zWindowCorner

zWindowCorner builds a whole row of windows along a polyline baseline on an existing wall in one go. Each straight segment of the baseline is one wall segment, and neighboring segments meet directly at the corners. It is made for corner windows and facades approximated by a polyline, which would be tedious to build window by window with zWindow. The dialog works like the one of zWindow: a drawing you divide with Transoms and Mullions, a Type per window and Glass Split bars, and baking also cuts the opening in the wall.

Quick start

1. Run zWindowCorner.
2. Pick the wall (surface, Brep or extrusion).
3. Pick the baseline curve, a polyline where each straight segment is one wall segment. The height of the baseline is the sill height.
4. The view zooms to the baseline and the dialog opens. The picked wall is hidden while the dialog is open, and the preview shows only the windows.
5. Divide the opening in the drawing and set the Type and Glass Split of each window. The preview updates live.
6. Bake creates the windows and cuts the opening in the wall. Cancel discards everything and the wall is restored.

The dialog

All lengths follow the global unit system (see zUnits): inches in Imperial, millimeters in Metric. The top line shows the number of segments on the left and, on the right, the height, the number of corners, Transoms, Mullions and Muntins.

GENERAL

• Offset (default 2 in): pushes the whole window (frame, bead, glass and muntins) into the wall along the inward wall normal. 0 means the outer face of the frame is flush with the wall face.
• Height (default 48 in): the window height, measured up from the Z of the baseline. The glass runs all the way down to the baseline and out to every free end.

LAYOUT

The drawing is the baseline unrolled into one straight elevation: one cell per wall segment, numbered along the top, to scale across. A very long, low window is drawn a little taller than true so it can be read, but never taller than it is wide. Each corner is a dashed line that runs on past the window, top and bottom, to show where the wall turns; it is not a bar, it cannot be selected, moved or deleted, and the panes of the two segments meet there glass to glass. Every window shows its Type (Fixed by default). A small plan in the bottom left corner of the drawing shows the baseline from above with its segment numbers. Click a segment in the plan to pick it (its number is underlined in the drawing; click it again to go back to every segment): Add Mullion then works in that segment only, and in Type and Glass Split its windows are selected.

The group with the filled square is the one the drawing edits; click a group title to switch. The controls of the other groups are greyed.

• Division: Add Transom adds a horizontal bar (the first one 24 in from the top, later ones in the middle of the tallest row); Add Mullion adds a vertical bar in the middle of the widest window column. A click in the drawing adds a bar where you click (near a horizontal bar a Mullion, elsewhere a Transom; Shift flips it). Drag a bar to move it, select it and click a number to type a dimension, press Del to remove it, EQ spreads bars evenly.
  • A Transom runs through every segment and corner at the same height.
  • A Mullion belongs to one segment. It stays inside its segment and clear of the corner.
• Type: Type (Fixed, Hung, Casement, Sliding), Hinge/Slide (Casement and Sliding) and Open Amount (any type but Fixed, preview only). Click a window to select it (Shift or Ctrl+click for several); the rows then edit those windows. With none selected they set the Type of every window that has none of its own. Every new window is Fixed.
• Glass Split: Add Row and Add Column add one glass bar to the selected window (to every window when none is selected) and divide its glass equally again. Next to a corner the glass is divided equally over the part you can see, after the corner cut.

FRAME, SASH, MUNTIN and GLASS

• FRAME: Width (default 2 in) and Depth (default 4 in) of the frame and of the Transoms and Mullions. Same for every window.
• SASH: Width and Depth. A Fixed window (its bead around the glass) starts at 1 in x 1 in, every other Type at 1.5 in x 2 in. Depth is at most half the FRAME Depth for Hung and Sliding, the FRAME Depth otherwise.
• MUNTIN: Width and Depth of the glass bars (default 1 in each).
• GLASS: Thickness (default 0.5 in). Same for every window.

SASH and MUNTIN belong to the window Type named on the right of their title (“For Hung Window”): the cards show the Type of the selected window (the default Type when none is selected), and every Type keeps its own sizes.

How corners are handled

• Glass meets glass at the corner. Neighboring panes touch directly, with no post and no vertical frame at the corner.
• Head, sill and Transom bars are mitered. The horizontal frame bars are cut along the bisector of the corner, so there is no overlap or gap at any angle.
• Vertical frames only at the free ends. Only the far left and far right ends of the row, not the corners, have a vertical frame.
• Sashes, muntins and beads are trimmed back to the corner and never run into the neighboring segment.

Good to know

• The baseline must be a polyline. Each straight segment is one wall segment, and arcs or curved segments are skipped. If no straight segment is usable, the command line says baseline curve has no usable straight segments. For a curved facade, approximate it with enough short segments first.
• The baseline should stay at one height. A baseline whose segments are at different heights is built segment by segment at its own heights, but the drawing assumes one.
• Every segment needs a wall. Each baseline segment must be close to a face of the picked wall (within about 6 in). A segment with no matching face is skipped with a message on the command line, and the other segments are built normally.
• The wall can be a single L-shaped or cornered object. You do not need one wall object per segment.
• The opening in the wall is cut once along the whole baseline when you bake. It extends about 2 ft on each side of the baseline, which goes through ordinary wall thicknesses.
• What you get after baking: Frame, Sash, Glass and Muntins each go on their own sublayer under the zWindow root layer, and all parts are put in one group. The frame profiles are joined into one piece when possible, and kept as separate pieces if joining fails.
• There is no companion Edit command. To change a baked row, undo and run the command again, or use Rhino’s own editing tools.
• If you close the dialog without pressing Bake, the wall is restored and every preview is removed. Nothing is left behind.