Chapter 3 · reference

Windows and doors

Everything the Windows & Doors card can do to an opening: arches in brick or stone, the stone dressings round it, mullions and Gothic tracery, hood moulds, sash windows and panelled doors cut from card, and stained glass for the 3D view. Keep the windows you like in the Opening Library to use again.

OO · 1:76.2a fresh panel for each topicButtercrambe church for the glass

The 3D window at dusk: the east end of Buttercrambe church, its three-light traceried window glowing in ruby, sapphire and gold glass. — Buttercrambe church's east window in the 3D window, with tracery cut in the core and jewel-coloured glass lit from inside.

The next opening, or the one you picked

With nothing selected, the whole card - type, shape, position, size, arch, tracery, hood mould, glazing bars or door, stained glass, mullions, quoins, cill and lintol - describes the next opening, and Add Opening puts it on the wall with all of it. Click an opening in the Click to edit list (or in the preview) and the same card changes that opening instead. Adding and editing openings is covered in chapter 1.

1Arches

A rectangular opening's head is set under Arch / Lintol. Choose the Arch Type, then whether the Voussoirs - the wedge-shaped blocks of the arch - are Brick or Stone. Here are all nine on one wall, each 15 mm wide:

A wall of nine windows, each with a different head, every arch drawn in brick voussoirs. — Brick voussoirs: narrow, radiating, one brick each.

The same nine windows with stone voussoirs: fewer, larger blocks. — Stone voussoirs: fewer, larger dressed blocks.

In the pictures	Arch Type	Its own settings
W1	None (square)	A plain square head; add a lintol (section 2).
W2	Flat/Jack	Depth in courses and a Skewback Angle (60-89°, 85° to start).
W3	Segmental	Rise Ratio: the rise as a share of the span, 0.1 to 0.45.
W4	Semicircular	A full half circle.
W5	Elliptical	Rise (brick courses).
W6	Tudor (4-centred)	Its Rise, Shoulder and Angle.
W7	Gothic Equilateral	The classic pointed arch.
W8	Gothic Lancet	Steepness, 1.05 to 2.0: taller and narrower.
W9	Gothic Drop	Flatness, 0.5 to 0.95: lower and broader.

The Arch / Lintol settings for a segmental brick arch: Arch Type Segmental, Voussoirs Brick, Rings 2 rings, Pattern H-S-H-S, Depth from rings 3 auto, Rise Ratio 0.25, Brick bonding, Voussoir Count Auto (auto: 27), Emphasise keystone. — The settings for a segmental arch in brick, two rings deep.

Brick arches are built of Rings (1 to 6), and the Pattern says how each ring is laid: all headers, all stretchers, headers and stretchers in turn, or bonded. Legacy (use depth) sets the depth directly instead.
Arch Depth is in half bricks (in courses for a flat arch). Brick bonding staggers the joints of a deep arch, as a bricklayer would.
Voussoir Count is worked out for you (Auto, always an odd number), or choose one from 3 to 31.
Emphasise keystone makes the middle voussoir stand taller, by the extra you type.

2Quoins, cills, lintels and pediments

Lower down the card are the stone dressings round an opening. Tick a box and its settings open under it:

The Stone Quoins and Stone Cill sections: quoins Long 4.5, Short 3, Height 2 courses; cill Projection 1, Depth 1; lintol Projection 0, Height 1; Pediment on the lintol Triangular, rise 0.15.

Two windows: W1 square-headed with quoins up both sides, a cill, a lintol and a triangular pediment; W2 with a segmental stone arch, quoins and a cill. — W1: quoins, cill, lintol and triangular pediment. W2: a stone segmental arch with quoins and a cill.

Add quoins to sides: long and short stone blocks in turn up both sides of the opening - their Long and Short lengths in mm and each block's Height in courses.
Add cill below opening: its Projection past each side in half bricks and its Depth in courses. The card shows the result in mm.
Add stone/concrete lintol above opening (square heads only): its projection and height the same way, and a Pediment on the lintol - Triangular or Segmental, its rise a fraction of its width. The bricks stop round the pediment and its outline is engraved.

Make them stand proud

On the wall these are engraved. The Detail Layer (relief) also cuts them as separate parts from a second board - the lintol and its pediment as one stone - to glue on where they are engraved. See chapter 4.

3Arches side by side

Put two arched openings close together - paired windows on a narrow pier, or an arcade - and their rings overlap. BrickIT! builds them as a bricklayer would: the two rings meet at a straight joint running down from where their outer curves cross, and each ring's voussoirs stop at it. There is nothing to set; it happens wherever the rings overlap, in the preview and in every export.

Two semicircular brick arches on a 3 mm pier: their rings meet at a vertical joint above the pier. — Two semicircular windows 3 mm apart, their rings meeting over the pier.

4Mullioned windows

To split a window into lights with stone mullions:

Select the window and tick Divide into multiple lights under Mullions.
Choose where the Stone frame is cut (below).
Set the Number of Mullions (1 to 3, for two to four lights) and the Mullion Width in half bricks.
Pick a Light Arch Type for the heads of the lights: Square-topped, Pointed (Gothic), Rounded (Semi) or Segmental.

