How to Create Curtain Walls in BricsCAD BIM

Quick answer: BIMCURTAINWALL creates a curtain wall, as a block, from the face of a 3D solid or surface, planar or curved. Its window frames are placed on a BIM Grid, the same grid system covered on this hub’s BIM window creation page, with U-line and V-line panel options controlling panel size and count.

What a Curtain Wall Consists Of

A curtain wall’s frame coincides with the grid’s vertical (U) panels and horizontal (V) panels, with glass filling the panel infill between them. By default, the connection between beams is straight. Curtain walls are automatically classified as a Curtain wall in the Structure panel; explode one, and its sub-entities classify as windows and frames, with the frames themselves being linear solids, useful for calculating a curtain wall’s total length.

Creating a Curtain Wall

1. Launch BIMCURTAINWALL. You’re prompted to select a face.
2. Select a face; a curtain wall grid generates automatically on it. You’re prompted to create the grid, or set Length U panels, Length V panels, Number U panels, or Number V panels.
3. Adjust the U or V panel length and count via the prompt menu or Command line, or, with Dynamic dimension (DYN) on, directly in the DYN fields.
4. Press Tab to switch between dynamic dimension fields, or press Enter to accept the current value. The Command line reports the maximum deviation from planarity; if it isn’t 0, a prompt menu and message appear letting you planarize the grid cells (the default target deviation is 0.00001).
5. Press Enter to accept the default. You’re prompted to change parameters or accept: Width (default 60), Depth (default 60), Glass thickness (default 20), or Connections type (Straight by default, or Smooth or Nodes).
6. Blue lines appear on the face showing which side the curtain wall builds on (this step and the next are skipped if the face came from a solid, which defaults to the inside normal).
7. Use the widget to flip the curtain wall if needed.
8. Press Enter to accept.

By default, the source surface or solid gets deleted once the curtain wall is created; set DELOBJ to 0 in Settings if you want to keep it.

Creating a Curtain Wall from a Free-Form Surface

1. Start with four splines.
2. Launch LOFT. You’re prompted to select cross-sections in lofting order; select the four splines in order.
3. Press Enter twice to end the command.
4. Launch BIMCURTAINWALL. You’re prompted to select a face; select the lofted surface.
5. A curtain wall grid generates automatically; you’re prompted for the number of U and V panels (in this example, U = 20 and V = 8).
6. You’re prompted to planarize; click Yes.
7. You’re prompted for the target deviation; press Enter to accept the default (0.00001).
8. You’re prompted for parameters: in this example, Width 150, Depth 300, Glass thickness 20, and Connection type Smooth.
9. Press Enter to accept; the curtain wall is created.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does creating a curtain wall delete the surface or solid I built it from? Yes, by default, set DELOBJ to 0 in Settings if you want to keep the original.

What happens if I explode a curtain wall? Its sub-entities classify as windows and frames, with the frames being linear solids, useful for calculating the curtain wall’s total length.

Can a curtain wall be built on a curved, free-form surface? Yes, using LOFT to build the surface from splines first, then applying BIMCURTAINWALL to the lofted surface’s face.

What connection types are available between a curtain wall’s beams? Straight (the default), Smooth, or Nodes.