Composite wall and window orientations

[mawadhi]

Hello,

I just started testing Grasshopper-ARCHICAD Connection and it looks very promising. I have two questions concerning ARCHICAD Wall and Window orientations in Grasshopper:

1- What exactly controls the outside/inside direction of ARCHICAD walls that we create in Grasshopper? I ask this because when I use the Wall tool and Wall Settings tool to create composite brick walls from closed polylines, and when I draw polylines in a counter-clockwise fashion, the brick finish face is created on the outside of the polyline loop, but when I draw the polylines in a clockwise fashion, the brick is created on the inside of the loop. How can we control the outside/inside direction when creating walls? I did not find any information on this.

2- Why do we have to specify an orientation point in the Orientation input when creating windows? Can’t we just automatically orient the windows towards the outside/inside direction of the host wall? I am not sure if this was the case before, because the 2.3 User Guide on page 39 shows the Window tool without an Orientation input.

I hope this community can shed light on these two questions.

Thanks!

[Ghaleb Khadra]

mawadhi wrote:
Hello,

I just started testing Grasshopper-ARCHICAD Connection and it looks very promising. I have two questions concerning ARCHICAD Wall and Window orientations in Grasshopper:

1- What exactly controls the outside/inside direction of ARCHICAD walls that we create in Grasshopper? I ask this because when I use the Wall tool and Wall Settings tool to create composite brick walls from closed polylines, and when I draw polylines in a counter-clockwise fashion, the brick finish face is created on the outside of the polyline loop, but when I draw the polylines in a clockwise fashion, the brick is created on the inside of the loop. How can we control the outside/inside direction when creating walls? I did not find any information on this.

2- Why do we have to specify an orientation point in the Orientation input when creating windows? Can’t we just automatically orient the windows towards the outside/inside direction of the host wall? I am not sure if this was the case before, because the 2.3 User Guide on page 39 shows the Window tool without an Orientation input.

I hope this community can shed light on these two questions.

Thanks!

Hello Mawadhi,

I'm very glad you reached out to us on ARCHICAD-Talk. I would love to answer your two questions!

Regarding the first question, the methodology for creating the walls follows the same logic as it does in ARCHICAD. The direction we draw the Reference Line(s) of the Wall(s) will dictate the inside and outside parts. The same logic is applied in the Grasshopper-ARCHICAD Live Connection add-on, where the direction of the curve is dictating the clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. There is a simple method you can use to change the inner and outer sides of the wall, which is by using the Flip Curve component in Grasshopper to in order to reverse the direction of the original curve.

Regarding the second question, it is also based on the same logic used in ARCHICAD itself. Whenever we wish to insert a new window within a wall, we do it by specifying the insertion points, then the inside/outside directions, and finally the Orientation of the wall. This is the way it was changed to operate recently as before, there was a different methodology.

Please accept our apologies with regards to this as the Guide you referred to seems to be outdated. We have taken note of that, and will aim to correct it as soon as possible.

I sincerely hope I was able to answer your questions clearly, and once more, I thank you for posting here!

I wish you a fantastic day.
Kind regards,
Ghaleb

[mawadhi]

Hello Ghaleb,

Thank you for your answer. It makes a lot of sense now.

However, I have been trying to create a parametric definition in Grasshopper where I automatically orient the windows to the outside by projecting the insertion points on the offset curve of the wall. But I receive this error message: "Invalid Orientation value. The Orientation point cannot lie on the vertical plane that contains the Insertion Point and is perpendicular to the Wall Reference line."

So I found a workaround where I nudge (move) these offset points very slightly with an XYZ vector. It works fine, but I wish there was a more straightforward way. I am still confused about this error message and why my solution actually worked.

Best regards.

[Ghaleb Khadra]

mawadhi wrote:
Hello Ghaleb,

Thank you for your answer. It makes a lot of sense now.

However, I have been trying to create a parametric definition in Grasshopper where I automatically orient the windows to the outside by projecting the insertion points on the offset curve of the wall. But I receive this error message: "Invalid Orientation value. The Orientation point cannot lie on the vertical plane that contains the Insertion Point and is perpendicular to the Wall Reference line."

So I found a workaround where I nudge (move) these offset points very slightly with an XYZ vector. It works fine, but I wish there was a more straightforward way. I am still confused about this error message and why my solution actually worked.

Best regards.

Hello again mawadhi,

I'm very glad I was able to clarify the questions for you, but also, I'm sorry about the other topic being confusing.

I must admit and apologize that I am not 100% confident that I understood the second issue at hand clearly. May I kindly ask of you to send me over the Grasshopper definition itself - in a PM (Private Message) - so that I won't be mistaken and confirm my suspicion.

Thank you so much in advance, and I am looking forward very much to hearing back from you.
I wish you a fantastic day!

Kind regards,
Ghaleb

[mawadhi]

Hello Ghaleb,

I sent you the Grasshopper definition.

Thanks!

[Ghaleb Khadra · Accepted solution]

Hi mawadhi,

Thank you for sending the Grasshopper file over, and I hope that you are doing well.

I examined the file with my colleague. We noticed that while the definition you set up is not inherently incorrect, there are faster and more efficient ways in doing what you are trying to accomplish. So, we have compiled a different Grasshopper definition, which does exactly what you were aiming to do, and we added notes there in an attempt to explain things in a clearer way. We sincerely hope it helps you out and that you can learn a few simple tricks from there.

I will send you the Grasshopper file through a PM.

Secondly, it is needed to move those points away on a plane perpendicular to the points so that the opening direction can be determined. It cannot be on the same plane, and that is why you are experiencing the error.
It is connected to how Windows/Doors are inserted in ARCHICAD itself.
If you wish to learn more about how Doors/Windows are inserted and why, feel free to check this Help Center article out:
https://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/user-guide/76701/

I hope this information proves useful to you, and I wish you the best of luck on your journey of grass hopping

Kind regards,
Ghaleb