topic Re: Window/Door Orientation related to North Point in Libraries & objects

Window/Door Orientation related to North Point

Anonymous — Wed, 24 May 2023 10:34:30 GMT

Hi GDL Guru's,

I'm fairly new to GDL scripting so please go easy on me.
Apologies if I use any incorrect terminology.

Any idea on how to work out a Window/Door's Orientation related to the project North Point?
I know how to extract the project North Point angle but can't seem to figure out the angle in which a Window or Door faces.

I am pretty sure that this must be able to be done as EcoDesigner does this already.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Alister

Re: Window/Door Orientation related to North Point

Laszlo Nagy — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 13:43:58 GMT

Check the GDL GLobal Variable called WALL_DIRECTION in the below document.

http://www.archicadwiki.com/Global%20GDL%20Parameters#Wall_parameters_-_available_for_Doors.2BAC8-Windows

The article is rather old, is was done for 6.5 but many of the descriptions still stand.

Re: Window/Door Orientation related to North Point

David Maudlin — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 13:50:51 GMT

Alister:

I have not tested this thoroughly, but try the Global Variable WALL_DIRECTION, it reads the angle of the the window's host wall. Then using the Global Variable GLOB_NORTH_DIR you should be able to work out the Orientation.

You should add a Signature to your Profile (click the Profile button near the top of this page) with your ArchiCAD version and operating system (see mine for an example) for more accurate help in this forum.

David

Re: Window/Door Orientation related to North Point

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 15:45:39 GMT

Be sure to do some tests on this.

As I recall the WALL_DIRECTION global is a bit tricky what with interactions between rotation angles, mirroring and the reference line direction.

To test, turn on the reference lines in the Display Options and make copies of the walls at all angles. I use the multiply command to make a circle of sixteen copies and then select the lot and mirror copies to cover all possible permutations.

If you need to make it obvious you can put a bit of temporary code at the top of the 2D script to draw an arrow pointing north. Your first attempt will probably have arrows pointing in various directions.

Re: Window/Door Orientation related to North Point

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 18:58:50 GMT

Thanks for the help guys.

Unfortunately I have not had any success in working this out.
I don't think that the Global Variable "WALL_DIRECTION" is the solution as it is user defined and can have two different outputs depending on the direction that the user drew the wall, left to right would give me an angle of 0 deg, and right to left would give me an angle of 180 deg. (See Attached Image)
What I am actually looking for is the angle that the window/door faces relative to the North Point.

Re: Window/Door Orientation related to North Point

Barry Kelly — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 02:15:29 GMT

Place some windows in walls set at different angles and then mirror a copy of those walls and windows.
Then query the values for WALL_DIRECTION, SYMB_ROTANGLE

You might also want to look at WIDO_REVEAL_SIDE to determine which way the window was place - reveal inside or outside.
It should always be outside but you may have a reason to place your window reveals on the inside of the wall?

Barry.

Re: Window/Door Orientation related to North Point

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 02:28:51 GMT

It has been a while since I've had to do this but as Barry has said you need to query the WALL_DIRECTION plus the WIDO_ORIENTATION and also the GLOB_NORTH_DIR.
I'll do some digging through some old objects this evening and see if I can find the windows I added this to.

Re: Window/Door Orientation related to North Point

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 16:11:15 GMT

As I indicated this is one of the trickier things to work out in GDL, but it can be done. And yes, that two seemingly identical walls can be 180 degrees different angles is just one of the complications. If you are going to be associating text with the arrow getting it to face down and/or right is another one.

Re: Window/Door Orientation related to North Point

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 22:18:03 GMT

Once again, thanks for the help.

Unfortunately I am no closer.
I have decided to move away from the WALL_DIRECTION and the WIDO_ORIENTATION options due to the number of user variables.
This may be a mistake but I'm not getting any closer.
My new line of thought is that it must have something to do with Zones as in EcoDesigner it does not matter what the wall direction is, nor does it matter what the WIDO orientation is. I have tested both.
I was chatting to a fellow ArchiCAD user and he mentioned something along the lines of all objects having a 'frontal view' and that this might be of some help.
I'm not to sure if this is true or not, although it does make sense because all objects have an elevational preview window in their Settings Dialog.
Any thoughts??