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Position of Walls Related to Room
Hi,
Is there a way to specify where walls are created in relation to the room border when double-clicking in the room to generate them? While it is useful for the walls to be created on the outside of the room border when the internal dimensions of the room are easy to specify (ie., fall neatly onto rulers or grid), it would be really useful to be able to drop the walls on the inside of the room border. This option could either be a preference option, or could be selected in a pop-up that appears when double-clicking on a room with the wall tool selected. Then, wall thickness would be easier to manage with regard to the larger environment that the room is being created in.
If it doesn't already exist, does anyone else see this as a useful option?
Netherlands
Joined: Sep 26, 2009
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Re: Position of Walls Related to Room
Hi,
I don't understand what you mean... When you want to create a room, there are two possibilities: 1 - First draw the walls and insert all doors and wall openings. Then double-click in the room, and the floor/ceiling will be created. They will stick to the walls and follow doors and wall openings to create a seemless connection between rooms. 2 - Draw the room "freehand" by clicking the desired points. You CAN follow the form of the room, but you can also draw a "free" room. Example: imagine you want an outside area partly covered in stone, partly covered in grass. You can draw two separate "rooms" and give each a different floor colour or texture. If you click in the right order, you could even make a patio (room A) completely surrounded by a porch (room B) and give both different floors/ceilings.
What would make life (a bit) easier is when rooms could be made "sticky", that is floors/ceilings stick to the walls, so when you change a wall or move a door, the floors/ceilings ("rooms") follow the changes to the wall. For me personally this wouldn't be an urgent addition to SH3D.
Hans
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Hans
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Re: Position of Walls Related to Room
Hans,
Thank you for the reply. I do understand the different options available for creating a room. My question has more to do with the relationship of wall thickness to interior room dimensions. If I draw the walls of a room to be 10' 0" x 12' 0", I could have intended for those measures to be from the interior surfaces of the walls, or from the centers of the wall studs, or from the outside walls of the rooms. When dropping in the walls of a room, it would be nice to be able to specify which of the three options I was intending in my head. Further response would be much appreciated!
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Re: Position of Walls Related to Room
Pres:
I could tease you and tell you to start using the metric system to make life easier, but I won't :-)
These last few months I've designed quite a few houses using SH3D, but I (as in: I personally) think from walls to rooms, and not the other way around. I can understand that if you want a room of, say, 12x12 feet, that you add the walls around it. I have more difficulty seeing the advantage of drawing a 12x12 room and then subtracting the walls of that surface.
If you draw a 12x12 room in SH3D and then add the walls around it, the net surface stays 12x12. So maybe you should contemplate changing your way of thinking to the way SH3D works.
Outer walls of a house often measure 1 foot in thickness, so it wouldn't be too difficult to take this into account when designing rooms. Assuming half foot interior walls, it can hardly be very complex either.
Seen the imprecise way in which rooms are created (since there is no precise way to control the X and Y coordinates), it would mean a large design with several rooms, would by default be imprecise as well, with bad fits between rooms, no connecting doorways, possible overlaps between rooms (causing glitches in the rendering).
I've probably read every message on this forum, and never came across a similar request.
Although I cannot look into Emmanuel's head (he is the designer/programmer of the program) I have the feeling the functionality you suggest will not be implemented any time soon.
Hans
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Hans
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Re: Position of Walls Related to Room
I registered just to post in this thread. Hansmex: your tone is a bit too condescending. It really doesn't matter what Way you believe to be "easier/easy". I'm fairly certain what the asker is requesting is for a way to position the walls that is the 3D equivalent of a "stroke position" in vector programs such as illustrator, freehand, inkscape, etc. I personally think it would be a genius implementation seeing as how if you are serious about developing this program, the situation is going to arise where a client/3D-professional overlooked something in a floor plan draft, and needs just such a task completed. I know that the practical difference between 19', and 20' on a 2048px by 1024px image is negligible, but when the dimensions read 19' instead of 20' there could be a problem. To be able to change the (orientation?) of the walls in this manner would be a huge time saver.
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Re: Position of Walls Related to Room
Thanks for seconding the feature request. More to the point, has anything like this feature been incorporated since I first posted? If so, I'd revisit the app for use. I was otherwise really impressed...
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Re: Position of Walls Related to Room
not yet as far i I know. It looks like we are going to have to grovel a bit. I enjoy just thinking about how easy this program is to use. I thought Sketchup would be the end-all.
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Re: Position of Walls Related to Room
I have watched talented Sketchup users do amazing things. However, I still find that there are no low cost, ideal apps for designing floor plans quickly and easily. I'm a big fan of open source (I write it, too), and would love to see this product mature into the best software available; it has started out on the right foot. However, users make the best product testers, and it is important to listen. Often they'll come up with the ideas that make a piece of software go from good to great. Hopefully, someone will hear our pleas. If time permits, maybe I'll find a chance to donate the code to do this...
