Double Doors

[TGYoung]

As an aside, and not really relevant to my question, I find that the pictures associated with tool styles in TFP 3D H&L Pro 2015 - doors, windows, etc. - to be so small and so cartoonish in nature as to be pretty much useless from the standpoint of selecting an appropriate style.  I went back and dug out the CD for a 6 or 7 year old version of TFP that I'd purchased and reinstalled it, and I found that the presentation of the tool styles in that old program were much better than currently available.  Too, the old program handled the insertion of double french doors much better than the current version, and my questions revolve around this.

The User's Guide explains how to insert double doors, requiring each door be inserted separately, and then ends with the instruction "Overlap them slightly to minimize the center post".  (For a CAD-like program that deals in tiny fractions of an inch that instruction certainly comes across as somewhat funky and imprecise.) 

At first, no matter what I did I was seeing a pronounced center post in 3D view, finally realizing that what I was really seeing was the trim around one or the other of the doors.  Turning off the trim fixed that. But "minimizing" the center post is not the same as eliminating it, and I find that I'm still seeing a slim "post" in 3D view which seems to be some left-over bit of door casing.  (Pic 1).

So, is there any way of eliminating completely the "center post" and is there any way of trimming a double door without creating a center post of trim?  I can sort of do this by inserting an empty doorway, trimmed, and then inserting regular doors of half-width in the empty doorway, but that still leaves a visible center post. (Pic 2).

[Patricia G.]

Hi there,

First of all: TFP 17 and 2015 are not the evolution of the V16 and previous programs (discontinued). They are different programs, developed by different companies, therefore, they work differently, their UI is different, etc.

The double doors are composed by two parts (left and right), that you can mix and match or not, as desired.
In order to blend both segments, place the 2 parts and confirm the correct position in live view. In the image attached, I painted the elements with different colors so you can visualize the parts. As you can see, the 2 halves of the double door on the green-red door (left) doesn't show any "post", but the green-blue door has part of the casement in the center.
The easy way to join the halves is by selecting one of them and move it using the arrows in your keyboard. But if you wish the confirmation, use this tip: if each half of your door has, for example, 32" , the distance between the centers of each segment will be also 32" --> in this case, the two pieces will be blended.

More info: you will find more info about this topic in the user guide (pages 109 -110)

Patricia

[TGYoung]

First of all: TFP 17 and 2015 are not the evolution of the V16 and previous programs (discontinued). They are different programs, developed by different companies, therefore, they work differently, their UI is different, etc.

Yes, I do understand that.  That first paragraph was really an "areas for improvement" suggestion which maybe should go somewhere else in the forum.

The easy way to join the halves is by selecting one of them and move it using the arrows in your keyboard. But if you wish the confirmation, use this tip: if each half of your door has, for example, 32" , the distance between the centers of each segment will be also 32" --> in this case, the two pieces will be blended.

The bit of instruction is vastly better than the "Overlap them slightly to minimize the center post" of the user's manual and I seem to have done it properly in Pic 1.

I can't really see what you are talking about on the green-blue door of your example, but I did go back and reposition the two doors on my house plan and couldn't completely eliminate the center line.  Maybe that's a function of the contrast between the colors?  Pic 2.

Thank you, again, for the help.

[Patricia G.]

Well, IMO, a little bit of instruction means a little bit of practice and work. 
I think that following the manual and tutorials is very important, learning, trying to getting familiar with the program and understanding it.

I'd recommend that you review your double doors (dimensions, distances, etc). Something looks odd in your images. I'd say that one of the doors is inverted and without casing. The colors or contrasts are not relevant to double doors.
If the double doors are correctly placed, they don't have any post or interference, as you can see in the 3 double doors in image attached. Also, for learning purposes, I am attaching the PRO file of the doors in the image. 
 

[TGYoung]

I noticed that, once again, the first picture I posted to the forum on this post didn't actually come through, so I've added it, once again.

Pic 1 is using the same doors as Pic 2 and I did the doors for Pic 2 right after my success with Pic 1, but I'll go back and give it another go since there must be something to account for the difference.

[TGYoung]

Well, this is very frustrating.

On a new file I can create double doors that show up properly.  On the file that I'm working on, I can't.  If I create double doors with no trim I get that very thin center post.  If I create double doors with trim then I get a thick "post", of trim I'm sure, when I add the trim to the second door.

Can there be anything in the global settings of the second file that could be causing this?

[Patricia G.]

Global settings are not related with double doors.

If you can, zip and post the *.PRO file (the one with the thick post), so I can check it.

Patricia

[TGYoung]

Since I'm thrashing around trying to learn the program and actually accomplish a real floor plan at the same time, I've been saving my file under a new name each time I figure I've added a few features correctly.  So I went back to my very first "save", when I finally got the exterior dimensions right.  I then added an interior wall and put a double door in that wall, and that's the plan that I've zipped and attached.

[Patricia G.]

The double doors are composed by two parts (left and right), that you can mix and match or not, as desired.
In order to blend both segments, place the 2 parts and confirm the correct position in live view.
If the double doors are correctly placed, they don't have any post or interference

I checked your file => as I suspected, your doors are not correctly selected / placed.
Open your file => select each part of the door (separately) => right click each part=> Custom Door Description => as you can see in the images attached ("Wrong DD installation 1.jpg" and "Wrong DD installation 2.jpg"), you installed two Right doors. In the image "Wrong DD installation 2.jpg", you can see (pointed with a green arrow) that the casement is not inserted in the wall but in the center of the door (that you called the "post")=> this means that this is the wrong door.

The correct procedure is the use of a Right Door + a Left Door, as I stated above and as explained in the user's guide. As you can see in the image "Correct DD installation.jpg", by inserting the correct door, the casement appears in the correct position and there are not posts or any other interference.

Again, my best advice is => TFP, as any program, has a learning curve. The best way to learn the program, IMO, is practice + practice + practice => Read and follow the manual (this is important), see the videos => try to create elements not related with your project, so you will become familiar with the commands and how to develop the different components.

Good luck with your project!

Patricia

[TGYoung]

I finally figured out what I was doing wrong, because I was completely certain I wasn't reaching over and selecting the same door twice.  What I was clearly doing was placing the first door and, figuring that action was complete, I was then reaching over and selecting the second door in order to place it.   But that had the effect of changing the "handedness" of the first door because it was still "selected" and capable of being edited.  I think I had kind of noticed this issue previously but had not really thought that through properly.

I was subconsciously carrying over habits from the TurboCAD program.  In that program once you placed an item in a drawing - a square, circle or whatever - it was no longer "selected" and changing that required that you consciously select it for editing. 

Thanks!   

[Patricia G.]

You're welcome! 

There are big differences between a CAD program and a Home Design program, specially because a CAD program works mostly with geometric elements, but the home design programs work with components. The focus of the CAD packages is on drawing, the Home Design programs (like TFP) are focused on design. This means that if you draw a rectangle in CAD, this could be a wall, or a machine, or just a rectangle. In TFP, a wall means a wall, it will have all the properties of a wall and you'll see a wall in 3D.
The difference is the program's capability to understand what you are drawing.
Therefore, if you place a wall, or a door, or other component, the HD programs keep the components selected in order to confirm that all the properties were defined and to be sure that you really wish to unselect the components.
Anyway, before you release the component, confirm the elevation, name, position, etc.

Patricia