I have searched around and this has been requested a few times. Alex Heneveld HERE and HERE appears to have altered the source code to make it possible. Unfortunately I don't know how to do this myself. Is anyone able to advise me how to do it?
Or alternatively, a better solution, such as a plugin, etc?
I have tried the "copyasnewfurniture" method and it isn't suitable for what I need to accomplish. I am actually quite surprised that something a commonplace as a 150mm verandah slab with a 100mm step up into the house is so difficult to achieve in sh3d. I managed to get it to show up in the 3d model with a different level and a 24m x 48m x .15m wall but that is no good as it doesn't show up on my ground floor plan with measurements (and it has to).
A simple box with -150mm elevation and 150mm height (24m x 48m) would work perfectly, but alas, not without a code change or something else.
Also, just to head off any replies suggesting to use boxes for floor heights, etc, I cannot as the rooms are not rectangular. Not to mention that it would be extremely time consuming to have to modify everything else to a new elevation (there are hundreds of items).
Netherlands
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Re: Negative Elevation for Furniture
Maybe you haven't quite understood how to use levels. My suggestion would be that you play around a bit, trying out what you can do with them.
Let me give you some ideas: 1 - Ground level - elevation 0 cm Draw some walls that function as the border of your veranda. Their height is the height of the veranda floor. The outside can be given a texture to suit your taste. Here you also draw the stairs that lead to your veranda. Let's assume an elevation of 50 cms. Play with floor thickness in the Level tab to get the desired results. Also, draw the lower part of the walls of your house with the same height as the veranda. Apply a texture, either the same as in step 2, or a different one if you like contrasting top and bottom. 2 - Level 1 - elevation 50 cms Draw the walls of your house. Insert a floor. Apply textures as and when needed. 3 - Insert a floor (with texture) on level 0. Select it and using CTL-X and CTL-V copy it from level 0 to level 1. 4 - Check out the example: house w veranda
Hans
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Hans
Thanks for your reply Hans. I had a look at your example file and I may be missing something but it appeared to have the same problem that I am trying to overcome. When I created a room in level 1 of the example it is at the same level as the verandah. This is to be expected as the verandah floor is a room on level 1 too.
The verandah/building that I am trying to draw is a concrete slab on the ground which extends 150mm above the ground. Then there is another 100mm step up into the building. The real problem comes in that I need them all to be part of the same level in sh3d so that I can show them on the same 2d FP (not 3d veiw) with measurements.
I'm thinking that I may have to do it with boxes, etc if there's no negative elevation option. I thought that I wouldn't be able to do the odd shaped floor angles with boxes but it turns out that I can achieve it using the method described in the roof tutorial, walls to furniture to object to import and rotate.
It is a pain in the neck though as I'll need to increase the wall heights of my drawing by 250mm, floor level to 0, all other items up by 250mm. Is there an easy way to select all walls (just walls)?
Netherlands
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Re: Negative Elevation for Furniture
1 - Click the plus button to add a level. Set elevation to zero, rename it to level zero/slab. Draw a room the size of your slab. Set floor thickness to 15 cms. 2 - Change elevation of level zero to 15 cms. Use CTL-A to select all walls and modify their height. 3 - adjust elevation of level one.
Now you should have a a ground floor level with a slab. A lower level with a veranda, and an upper level with the rest of the house.
To solve a problem (or describe it in this forum) it helps to analyze it. - level 0 = slab = 15 cms high ? - level 1 = veranda = xxx cms above slab ? - level 2 = house = 10 cms above veranda ?
Maybe you could try and sound les grumpy? I don't get paid to solve your problems and/or teach you the use of CTL-A...
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Hans
new website - under constuction hansdirkse.info
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[Edit 3 times,
last edit by hansmex at May 9, 2015, 4:58:31 PM]
Hans, do appreciate you taking the time to try and assist me. I am sorry if I came across as grumpy.
From what I have found with sh3d (and I am fairly new to it) preceding levels do not show up on the 2 dimension pdf floor plan. Is this true, or is there possibly a setting to alter this behaviour? If true then creating the verandah in a lower level, using any method at all will not solve the problem I have.
The verandah slab (150mm high) and the step up into the building (100mm high) are all the same level from a construction perspective. Therefore I need to show them on the same floor plan with dimensions for construction purposes.
I am familiar with ctrl+A (and most other windows keyboard shortcuts). Does it not select everything on the drawing (A = all)? All walls, rooms, furniture, text, etc. I was just wondering if there was a shorter way to select just the walls on my existing drawing. It wouldn't be a big deal if it were a simple building but there are already hundreds of walls and probably more than 1000 items of furniture (I can't see a count anywhere?).
I'm thinking that I will have to spend some time grouping furniture into 20 or so major groups by their respective elevation and type. Then ctrl+A becomes a bit more feasible as I should be able to de-select the furniture, etc using ctrl+left_mouse_click.
It is all a learning curve for me. Thanks again for your help Hans.
Thanks Hans. How do I get it to stick? The elevation on furniture always seems to revert to the previous positive value as soon as I leave the modify funiture dialogue box. Is there a newer version of sh3d that allows negative values? Or a setting that needs to be changed?
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Re: Negative Elevation for Furniture
Hi Hans, Juggernaut (Newbie) from South Africa here.
I am trying to understand what onefish (newbie) is trying to do, but I don't think he is giving a straightforward explanation of what he wants to achieve. I was struggling with quite a few items when I started with SH3D, but played around with a few things, and positive feedback from a lot of members, to get a result, or a suitable result. Ask him to post his actual design on the forum and explain exactly where and how he wants to do what he's been trying to do, and maybe someone can help. Surely plain and simple explanation from him (newbie - onefish) will generate a positive response from our members, not so?
Juggernaut, thanks for your feedback. I'm not sure how much simpler I can say it. Perhaps the problem comes in that I have been constructing buildings from engineered 2 dimensional plans for decades. I am attempting to produce plans for a large multi-room, multi level building for a friend that he can use for construction. I need 2d plans with measurements. The 3d rendered perspectives are an added bonus. It is a simple slab on ground construction method used in the tropics.
- concrete slab on the ground, extending 150mm above ground (forms verandahs and breezeways) - concrete slab on top of the aforementioned slab, extending a further 100mm (250mm above ground in total, forms ground floor internal floor height)
Look at it this way, it is a stepped concrete slab going from 150mm above ground to 250mm above ground, and all part of the same level from a construction perspective. Therefore I need to show it on the same 2d floor plan with measurements. I then have to do the same thing on the second story.
I spent most of the day grouping all the furniture and raising it by 250mm then increasing wall heights by 250mm so that I could just use boxes to achieve the effect. I.E. box with elevation 0 and height 150mm for base slab and second box (actually custom furniture not a box) elevation 150 and height 100 for internal floors. Unfortunately that doesn't really work very well either. If I put such a box under a wall (through actually) it becomes nearly impossible to see the wall in the 2d floor plan.
Thanks again for your help guys. I'll keep tinkering with it but I now suspect that I will just need to have a couple different versions, one for 2d printed floor plans and one for 3d perspectives.
