panels with holes?

[Anonymous]

Hello

How can I create a curtain wall but not made of glass..actually I need to draw panels with holes along.....how can I create it?

[Dwight]

Creating a panel with openings can be either:
modeled, using a Solid Element Operation to create holes.
OR, if many tiny holes:
bit-mapped, with a perforated image used as a material, masked for transparency.

For an example, see material 05 | Perforated

[Karl Ottenstein]

To back up one step before Dwight's suggestion ... you need to create a custom panel. Model a slab flat on the ground and save it from File > Libraries and Objects ... > Save Custom Component (however that translates). See attached screenshot where I made a P-shaped hole (in honor of your name) in a slab...

...and then saved it as a Custom CW Panel...

[Karl Ottenstein]

But, note as in the attached screenshot of a curtainwall with this panel: the panel will be distorted to match the size of the actual panel. (This is the same thing that happens with custom door panels.)

Notice the 3 x 6 panel flat on the ground thiwhich was saved as the custom panel compared to the appearance of the panels in the curtain wall.

Thus, it is essential that you model the custom panel with the exact dimensions of the desired finish panel if no distortion is acceptable. This may result in several custom panels, one for each required size.

Do pay heed to Dwight's advice: if there are many holes (such as a perforated metal), it is better to model as a solid panel with an alpha-mapped texture for rendering and a hole-pattern fill for line drawings as the polygon burden of thousands of holes could be extreme.

Cheers,
Karl

PS The screenshots are from AC 12. You did not say what version you were using. Always specify that in your question, better yet, in your signature (click the word "Profile" near the top right of this screen).

[Anonymous]

thanx a LOT !!!!

[Anonymous]

Picking up this topic.

I would like to cut shaped openings in a spandrel panel formed with a curved beam created from a profile.

How should I do this?

Thanks

[DGSketcher]

Just as you described it. Create a PROFILE shape, intersect it with your spandrel panel and the use SOLID ELEMENT OPERATIONS to SUBTRACT the shape. The profile can then be put on a non-connecting hidden layer.

[Anonymous]

DGSketcher, Brilliant, that works really well.
Thanks

[Anonymous]

I wonder, is there any way to make the solid element subtraction permanent so that teh hole cutting profile element can be deleted to leave just he panel with holes in it?

[Anonymous]

Once the panel has the holes in it you can convert it to a morph and it will remain permanent. Just be aware that you will lose your original geometry so if things change it will have to be recreated again or the morph altered manually. You could also keep the original as a copy just in case modifications are necessary.