Instant Door and Window Tutorials

Extension Name

Instant Door and Window

Extension Developer

Vali Architects

Extension Cost

$29/Year or $118/Year for Instant Architecture Package

Where to get it
Instant Door and Window Download Link – https://www.valiarchitects.com/sketchup_scripts

Extension Description – Instant Door and Window

Instant door and window is a SketchUp extension from Vali Architects designed to help you quickly create doors, windows, skylights, louvers, and more in your SketchUp models!

More Instant Door and Window for SketchUp Tutorials

Instant Door and Window for SketchUp Function Description

As with all of Vali’s extensions, there are a huge number of options available for the different kinds of doors and windows you can create.

Placing a door or window with Vali Instant Door and Window

Start by activating the create door/window tool. Then, you can select the type of object you’d like to create, then click on the box to the left in order to select the style of object you’d like.
From there, there are a couple different options, but in this case, I’m going to focus on the third option, which sets how your object cuts a hole in your walls. There are 3 settings here

• 2D
• 3D
• Double Wall

Quite honestly, I’m finding myself using 2D and Double Wall – I can’t quite figure out the difference between 3D and double wall. In any case, these options allow you to cut openings in both single and double walls in SketchUp.
Once you’ve done this, simply click in your model to place your objects. Note that with double wall selected, it seems to wait to cut the hole until you’ve closed out of the tool (by tapping the space key).

Instant Door and Window – Window Options

The windows have a number of different parameters you can edit, like the main size, the detail around the windows, the mullion size, and more.
In addition, you can also select different trim profiles for the different windows. I believe you can also use a custom trim profile if you want.
There is a really big library of windows to choose from as well, including standard, arched, corner, and bay windows.
One thing to note if you want to change your openings – this actually works pretty well – just draw a selection box across your window, making sure you pick up the geometry of the hole that gets created. This allows you to move your whole window.

Instant Door and Window – Door Options

There are also a large number of door options contained within Instant door and window. They work a lot the same way as the window options do, with a couple added features. The first that you’ll notice is the option for “2D Plan.” Basically what this does is allows you to add a door arc for a plan view in case you’re trying to create architectural plans.
All the options are editable, like the trim, etc, just like with the windows. The doors also allow you to edit the hardware created.
In addition (and I should have mentioned this for the windows as well), you can add materials to all the parts and pieces of the doors or windows.
Note that you can only add materials that are actively in your model.
One of the fun functions of the doors is that you can use the SketchUp interact tool to cycle them through various open and closed states.

Cutting Openings Note

One thing to note is that occasionally I’m finding that these doors cut the opening, but don’t remove the remaining material. I’ve found that you can just select the material and delete it out in these instances.
You can also add things like garage doors to your models as well.
If you’re looking to adjust the materials after the fact, there is a tool for that contained on the toolbar.