The Mullions section: Divide into multiple lights ticked, Stone frame Cut in the carcass core, behind the opening, an amber note, Number of Mullions 1 (2 lights), Mullion Width 1, Light Arch Type Pointed (Gothic).

The Stone frame can be cut in two places:

A two-light pointed window with its frame in the core: the whole arch is open in the brick skin, the stone frame shown in grey with the lights dashed. — Cut in the carcass core, behind the opening (the usual choice).

The same window with its frame cut in the brick skin: the mullion and light heads drawn as cut lines in the wall itself. — Cut in the brick skin, with the wall.

In the core, the skin cuts the whole opening and the frame - mullions, side frames and a sill as wide as a mullion - is cut in the core board behind it, on the Building window's sheets. It shows 1 mm back from the face, as real stonework does. Glaze it with a plain pane glued on the back of the core. The preview shows that frame in grey, its lights dashed.

A square-headed three-light window with its frame in the core, each light's head cut as a trefoil, with a cill and lintol. — Trefoiled (square head): three cusped lights under a square head, offered when the frame is in the core.

5Tracery

Tracery fills a window's head with stone bars, as it was built: bars of one width, every bar joined to the rest, the openings between cut with foils. It works on any window (doors have their own fanlight tracery, section 9), and replaces the Mullions section, since the tracery makes its own lights.

The Tracery section with Geometric chosen: the style pictures (1), Start from a design (2), the choices for this style (3) and an amber note (4).

A pointed window with geometric tracery: three trefoiled lights and three trefoiled circles above, one at the top. — Geometric, three lights, three eyes with one on top.

The style, chosen from pictures: Plate (a solid head pierced by the lights and an eye), Geometric (lights with heads of their own and foiled circles over them), Y (each mullion branches with the arch), Intersecting (every mullion branches and the branches cross), Net (reticulated: a net of ogee cells), Flowing (flames rising from the lights, mouchettes and daggers between) and Perpendicular (mullions straight up into the arch). Hover over a picture for its description; None takes the tracery out.

Start from a design… applies a named design, which you can then adjust (below).

The choices for this style: Lights (1 to 8); Light heads - pointed, lancet (tall), drop (low), round, segmental or ogee; Cusped heads (trefoiled); the Eyes over the lights - over each pair, three with one on top, nested in pairs, or none - as a circle or a spherical triangle, with plain or 3 to 8 Eye foils, and Turn the foils to put a cusp at the top; Spaces between the lights and eyes left open, cusped, pierced as daggers or solid; Moulded bars (a second, narrower order in front, so the bars step back like a chamfer); the Bar width; and where the Stone cut in - the carcass core or the brick skin, as for mullions. Perpendicular adds supermullions and a transom with its height; Net its cells' shape; Flowing how far the flames lean.

The note says how the tracery is made and glazed, and warns where the laser would struggle.

The amber note with a warning: the bars are 0.75 mm wide: below about 0.8 mm they may char or break - widen the mullions. — Bars narrowed to half a brick: BrickIT! warns that they may char or break.

The notes also say when an opening is too small to cut cleanly (it is left solid) or when a piece of tracery would not be joined to the rest. Widen the bars or the window until the warnings go.

Start from a design

The list holds sixteen designs for pointed windows - from an Early English pair of lancets under a quatrefoil, through Westminster-style nested lights and a six-light Great east window, to Perpendicular with transom - and three rose and wheel designs for round windows. Some bring a hood mould or stained glass with them. Pick one, then change anything you like.

Five pointed windows, each with a different tracery design: Early English pair, Geometric three-light, Reticulated net, Flowing two-light under an ogee hood mould, and Perpendicular. — W1 Early English pair, W2 Geometric three-light, W3 Reticulated net, W4 Flowing two-light (it adds an ogee hood mould), W5 Perpendicular.

6Hood moulds

A hood mould is the projecting moulding over a window that throws the rain off. Choose one under Hood mould, at the foot of the Tracery section (any window but a round one): Following the arch, Ogee, with a finial (tick Crockets for the little leaves up its sides) or a Square label.

Three windows: W1 with a hood following its pointed arch, W2 with an ogee hood rising to a finial with crockets, W3 a Tudor arch under a square label. — W1 following the arch, W2 an ogee with crockets, W3 a square label over a Tudor arch.

The hood is engraved on the wall where it goes and cut as a part of the Detail Layer, to glue on - and it stands proud in the resin print.

7Round windows

Set the Shape to Circle and give its Diameter; Semi makes a half-round one, its width the diameter. A round opening has a Circular Voussoirs section instead of an arch: the Ring Depth in half bricks (0 for none) and a Voussoir Count (0 works it out).

The card for a round window: Shape Circle, X 12, Y 12, Diameter 18; Circular Voussoirs: Ring Depth 2, Voussoir Count 0.

Two round windows with brick rings; the second filled with a rose of eight cusped petals round a hub. — A plain round window, and the Rose: cusped petals design.

