Garden Fencing with Curtain Walls in Architectural Desktop 2005

Contents:
Overview ---- Body ---- Conclusion

Overview

Play to Learn
These days product
manufacturers need to be
careful about what they
send to my office because
one of their products might
just end up in an
ARCHIdigm Kit. A while
back I received a fairly
impressive catalog on
architectural products for
gardens and I was
particularly intrigued by the
fencing systems because
they seemed well suited for
the Curtain Wall Object in
Architectural Desktop.
Though many architectural
designers might ask "who
cares" about something as
simplistic as a lattice
garden fence that most
residential home owners
will design and build on
their own, I say that a little
play can go a long way
towards comprehending
more complicated design
problems. I believe that
most ADT users will agree
that when it comes to
complexity in Object Styles,
the Curtain Wall Style
ranks number one. In the
discussion below I hope
that I can open the garden
gate for those of you who
don't enjoy
playing/designing with the
Curtain Wall Style.

Develop a Map
One of the most important
things you can do before
jumping into Curtain Wall
Styles is to map out the
structure; yea, that's right,
use one of those pen or
pencil things and draw on
paper. For the lattice
garden fence in this
discussion I have decided
that I want one that
matches a catalog
configuration which offers a
vertical pattern based on
one large and one small
and a horizontal pattern
where the top third offers a
variety of lattice options ( a
half moon swag, a quarter
moon swag, regular swags
or full lattice panels).
The first thing to do for a
task like this is to make a
sketch and then draw a
logical breakdown of the
parts. The second thing to
do is figure out what Object
Styles you may need to
employ in order to create
the individual parts. For
many, this second part can
really only be resolved by
using several trial-n-error
attempts because Curtain
Wall Styles can be rather
tricky and if you don't work
with them every day, it's
unlikely that you will know
exactly what you can do (I
am referring to Infills).
In the illustration to the right
I show my sketch and the
items I have identified as
primary matters of
concern. I need an
asymmetrical pattern with
grid patterns below and
unique shapes above; and I
need this pattern to repeat
as part of a larger pattern.
Below I will go through the
steps I took to create a
viable solution but be
aware that you may be able
to cook up other solutions
that are just as good;
perhaps even better.

Body

Creating a Lattice Panel

Before I start explaining the
work illustrated to the right
let me emphasize that I
have the benefit of having
solved this problem before
writing about it so the order
of information and the
choices I made did not
come as easy as they
appear here.
Though many ADT users
are likely to focus on the
Curtain Wall Style first
(which is not a bad thing),
logic would suggest that it
makes more sense to first
design the parts that make
the whole. If you look at
the smallest components of
this example you will find
that there are basically
three of similar functionality
and importance: a swag, a
large lattice panel and a
small lattice panel.
Though you could build the
smallest components with a
Door/Window Assembly
Style, I have decided to
start by creating custom
Window Styles for a variety
of reasons that include
greater design flexibility
later one and a correlation
to how many create custom
Curtain Walls for actual
Curtain Wall use.
In the illustration to the right
I show that I have created a
New Window Style that I
have named "Garden
Fence Lattice Base Panel
- Large". I set the Frame
Width to 3/4" and the
Depth to 1 1/2" and set the
remaining values to 0". On
the Display Properties
tab, for Model and
Elevation I used Style
Overrides to Add Muntins
as illustrated to the right.

By looking at my catalog
pictures, I figured out that
the larger lattice panel
should have 5 Lights High
by 8 Lights Wide. I set the
Width and Depth to 3/4"
and used the "Convert to
Body" option for the Model
Display (this can eat up
memory but looks cool).
I repeated the work
discussed above for the
smaller Lattice Panel and
set its Muntin Lights to 5
Lights High by 4 Lights
Wide. I named this
Window Style as "Garden
Fence Lattice Base Panel
- Small".
Creating a Swag
To create the swag, which
becomes a quarter of a
"half moon" when flipped, I
had to use a Polyline to
draw a custom Profile
shape. To make this work
perfectly you will need to
take some time to calculate
the exact dimensions as
they will come together in
the final product. The more
detailed the specifications
in any catalog or on-line
document, the easier this
task becomes. From my
catalog, I figured out that
the swag needed to be 29"
long and 20 3/4" high.
Illustrated to the right I
show my Polyline swag
shape and how I used the
"Set From..." context menu
option in the Style
Manager (type
"ProfileDefine") to capture
it. I named this Profile
"Garden Fence Swag".
The next step involves
creating a Window Style,
as discussed for the large
and small lattice panels,
using this new Profile.
Illustrated to the right I
show that I have created a
New Window Style that I

