Skylight elements

1. Introduction

ArchiCAD has a built-in Add-on to handle skylight windows in roof elements. It means that this Add-on logically binds the skylight object and the roof containing it and keeps track of changes of the placed skylight objects and the roof. It cuts a hole into the roof if a skylight object is placed over it. From ArchiCAD 10 the object has the opportunity to control the upper and lower edges of the hole.

2. Fix parameters

Skylight objects inherit the following parameters from the Skylight subtype. The Skylight Add-on handles all these paremeters.

Parameter name	Type	Description
AC_type	String	This parameter identifies the Skylight object. ArchiCAD's internal SkyLight Add-on can handle only those object, which has the "Skylight" type defined in this parameter.
AC_skylight_debug	Boolean	Indicates if the object used in a developer version of the ArchiCAD. Only for internal usage.
AC_skylight_function	Boolean	Tells if the object is under the control of the Skylight Add-on or not. 0 The object instance do not exist in the plan, it is only the settings dialog 1 The object instance already placed on the plan, it is under the contol of the Skylight Add-on
AC_roofang	Angle	Angle of the roof
AC_roofthk	Length	Thickness of the roof
AC_upper_mat	Material	Material of the roof's upper plane
AC_lower_mat	Material	Material of the roof's lower plane
AC_side_mat	Material	Material of the roof's sides

3. New fix named optional parameters

Skylight Add-on can handle the following new fix named edge control parameters:

Parameter name	Type	Description
AC_edge_lower_type	Integer	type of the holes's lower edge 0 Vertical 1 Perpendicular 2 Horizontal 3 Custom
AC_edge_lower_angle	angle	Angle of the edge in case of Custom edge (1-179 degree, 90 means the Perpendicular case)
AC_edge_upper_type	Integer	type of the holes's upper edge 0 Vertical 1 Perpendicular 2 Horizontal 3 Custom
AC_edge_upper_angle	angle	Angle of the edge in case of Custom edge (1-179 degree, 90 means the Perpendicular case)

4. Usage of the new edge control parameters

The Skylight Add-on keeps syncronised these parameters with the edge settings of the roof hole.

1. when placing a new skylight object into a roof, the hole made by such a way that the edge control parameters described.
2. changing edge contol parameters in a placed skylight object impacts of the roof hole's edge.
3. changing in roof hole's edge reacts the object's edge control parameters The Add-on interprets the parameter script. If the object overwites any of the edge control parameters, the Add-on syncronise the roof edges based on the overridden parameters (so the object can control over the hole's edge, it can disable some edge type, e.g. do not allow horizontal lower edge).

5. Sample Skylight in the Basic Library

Usage

This object demonstrates the utilization of the edge control parameters. In this object the AC_edge_lower_type and AC_edge_upper_type integer type parameters matched with string type parameters. These parameters are linked together in the parameter script, so the user can select "Vertical", "Perpendicular", "Horizontal" and "Custom" values instead of choosing an integer from 0 to 3.

dim stEdgeTypes[4] stEdgeTypes[1] = `Vertical` stEdgeTypes[2] = `Perpendicular` stEdgeTypes[3] = `Horizontal` stEdgeTypes[4] = `Custom` values "gs_edge_lower_type" stEdgeTypes if GLOB_MODPAR_NAME = "gs_edge_lower_type" then if gs_edge_lower_type = stEdgeTypes[1] then ac_edge_lower_type = 0 if gs_edge_lower_type = stEdgeTypes[2] then ac_edge_lower_type = 1 if gs_edge_lower_type = stEdgeTypes[3] then ac_edge_lower_type = 2 if gs_edge_lower_type = stEdgeTypes[4] then ac_edge_lower_type = 3 parameters ac_edge_lower_type = ac_edge_lower_type else idx = MAX(1, ac_edge_lower_type + 1) if idx > 4 then idx = 1 gs_edge_lower_type = stEdgeTypes[idx] parameters gs_edge_lower_type = gs_edge_lower_type endif if ac_edge_lower_type = 3 then values "ac_edge_lower_angle" range[1,179] else hideparameter "ac_edge_lower_angle" lock "ac_edge_lower_angle" endif

Feature demonstration

To demonstrate the edge contol feature, the Skylight Sample object generates a cover around the hole in 3D.

User interface

In addition this object has a user interface implementation of the edge contol parameters.