For a round window the tracery has one style, Wheel: Spokes (6 to 24), Petals shaped like light heads, Eyes at the rim, a foiled Hub and its size. The rose and wheel designs in Start from a design… are the quick way in.

8Glazing bars

An ordinary window - one without tracery or a stone frame in the core - can have glazing bars. Under Glazing bars either Choose a pattern… or set the Bars yourself:

The Glazing bars section: Bars Sash windows, Panes across each sash 3, Panes up each sash 2, Bar width 0.5 mm, a picture of the card part and a note: 12 panes.

Five windows with glazing bars: six over six sashes, two over two sashes, sashes with margin lights, cottage casements and a cast-iron window of many small panes. — W1 Georgian six over six, W2 Victorian two over two, W3 margin lights, W4 cottage casements, W5 cast-iron.

Patterns: Georgian six over six and eight over eight, Victorian two over two, one over one, margin lights, cottage casements, and cast-iron with many panes.
Bars: Plain pane, Sash windows, Sashes with margin lights, Casements, Cast-iron (industrial) (with a hopper in the middle) and Small panes. Set the panes across and up each sash or leaf (1 to 12), and the Bar width in mm.

The bars are cut from thin card on the Building window's window and door sheets, 1 mm bigger all round than the opening, to glue behind the brick skin; glaze behind them with one pane. The picture beside the settings is that card part.

Bar width

Bars of 0.5 mm or more cut cleanly in card; below that the note warns they are fragile.

9Doors

Choose Door as the Type and the card shows a Door section:

The Door section: Style Six panels, Painted Navy, Fanlight Sunburst bars, a picture of the navy door with its fanlight, and a note.

Four doors: a navy six-panel door under a sunburst fanlight, a green boarded door with strap hinges, an oak Gothic door with ornate hinges and a ring, and an oxblood half-glazed door with a plain fanlight. — D1 six panels and a sunburst fanlight, D2 boarded with strap hinges, D3 Gothic, D4 half glazed under a plain fanlight.

Style: Plain (no detail), Boarded, Boarded, strap hinges, Gothic: boards, ornate hinges, ring, Stable door, Four panels, Six panels or Half glazed.
Painted: bottle green, oxblood, dark brown, navy, black or oak - the colour it has in the preview and the 3D window.
Fanlight: glass in an arched head, or over a transom under a square one - Plain, Sunburst bars or Tracery (geometric, Y, intersecting, flowing or perpendicular).

The door is cut from thin card with the window and door sheets, 1 mm bigger all round to glue behind the skin. Hinges, or a panelled door's frame, are a second part glued on its face, and the boards and panel beads are engraved.

10Stained glass

Stained glass is for the 3D window and its pictures only: the laser cuts and the resin print are unchanged. Select a window (or a door with a fanlight or glazed leaf) and choose its Glass: Jewel colours, Chartres blue, Grisaille, Amber and gold, Clear lights, coloured eyes, or One colour (choose it). The Leading is diamond quarries, square panes, mosaic or none.

The Stained glass section for Buttercrambe's east window: Glass Jewel colours, Leading Diamond quarries, and a picture of the window's lights and eyes in red, blue and gold. — Each light and eye gets its own colour, mirror images matching.

To see it, open 3D from the preview's toolbar (the building needs to be set up in the Building window first - chapter 5), click the wall in the list to fly to it, and tick Windows lit 1: the glass glows as if lit from inside. The Dusk Scene 2 turns Windows lit on for you.

The 3D window at dusk, close on Buttercrambe church's east end: the traceried window glows ruby, blue and gold. Windows lit (1) and Scene: Dusk (2) are marked on the bar below.

11The Opening Library

Once a window is just right - tracery, cill, glass and all - keep it to use again on any panel or project:

Select it and click 💾 Save 1 under the card's buttons.
Give it a name and click OK. It is filed under Windows or Doors by its type.

The buttons while editing an opening: Copy, Delete, Library, and Save, marked 1.

The name box: Enter a name for this opening, filled in as Geometric two-light, 24 mm, with Cancel and OK.

To use one, set the card's X and Y to where it should go, click 📚 Opening Library, and click Add to Panel 1 on the one you want. The library keeps each opening's size, arch and dressings, but not its position.

The Opening Library window: tabs All, Windows, Doors, Custom; the saved window Geometric two-light, 24 mm, 24x22 mm, GothEq, Cill, with Add to Panel marked 1, rename and category buttons.

The tabs show All, 🪟 Windows, 🚪 Doors or ⚙️ Custom.
✏️ renames an entry, the small list beside it moves it to another category, and × deletes it.
With an opening selected, the library window also has a name box and Save Selected.
The library is kept on your computer, not in the project. Back it up with File → Export/Import Opening Library.

Where next

To cut the wall, its stone dressings and hood moulds: Cutting it out.
To cut window frames in the core, and the window and door sheets: The Building and Plan windows.
For more of the 3D window and its scenes: 3D, roofs and pictures.