Need help with cutout in odd wall

[NathanielK]

User of CA 11 on windows 7 64-bit.

 

I need to place an arched mini-tunnel thru an unusually shaped stone interior wall. 

On the left is the living room, and there is a small arched doorway leading to the door from the garage on  the right. The problem is, the passage (shown for reference by the box) cuts into the curve of this stone masonry before opening to the garage wall, and i cant figure out what tool or process will help me get a cutout of the wall. And a search in the forums gave hints, but no solution to my particular problem.

 

I am open to reworking this odd wall if theres no other way.

 

Can anyone provide a solution?

[Chopsaw]

Is this an existing situation or proposed ?   I believe you can put a doorway into a curved wall.  Did you try that ?  Is the hatched section solid masonry ?

 

If you need it to be aligned with the garage wall you may need to use polyline solids and solid subtraction to cut out the archway.  

[NathanielK]

No this is the way its going to be built.

 

The "space" between the curved living room wall and the straight garage wall is concrete fill, but thats secondary. Its the cut of the arched hall thru the masonry thats important. The walls of this little hall will be stone — the same as the length of both walls.

 

In your suggestion for a subtractive cut, i need instructions on how to set that up. I couldnt find in any of the help pages how to make that. (Maybe i wasnt using the right search words!

[Chopsaw]

36 minutes ago, NathanielK said:

In your suggestion for a subtractive cut, i need instructions on how to set that up. I couldnt find in any of the help pages how to make that. (Maybe i wasnt using the right search words!

 

Yes it sounds to me like this will be your best option but it is one of the more advanced tools in the program.  I don't think the curved wall section is going to be of any use to you so use it to create a polyline solid in plan view and then delete the wall.  The polyline solid could be independent from the masonry fill section or just be one block depending on how you want it to display.  Convert that or those polyline solids to solids.  Then go to an elevation view and draw a polyline solid arch to match the garage door.  Convert the arch to a solid.  Select the one solid and subtract the other to create the opening.

[Doug_N]

A curved passthrough with casing, sill and frame removed.

 

[Doug_N]

Maybe I don't understand the requirement here.  

[Chopsaw]

9 minutes ago, Doug_N said:

Maybe I don't understand the requirement here.  

 

If the cutout "box" was red it would be easier to visualize but I think the door way needs to be cut through that thick wall at the irregular angles to look right with the tunnel behind. So regular tools are not going to cut it for an accurate presentation.

[NathanielK]

Thanks so much @Chopsaw! You have a grasp of what i need to do. Those are detailed enough instructions that i should be able to make a go of it.

 

Incidentally i cut my teeth on 3D-space modeling with Unreal's subtractive methodology, so this is instinctive to me. It looks like CA11 has the tools i need to get it done.

 

I'll let you know if im running into problems.

[NathanielK]

Okay, i followed the advice of @Chopsaw, by removing the curved wall and instead drawing CAD arcs and lines to replace it. I converted the closed shaped to a polyline solid, then placed my arched cutout (the solid which i already created) into the exact spot where i wanted the subtraction. I'm really streamlining this explanation, because it took me plenty of trial-and-error to set everything correctly.

I then selected the wall shape, did the subtraction with the arched cutout, and fnally got it EXACTLY the way i wanted! To wit:

 

 

A suggestion for anyone trying to do complicated solid construction:

 

When doing subtractions, make sure the shape you're using extends beyond the faces of the main solid (that you're subtracting from), or it will leave a "face" on the side that wasnt subtracted all the way thru. This includes the wall sides as well as the ceilings and floor sides. I ended making a cut along the floor face of the wall solid, which caused a texture conflict between the room floor texture and the cutout texture on the bottom face. (The only way to solve that was to lower the wall so the leftover face was below the room floor — ugly and time-consuming!).