How to Create BIM Windows in BricsCAD BIM

Quick answer: BIMWINDOWCREATE (the Window Creator tool) turns a closed 2D entity or boundary on a solid’s face into a fully parametric window, in whatever style you choose from a dialog, with adjustable properties afterward.

Creating a Parametric Window from Boundaries

1. Draw a polygon on the face of a solid (a wall); this becomes the base profile for the window opening.
2. Make sure Boundary Detection (Select detected boundaries) is enabled under SELECTIONMODES, the same setting covered on this hub’s BIM entity selection page. Hover inside the polygon and choose Create Window from the Quad; the Choose Window Style dialog opens.
3. Select a style; the window is created on the wall with that style.
4. Optionally refine it: select the window and change its parameters in the Properties panel, typing a new value and pressing Enter updates the window automatically.

Creating Windows from a Grid

1. Use BIMGRID to create a grid on the wall’s face, setting the U-line and V-line panel options for the size and number of panels you want. Highlight the face first, then click to start drawing, otherwise the grid ends up in the XY-plane instead.
2. Use BEDIT or REFEDIT to edit the grid, and the Manipulator to reposition its gridlines.
3. Select the grid and choose Create Window from the Quad.
4. The window generates based on the gridlines; edit its parameters the same way, in the Properties panel.

Creating Window Openings

BIM Opening Create uses the same BIMWINDOWCREATE command, but creates an opening without any window geometry, based on a boundary or closed polyline.

1. Draw one or more closed polylines on a wall’s face.
2. With boundary detection on, hover over the polygon, or select the closed polyline directly.
3. Choose Create Opening from the Quad.
4. The opening creates based on the closed contour, added to the Structure panel as a block reference classified as an opening. Selecting it there shows its properties in the Properties panel.

A rectangular contour gives the opening Width and Height parameters specifically. Opening elements contain subtractor solids, visible by opening the Layers panel and selecting the BC_SUBTRACT layer, the same layer concept covered on this hub’s mechanical blocks page, applied here to BIM openings. BIMTAG can generate associative tags for opening elements in a sectioned drawing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between BIM Window Create and BIM Opening Create? They’re the same underlying command, BIMWINDOWCREATE, but Opening Create produces just the opening, without any window geometry.

Why did my grid end up in the wrong plane? Make sure you highlight the wall’s face before clicking to start drawing the grid; otherwise it creates in the XY-plane instead.

Where do I find an opening’s subtractor solid? In the Layers panel, on the BC_SUBTRACT layer.

Does a rectangular opening get any special parameters? Yes, specifically Width and Height, if its closed contour is a rectangle.