named "Swag". I used the

same Dimension values as
discussed above. On the
Design Rules tab I used the
"Use Profile" radio button
to assign my "Garden
Fence Swag" Profile as the
Shape. The rest of the
Window Style work is
similar to that discussed
above for the large and
small lattice panels. For
the swag, I found that
setting its Muntins to 2
Lights High by 4 Lights
Wide worked out to match
the catalog description.
Creating Door/Window
Assembly Style
Once you have created a
few custom Window Styles
for your Curtain Wall Style,
it's time to consider how
the next phase of the
design will work. If the
overall pattern simply
repeated along a perfect
grid, then you could go
directly to the Curtain Wall
Style dialog but this pattern
actually has another
pattern within it.
Illustrated to the right I
show that I have chosen
the Door/Window
Assembly Style as the tool
to create the asymmetrical
or dash-dot pattern within
the Curtain Wall Style. The
reason I decided to use the
Door/Window Assembly
Style is actually rather
simple; Curtain Wall Unit
Styles do not allow for
custom Infills and I need
that option in order to use
the Window Styles created
above.
Primary Grid
As it turns out, the
Door/Window Assembly
Style is really just a Curtain
Wall that Anchors to Wall
Objects so the work that
follows will be like placing a
Curtain Wall inside a
Curtain Wall. To design

this portion you will need to

look back to your sketch
and think about how this
grid will repeat within the
final grid (the Curtain
Wall). For my
Door/Window Assembly
Style I took the default
Primary Grid and Divided
it into Vertical Cells based
on the Dimension from one
side (center of post to
center of post - see 4'-11
3/4" Cell Dimension).
Defining two Divisions
allows you to work with two
Cells.
Cell Assignments
Under the Cell
Assignments section, I
show that I left the default
set to "Nested Grid" but
Added another that I also
set to "Nested Grid".
Notice that I changed the
"Location" to "Index" for
this second "Nested Grid"
and set the value to "2" so
that the default will be for
the left (or 1st Index) side
and the second one will be
for the right (or 2nd Index).
Just to keep track of my
work I renamed each of
these two Cell Assignments
as "Large Panel" and
"Small Panel"; i.e., I have
a Nested Grid named
"Large Panel" and another
named "Small Panel". I will
return to this subject below.
Frame Assignments and
Mullion Assignments
Because the Window
Styles provide the complete
Frame with Muntins I don't
want more Frames. To
remove the default Frame
for the Primary Grid you
can simply set its Width
and Depth to 0". I will,
however, need an
intermediary Post for my
Garden Fence so I set the
default Mullion Assignment
to a New Mullion that I
named "Posts Intermediate" and set a

Width and Depth value of

2 3/4" (per the
manufacturer's
specifications). Notice that
I did not change the Default
Mullion because I will set
its Width and Depth to 0"
and use it as a Blank space
later.
Creating a simple Nested
Grid
On the narrower side
(Index 2) of my
asymmetrical pattern I will
need to account for the
lower lattice panel and the
swag at the top. If you look
at the illustration to the right
you will see that when I set
the Primary Grid's Cell
Assignment to Nested Grid,
it created a "New Nested
Grid" that I renamed to
"Small Panel".
Under the "Small Panel"
layout I used the default
"Horizontal Division" but
changed the Division Type
to "Manual" so I could
specify two horizontal
Offset values for inserting
my custom Window Styles
(as Infills). The 2 3/4" Grid
Bottom value relates to the
manufacturer's
specifications for how high
the lattice panel sits above
the finished grade and the
1'-8 3/4" Grid Top value
relates to the
manufacturer's
specifications for the size of
the swag. By setting
"from bottom" and "from
top" Offset values the
middle remains adjustable.
Under Cell Assignments I
used the Default Infill for
"All unassigned cells" and
set its "Panel Thickness"
to 0". This Element will
make the bottom 2 3/4"
appear unfilled. For the
2nd Cell Assignment I set
it to "New Infill..." and
created a new custom Infill
for the Window Style that

