Cutting opening - window component

Hi I am attempting to use components that cut openings automatically for the first time. As you can see it is not working very well. The component, I t hink, has the right setting, but it’s not having any effect on the wall it’s mounted in. I thought maybe it depended on the plane so I tried moving the window to different depths but so far no luck. Any idea what I can do to make it cut into the wall? Or any workarounds? I’ve tried manually cutting the wall and it’s kind of a pain. Any assistance is appreciated. Thanks.

Is the wall a separate group or component. If it is, you have to enter the context of the group/component before the window cut will work.

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Even if the component is applied directly onto a face it might not cut a hole for various reasons…
For example perhaps the window has no ‘loop’ on the plane of the face, which is needed to define the ‘hole’.
Or perhaps the window’s axes are set up incorrectly - its blue Z must be set up to be perpendicular and out of the face, its axes must also be on the plane of the face.
Use Model Info > Components > Show Axes, to help see what’s happening…

For a start, right click on the window to see if ‘Unglue’ in the context menu is grey or black.
To cut an opening you’ll need the window to at least be glued to a face (‘Unglue’ = black).

OK thanks for the responses y’all this is helpful. I should note that I downloaded the window from 3d warehouse, it is not one i created. It’s also “layered” - the whole component is made up of other groups/components.

Pault728 - it is whch I can change But I am trying it on a test surface that is not in a group or component with the same results.

Tig- I will have to work on that, I don’t know that it has a loop.

Wo3Dan - it is grey, how do I change that?

[quote=“sarcoguy, post:5, topic:31933”]
… Wo3Dan - it is grey, how do I change that?
[/quote] The downloaded component is now in your ‘In Model’ component library.
Check its properties there to see if it has ‘Glue to’ checked. If not, change it to be.
And try a new instance picked from the ‘In Model’ library, directly on a face.
Whether it cuts depends on a loop in the component’s Red/Green plane.
A close loop is series of connected edges that either supports a face or the face may have been deleted, thus causing the hole in the face the component is glued to.

A simple gluing / hole-cutting component contains some geometry that is located at the component’s origin and forms a planar loop.
If that loop has no face then the face onto which it is glued is not displayed where it occurs beneath the ‘hole’.
The axes of a cutting component must be set so the blue Z axis is perpendicular to the face onto which it will glue.
Otherwise SketchUp doesn’t know what to use to for the hole.

If you cutting component contains sub-components the must also have cutting behaviors set and have appropriately oriented axes.
Although groups can glue to faces they do not cut that face, so any nested groups within your cutting component will not display as ‘holes’, even if they themselves have no faces in their loops.

Without examining the window we cannot be sure, but I suspect that this 3DWH window was never set up to be a cutting component. It’s nested contents and complex loops probably mean it’ll be difficult to fix.
However, consider exploding all of its nested parts and then ensure its definition has cutting behaviors set, and that its axes are correctly oriented.
To see if it does, remember that you need to insert a new instance, any preexisting instances will not reglue/cut the host face that they are on [unless you use an extension to ‘reglue’ them - I suggest that the simplest solution is to delete and reinsert a properly functioning instance…


Sharing the link to the 3D Warehouse model in question will help us help you.

If you are creating a cut opening window/door from scratch, would it be best draw it so that the window is oriented with the red & green axis so that the blue is automatically perpendicular to the windows’ plane? In other words, whilst drawing or modelling the window, do so in the horizontal plane (red & green) or on the ‘floor’? AND, if you do, what setting should you have “glue to” to?

I watched this SketchUp YouTube video https://youtu.be/1UF7a4_ly3o for some help, but bit tricky to tell due to size of the axis marker, but does he have it set so that the blue is perpendicular to the wall/window so that it is sticking out of the wall/window?

The reason I ask is I would like to create doors/windows that cut openings but just want to establish the most efficient, easiest way to so.