Windowizer4 now available!

chango70 · 11 Nov 2008, 22:11

Rick I can't get it to work for some reason. I've unzipped everything into the plugins folder. When I use the Windowizer4 dialogue it creates a single group. Am I doing something wrong?

utiler · 11 Nov 2008, 23:17

Thanks so much Rick, bought it and loving it!!!

A few questions:

Great to see it cuts both faces; when deleting a window, the hole still remains. Is this normal? I just assumes that the whole window would act like a component but it appears that the opening is separate from the window [if grouped]...
When extracting Windowizer4, i over-road a few rubies, I assume were part of windowizer30b5. Which files do I delete from the plugins folder that are only associated with windowizer30b5? I want to get rid of what i don't need...
Color selection - there is 7 options for coloring both the frame and glass, is there a way to access the materials palette?

Way

RickW · 12 Nov 2008, 04:08

@unknownuser said:

RICK. I just purchased and am using it. It is awesome. Anyway to put it in a context menu rather than the pull down?

It's much more friendlier that way> . . .

@cheffey said:

I just purchased it as well, and that's my only request is to add to a right-click dialog as David mentions.
Works flawless though, going to be such a time saver.

Sounds like I need to put a right-click menu item in place...
No problem - I'll add it to my list.

RickW · 12 Nov 2008, 04:12

@chango70 said:

Rick I can't get it to work for some reason. I've unzipped everything into the plugins folder. When I use the Windowizer4 dialogue it creates a single group. Am I doing something wrong?

For metric, you need a dot between the number and the units, i.e. 50.mm

Hope that helps.

EDIT: I looked again at the image you posted. My first answer is still correct, but I see something I need to try to fix for default metric users: the default settings are 2" and 4", which are being converted to '~51mm' and '~102mm' without the dot, so that's my problem to fix. But, at least there's an easy workaround - make sure there's a dot.

Thanks for making me aware of that issue.

RickW · 12 Nov 2008, 04:19

@thinkbuild said:

Dear Rick -

I haven't downloaded W4 yet (but I will soon) and I was just thinking - I've got a small project in Sweden, and there, we have triple-glazed windows. Do you think it would be possible to add an option, "# of panes of glass"? In Germany, we also use double-glazing and so on...I was thinking, I could perhaps just make a "thick" single pane but there might be situations in which it would be useful to model the "real" situation...

I imagine it might at some point get a bit much, but since you are already working at such a high level of detail...

Just a thought.

best wishes,

Jason

I could add that if there's enough interest. We use double-glazed windows here, too. I just arbitrarily decided (for the sake of lower poly counts, primarily) that only the outside faces of the glass would be modeled, so I use 1" thick glass (which in reality would be two panes of 1/4" glass with a 1/2" airspace) for my models. The only other option right now is zero-thickness glass, which will draw a single face only. But, like I said, if there's enough interest, I could add it.

RickW · 12 Nov 2008, 04:23

Any suggestions for the Visual Reference PDF?

I wanted everything to be clear and easily cross-referenced, but it's possible I missed something. Is there anything that is not explained well enough?

Also, if there's any feedback on the new Window Styles feature, I'd be glad to hear it. I'm still developing the Styles Manager (including rename/delete/import/export), so if you have any suggestions, now is the time.

Thanks, everyone!

utiler · 12 Nov 2008, 04:40

There is one thing I thought about to do with the dialogue box, Rick....
You have a 'mullion width' and 'mullion height' input. I worked out that one is for horizontal and the other is for vertical sizes. I thought is would be easier to differentiate Mullions from Transom; as they are know in building terms. It would also mean changing the input mode as well for 'Vertical panels' and 'Horizontal panels' to say 'number of mullions' and 'number of transoms" but maybe you have travelled to far down the road with the script to go back and change this..... just a thought, would make it easier to understand.

RickW · 12 Nov 2008, 04:47

I could change "vertical panes" and "horizontal panes" back to "rows" and "columns", which is the terminology I used previously. Changing mullion height to transom height isn't a big deal as it only affects the dialog and the documentation. Thanks for the comments.

utiler · 12 Nov 2008, 05:12

Cheers Rick.

BTW, any plans for a doorizer? would be real handy to keep it 'in house'.....

chango70 · 12 Nov 2008, 08:37

@rickw said:

@chango70 said:

Rick I can't get it to work for some reason. I've unzipped everything into the plugins folder. When I use the Windowizer4 dialogue it creates a single group. Am I doing something wrong?

For metric, you need a dot between the number and the units, i.e. 50.mm

Hope that helps.

EDIT: I looked again at the image you posted. My first answer is still correct, but I see something I need to try to fix for default metric users: the default settings are 2" and 4", which are being converted to '~51mm' and '~102mm' without the dot, so that's my problem to fix. But, at least there's an easy workaround - make sure there's a dot.

