34 replies to this topic

[Allen McDonnell]

Possibly one of the best tutorials ever written....I come hear every time i need a reminder.

 

Thanks for your good work Keith.

[Shaun Davis]

After I draw the garage I got to FILE>SYSTEM OPTIONS>SYSTEM LIBRARY   Switch my type to OPENINGS, Highlight garage and ADD LIBRARY. Name it Custom. When I click on ONE STEP it opens up ADD NEW OPENING window.  Every forum I've seen it says to select the items you want in the door. I can't select anything when that window is open. So im unsure to have the door i drew in that elevation. 

Nevermind i found my issue. Need to select elevation openings.

Edited by Shaun Davis, 06 November 2020 - 11:27 AM.

[John Atchley]

Just tried drawing a custom door but I cant seem to figure out how to draw the panels. I used simple shapes and nothing showed up. Same with opening shape polygon. How?

OK I tried shapes again and it worked. Ideally I would like flat panels with no bead, shaker style but this latest attemp has some sort of style/bead to it. Would also like to be able to put a different color on the panels like the SP doors but mine is all one color except for the bead

[Keith Almond]

You can model all the panels in 3D, create a door, and then associate that door with the opening, but it is a lot of work. The Softplan doors have been specifically modelled, and probably NOT in Softplan. This method of creating doors admittedly isn't great, but does give a reasonably correct look.

 

The bottom line is if you want a detailed door, then you are going to have to spend a lot of time creating the specific model.from 3D shapes to suit.

[John Atchley]

Thx. Figured that was the case

[Daniel Jackson]

Can someone help me draw a 9' wide sliding patio door where the center section is operable, the left and right are fixed.  

 

I got the elevation to generate just fine, but the plan view looks like a giant picture window.

 

[Henry Buckner]

In v2022 the settings you need are under the display tab when you edit the door. I don't know about v2014.

[Jacob Demeester]

Hello, this tutorial is very helpful. I'm fairly new to SP, what are the steps after selecting the door and naming it? Once I click OK it says "Symbol Garage Door/Custom/Traditional Shaker-Flat XL 9x8 does not exist on your system. SoftPlan is unable to restore it to your drawing." I'm very confused because I'm trying to create the symbol. I'm using SP 2022 and can't find a single video online to help.

 

Edit:  I resolved the issue

[Matthew Baugher]

This is all very helpful, but when I created my custom door, it only shows my 3D polygon shapes as 3D outlines, when I wanted the whole shape to be 1" thick, for example. How can I correct this?

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[Matthew Baugher]

Also, I am still having trouble figuring out how to add decorative hinge hardware...

[Jason Bloomingdale]

Not sure if this is helpful to anyone, or if it's obvious to everyone but me, but I was trying to create a "quick and dirty, get us in the ballpark" version of a Clopay door with "continuous arch" windows like the attached photo. I used the steps of this tutorial to create my door, but the arched windows were a problem, since there isn't an "asymmetrical arch" option in the door glazing menu. The workaround I found, though, was to use an arch top and define the opening as 2 horizontal sections and it got me reasonably in the vicinity of what I wanted. I just made the opening width the full overall width of the two windows and set the height to be the overall max height and the deflection to be the difference between the max and min heights.

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[Keith Almond]

Jason,

 

You can make any glazed opening you want, including asymmetrical arches. You draw the frame and then draw the glass with dotted lines. See this tutorial - https://softplan.com...ndows-tutorial/ - and this post - https://softplan.com...ial/#entry18771 - within it.

[Jason Bloomingdale]

Hey Keith, can all elevation openings be applied within a second elevation opening? That's where I was getting hung up, because in the Detail>Opening Shapes>Door Glazing (Square) item, I found that I could change the shape of the top of the window, but didn't try adding different opening shapes within the Elevation Opening that I was creating.

[Keith Almond]

Yes, you can draw openings in the garage door to suit. As long as you draw the glass with a dotted line it should work fine.

 

 

Not the greatest garage door design, but should illustrate the point ...

[Jason Bloomingdale]

Hi Keith...next question...

 

I created my asymmetrically arched window, got it working, and put it into my elevation opening. Since there are 4 of the same window in my garage door, I copied and pasted it across the door, horizontally flipped every other one to make the correct arches, and created my new opening...and only one that actually acted as glazing was the very first one. Is there something in the code where there can only be one glazing item in a door? I suppose I could create the same opening 4 times with the correct spacing, then save it as 1 new special elevation opening, but that seems like a lot to make things work...

 

**Update: it does work to make a quadruple window as a single elevation opening. Here's hoping that 2026 and beyond gets a greatly improved method for custom openings. I haven't looked through all of the update notes on it yet, so I'm hoping I'll be pleasantly surprised.