acts as a swag (see

discussion below under
Infills). For this Element I
set the Location to Top.
For the 3rd Cell
Assignment I set it to
"New Infill..." and created
a custom Infll for the
Window Style that acts as
a small lattice panel (see
discussion below under
Infills). For this Element I
set the Location to Middle.
Under the Frame
Assignments I set the
Default Frame Assignment
to use the same default
Frame I used for the
Primary Grid; if you recall, I
set its Width and Depth to
0".
Under the Mullion
Assignments I set the
Default Mullion Assignment
to use the default Mullion
that I had previously set to
a Width and Depth of 0".
Creating a more
complicated Nested Grid
On the broader side (Index
1) of my asymmetrical
patter I will need to account
for a similar lower panel
and two swags on top.
This layout is similar to that
for the small lattice panel
discussed above but
because I want to use one
swag in a double swag
layout, I'll need to introduce
yet another Nested Grid
(see discussion below). If
you look at the illustration
to the right you will see that
when I set the Primary
Grid's second Cell
Assignment to "Nested
Grid", it created a "New
Nested Grid" that I
renamed to "Large Panel".
Under Division
Assignments for the
"Large Panel" layout I used
the same "Horizontal
Division" as for the "Small

Panel".
Under Cell Assignments I
used the Default Infill for
"All unassigned cells".
For the 3rd Cell
Assignment I set it to
"New Infill..." and created
a custom Infll for the
Window Style that acts as a
large lattice panel (see
discussion below under
Infills). For this Element I
set the Location to
Middle. To create a
divided grid for the Top Cell
Assignment (each grid
holding a swag), I added a
New Cell Assignment and
set it to "Nested Grid"
which automatically creates
a New Nested Grid that I
renamed "2 Swags". I set
the Location for this Cell
Assignment to Top.
Under the Frame
Assignments I set the
Default Frame Assignment
to use the same default
Frame I used for the
Primary Grid; if you recall, I
set its Width and Depth to
0".
Under the Mullion
Assignments I set the
Default Mullion Assignment
to use the default Mullion
that I had previously set to
a Width and Depth of 0".

Creating a Nested Grid in

a Nested Grid
Continuing on the work
discussed directly above, I
show to the right that I have
selected the "2 Swags"
Nested Grid for the top
portion of the Large Panel
and configured it to use the
same swag for each side.
To create the Vertical
Division on the top portion
of the Large Panel, I used
the New Division option
for the Division
Assignment and created a
simple Fixed Number of
Cells Division Type with a
number of 2 Cells. I
renamed this Division to
"Vertical Division - Top Large Panel".
Under the Cell
Assignments I set the
Default Infill for "All
unassigned cells" to a
"New Infill..." and created
a custom Infill for that uses
the same Window Style
that acts as a swag but I
used the Flip X Default
Orientation option to make
it a mirrored Object (see
discussion below under
Infills). For the 2nd Cell
Assignment I simply set
the same "Swag Left"
Assignment that I created
and used for the small
panel in a step discussed
above. I set the Location
for this Assignment to
"Start".
Under the Frame
Assignments I set the
Default Frame Assignment
to use the same default
Frame I used for the
Primary Grid; if you recall, I
set its Width and Depth to
0".
Under the Mullion
Assignments I set the
Default Mullion Assignment
to use the default Mullion
that I had previously set to

a Width and Depth of 0".

Creating custom Infills
To me, the most interesting
and valuable lesson in this
exercise has to do with the
use of Infills. When I get
to the end of this
discussion, you will see
how Window Styles have
become Infills in a
Door/Window Assembly
and how that Assembly has
become an Infill in a
Curtain Wall Style.
Illustrated to the right I
show the Infill section
under the Design Rules
tab of the Door/Window
Assembly Style discussed
above. If you followed
along with the steps
outlined above you should
already have some or all of
the custom Infills because
they are used as Cell
Assignments under the
Small Panel, Large Panel
and 2 Swags Nested
Grids.
As discussed above, the
Default Infill should be set
to a Panel Thickness of 0"
so it can serve as an
invisible clear space at the
bottom of the garden
fence. For the three
Window Styles created
earlier, create a New Infill
and set the Infill Type to
"Style"; this will allow you
to Select Window Styles
under the Styles pane as
illustrated to the lower right.
For the Right Facing
(mirrored) Swag, create a
New Infill and set it as you
have for the "Swag Left"
but use the "Flip X" Default
Orientation checkbox to
mirror the Object.

