all directions.

2. Change to the Work_3D layout tab; activate the top-left viewport (Top View).
3. Right-click to bring up the contextual menu and select Design > Walls > Add
Wall, which opens the Add Walls dialog box.
4. At the Add Walls dialog box, add a 15' long, 8' high Standard Style wall. Zoom
in all viewports (see Figure 1).

View Larger Image

Figure 2: Right-click to bring up the contextual menu.

Placing a Door
1. In the Top View viewport, select the wall and right-click to bring up the
contextual menu.
2. Select Insert > Door to bring up the Add Doors dialog box (see Figure 2).
3. At the Add Doors dialog box, check the Automatic Offset/Center check box,
and set the dimension in the dimension box opposite it to 4", and then click on the
wall approximatly at its midpoint (see Figure 3).

View Larger Image

Figure 3: Most architects keep doors at least 4" away from wall
intersections.

Figure 4: Attaching an override to the door affects only that door.

Setting the Automatic Offset/Center check box causes the door, window, or
opening to automatically insert at the midpoint of a wall when you click near the
middle of the object. In this exercise, we were even more specific and inserted a
4" offset from either end of the wall. No Object Snaps are necessary, and the offset
is important because you must maintain a fixed distance from wall intersections to
allow for trim and doorknobs.
As you know, exterior doors and doors to rooms such as bathrooms need
thresholds, which act as barriers that prevent liquids from entering from the
outside of the building, or in the case of bathrooms, to prevent water from exiting
the room to the hall. Most interior doors except bathroom doors don't usually have
thresholds.
Displaying a Door Threshold and Entity Display
1. Select the door and right-click to bring up the contextual menu.
2. Select Entity Display to bring up the Entity Display dialog box (see Figure 4),
and then click the Display Props tab.

Figure 5: Select Threshold Plan* from the drop-down list.

3. Select the check box opposite Door, which attaches an override or modification
to this door only from the System Default. From the drop-down list, select
Threshold Plan* (see Figure 5).

Figure 6: Threshold settings are located under the Other tab.

4. Press the Edit Display Props button to bring up the Entity Properties dialog box.
5. At this dialog box, select the Other tab. Here you will find the threshold
controls.
6. Set all the Threshold Dimensions for 2" (see Figure 6).

Figure 7: A yellow lightbulb indicates the threshold is visible in the drawing.

7. Now select the Layer/Color/Linetype tab, where you will see that the two
lightbulbs under the Visible heading are grayed out. (By default, the threshold
display is turned off.)
8. To activate that display, select the lightbulb next to Threshold A and Threshold
B (the lightbulbs turn yellow indicating they are in the "on" state.) (See Figure 7.)
9. Click the OK button to close the dialog box.

Figure 8: The Threshold Plan* view.

Thresholds A and B now display in the Threshold Plan View and indicate the front
and back lines of the threshold (see Figure 8).
Conclusion
Because Autodesk Architectural Desktop Release 3 and Release 3.3 have made the
placing of doors, windows, and openings quick and easy, you can spend your time
designing the placement of the objects rather than drawing them. As with all the
parametrically controlled AEC objects, changes are just a mouse-click away.
Note: If you are placing many similar objects with thresholds, you
might consider creating an object style that includes preset thresholds
or window sills (see Figure 8).