Hi Mike
Thanks, yes as I mentioned in the footnote I could split the ground floor into levels just for the benefit of the ceilings but I am reluctant at this stage to add that level of complication - it might bite me later on
There are some consequences to levels, for instance you can only see through one level to the next one below - even if you turn off visibility for '2' - '1' will still not show through in plan view when you are working on level 3. Folks working on mult-storey buildings may not want the visual clutter of x-ray eyes that can see through more than one level below but of course levels do not imply vertical stacking as in my case.
At the moment if I want to make an edit to a roof I have to temporarily lower the containing level to be the lowest of the roof levels so I can see the ground plan below and reference it when for instance I make a roof that needs to overhang the walls by a certain distance etc. I then move the level back up to is correct height.
At the moment I have 4 levels - ground and roofs 1, 2 and 3 so I am tempted to stay with the current complexity at least for a while.
At the moment I am not restricted in what I can do the consequences are simply an extra little task between renderings, photo or video shoots - I am happy to live with a white roof block when merely editing.
None of the "I have to" statements above are moans, once it becomes part of the workflow its just a few key strokes - I think there is a massive difference between a limitation that just means you have to do a little more admin style work and a limitation that stops you achieving a result.
I have to say SweetHome is an amazing tool, today I was doing fine editing removing tiny slivers of wall, simplifying and re-aligning walls - all imperfections my own doing after countless fast edits, pushing a wall here, extending there and generally working fast to get the over-view before focusing on getting everything shipshape. The fact that my model held together, that floors could still be computed automatically is a testament to just how well written this software is.
When I first started this design trip I was proposing to use Solidworks because that was the only tool I had to hand - how naive was I !!! I would have only been able to design a roof wall and ceiling outline the rest would have been possible but just to much work and complication - I really do take my hat off to the Puybarets.
Now having a bit of fun playing with the Advanced video plugin - have you tried it? For fun I am seeing just how far I can get with a GrandDesigns style fly around using only open source tools - I need a break from the real work
