Windows, Doors and Openings

Windows, doors and openings have a similar feature. They can each create an opening in a wall. Therefore, we will use the «opening» term for these objects in this section except when we need to describe the difference between them.

You can insert openings into a wall or roof segment.

If you have imported a 3D model of a door or window, you should set the corresponding object type in the Type & Representation dialog.

Operations common for all object types are discussed in the Basics section. This includes:

The Properties of Objects in 2D section explains how to apply a stroke, fill or pattern to an object using the 2D Properties tab of the Inspector.

The Applying Materials section explains how to apply materials to objects.

Opening Properties in the Inspector

Most of the opening parameters are located in the Inspector where you can change an object’s geometric properties, or set up how the object looks on the floor plan or in the 3D view.

Geometric Properties

The geometric properties of an opening can be found in the Object Properties tab of the Inspector.

To resize an opening, make sure that its dimensions are unlocked in the Inspector. Then enter new values. To resize the object proportionally, select the Maintain Aspect Ratio option.

To resize an opening on the floor plan directly, drag one of the object’s handles. The handles are not displayed when the object dimensions are locked.

The Elevation parameter defines how high an object is placed in relation to the default floor level. Since the floor can also be elevated, the object’s elevation is calculated from the floor with zero elevation. In a multi-story building, the elevation of objects on each story is calculated from the level of the respective floor.

The Elevation parameter can be locked or unlocked. Locking is useful when you need to move an object horizontally in the 3D view.

The Inner/Outer Parts Ratio slider changes the position of a window or door in relation to the wall. In this way, you can define how deep a door is in the doorway.

The Flip buttons in the Inspector let you flip or rotate a door or window. This set of tools includes three buttons. All of them affect the object both in the 2D and 3D views. Let’s see how these tools work with a door. The left button swaps the left and right sides of the door. The inner side of the door will remain inner. This button can be used when you need to mirror the location of the door handle. The Flip button in the middle swaps the inner and outer door sides. The door handle will stay at the same side of the door. The button on the right rotates the door by 180 degrees.

The Frame Thickness parameter changes the thickness of a window or door. It can be used to better fit the object to the wall.

The Look Through option lets you define if a door has transparent parts through which one can see objects behind the door. If a door has no transparent parts, you can deactivate this property in order to increase program performance.

Customizing the Shape of Openings

In the Elevation view, you can preview, relocate and modify openings. Since every door and window creates an opening in a wall, they are also displayed in the 2D Elevation view.

The functionality described in this sub-section is only available in the Pro edition.

To add a new opening, you can draw it directly on a wall using one of the drawing tools.

To add a rectangular opening, draw it on the wall surface using the Opening Rect tool. Click and hold down the mouse button to start drawing a rectangle. You should then move the cursor to a new position and release the button.

To add a polygonal opening, activate the Opening Poly tool. Click several times on the wall surface to add corners. Double click in order to specify the position of the last corner of the polygon and deactivate the tool.

To modify the shape of an opening, right-click on it and choose Edit Contour Geometry from the context menu. The resize handles will disappear, indicating the contour editing mode. The program will display the outline of the opening with diamond-shaped handles at corners called «contour points». To change the shape of the outline, you can move contour points.

To add a new contour point, right-click on the contour and choose Add Contour Point. To remove a contour point, right-click on it and select Remove Contour Point.

In the contour editing mode, the program also displays round handles in the middle of each side of the shape. If you move a round handle in one or another direction, the corresponding side will bend inside or outside of the shape creating an arc. While you are changing the curvature of a side, a number near the cursor changes from 0 (straight line) to 180 (semicircle). One of possible ways to create a circle is to draw a square and bend each side up to 90 degrees. Hold down the Shift key to snap to 15 degree steps.

Rounded sides of the object can be displayed in the 3D view as a number of facets or as a smooth surface. To make curvatures more or less smooth, use the Smoothness slider in the Inspector. Higher values may require higher computer performance while the 3D model is rendered. In the picture below, the two identical objects have minimum (to the left) and maximum (to the right) level of Smoothness.

When the Edit Geometry option in the Inspector is unlocked, you can activate the editing mode by double-clicking on the object.

Be careful with editing of openings which are parts of windows or doors. If you change the opening’s shape, for instance, by adding a one more corner, the opening will no longer match the object.

Does Opening Windows & Doors Help With COVID-19 ?

Data shows that having good indoor ventilation can reduce the chance of virus transmission. Armed with that knowledge, can something as simple as opening a door or a window help to fight COVID-19 and reduce coronavirus transmission indoors?