Thanks for making me aware of that issue.

Hi Rick. Thanks for the quick reply. I still have the same problem this morning after following your instructions. I'll post an image when I have time.

Gaieus · 12 Nov 2008, 12:09

Hi rick again,

I think that I'm running into some isues (I can elaborate later and attach images).

The Max wall thicknes doesn't sem to work for me; it's always the sum of the frame thicknes nd frame inset (OR I am doing something wrong).

I see your script is not scrambled so I can re-write my version to start with some more handy values in metric (although I hate ruining others' work)

Anyway, I will include a re-translation of the html file to be added instead of this one now. Can I place charset metatags into the <head>?

cheffey · 12 Nov 2008, 13:04

@utiler said:

Cheers Rick.

BTW, any plans for a doorizer? would be real handy to keep it 'in house'.....

I'm Voting for Doorizer also!!!

RickW · 12 Nov 2008, 15:23

@gaieus said:

Hi rick again,

I think that I'm running into some isues (I can elaborate later and attach images).

The Max wall thicknes doesn't sem to work for me; it's always the sum of the frame thicknes nd frame inset (OR I am doing something wrong).

I see your script is not scrambled so I can re-write my version to start with some more handy values in metric (although I hate ruining others' work)

Anyway, I will include a re-translation of the html file to be added instead of this one now. Can I place charset metatags into the <head>?

It's clear I need to make some modifications for metric users, so I'll try to get that done ASAP.

"Max Wall Thickness" simply describes the maximum distance between 2 faces for them to be considered a "wall". If two faces are within the distance, Windowizer will cut an opening; otherwise, it will not. This is applicable primarily when using it for full 3D buildings where you have interior and exterior areas modeled.

RickW · 12 Nov 2008, 15:25

@chango70 said:

@rickw said:

@chango70 said:

Rick I can't get it to work for some reason. I've unzipped everything into the plugins folder. When I use the Windowizer4 dialogue it creates a single group. Am I doing something wrong?

For metric, you need a dot between the number and the units, i.e. 50.mm

Hope that helps.

Hi Rick. Thanks for the quick reply. I still have the same problem this morning after following your instructions. I'll post an image when I have time.

Try again with the Ruby Console open, and let me know if you see any error messages.

RickW · 12 Nov 2008, 15:26

@cheffey said:

@utiler said:

Cheers Rick.

BTW, any plans for a doorizer? would be real handy to keep it 'in house'.....

I'm Voting for Doorizer also!!!

Looks like I'm adding a "Doorizer" plugin to my ToDo list.

RickW · 12 Nov 2008, 15:36

@utiler said:

Thanks so much Rick, bought it and loving it!!!

A few questions:

Great to see it cuts both faces; when deleting a window, the hole still remains. Is this normal? I just assumes that the whole window would act like a component but it appears that the opening is separate from the window [if grouped]...

When extracting Windowizer4, i over-road a few rubies, I assume were part of windowizer30b5. Which files do I delete from the plugins folder that are only associated with windowizer30b5? I want to get rid of what i don't need...

Color selection - there is 7 options for coloring both the frame and glass, is there a way to access the materials palette?

Way

Glad you're happy with it!

Yes, the hole becomes part of the geometry of the model, just as if you had created the hole manually and then put a window in it (since components only auto-cut a hole in one face, it was the only way to penetrate a wall). I haven't yet decided the best way to handle deleting the windows yet. Part of the challenge is that things can be edited, and there's no guarantees of what geometry should stay or go.
You can probably safely delete "EntsGetAtt.rb" (or move it to a subfolder to make sure everything else still works, prior to deleting it)
Windowizer can currently only access the materials in the model. I know it's a pain, but you'll need to paint something with the materials you want to use before they'll show up in the list. I haven't given up, though - I'm still investigating how to get to the material palettes.

fakircho · 12 Nov 2008, 20:43

Hi Rick

Thank you for this great plugin. I have a issue on my Mac. I can not select any of the drop down options
, such as frame material, glass material, make group and front side only. They just don't work, nothing
happens when you click on them. Also i saved a style but then when i tried to make another window it just vanished.

It would be great if this can be looked at for us Mac users.

Thanks a lot, loving the new Windowizer

RickW · 12 Nov 2008, 20:58

Looks like I've fallen prey to the infamous Safari-SU-Ruby bug.
I think I know how to work around it, but it will take some time.

I'll post a notice when the updated files are ready to download.

Thanks,

chango70 · 12 Nov 2008, 23:18

Rick what is the Safari Su bug? Anyway I've tried it with Ruby Console open and it went like this:

putnik · 13 Nov 2008, 00:47

Rick, will W4 work in SketchUp 5?