Tutorial for open windows

In progress

This tutorial uses FreeCAD 0.18.

This tutorial shows how to place Arch Windows and Doors in a building model, how to display them as open in the 3D view, and how to create a 2D drawing (plan and elevation projection) for the model. It uses the Draft Workbench, the Arch Workbench, and the TechDraw Workbench.

Common tools used are: Draft Grid, Draft Snap, Draft Wire, Arch Wall, Arch Window, Arch SectionPlane, and TechDraw NewArch.

Setup
1. Open FreeCAD, create a new empty document, and switch to the Arch Workbench.

2. Make sure your units are set correctly,. For example,  is good for dealing with distances in a typical building; moreover, setting 4 decimals is good to consider even the smallest fractions of a meter.

3. Use the Draft ToggleGrid button to show a grid with enough resolution. You can change the grid properties if needed,. For example, lines at every 50 mm, with major lines every 20 lines, and 1000 lines in total.

4. Zoom out of the 3D view if you are too close to the grid.

Create a simple building with closed walls, two doors and two windows.

Placing a wall
5. Use the Draft Wire tool to create a closed wire. Go counterclockwise.
 * 5.1. First point in (0, 0, 0); in the dialog enter ,   ,
 * 5.2. Second point in (3, 0, 0). Press to constrain the movement to the X axis; enter the value
 * 5.3. Third point in (3, 4, 0). Press to constrain the movement to the Y axis; enter the value
 * 5.4. Fourth point in (0, 4, 0). Press to constrain the movement to the X axis; enter the value
 * 5.5. Press to close the Wire, and close the tool.
 * 5.6. In the number pad press to get an axonometric view of the model.
 * the points can also be defined with the mouse pointer by choosing intersections on the grid, with the help of the Draft Snap toolbar and the Draft Grid method.

6. Select the  and change the property  to

7. Select the  and click the Arch Wall tool; the Wall is immediately created with a default width (thickness) of 0.2 m, and height of 3 m.
 * if the property of the   is, this step would create a solid block, instead of using only the contour of the.





Placing doors and windows
8. Click the Arch Window tool; as preset select, and change the height to 2 m
 * 8.1. Change the snapping to Draft Midpoint, and try selecting the bottom edge of the frontal wall; rotate the standard view as necessary to help you pick the edge and not the wall face; when the midpoint is active, click to place the door.
 * 8.2. Click the Arch Window tool again, and place another door, but this time in the midpoint of the rear wall; rotate the standard view as necessary.



9. Click the Arch Window tool; as preset select, and change the   to 1 m
 * 9.1. Keep the snapping to Draft Midpoint, and try selecting the lower edge of the left side wall; rotate the standard view as necessary to help you pick the edge and not the wall face; when the midpoint is active, click to place the window.


 * the  is the distance from the floor to the lower edge of the element. For doors the   is usually 0 m as doors are normally touching the floor; on the other hand, windows have a usual separation of 0.5 m to 1.5 m from the floor.


 * 9.2. Click the Arch Window tool again, and place another window, but this time in the midpoint of the right wall; rotate the standard view as necessary. This time make the window's width (length) 1.5 m, and again make the  1 m




 * the  parameter can only be set when initially creating the window with a preset. Once the window is inserted, modify its placement by editing the  vector   of the  underlying Sketcher Sketch.


 * 9.3. Move the  a bit higher. Select the underlying , and change its  from   to  . The entire   should move up. The wall may still show an opening in the previous position; if this happens, right click the   element, select  , and then press + to recompute the model.



when placing a window or a door with a preset, hover the element over the Arch Wall, and wait for the element to rotate so that it is parallel to that wall. Aim for the bottom edge of the wall, and use the  to adjust the distance from the floor. If this is difficult, use the Draft Near snapping mode of the Draft Snap toolbar to insert the element anywhere on the face of the wall, and then adjust its manually as described above. Having many Draft Snap modes active at the same time may cause issues with placing the element, so try with only one option at a time.

occasionally the window may be placed outside the Arch Wall; as long as the element is parallel to that wall, you should be able to correct the position manually.

Opening the doors
10. Select  underlying , and press , or change the property  to

11. Double click  in the tree view to start editing it.


 * 11.1. Inside the  frame there are two panes,   and.
 * with a simple door preset there are two wires,  and , and two components,   and  . A custom designed Arch Door, may more wires and components.


 * 11.2. Click on, and click the  button. This shows the properties of the   component like  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , and.
 * 11.3. In the 3D view, select only one vertical edge in the visible sketch of the door, then click the ' button. The button should change to an edge name, for example, '.
 * 11.4. Change the  to , or any other option.
 * 11.5. Click the ' button, and then ' to finish editing the door. The sketch may become hidden again.







12. Select, and give the property  a value of 45. The solid panel of the door should open to the inside of the building.

13. Select, and change the property  to ; the tip of the created wire indicates which side of the door opens; this is easier to see if the viewport changes to front view. Change the property to ; a circular arc should indicate the extent of the door's swing; this is easier to see if the viewport changes to top view.

