In this video we'll be exploring the various methods of using and customizing
doors in Chief Architect. As with many of our tools you can place a door quickly
from the toolbar, as well as from the top menu under Build, Door then selecting
the type of door you want to place. You'll notice that when I'm placing a
door I'm not leaving a gap in the wall where I want the door to be in order for
a door to be placed it must be placed in a full wall. The program will create a
framed opening in the wall when an opening such as a door or window is
placed. With the door tool selected, you will see a shaded representation of the
door, along with object snap feedback when you
move your mouse cursor over a wall. This is useful for centering a door on a wall
and you'll notice you'll be able to center it on the interior of a wall as
well as the exterior, allowing you to enter the door specifically how you
need it. While it is typically recommended to place and edit doors in
plan view, like many objects in Chief Architect doors may be placed and
modified in both 2D plan views as well as 3D views. Even in the case of a
doorway with no casing or jamb, clicking on or near the edge of the doorway will
allow you to select, move, modify or open the specification for the doorway.
Placing objects in plan view gives you more control over the placement of them
however, so we'll stick to plan views. I want to place an exterior door so I'm
selecting Hinged Door and moving my mouse over the wall where I want it. The
door will place exactly as the feedback indicates so if I use the snap feedback
to center it on the appropriate side of the wall my door may end up swinging the
wrong way. For instance, I want this door centered on the exterior of this wall,
however the feedback indicates it will swing out and I need it to swing inward.
Perhaps I want it to swing the other direction too, I can click to place the
door allowing it to swing the wrong way then select the door and correct it
using the Change Opening Hinge Side and Change Swing Side edit tool buttons at
the bottom of the screen, or I can force it to build correctly at the time I
place the door. To do this, when clicking to place the door I'm going to hold down
the mouse button and pull the door in the direction that I want, allowing me to
decide both swing direction and proper hinge side, creating the door where I
want it and how I want it the first time. If you find that you need to move or
adjust the door after it's been placed you can use the edit handles that appear
on a door when it is selected. To adjust the doors width use the small square
handles on either side. To adjust the swing amount, swing side or opening
amount use the triangular handle located on the door panel if applicable to that
door type. To move the door use the large square handle in the center to click and
drag it to a new location. You can also use any associated dimension line to
accurately locate the door a specific distance from a wall or another object.
To do this, click on the selected door then click on the dimension that you
want changed and enter the desired value. Note that if you're using Temporary
Dimensions the dimension may be different when selecting the interior
side of the door versus the exterior side of the door. You may have noticed
that when I placed this door I selected the Hinged Door tool and it placed an
exterior door, I did not have to explicitly state anywhere that I wanted
an exterior door. When placing a door the program automatically determines if an
exterior or interior door is needed based on the room areas on either side
of the wall the door is being placed in. For example, placing a sliding door in an
interior wall between two rooms places a solid panel sliding door, while placing
the same door type on an exterior wall the glass sliding door is created.
The style of door that is created is determined by the door defaults within
this plan, and can be modified by going to Edit, Default Settings and expanding
the Door section. Here you will find defaults for each of the door types
available hinged Interior and Exterior, Doorway, Interior and Exterior Sliding,
Pocket, Bifold, Garage, Fixed, Barn and Shower. Selecting one or more of these
defaults and pressing the Edit button opens the Specification Dialog where you
can specify various elements such as: door Style, Height ,Width and so on
allowing you to specify exactly what type of doors you want to use in this
plan. Once the door is placed, it can always be changed later but setting your
defaults ahead of time will save a lot of time. I'll go ahead and change the
default Exterior Door to use a different door style and make it a 38 x 82. You'll
notice that the original door I placed immediately changes to the new door
style, but only the new door is the new size this is because some defaults are
followed dynamically while others are static. Looking at the door specification
the Door Style says "Use Default", meaning that this door will change to whatever
the default is for that type of door. However the size of doors is static, so
new doors will be placed using the new size which can be modified separately
later if necessary. There are a number of other settings
available in the Door Specification Dialog that can be modified as well,
such as: Sliding Door Offset and Overhang for Barn Doors,
Panel Frame Size for Panel-style doors,
Louver size, etc. On the Option panel you can control the
way door panels are generated. By Default, Calculate by Width is selected,
meaning that Hinged Doors under 4 feet wide will be a single door but once they
are 4 feet or wider they automatically change to a double door.
This can be overridden in either direction regardless of width, by selecting single
door only or double door only. The Custom Panel option is available for certain
door types such as Slider, Pocket and Bifold door types, allowing you to make
specialized door styles such as an accordion-style bifold or stacked
sliding doors. A number of other style aspects can be toggled or otherwise
customized as needed such as Casing, Lintel, lites for glass panel doors, jam,
Arch shape and on the Hardware panel handles, locks and hinges can be
specified as well as the sliding tracks and hangers for track-mounted Barn Doors.