3D view and printing

[RexLan]

My 3D view has a black background.  Is there a way to make it white for printing?

[Allan Chesney]

Normally the 3D view background would be set to an image, the default one being a sky blue with some clouds. If it is black then you may have it set to a night scene but the default image usually shows the moon. You can change the image by going to Settings /Program Settings / Background.

While you can just print the 3D View you will get much more realistic results, complete with shadows and reflections, if you go to View / 3D Real View. Use the Basic option for outside views and Advanced for interior views with lights. If doing interiors it is best to turn the sun off or it will 'turn off' the interior lights.

Allan

[RexLan]

As usual ... thank you sir!

[RexLan]

Allan please have a look at this and tell me how to get an arch in teh entrance header between the posts.  I have spent a couple of hours on it and simply can not make anything work.

Thank you

[Allan Chesney]

I will have a look at it as soon as I can but it will be another 12 hours or more. It is 4am here at the moment and I have to go out first thing in the morning for most of the day. I will look as it as soon as I get back home.

Allan

[RexLan]

lol ... what are you doing up at 4AM in the first place??

Thanks

[Allan Chesney]

4am?  I was awake with my mind in a whirl about a job I had to do that day, when I heard the phone beep indicating an email. It was the forum notification of your post - so I replied! It broke the cycle and I went straight back to sleep - so was nicely timed! (and the job during the day went OK too!)

I am not sure how you have been trying to insert the arch but you were on the right track but not quite. You have the wall into which you were trying to insert the arch, elevated 13' above the normal floor level. These wall need to be deleted, as you will notice that they have left a long narrow hole in the other wall inserted at ground level (Yellow coloured section on first image). These walls need to be inserted at a higher level, not elevated. (Incidentally, I notice in Building Locations that you have the Ground Floor level set to zero. This is unusual, as the house slab or whatever is usually above Terrain level at least a few inches - in case it rains and this also becomes the floor thickness. The "Floor Level" in Building Locations is the top surface of the floor measured from the Terrain (zero)).

Anyway - Create a new Location (eg called Porch), set its Floor Level to 11'4" (which is about the top of your pillars - so the bottom edge of this wall will sit on the pillars) and set the wall height to 3' (so the walls don't poke through the roof). Now insert four walls to provide the upper walls of the porch on the Porch Location (set these new wall's "Drop Face" to zero and tick the two "Force Exterior" boxes - this will then apply the Exterior texture on both sides of these walls.

Now insert the arch into the front section. It will be too high (as in the second image) - use the Elevate to lower it. Set the width of the arch opening (you may need to widen the Arch Radius to be able to do that) and you are done.

You will notice on the 3D view I have coloured the 'porch walls' with the arch top a slightly different colour so you can see what I have done (and of course I have turned on the Background image and Terrain and added a quick landscape for effect  ).

I hope you can follow the idea. Ask again if you can't.

Now I am going to bed again as it is after midnight!

Allan

[RexLan]

OMG ... that is unbelievable!  OK, please put that file back so I can have it like you have done it.  I am going to try it for myself also, but I think this is well over my head.

Incredible ... I do have to remove that nice mountain in the background.  Florida is 10 feet above sea level and flat as glass ... I could get millions for that house here with the mountain!!

You are truly a master and I also see this software has a lot to offer.  This is going to be my new house and I hope to start building next month (if I ever get a plan I can give to the real plan folks so they know what I want).

Thank you so much for the help,
Rex

[RexLan]

Allan I spent another hour doing exactly what you said (which makes sense to me and I understand it).  But, I can not get it to look like it should and the arch does not show.  Yours is perfect.

I made the 4 walls on tho of the post in a new level, inserted the archway and tried modifying the elevation but nothing seems to work.  In a couple of clicks I can see a green wire-frame of the arch but not in the finished product ... still doing something wrong I assume.

[RexLan]

Allan please send me that file ...  RBL671  at  yahoo   com

[Allan Chesney]

Sorry about the delay in replying. Have spent all day at doctors and specialists and our 12 hour time difference doesn't help!
I will send the file by email in a minute or so. You may find some of the trees do not work as they are imported objects so will not be in your catalogue - may  just show up as yellow boxes - you will just have to delete them and use something else if you want to continue with the landscaping. The tree way outside the Terrain at the front was just to give the shadow on the lawn.

I am curious about the following comment:

I can see a green wire-frame of the arch but not in the finished product.

Where do you see the green wireframe? You would have inserted it in Plan view and it would show in the wall there but then you need to switch to a front 3D view to see where it is in relation to the short wall - probably above it. That is when you use the Elevate to lower it into the unusually short wall. If you cannot see the arch in the 3D view, go back to the Plan view, select the arch (so it is green), then  switch back to 3D view. It will no longer be selected, so you will not see it, especially if it is completely above the short wall, so, go to Edit / Select Previous and it will be selected again and you will see it. That may be all that the problem was with your arch.

Allan

[RexLan]

I received the file; however, I can not open it.  I have version 16 of the SW.

I sorta got it to work but the stuff sticks through the roof.  I have moved the wall elevation, no luck. 

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Rex,

When a roof is on the same Location as the walls, it will cause the wall to stop at the roof (as long as the wall is set to 'Extend To Roof'). In this case the roof is on a different location, so the roof does not limit the wall height on the new location. Normally you could just reduce the height of the walls by editing the wall height itself but your arch is deeper than mine and starts higher so you are running out of height.  I noticed on mine, when I have just looked at it again, that it is also through the roof slightly, but I was able to reduce the wall height to 2'6" and it was OK.

For your design, can you lower the arch in the wall and then reduce the height of the wall? If not we need to do it a different way but it is more complicated. I will explain how if the above solution is not suitable for your purpose.

Allan

[RexLan]

I will work on that and see if it will work OK.  The height isn't really an issue.

Do I need to have a separate roof on the porch level?

I loaded your revised version and now I have no catalog on the right side at all for any element so I can not change anything ... seems to have vanished??

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Rex,

Normally if part of a house has a different wall height then it has a different location as that is what controls the wall height. Technically your Porch maybe should have a separate roof as the walls are higher than the rest of the building.

However, if the roof is as you want it, I would not change things. What you can do though, to taper the porch walls to align to the roof,  is to put a roof on the new Porch location and then just turn it off in the View Filter (otherwise you will have two in the one space).

Re the Catalogue.
Is the Info Panel still there but empty or has the panel itself gone?
If the panel is still there, go to File / Catalogues and Open one. My catalogue could have been renamed and so your system does not recognise it.

Allan