3. Visual Editing

Once the window has been placed, you have the ability to alter some of its properties right on the floor plan. You get immediate graphical feedback from the changes made, that’s what we call visual editing.

Select the window with the Arrow Tool, by clicking on it with the pointer.

The cursor turns into arrow-shaped over the hotspots and into magnet-shaped over other selectable region. When selected, the hotspots of the window become highlighted

Usually you find hotspots on the corners and on other characteristic points of objects. With the Special Edition Library windows there are always hotspots on the corner points of the window unit. You can turn on additional hotspots on the 2D user interface tab page with the Show All Hotspots option. Note that these hotspots are not hotspot editable  

 

Show All Hotspots = OFF	Show All Hotspots = ON

On the floor plan, you can change two different things.

• Position of the window
  Click once on any of the highlighted hotspots. The pet palette pops up. Choose Move. With a second click you specify the size of the displacement. Of course, openings can be moved only in the plane of the wall.

  

• Width
  Click once on any of the outer corner points of the window frame. Choose Stretch from the popup palette. Specify the new corner with a second click. Note that hotspots editing is available only if the Custom option is set for the unit size (this is the default).

  

In addition to the above two options in 2D, you can also change the vertical position of the window in the 3D view.

Use Drag horizontally for changing the position of the door.

Move it up or down with Elevate.

Use Stretch for adjusting the width.

In addition to these parameters you can also open the windows in 3D view with the help of the editable hotspots. Editable hotspots are differentiated from normal ones by a green color and a diamond-shape. It works like a real life window: snap the handle (the hotspot) with the cursor and pull it until the window is open at the desired angle. Alternatively, you can type in the opening angle numerically into the corresponding palette.

While the default settings apply, no other editable hotspots are available. As far as the “H_V Custom Grid” option is set for the sash style you will see more of them. That will be discussed later.