14. Repeat the steps with  and the underlying   to make the door open 75 degrees to the inside of the building. Also enable the elevation and plan symbols.







Opening the windows
15. Select  underlying , and press , or change the property  to

16. Double click  in the tree view to start editing it.


 * 16.1. Click on the  component, and click the  button.


 * 16.2. In the 3D view, select only one vertical edge of . The wires representing   and the   are very close to each other, so zoom in as close as possible to the sketch to select the appropriate wire. Then click the ' button. The button should change to an edge name, for example, '.
 * when there are many solids on the screen that it becomes difficult to select only one edge, switch to wireframe mode to remove the faces of those solid objects, and see only the wires, edges, and contours.


 * 16.3. Change the  to , or any other option.

17. Select, and give the property  a value of 45. The inner frame containing the transparent glass should open to the inside of the building.

18. Select, and change the property  to ; the tip of the created wire indicates which side of the window opens; this is easier to see if the viewport changes to left side view. Change the property to ; a circular arc should indicate the extent of the window's swing; this is easier to see if the viewport changes to top view.

19. Repeat the steps with  and the underlying   to make the window open 75 degrees. Also show the elevation and plan symbols. In this case, don't pick a vertical wire of the  as hinge, but pick the top horizontal wire. This means that this window will open differently from the other window. The elevation symbol will be better seen from a right side view. The plan symbol will be better seen from the front view; however, since the wall is obstructing the view, you can change its to a value such as 85 to see through it; alternatively you can also change its  to   to show only its edges.







Making a floor plan of the building
20. Still in the Arch Workbench, select all components in the tree view, the Arch Wall, the two Arch Windows, and the two Arch Doors, then use the Arch SectionPlane tool to create a  element.

change the property of the section plane to a larger value, for example, 200 mm, so that the direction of the section is clearly visible in the 3D viewport.



21. Change to the TechDraw Workbench and insert a new page with the TechDraw New Default tool; a new  object is created, and the view switches to this page. The page inserted is a standard A4 sheet in landscape orientation, with a basic frame around it. Use the TechDraw New Pick tool if you need to create a new page using a particular SVG template.

22. Select, and use the TechDraw NewArch tool to create an   object in the page. Most probably the new object won't be visible in the page because it has a very large scale of 1, that is, 1:1. This means that every meter in the 3D view is shown as a meter in the page view; since the page is only 0.297 m x 0.210 m in size, most features are too big to fit in this page at their natural scale.

23. Select this  object, and change the property  to 0.02, which is equivalent to 1:50, a scale suitable for typical buildings. This means every meter in the 3D view will be shown as 20 mm in the page. The object should appear in the center of the page, and can be moved to a better position on the left side. The two doors should look like they are open, but only the left window should look open. The reason the right window doesn't appear in the projection is that the plane defined by  does not cut through this right window.



24. Switch back to the Arch Workbench. In the tree view select all components again, and use the Arch SectionPlane tool to create a second  element.
 * 24.1. Select  and change the property  to  . This second plane does cut through all Arch objects.
 * 24.2. Switch back to the TechDraw Workbench. Select, use the TechDraw NewArch tool to create  , and set  to 0.02. The new view in the TechDraw page now shows all openings in the Arch Wall produced by doors and windows.

set to  for TechDraw ArchView objects so that all elements cut by the plane are visible in the page, regardless of their visibility state in the 3D viewport. The option can also be set to  to draw a shade on the solids that were cut by the section plane.



Making an elevation projection of the building
25. Go back to the Arch Workbench. In the tree view, select all components, the Arch Wall, the two Arch Windows, and the two Arch Doors, then use the Arch SectionPlane tool to create a third  element.
 * 25.1. Rotate, so that it cuts vertically through the building. Change the properties  to  , and  to
 * 25.2. Change the to , so that the plane is in front of the building.



26. Go back to the TechDraw Workbench, and use the TechDraw NewArch tool on ; remember to adjust the scale to 0.02 (1:50). Change to   to correct the appearance of the projections. Arrange next to the other views in the page. This third projection looks at the building from the front.



Arch and TechDraw interaction
As of the time of writing of this document (FreeCAD 0.18, November 2018), the TechDraw Workbench can only display in its pages what the Arch Workbench exports as SVG. This means that the appearance of the elements included within the Arch SectionPlane tool, and displayed by the TechDraw NewArch tool, is controlled by the Arch Workbench. The TechDraw Workbench only has minimal control over how it display those Arch SectionPlane objects. Therefore, bug reports and feature requests related to displaying Arch elements should be filed with both workbenches.

A closer interaction between the workbenches is planed for future versions of FreeCAD. In those versions it is expected that long-standing issues be resolved, such as controlling the characteristics of lines and faces (line width, line color, face color, hatch patterns, and others).