Artifacts with Openings

[alexliz]

I am using the Opening Tool to create historic windows (stone lentils/sills/jambs). It seems that for some reason, some of the windows have some surfaces showing artifacts on the extrusion surfaces - they seem to be reproducing the surface of the wall into which they are cutting the hole but, as you move the camera in 3D in Detailed Shading mode, you get that flickering effect of the two identical patterns/surface shaders competing with one another and creating a strobe-like effect. Anyone else noticed this behavior and, better still, happens to know what it is that causes it?

I have tried playing with all the parameters and settings I can think of but it is still eluding me. In the video I have included here the problem appears with the right jamb of the window at the start of the video, while the left jamb is nice and clear - no jumpiness in the surface shader. The other ground floor windows are all good, too; the problem also appears with the right jamb of the other first-floor window, at the 00:01:00 mark. Anyone knows anything by all means please share.

Just for reference I have included a still from the video, where I have tried to highlight the affected area. Bit difficult to show in a still frame; it's better demonstrated when the camera is moving, hence the video attachment.

Many thanks y'all.

Alex

 

[Barry Kelly]

You have determined the cause with the co-planar surfaces.

You could separate them by a fraction of an inch (or a millimeter or 2), but depending on the gap, you may still see this effect.

Or maybe set either the window or opening sides to have a plain material?

Or, does the window not have the same reveal settings as the opening?

Then you don't need the opening at all.

Sorry, I do not use the default windows and would rarely do reveals like this.

Barry.

[alexliz]

Hi Barry, many thanks for your reply here. Since my initial post, I kept trying various things and I noticed that simply tweaking the Window and Opening parameters, then setting them back to what they were initially, corrected the issue for one of the two affected windows. Weird.

Answers below, for convenience:

You have determined the cause with the co-planar surfaces.

Not sure I have - it's only two instances of Window 27, out of of a couple of dozen, all of which use the same settings.

You could separate them by a fraction of an inch (or a millimeter or 2), but depending on the gap, you may still see this effect.

You are correct, and I had tried this as a troubleshooting step; but I prefer to not go down that path, as I am averse to introducing these sort of 'inaccuracies' into the model.

Or maybe set either the window or opening sides to have a plain material?

Sadly, this is not an option, as I need to stone texture for presentations.

Or, does the window not have the same reveal settings as the opening?

Then you don't need the opening at all.

The reason I need the addition of Openings to my Windows is that I am using the stone lintels and sills which have chamfered edges; without the Opening, the Wall shows through where it shouldn't - like this:

 

Sorry, I do not use the default windows and would rarely do reveals like this.

Now I'm intrigued - are you saying you don't use Archicad's own Window objects? That you always use 3rd-party or your own window objects?

Alex

[Barry Kelly]

So your stone lintels and sills are part of the window object, but they are not cut by the window reveals?

Yes, I have my own doors and windows that do exactly what I need them to do.

They have their own sill built into the object (simple recessed, raking, chamfered, bull-nosed) so I don't need to worry about window reveals.

They don't have all of the fancy options that the default windows have, but I can do what I need to with them.

And if they don't do what I need, I can generally amend the scripts so they do.

Barry.

[alexliz]

Ah, I see! I did use to script my own windows back in the day (was v8 I believe) for specialty windows (some neoclassical buildings in Athens, Greece). Then I went away from the field for some time (credit-crunch years) and, now that I'm back, the GDL interface seems a bit daunting to me, so I haven't re-visited that option yet.

The lentils and sills I am using on this project are Morph objects which I place manually into the wall above and below the Window, then perform a Boolean subtraction with the wall to reveal them properly.

I thought of achieving the same result without the Opening Tool, by going into the Opening Oversizes of the Window and adjusting the Upper and Lower fields; however, this results in cuts through the whole wall thickness (whereas the lentils and sills only go on the outer leaf of the composite wall), so that created new problems.

I may need to muster the strength to go back into window-scripting again, as you also suggest. Thanks again Barry.

[Barry Kelly]

I am no expert with the default windows.

But what about setting an external reveal something like this?

Then you shouldn't need the extra opening.

Of course still using your morph lintels and sill SEOed into the wall.

Barry.

[mthd]

Yasou @alexliz, what about using some short stone columns for the side reveals SEOd into your walls ? I am following your post so I can learn how to do traditional Architectural windows with stone reveals sills and lintels like you have above. Kali Nixta !

[alexliz]

Thanks guys.

Barry - Yes, you are (an expert, even in default windows), evidently! 😀

Sadly, your solution won't work for me because I need to have slanted internal reveals which aren't offered by Archicad's automation in Custom Reveal mode. I hadn't mentioned this detail, so you couldn't have known:

However, I did follow your suggestion, trying to replicate the slanted reveals inside by SEO with Morphs. Sadly, this has its own problems: extra edges are drawn (I could live with this), and it affects the Window Board automation (I couldn't live with this):

 

Perhaps this should be a feature to request on Graphisoft's wish list area. I might just do that.

[Barry Kelly]

You can almost get what you want, but not quite.

This one allows you to set inside and outside reveals.

So you can get the slanted internal reveal you want, but you can't have a negative outside reveal.

The last one also lets you set inside and outside, and they can both be negative.

But they do not slant.

Seems you can't win!

Barry.

[alexliz]

Yup, exactly that, Barry. Seems there is no canned option for my window. Thanks for trying!