Recommended Air Changes Per Hour

Before we can say how effective opening windows really is, we need to know what our target for indoor ventilation is.

In a typical home, ventilation rates of 0.35–1 air changes per hour are recommended. For an office it’s approximately 2–3 air change per hour. However for areas with potentially high levels of viruses (like hospitals, or in a COVID context), the CDC recommends a ventilation rate of 6-12 air changes per hour.

So, can opening windows achieve these ventilation levels?

Open Windows to Increase Indoor Airflow

Data shows that opening windows in hospitals can improve air circulation by almost 20 times, from 1 air change per hour up to 20. That’s great!

However, that was only the case for ‘old-fashioned’ hospitals with large windows and doors. When scientists tested more modern hospitals with smaller windows, they found ventilation rates were half those of the older hospitals.

However, for both the modern and old-fashioned hospitals, opening the windows increased the air changes per hour above the 6-12ACH recommended by the CDC.

Opening Windows in Real World Homes

That’s for hospitals, which are designed with high ventilation in mind. But how about at home? Scientists from the US tested the effect of opening windows on the ventilation in a home in Cary, NC.

They found that opening windows almost doubled the air changes per hour throughout the house. From a baseline of 0.2ACH, air changes increased to 0.35ACH. That’s much lower than the 20 times increase found when opening windows in the old-fashioned hospitals. However, changes per hour just within the ASHRAE recommended range of 0.35 – 1.0 ACH.

If the goal is to reach the CDC’s recommended ventilation rate of 6 – 12 ACH, in an attempt to reduce COVID-19 transmission, then opening windows alone is not enough.

Opening Doors to Increase Indoor Airflow in Real World Homes

If windows don’t give a high enough air flow, then how about opening doors? The scientists in the US also studied this. The scientists simulated a real home by opening the door from 3 to 60 times per hour, as if people were entering and leaving the home. Here’s what they found:

No real change in ventilation was seen when the doors were opened fewer than 12 times per hour. Opening the door 12 times per hour increased the ventilation rate by about 40%. Opening the door every minute (60 times per hour) almost doubled the house’s ventilation rate.

That’s on par with opening the doubling in ventilation that occurred when opening windows. However, it’s still a long way off 6-12 air changes per hour the CDC recommends. If air changes in the order of 6-12 really are required, then the best ways to achieve this may be increasing the internal HVAC system, using a fan to blast air in/our of a window, or to install an air purifier.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Opening Windows & Doors

Opening doors and windows seem like simple, easy ways to increase a room’s ventilation. But there are other downsides. Here’s a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of opening windows and doors to increase ventilation:

Advantages:

• Quick & Easy – it’s built into (most) buildings!
• Can double the ventilation in most homes, or much more in places with bigger

Disadvantages:

• Difficult to control ventilation direction, although adding a fan may help.
• Difficult and potentially costly to control indoor temperature.
• Allows unfiltered outdoor air into the building [1]. Not great for places with outdoor air pollution.
• Not all buildings allow for windows to be opened

Bottom Line:

For buildings with large windows and high ceilings, opening windows can dramatically increase the indoor ventilation. However for more typical houses, offices and schools with smaller window, the improvement to ventilation is minimal. Other approaches such as using HVAC or running an air purifier may be more effective.

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When a Door closes a Window opens

The following article is all about the sophisticated art of discovering possibilities in times of great trouble; and the way to see the good in bad situations. Life can be a tough ride. It’s harsh, hard and slaps you occasionally in the face. Sometimes, it seems like a never-ending struggle from one problem to another. And as if this wasn’t enough already, we encounter every once in a while an incident that is so severe, so drastic and shocking that it changes our life forever. Unfortunately, in most cases, this change is not for the better. ( Feel free to skip the intro to see how to discover opportunities in times of setbacks.) There are times in life when a door is proverbially slammed right in front of your face. I’ve experienced one major life-changing event, and of course a couple of minor events that everyone else undergoes as well, like being left, given notice, stolen from, etc.

And certainly, I asked myself whenever I encountered one of these “minor life-changing events” why it was always me who had to endure such an awful thing. That was until I grew older and was confronted with a truly “major life-changing event”. It did not only make me realize how insignificant most of the minor happenings were, but it also elucidated all the things I could no longer do in my life. It made me realize all the doors that had been slammed shut, never to be opened again.

I spend a lot of time in grief about all the doors that were closed and all the opportunities that were missed. It was a tough episode in my life, but time is a great healer, as they say, and so I began to make the best out my situation. And after many, many months I had learned to at least deal with the situation. But it took me a lot of reflection and courage to discover all the doors, windows and opportunities that had presented themselves only as a result of this major life-changing event.

