Insert windows & doors
Insert windows and sub-surfaces into façade surfaces via area fraction, parametric layout, mouse drawing or free polygon
Overview
Windows (and other transparent or opaque sub-surfaces) are inserted as sub-surfaces into existing wall or roof surfaces. Three creation modes are available: percentage-based area fraction, dimensional specification with parametric layout or mouse placement, and a freely drawn polygon. Each created sub-surface gets the chosen window component from the database, see Assign window components.
Invoking
In 
Add mode, “Add geometry” panel, Window group:
Percentage — active as soon as at least one surface is selected
Dimensions — active with exactly one surface selected
Complex — active with exactly one surface selected
The “Transparent or opaque sub-surfaces” panel opens with the General and Geometry tabs. Without a surface selection the hint “Select at least one surface!” appears.
In the scene a color legend (Window status) shows the state of the preview: Valid (green), Invalid (red, e.g. overlap or surface boundary violated), Selected (orange).
”General” tab
- Window component: — window component from the database that is assigned to all newly created sub-surfaces (Window database). The assignment is only created if the parent surface itself has a component assignment; all newly created windows are created as exterior windows.
- Type: — Window (transparent sub-surface). New windows get names of the form “Window #ID”.
”Percentage” mode
In the Surface area fraction: field you specify the window area fraction in % (default 30 %, allowed 0–100 %). For each selected surface the program scales a window polygon to the desired fraction and shows it as a green-outlined preview. This mode is suitable for filling many façade surfaces at once with a given window fraction.
”Dimensions” mode
Input fields (all in m, defaults in parentheses): Width: (1.2), Height: (1.5), Sill height: (0.8), Spacing: (0.5), Offset: (0.4) and max. count: of windows in the row.
Two radio buttons determine the sub-mode:
- Parametric layout: the windows are computed entirely from the input fields and distributed as a row across the surface; the mouse is used only for camera navigation. The preview updates with every input; Done commits the window row.
- Draw with mouse: windows are drawn individually directly on the selected surface — press the left mouse button, drag, release to place the window. With the CTRL key held, the dimensions snap to a 10 cm grid. In this sub-mode width/height/offset become live readouts of the current drag; the distribution fields (spacing, max. count) are hidden, since exactly one window is created per drag. After the first window, the offset field shows the distance to the nearest window.
Additionally:
- Toggle offset — cyclically switches the polygon origin of the parent surface to the next corner; this changes the reference corner from which offset and window row are measured (its own undo step “New polygon origin.”).
- Right window side as reference — measures the offset from the right instead of the left window edge.
”Complex” mode
Free window shape: with left-clicks you set polygon points directly on the selected surface; the point list (X/Y in local surface coordinates) is shown in the panel. The Enter key commits the polygon as a window; further polygons can then be drawn in the same session. Delete last point and Delete all points correct the ongoing input.
Window table, Done and Cancel
The Created windows table lists all sub-surfaces of the selected surfaces with name, component and area in m²; the window name is editable directly in the table. Delete selected window removes the marked entry from the preview.
- Done
— commits all preview windows into the project in a single undo step (“Sub-surfaces/windows added”) and deselects the parent surfaces. - Cancel
— discards the preview and returns to the “Add geometry” panel.
Caution: on commit the sub-surfaces of the edited parent surfaces are rebuilt; existing window-component assignments of these surfaces are thereby replaced by the currently selected window component.
Good to know:
For early design phases, the percentage mode across all façade surfaces of one orientation is sufficient — the energy effect depends mainly on the window area fraction, hardly on the exact position. Only once shading from reveals, balconies or neighboring buildings is being studied does dimensionally accurate placement via “Dimensions” pay off.