A customer sent us an Aluminum folding door family. The problem he had was that the sliding door frame detail are not adequate in floor plan view.
I had a look at the family by selecting the Door and clicking ‘Edit Family’ on the ribbon. The frame is actually a 3D sweep item and the door panel is a nested family element as shown below.
As the family only has 3D components and no 2D elements I proposed to the user to introduce some 2D profiles in plan view. This I’ll explain the process later. When introducing 2D profiles there are no need to have so detailed 3d frame geometry. So I proposed to edit the 3d frames and nested door panel family and change the sweep profile using less detail similar to the idea below.
Then to make way for the 2D profiles select the 3D frame geometry and click Visibility Settings on the ribbin. Switch off the Display in Plan and in Section Views. I good idea is to switch off the Fine Detail level as you will then show the 2D detail item at Fine Detail level only. By switching off these Visibilty Options it means that the 3D geometery will not be shown in these views making way for the 2D geometry we will add shortly.
To create the 2d geometry that will replace the 3D frame with you can either draw up the detail, import a DWG file (not recommended) or use a Detail Item. We are going to insert a Detail item. In the door family on the Annotate Tab click Detail Component.
From the UK library select Detail Items folder, then L – Doors, then L20 – Doors and then select the appropriate detail. Click Open and place and position into your family.
Now select the Detail Item object and click Visibility Settings on the ribbon. Switch off the invert of the Visibility you had set for the 3D frame. For instance in my case the 3D frame I don’t show in Fine mode so the 2D detail must be should only in Fine mode.
Save and Load into the project and your family will look better in Fine Mode. Showing the 2D profile.