How to Model A basement Bulkhead Door/Hatch?

[Sagarika_J]

Has anyone modeled an exterior basement bulkhead hatch like the one in the attached photo? If so, what's the most efficient modeling method?

Operating system used: Windows

[Patrick M]

its not likely to need to be scheduled, right? you could just use morphs or walls + roofs... 
I guess it depends on the level of detail you need and how parametric you need it.

it would be fairly easy to script out from scratch as well or model and save as an object.

[Patrick M]

here's a kind of fun option:

 
-place any window or door type you want to use for a sloping hatch

-select the placed door, go to file > libraries and objects > open object

-change the subtype to skylight

-in the master script, add a line at the top: rotx roof_angle (this will match the slope of the roof used for the hatch top)

-model the hatch with walls, beams, etc... use a roof for the hatch lid and place your 'custom' skylight for the opening. since it's using the door or window macros, you should have access to all the leaf/sash/hardware options!

[Patrick M]

OR, you could do it the lame way and just use an angled wall with a door or window in it...

 

[Florin Luca]

Hi Patrick,

I've been trying to follow your steps above, but the resulting object has no access to any of the leaf/hardware etc. options. I wonder what am I missing. I changed the subtype by selecting Opening/Roof Opening/Skylight. Any thoughts?

Thank you!

[Patrick M]

hmm... could be that the macro's aren't able to identify the door or window once it's subtype has changed... last time I did this for a custom skylight, I was able to retain custom settings.

maybe try the other option, just model it as a door in a canted/sloping wall? that can be more of a problem, since it may not play nice with the walls running perpendicular; but you could also model those as a slab and trim them to the sloping wall with a solid element opperation.

[Florin Luca]

yeah, bummer! i liked your skylight option a lot. the mutant canted wall option, I always have a hard time getting right, so i avoid it like the plague 🙂

[Patrick M]

yeah, canted walls can be a PITA; but other than morphs or piecemealing it together, not sure what else there is.

I did spend a few minutes trying to script an object to do this, since it's such a simple shape... could have custom parameters for single door, double door, curb height, etc...
an object like this usually takes me 3-5 hours to fully script and test out; and I just don't have the time to dedicate to that lately.

It could be a morph saved as object option A and B and combine them, but that wouldn't be fully parametric (the mul command would stretch all proportions, not in a nice way).

[Florin Luca]

Thank you, it's not a big deal, just something that would have been nice to have! 🙂

I usually piece it together from walls and roofs, as a "good enough". When I needed to, I just called it in the specs, didn't need to model all the nuts and bots.

[Patrick M]

it looks like Bilco has RFA downloads... if you had a specific manufacturer, thats always another option too.

https://www.bilco.com/Downloads