Windows & doors
An opening is not a separate object. It is a set of parameters stored on the wall — position, size, sill height, and what fills it. The hole and the frame are regenerated every time the wall rebuilds.
That is why an opening survives when you stretch the wall, change its thickness or re-mitre a corner: there is nothing to break, only numbers to recompute.
Inserting one
Section titled “Inserting one”- Click Window or Door on the toolbar.
- Move over a wall — a preview appears on the face nearer the camera.
- Click to place it.
The tool stays active, so you can place several in a row. Esc finishes.
While placing, type a number + Enter to set the distance to the reference edge.
Size, sill height, shape and reference point are set before you place — double-click Window or Door on the toolbar. They cannot be changed with the keyboard while the tool is running.
Reference point
Section titled “Reference point”Openings are positioned either from their centre or from the nearest edge.
Nearest edge is what you want most of the time, because that is how the dimension usually arrives from the drawing: 900 from the corner, 1 200 between two windows. Archeform finds the nearest edge — the end of the wall or the edge of another opening — and the number you type is the clear gap.
The three tools
Section titled “The three tools”| Window | opening with a window in it |
| Door | opening with a door in it |
| Opening (no fill) | a hole with nothing in it — Plugins → Archeform |
The plain opening is for passages, service holes, and anything you will fill yourself.
Other ways in
Section titled “Other ways in”These work on a wall you already have, so that is where they live: right-click the wall → Archeform → Insert Opening.
| Custom Window / Custom Door | draw any closed shape on the wall face, then click it — the opening is cut exactly where you drew it |
| Curtain Wall (window only) | curtain-wall grid |
Custom shapes let you do what the parametric dialog cannot — a circular window, a trapezoid over a stair, a window following a gable. Draw the shape right on the wall face (inside a storey too) and the opening takes its position, sill and outline from the drawing. They go through the same machinery afterwards.
Leaves
Section titled “Leaves”Simple fills are picked with Type in the dialog — single-leaf, double-leaf, fixed. Three types hand you the leaves themselves instead:
| Type | Kind | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-leaf | window | any number of leaves, each opening its own way |
| Sliding (PS/PSK) | window | fixed pane plus a sliding leaf |
| Lift & slide (HS) | door | the full-height sliding portal |
The table lists them left to right, seen from outside. Each row is a width share, an operation, and a hinge side or direction of travel:
| Operation | |
|---|---|
| Turn | side-hung, opens on its hinges |
| Tilt & turn | the usual European window |
| Tilt | top-hung only |
| Fixed | glazed, does not open |
| Slide | runs on its own track — the hinge column becomes the direction |
Widths are shares, not millimetres. One / two / one across a four-metre opening gives you 1 m, 2 m, 1 m — and stays proportional when the opening is resized.
The preset list covers what you draw most of the time: three leaves as turn / fixed / turn, two as turn / turn, PS and PSK, and HS schemes A, C and D. Pick one and edit from there; the preview above the table redraws as you go.
Flip L/R mirrors the whole set — the order reverses and the hinges swap sides. On a symmetric double leaf that was always a no-op; here it finally does something.
The HS portal
Section titled “The HS portal”A lift & slide is a door: IfcDoor, sill on the floor, you walk through it.
Its frame, though, is a window frame rather than a door lining, and it is deep
enough — around 180 mm — to carry both tracks. The fixed pane sits in the outer
half of the frame, the sliding leaf in the inner one, so they pass each other the
way the real thing does.
There is no threshold under it. The sliding leaf runs at floor level, and a threshold box would sit in its way.
Editing
Section titled “Editing”Right-click the wall the opening sits in → Archeform → Openings:
| Edit | open the dialog for one opening |
| Move | slide it along the wall |
| Copy | duplicate it along the wall |
| Delete | remove it |
| Flip I/E | swap which side is the exterior |
| Flip L/R | mirror it — for a single leaf, which side the hinges are on |
Move and Copy use the same edge reference as inserting, so you can type an exact gap rather than aiming.
Parameters
Section titled “Parameters”The dialog is one accordion for both windows and doors; irrelevant sections stay folded.
| Section | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Geometry | width, height, sill height, reference point, arch rise |
| Fill | leaf type and the leaves themselves, frame width and depth, setback, sash, glazing, mullions |
| Sills | outer and inner sill, thickness, overhang |
| Identification | name, tag, description |
| Pset | fire rating, U-value, acoustic rating, status |
Doors add frame type (lining, steel, concealed, rebate), threshold, glazing pattern, sidelights and a transom.
Frame setback is the distance from the exterior wall face to the front of the frame — 120 mm by default. It is what makes a window sit in a reveal rather than flush.
Openings are numbered by type, not by instance. Two identical windows are
both W2; a different size gets W3. Renumbering happens automatically when you
change a type, and a mark you typed yourself is never overwritten.
In IFC and in drawings
Section titled “In IFC and in drawings”Exports as IfcWindow or IfcDoor with Pset_WindowCommon / Pset_DoorCommon,
carrying U-value, acoustic and fire rating and status.
The leaves decide the operation enum. A window gets its PartitioningType from
how many there are — single, double or triple panel. A door gets an
OperationType read from what actually moves: one sliding leaf is
SLIDING_TO_LEFT or SLIDING_TO_RIGHT, two are DOUBLE_DOOR_SLIDING, swinging
leaves map to the single- and double-swing types, and a mix of the two is
USERDEFINED.
In plan you get a proper symbol, not a projection: frame lines, sills drawn to their real size, a dash-dot lintel across the opening, and a swing arc for doors. A sliding leaf carries an arrow on its face showing which way it opens. The 3D fill is hidden in plan views and the symbol replaces it.