ARCH ESSENTIALS: User Guide
Horizontal Slider Tool
Use for
- Traditional, wooden-style sliding windows.
- Contemporary (Alu) sliding windows and doors.
Overview
A specialist tool for creating horizontal sliding windows and doors with a ton of tweak-able attributes.
Workflow
To use this tool,
- Left-click on the ‘Horizontal Slider Window’ button in the Arch-E user interface.
- Left-click in the 3D viewport to create a window.
You can reset the tool’s attribute values to a preset condition by right/alt clicking on the ‘NX Slider Window’ name in the tool pipe and selecting ‘Reset Tool’ prior to clicking in the 3D view. Note, please do not set the tool to ‘Auto Activate’ as this will prevent you from being able to reset the tool in the tool pipe prior to use.
Minimum and Maximum Values
This tool dynamically changes the minimum and maximum values for all attributes to keep the geometry well formed; i.e. changing the value of one thing will ultimately affect the minimum or maximum value of another. For example,
- the sash frame depth will limit the glass depth, seal depth and chamfer size; and
- you can only fit so many sashes into a window of a given size.
Hence, you might hit a limit when tweaking a given value. If you wish to increase it further you must first increase the value of the attribute that is constraining it. In reality, this is much easier than it sounds; e.g. increase the size of the window opening if you want to add more sashes or make the sash frame deeper if you want thicker glass or big chamfers.
User Interface (UI)
The ‘slider window’ user interface (UI) is divided into logical sections for ease-of-use. To reduce visual clutter when the tool is active, individual sections can be collapsed by clicking on the section names/dividers in the UI.
UI: Window Opening
The tool prioritises the window opening as the most important attribute, hence, modification of other attributes will never alter the window’s height or width.
Height
The height of the opening the window will fit into. The window will never exceed this height.
Width
The width of the opening (e.g. in a wall) that the window will fit into. The window width will not exceed this value; Note, the window sill may extend at either end beyond this value.
UI: Frame
Height
The height of the frame around the outside of the window.
Rail Height
The height of the rail that the sashes slide on; The minimum height is 1mm.
Rail Depth
The depth of the rail that the sashes slide on; The minimum depth is 1mm.
Frame Point Select
Select a corner of the frame profile to modify. When a point is selected a 2D cross-section of the ‘frame’ profile will be shown and the point will be highlighted. Once, selected you can apply a chamfer to the selected point using the fields located immediately below.
Chamfer Primary
Apply a chamfer to the selected corner point. The size of the chamfer is the distance from the corner along the edge that connects to the previous or next point.
Chamfer Secondary
Creates a chamfer at each point created by the primary chamfer. When combined with the ‘Rounding’ attribute this allows for the creation of ‘rounded chamfers’, which are commonly used in window design.
Rounding
Apply rounding to the primary or secondary chamfer. Use larger numbers to create a smoother curve; The maximum rounding value is 10.
UI: Sash
Count
The number of sashes within the window. The minimum number is 2, whereas, the maximum number can vary depending upon the height of the window opening.
Frame Height
The height of the sash frame.
Frame Depth
The depth of the sash frame.
Rail Inset
The depth of the groove in the outside of the sash frame that accommodates the rail.
Draw Rail Groove
When enabled a groove is made in the sash frame geometry to accommodate the rail; The depth of the grove is determined by the ‘Rail Inset’ attribute (see above).
Seal Height
The height of the rubber seal that surrounds the glass.
Seal Depth
The depth of the rubber seal that surrounds the glass..
Glass Depth
The thickness of the glass.
Glazing Unit
Choose between single-glazed or double-glazed windows.
Pane Spacer Depth
The distance between the window panes within a single sash. This only applies when when ‘double-glazed’ is selected for the ‘Glazing Unit’ attributes.
First Sash Pos.
The position of the leftmost sash in the window frame; You can set the sashes to alternate from back-to-front or front-to-back.
Glass Geometry
The glass panes can be created in one of three ways and your choice will depend upon the requirement of the rendering engine that you use. You can choose to make the glass panes as individual boxes (‘Box’), as individual boxes that overlap the surrounding frame by a small margin preventing collocated polygons (‘Box Overlaps Frame’) or as a pair of opposing polygons that are part of the sash frame (‘Polygon Pair’).
Sash Point Select
Select a corner of the sahs frame profile to modify. When a point is selected a 2D cross-section of the ‘sash frame’ profile will be shown and the point will be highlighted. Once, selected you can apply a chamfer to the selected point using the fields located immediately below.
Chamfer Primary
Apply a chamfer to the selected corner point. The size of the chamfer is the distance from the corner along the edge that connects to the previous or next point..
Chamfer Secondary
Creates a chamfer at each point created by the primary chamfer. When combined with the ‘Rounding’ attribute this allows for the creation of ‘rounded chamfers’, which are commonly used in window design.
Rounding
Apply rounding to the primary or secondary chamfer. Use larger numbers to create a smoother curve; The maximum rounding value is 10.
UI: Sill
Add Sill
When enabled sill (cill) geometry will be added to the model.
Extension
The distance the sill extends from the front of the window.
Height Rear
The height of the back part of the sill.
Height Front
The height of the sill at its front edge; This value cannot exceed the ‘Height Rear’ value.
Extend Length
The distance the sill extends from each side (to the left and right) of the window frame.
Type
Choose between ‘Full’ that creates sill geometry that extends underneath the window frame for a more realistic result and ‘Extension Only’ that only creates geometry in front of the window frame.
Upstand Height
Adjust the height of the upstand, which creates a step in the sill under the window frame. Setting this value to zero will remove the step. Note, this only applies when sill ‘Type’ is set to ‘Full’ (see above).
Upstand Inset
Adjust the inset of the upstand under the window frame. This can be used to add an extra element of visual interest to the outside of the window. Note, this only applies when the sill ‘Type’ is set to ‘Full’ and the ‘Upstand Height’ is greater than zero (see above).
Sill Point Select
Select a corner of the sill to modify. Currently, only a single point at the end of the sill extension is available for selection/modification. This may change in future, depending upon user feedback.
When a point is selected a 2D cross-section of the sill profile will be shown and the point will be highlighted. Once, selected you can apply a chamfer to the selected point using the fields located immediately below.
Chamfer Primary
Apply a chamfer to the selected corner point. The size of the chamfer is the distance from the corner along the edge that connects to the previous or next point..
Chamfer Secondary
Creates a chamfer at each point created by the primary chamfer. When combined with the ‘Rounding’ attribute this allows for the creation of ‘rounded chamfers’, which are commonly used in window design.
Rounding
Apply rounding to the primary or secondary chamfer. Use larger numbers to create a smoother curve; The maximum rounding value is 10.
UI: Common
Draw Magnified Profiles
Enable or disable the drawing of the magnified profiles (cross-sections) in the 3D view.