Creating a Curtain Wall

Style
The final phase for creating
this garden fence style will
be to create a custom
Curtain Wall Style that
uses the Door/Window
Assembly Style (created
above) as an Infill. This
part is actually rather easy
because the Door/Window
Assembly Style has most of
the detailed components in
it.
Illustrated to the right I
show that I have created a
new Curtain Wall Style
that I have named "Garden
Fencing - Swags". When
you create a new Curtain
Wall Style you
automatically get a
Primary Grid with a Cell
Assignment that is set to a
"Nested Grid" but because
I only want a series of
fence posts will Infills
between, I don't need the
second Grid. Notice that I
set my Primary Grid to
"Vertical Division" and
used the Fixed Cell
Dimension Type to set my
post spacing. By referring
back to the manufacturer's
specifications, I figured out
that the center-to-center
spacing for the posts
should be 7'-7 1/2" but I
will have to make some
adjustments to the first and
last post positions (see
discussion two cells
down). To compensate for
fences drawn longer or
shorter than the
manufacturer suggests,
you could play with the
Auto-Adjust Cells options
for Shrinking or Growing.
In my example I don't
account for Shrinking or
Growing because the
reality of the matter is that
this fence system only
comes in very specific
lengths.
For the one default Cell

Assignment, notice that I

have set it to a custom
Infill that I have named
"Lattice Panel". This Infill
is actually the
Door/Window Assembly
Style created earlier - see
discussion directly below
for more on this subject.
For the Frame
Assignments, notice that I
have two custom Frames
set to Locations for
"Right" and Left". These
will be the first and last
Posts in the fence and
because of how Curtain
Walls work with respect to
lengths, some "tweaking"
was necessary - see
discussion two cells down.
For the Mullion
Assignment, notice that I
simply renamed the
default Mullion to "Posts Intermediate" and set the
Width and Depth values to
2 3/4". This Mullion will act
as every-other post
skipping for the posts
introduced by the
Door/Window Assembly
Style. As far as the Curtain
Wall Style is concerned,
the Mullion acts as every
post between the first and
last.
Creating a Curtain Wall
Style
As discussed for the
custom Infills under the
Door/Window Assembly
Style, for the Curtain Wall
Style I show that I have
created a new custom
Infill that I have set to
"Style" and Selected the
Door/Window Assembly
Style created earlier.

Creating a Curtain Wall

Style
In this example both
Frames and Mullions act
as posts for the garden
fence. When you draw
Curtain Walls, the length is
based on the far outside
edges but when you draw
fences you typically work
with center-to-center
dimensions.
Illustrated to the right I
show that I have renamed
the default Frame to "Post
- Ends" and set a Width
and Depth value base on
the manufacturer's
specifications: 2 3/4" x 2
3/4". In order to offset the
posts so they are spaced
properly with the
intermediate posts, I used
an X direction Offset value
of 1/2 * 2 3/4" = 1 3/8".
This actually works for both
ends. By the way, did you
know that on Curtain Walls
the direction of the Frames
follows a circular path so
that the top on one side is
actually the bottom on the
other side. You may have
noticed this phenomenon
when attempting to Add
custom Blocks to the Ends
of Frames.
Make sure you followed the
instructions for the default
Mullion (two cells up) which
will act as intermediate
posts.
This represents the sum
total of the work for this
exercise but you can easily
continue with Display
Representations, Materials
and so on. You can also
create other Window Styles
for different Infill options.

Conclusion

Testing the Work

If all your work has come
together correctly you
should be able to produce
some rather nice looking
garden fences. They may
eat up a bit of memory as
well.
In the illustration to the right
I show what my example
garden fence looks like in
3D and in Elevation. The
pattern undulates between
a large panel and a small
panel with two swags on
top of the large panel but
only one over the top of
small panel.
Because the Swags were
designed as Window
Styles you should find that
they offer the same Grips
as regular Window
Objects. This means that
you can Flip Swags to
change the design with
such ease that it's actually
quite fun.
If you use the Anchor
dialog, accessed from the
Properties Palette, you
can use the "Flip Z"
checkbox to make half
moons out of the swag
pairs.

Having some fun with

Anchors
If you found that playing
with Anchors on the
Window Styles was fun,
remember that the whole
Curtain Wall Infill is a
Door/Window Assembly
and it too has Anchor
options. You can Select
this Object by picking one
of the alternating
intermediate posts.
Illustrated to the right I
show that you can use a
similar Anchor dialog, as
discussed above, to really
alter the garden fence
design. You can make two
small panels site side-byside, for example. Heck,
you could even put the
swages on the bottom.
Subscribers to our Fences
5 eKit may now download
this garden fence style.
The rest of you will have to
build it from scratch ;)
Copyright 2005 ARCHIdigm. All rights reserved.