topic Re: door and window libraries continue to come up short in Libraries & objects

door and window libraries continue to come up short

Patrick M — Sat, 02 May 2026 20:36:25 GMT

Now that we have the global libraries, the access to other doors and windows has been very helpful. The 2 main issues I have are:
-now we have 4x as many library parts to sift through to guess at which one is going to get us as close as possible
-'as close as possible' is still nowhere near close enough!

...

Triple sash window gives me an option for upper/lower transom. This can get me a lot of different configurations! as long as I don't have more than 3 factory mulled units.

The multi-sash window does not have upper/lower transom options.

So... for a unit like this, I'm faced with an option to jump through a bunch of hoops, such as jury rigging the curtain wall into being a window and hoping that's close enough (and that I never have to edit it in the future), or piecing it together with a window for the left casement o/ fixed AND right 3x fixed AND an empty opening to schedule a unified window and tag it in plan. 3 windows for a simple fixed store front style with a casement.
Maybe there is a window unit that can get me to that 90% targeted level of precision I'm looking for. But I need to sift through every setting of hundreds of windows and am likely to come up short any way.
Cadimage is a great solution, but so many of my clients shy away from it, for the extra cost and licensing pains and in general Graphisofts stance towards bugs and third party add-ons.
So what's the solution? how do we get the doors and windows we need without hours/days of tinkering or getting the curtain wall to that 50-60% accuracy and calling it 'good enough'?

...

In a world of commercial architecture, I could see how "good enough" may be the target. But in the US, most architects I work with using Archicad are specializing in high end residential work, where 50-60% precision and LOD200- are NEVER going to be acceptable metrics to design to.

Operating system used: Mac Apple Silicon

Re: door and window libraries continue to come up short

Ahmed_K — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:45:53 GMT

I had a question in a webinar : Since you introduced Global Libraries, we were wondering if this indicates a potential upcoming update to the Door and Window tools. Are there any plans for improvements in the near future?”

Answer:
“At this stage, there are no plans to update the Door and Window tools in the near future.

By ‘near future,’ it's are referring to a timeframe of at least five years.”

Re: door and window libraries continue to come up short

Patrick M — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 18:08:02 GMT

yes, this seems to be the case.

I think a lot of us were hopeful that cadimage purchase would make those tools more integrated into the out of the box tool set. But really, the entire system of doors and windows is antiquated and needs to be addressed for current industry LOD and Level of Precision needs; and even Cadimage doors/windows fall short of those standards.

what we really need is for doors and windows to be addressed and reinvented in the same way the stair and railing elements were reenvisioned in Archicad 21(?)

Re: door and window libraries continue to come up short

Ahmed_K — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 20:37:13 GMT

Doors and windows should work as a manufactured component wich can read and manage custom parts to create an assembly, like it's done in real life, nothing special,

based on gdl ? , No problem, but please make it userfriendly, make the assembly in archicad, like in real world

Betreff: door and window libraries continue to come up short

Hmooslechner — Fri, 01 May 2026 04:25:40 GMT

Graphisoft - if you read this:

One idea to this - let the "curain-wall-tool" jump into the "window-door" - functionality. It's there - it has just to be inserted into this wall-openings for doors and windows.

Another thought -suggestion: Make the need for open the dialog-boxes "as little as possible" - make much much more editable hotspots into doors and windows-GDLs to shift element-Intern geometry - where the tilings are, the real open space to walk through - lets drag the profiles within the graphical editor - to make it much easier in section views to fit the over-all architecture of your house-design not in dialog-boxes..

Make it as simple for the user to use as it its tecnical possible...

Dont forget to include the wall-layers not only in the floor plan but also in the 3D section view for lintels!! (Its a wish suggestion - nearly as old as layers in walls exist in Archicad.)

Re: door and window libraries continue to come up short

Ahmed_K — Fri, 01 May 2026 09:11:29 GMT

I’ve been experimenting with a custom door/window object using AI, and I wanted to share the approach I’ve been testing.

The idea was to build the window the same way it’s constructed in real life. I start with an empty window, then progressively add components. First step was implementing 3D skin returns, with an on/off option.

Then I added structural elements like lintels and bottom slabs.

So far, it’s working quite well

The real challenge starts with parametric window division, especially figuring out how to assign a sash to a specific frame in a flexible way.

I’ll be happy to share what I’ve developed so far if anyone is interested—maybe we can push it further together.

Re: door and window libraries continue to come up short

SeaGeoff — Sat, 02 May 2026 19:23:25 GMT

Doors and windows are the most important objects for most Archicad users.

The introduction of the Global Libraries came with the promise of easier and more frequent library updates. Part of that is combining features from various libraries, like adding good stuff from the German windows to the INT windows. The next part is identifying the weakness in these newly aggregated objects and deliver updates for all users simultaneously.

None of that has happened.

And since the Global Libraries are much harder to manage compared to their predecessors, especially for BIMcloud users, the practical effect of the change has been to make things worse for the average user.

That sucks. Graphisoft needs to do better.