Window, Door/other Cut openings in double face Walls workflow question

SketchUp
1

Hi Community,
I am having a great deal of difficulty learning the workflow for reliable Components, that CUT single polygon/faces and more normally, double face/skin Walls.
I have already seen a lot of You Tube videos, read the help and had a lot of playing around before coming here.
I am using SU Pro 2019 right now.
I am also trialing the plug-in “Double Cut” which I will probably purchase since it seems to do a fair job. I have tried a few other solutions and methods as per sketchucation and plug-ins per Extension Warehouse.

I would like to see a deep technical workflow heavy in explanation about a consistent methodical approach that will bring consistent success.
I have made a lot of doors and windows trying to learn what it takes, to make sure the component will always cut the wall and cut a normal double face wall/ a wall with thickness (for architecture/design/construction documents.

I have got one window I made in ver 2017 Pro, that works every time. I must have made 30 other doors and windows and result are totally and incoherently hit and miss.

One You Tube video, showed a process where a single polygon/face wall was used, then a rectangle made in it, and the internal polygon deleted, leaving only the edges, which were turned into the component with the Cut Opening tick box checked and “Any” as the glue/hosting option.

The author did not say why he used this method instead of making standalone rectangle polygon and adding whatever trim,. facings, sill, reveals, rebated frames etc he wanted to the set, so I like anyone else, is left wondering as a fairly new user/lower hours, if there is something in his method, that means you must create the edges that form the actual Cut Opening, from the elements starting inside a host polygon, or, if this is totally random and irrelevant.
I have tried both ways with limited success.

I am not sure if ver SU Pro 2019 has any bugs that are causing problems, or if the Double cut plug-in , which is suited to ver 2019, is causing any issues, but it seems to do a fine job of healing and cutting anywhere you move the window or door or frame.

Is anyone able please, to lay out a solid explanation of the reasons how and why Sketchup does or allows the Cut Opening process to happen, and what might be a reason as to why i cannot seem to get my doors and windows to always cut or sometimes never cut. I am sure the reason must be simple.

I have tried using Any, as well as Vertical options for my doors and windows, and frames, and always use Cut Opening, but when I place them, esp in 2019, they will not cut except for this one window I made 2 years ago which always works.

It would be good if an experienced user could throw some light on what tricks to look for when making a cuttable component - for instance does it matter which order lines are drawn ? can you do a stage, then come back later and add more 3D detail ? like facings, or change from a single moulding or a double etc, without there being any issues about the Cut opening facility suddenly, just failing to work.

I am not going to get very far further on unless I can resolve this aspect which is fundamental to 3D modeling , and fundamental to architecture ( I use Autodesk Revit for my job, and I have a seat of Modo 10 - I refused to go onto their subscription business model so stopped at version 10.).

I appreciate there are hundreds of articles and videos on making windows and doors in Sketchup however, for me, none of them are high quality and lack explanation and detail
thanks in advance

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Aaron just posted up a video on SketchUp YouTube channel outlining the principles of cutting through walls and surfaces.

While the tone of the video is playful, the principles are solid… and I think it’s worth making sure you’re caught up on all of the stuff he covers.

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The order in which you create a ‘Glue to’ component that has also the ‘Cut opening’ property does not matter at all.

The only thing that such a working component needs is:

  • the red/green local axes plane set to ‘Glue’ (you can do so while creating the component or any time later). The blue axis of course is perppendicular to this plane.
  • a loop, a series of at least three edges, with its face deleted (let’s say a “void” loop, the actual future opening) in that red/green plane.

Anything in this component can be changed or adjusted, geometry added, etc. as long as there is a loop without a face in that gluing plane.

One component can also have more than one “void” loop in the same local red/green plane to cut more holes in the face you later place the component on.

So it’s just about a “void” loop in the right local red/green plane.

4

Thanks.

I already studied that process, but it is not what I am after.

I do not want to have to cut a hole in a wall, then place a window or door in it, that is a tedious and hopefully unnecessary process.

I want, the reasons why, and means of, how SketchUp goes about ensuring, that the Cut Opening aspect of making cuttable Components, works every time. I already know how to do it, but I am missing something…….clearly, looking at the number of 3rd party plug-ins that also make proprietary window suites that cut, not only a single face but double thickness walls for instance, this is entirely normal.

I need to know more about the process of that Component making relative to the Cut opening aspects please.

Thanks in advance

5

SketchUp’s ‘Glue to’ components will be glued to the plane of a single face. When the ‘Cut opening’ property is ticked, … that will still be about working with the single face this component has been placed on. Cutting double faces isn’t about basic SketchUp, but about dedicated plugins.

You can make any existing component a ‘Glue to’ (and even ‘Cut opening’) component later via it’s properties in the ‘In Model’ component library. Then you need to bring in a fresh adjusted component from the ‘In Model’ component library and place it on a face.
Whether it then actually cuts depends on whether it has a correct “void” loop in the local red/green plane.

6

GH Hubers :

Thank you.

This is the kind of explanation I was seeking – I appreciate you taking the time.

I have checked back and found some inconstancies still , but one thing is resolved.

I found I was having some trouble with the Double Cut plug-in disappearing from my RMB menu.

It was still listed in Extensions (trial license) but not showing up in the RMB

I Disabled the plug-in inside SU Extensions Manager, closed that, closed SU and the re-opened SU, opened a file and re-opened Extension Manager, then Enabled the plug-in.

That fixed the right mouse button menu and Double Cut is showing again with normal functionality.

That seems also to have changed the behaviour of most of the window/door/openings, that I had trouble with, but not all.

Will keep looking but thank you again for taking the time to explain.

Cheers

trombe

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