Only when I was brave enough to accept the situation I found myself in, only when I was courageous enough to let go of the bitterness concerning the missed opportunities, I began to discover new paths and even more exciting avenues. I do realize now that – especially this tough and difficult time – paved the way to something new and made me the person I am today. If someone would ask me if I wanted to experience a similar thing again, I would certainly answer no, as it was something you wouldn’t even wish for your worst enemy. But, I wouldn’t want to miss all the amazing opportunities it brought me.

New opportunities in times of great trouble

There’s a lesson to be learned in everything that happens to you. And it takes a lot of courage to discover the windows that were opened by such a situation. Remaining in grief and self-pity, or entirely giving up is always the easier alternative. But in reality, some doors and windows can only be opened, when an existing door is closed.

When a door closes, look out for the window that opens!

How to Discover Opportunity in Times of Great Challenge?

In the following, I will show you some of the most important steps toward finding the good in bad situations.

#1 Take yourself a break, time will heal!

That’s, in my opinion, the single most important aspect in discovering opportunities in times of great trouble. Naturally, you might not see any new window opening when your emotional wounds are still open and the pain is still felt. Your situation might seem hopeless, while the memory is still fresh. Therefore, it’s so important to give yourself a hiatus, before even thinking of looking for a window that has opened. [Of course, this only applies to very severe happenings!]. The reason why I’m stressing this out lies therein that you will not be ready to discover any opportunity if you haven’t allowed yourself some time for yourself to come to terms with what happened.

Depending on the severity of what happened, this can take months or even years! But time heals all wounds; it may not restore things, it may not change your life for the better, but it allows you to come to terms with the past.

Feel free to bookmark this site, to return to it at a later point in time, if you don’t feel ready to continue, yet.

If you allow time to pass, you will notice that many new opportunities have presented themselves, and may have already been integrated into your new life. This often goes unnoticed, at the first moment.

#2 Distract yourself

Try to get distraction, by focusing on things that do not remind you of what happened. Treat yourself to something good. Also, by keeping yourself engaged in an activity that totally absorbs your mind and soul, you will more likely think about positive things, for a longer period of time.

#3 Develop acceptance

Secondly, acceptance about what happened is needed before you are ready to discover new possibilities, challenges and unnoticed options. The perfect moment to search and discover the windows that have opened is when you do not feel any more grief about the door that has closed.

#4 Have the courage to find new possibilities

Does it take courage to discover and accept the windows as what they are? Yes, certainly! I can only relate to my situation, but it took me a lot of courage to discover these new opportunities and just as much courage to see what could be found behind these windows.

#5 Avoid comparisons with the door that closed

The difficulty for me lied therein that not all of these new opportunities looked worthwhile at all. Especially not when compared to my past lifestyle. And this was a major mistake, which prohibited me from discovering all the new fantastic windows and doors much earlier. I firmly believe that I would have never chosen to discover what could be found in each new opportunity, if I had continued to compare all of them with the doors that had closed. So, it was tremendously helpful for me to clarify that a new chapter in my life had begun, whether I liked it or not.

Therefore, it’s so important to let go of the door that closed. In most situations, the windows that opened through a troublous time do not look like new opportunities at all. Many of them seem much more like a step backward, but I realized that most of them turned out to be very profound and enriched my life.

#6 Go with the flow and don’t force things

I know from my personal experience that most of the new circumstances do not immediately present themselves after a door has been shut close. Also, the attempt to force new doors to open is, in my opinion, counter-productive. Rather than doing that, I would recommend you to simply “go with the flow”, i.e. by doing whatever feels right to you at the moment. A while later you will automatically know if these things have developed into new opportunities or not.

#7 Discover the lessons and internalize them

Number 7 applies to mildly bad situations, but not to all malign happenings. Many bad situations we encounter in life bring a valuable, mostly hidden, lesson. And in fact, depending on your own insight about life, a lesson can be drawn out of nearly every stroke of faith, (not all though!) By finding the root cause for a bad happening, you have the chance to learn a lesson out of what happened, in order to avoid similar occurrences in the future.

What were the negative events in your life that helped you to discover new opportunities? We’re excited to hear from you in the comment section below.

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About Author

Steve is the founder of Planet of Success, the #1 choice when it comes to motivation, self-growth and empowerment. This world does not need followers. What it needs is people who stand in their own sovereignty. Join us in the quest to live life to the fullest!