Global window surface change

[Anonymous]

Hi,

First of apologies, I know this has been discussed but after an hour of searching I am still nowhere.

How can I change all the surfaces (and other properties) for all the windows but still keep the glass clear? I find it mind numbing to set each property for each window every time.

Many thanks,
Henry.

[Steve Jepson]

You have probably already figured this out. ? Select All Window and edit whatever you want to change - except the glass.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I think I should explain my problem a little better:

When I start AC I want all the default window object settings to be different than the current default. In other words I want to edit the default settings that AC loads up with. See screenshot. The selected window is Double Sash Window 18 and the surface (in no less than 4 places) is Wood - Pine Grain. I want this to be White (or whatever) from the start. So now I go ahead and set the material, casing size, frame width etc etc. and place the window. For my next window I choose Triple Window 18 and now I have to come back and set ALL the parameters again. And so forth.

Can I not set ALL the parameters for ALL the windows (and doors) globally? Where do I set the default settings for the library?

Many thanks,
Henry.

[Barry Kelly]

These are the defaults saved with the library parts.

You have 4 solutions I can think of - all with there own problems.

1. Do as you are doing now - place the windows and edit the materials either as you place them or select all once placed and change them once.
Problem is all new windows will still have the same old default settings (ALT+click is a good way to set defaults from an existing object).
In other words just get used to editing the materials all the time.

2. Edit the library objects and set there defaults as you want.
Problem is you may want different defaults in another job and if you ever update the library you will have to set all the defaults again.

3. Alter the surface (material) attributes so the index number for white paint is set to the index number for pine timber.
Problem is you really need to now what you are doing to manipulate these index numbers.
The easiest way now is in the surface settings you can delete the pine timber surface and replace it with white paint.
The problem now is pine timber will be gone.
You can use the Attribute Manager to 'Append' it back in (don't 'Overwrite' or you will be back where you started) from the template.
But as I said you really need to know what you are doing with attributes or you can get in a big mess.
Beware doing this anything using pine timber (i.e. beams, floor slabs, etc.) will all now be white paint too.

4. Set up Favourites for each window. This is probably the easiest solution.
Problem here is you will need a favourite for each window and you must use the favourite when placing a new window - don't just pick from the library.
Hopefully you would only need to set up a few favourites for the windows you use often.
An advantage of this is you can have as may favourites as you want for different settings for each window.

Barry.

[jakubc7]

Another way of doing this which may work quite well in your case is grabbing the properties of the window type (ALT+click) then injecting it (ALT+CTR+click) into another object type (yes it CAN be done!)

For whatever reason this is not as easy as it should be if you are doing it for the first time. Another problem is that it will inject all the properties including size etc (not just ones you want). Depending on the object+parameters, this may 'break' the object but I did this with windows in past and works a treat.

Do this step by step (no additional clicks in between!)

1. Set window/door/object parameters/surfaces exactly as you want them.
2. Place into project.
3. Drag and copy the object so that you have 2 identical copies.
4. ALT+click the object which properties you want to use.
5. Go into properties (CTR+T) of the window you want to amend (the copy you made in step 3.)
6. DO NOT CLICK on anything!!! Hover over the different window/door/object type you want to inject the properties into. Do not LEFT click. Instead inject (ALT+CTR+click). If parameters of the object you ALT+clicked match the other objects parameters this will work just fine.

I still recommend saving favourites for window types ... but this will make life easier to start with.

[Barry Kelly]

Taking jajubc7's idea a little further (which I didn't mention because it resets ALL parameters as he mentioned) you could create a new window object with just material parameters.
Open an existing window and delete all of the scripts and delete all of the parameters except for the window materials.
Set these to the defaults that you want and then save the window as something like "Window materials only".
There will be some parameters (blue ones) that you can't delete - changing the objects subtype may get rid of some or all of these but it needs to remain a window subtype of some kind.

Now you can place this window where you want with the size that you want.
Then select it, open window settings, browse for the real window you want and CTRL+ALT click the icon to transfer all the material and size settings.
You should now have the window you want with the size you want and the materials you want.

It is probably just as easy to select and adjust the materials of the windows after you have placed them.

Of course in version 19 you have the surface paint override tool which can be pretty good which is another option.

Barry.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Thank you for all the advice, I will give it a go and see.

Have a great day,
Henry.