How to create a multi-level house

in Sweet Home 3D

A guide for users who want to design a house with more than one floor,

or who want explore the full potential of Sweet Home 3D .

Hans Dirkse

version 0.4 - January 12, 2010 for SH3D v2.2

version 0.6 - February 2012 for SH3D v3.4 + plug-ins

1

Note

WithSweetHome3Dversion3.4anewfeaturewasadded:Plan Addlevel .Thisallowsyoutocreateamultileveldesigndirectlywithintheprogram.

Thatmeansyoudonotneedtofollowthistutorialtocreateamultileveldesign,althoughtheproceduresdescribedinthistutorialcanbeuefulinspecialsituations.

2

HowtocreateamultilevelhouseinSweetHome3D

ManypeopleontheSweet H ome 3D forum askquestionsaboutlayers,splitlevelhomes,secondfloors,roofsetc.Theanswerisno,noandno.NoneoftheseispossibleinthecurrentversionofSH3D(version3.0).Nevertheless,thereareworkaroundsthatmakeitpossibletocreatemanyhomesthatseemimpossibletomake.Clickhereandheretoseepicturesofsomeexamples.

ScopeofthisguideThisguidediscusses:howyoucanbuildapartofanobject(inthiscaseahouse)howyoucanexportthatpartasanOBJfilehowyoucanimportitasafurnitureelementhowyoucanassembletheseelementsintoacomplexobject,thatcouldnothavebeenconstructedusingthestandardtoolsavailableinSweetHome3Dversion2.2.

NoteThisguideassumesthatyouhavetheCopyAsNewFurnitureplugin,aswellastheAdvancedEditplugininstalled.Seethe plugin tutorial onhowtoinstallandusetheseplugins.

I'lldiscussthefirstofthetwoexamplesandshowhowIsolvedsomeoftheconstructionproblems.Theentirehouseconsistsoffiveblocks:

thegroundfloorplusthefourOBJblocks Layer 0 thefrontpartofthefirstfloor* Layer L1a therearpartofthefirstfloor * Layer L1b thefrontpartoftheroof* Layer L2a therearpartoftheroof* Layer L2b

*ThisfileisexportedasanOBJfileandusedinLayer0Clickonthelinkstodownloadthefiles.

Layer0 showsthedetailsofthegroundfloorandeverythingthatisbeneaththefloortextureofthefirstfloor;inthisfile,fourOBJfileshavebeenimportedthatformtherestofthehouse;toseeallthedetails,youshouldinspecttheotherfilesaswell;

LayerL1a showsthedetailsoftherectanglethatformsthefrontofthehouseonthefirstfloor;ithasbeenexportedasanOBJfileandusedinLayer0;youcanusethisfiletosee

howit's done.LayerL1b showsthedetailsoftherectanglethatformsthebackofthehouseonthefirstfloor;it

hasbeenexportedasanOBJfileandusedinLayer0;youcanusethisfiletoseehowit's done.LayerL2a showsthedetailsoftherectanglethatformsthefrontpartoftheroof;ithasbeen

exportedasanOBJfileandusedinLayer0;youcanusethisfiletoseehowit'sdone.

3

LayerL2b showsthedetailsoftherectanglethatformsthebackpartoftheroof;ithasbeenexportedasanOBJfileandusedinLayer0;youcanusethisfiletoseehowit'sdone.

Toimport an OBJfile useFurniture Importfurniture...

Whyfiveblocks?

Acuttingupvertically

Ifyouhavearelativelysimpledesign,youcouldinsertaboxthatfunctionsasceilingandfloor,andputallfurnitureontopofthebox.Butifyouwanttomakesomethingmorecomplex,you'llsoonfindthatit'snotareallygoodsolution.

So,abettersolutionwouldbetodesigneachfloorasaseparateprojectandthenstackthemtobuild,orassemble,yourhouse.Inthiswayyourhousecanhaveasmanyfloorasyoulike,aslongasyoudon'tgohigherthan24,999meters.

AproblemyouencounterwhenyouexportyourfloorasanOBJisthatSH3Dautomaticallyinsertsafloorevenifyoudidn'tdrawit.Aslongasyoudrawperfectlyrectangularfloors,thisisn'taproblem,buteverydeviationfromtherectanglewillshowupasazerothicknesswhitefloorthatsurroundspartofyourdesigntomakeitrectangular.

However,whenyouuseCopyAsNewFurniture,thisfalsefloorisn'tgenerated,andyoucancopyandinsertacleanblock.

So,whenyoustarttodesignyourproject,youfirsthavetodecidehowtocutupyourmodelinrectangularbuildingblocksthatyoucanstackwithoutseeingtheseamsafterassembly.

Bcuttinguphorizontally

Whendecidingaboutthehorizontalsectionsofyourprojectthereareafewthingsyouhavetobearinmind:

TexturesonfloorsTexturesadherealwaystofloors,soforeverylevelonwhichyouwantatexture,youwillhavetocreateanewhorizontalsection.

TexturesonwallsYoucan'tstacktexturesonawall.Soifyouwantthelowerpartofawalltohaveadifferenttextureorcolorthantheupperpart,youwillhavetocreatethatwallintwohorizontalsections.Anotherwaytoachievethis,ismakingaspecialtexture,asexplainedinthis guide ).

Ceilingsworkfinewhenallwallsofaroomhavethesameheight.Inthecurrentversion,ceilingsworkmoreorlessfinewhentwooppositewallshavethesameslope(asdemonstratedhereandhere).Ceilingsdon'tworkverywellinmostothercases,soyouwillhavetoinventyourownsolutions.

4

Drawingthegeneralfloorplan

Firstwestartbydrawingthebasicfloorplan.IcallitL0(asin:layerzero)anduseitasareferencefile,Idrawallthewallsinit,theoutlineforterracesand/orpatiosandeverythingelsethatIwillneed.Itisveryimportantthatyoudothisverycarefully,becauseallsectionsofthehousewillusethisfileasatemplate.Youcan'tmakechangestowallslateron,becausethenthingswillnotlineupcorrectlywhenyoudothefinalassemblingofyourhouse.Seepicture1.

Note:Correctingcorners&compensatingwallthickness

WhenyoudrawwallsinSH3D,theprogramwillautoconnectthecornersaslongasyoukeepdrawingthewallsinacontinuousway.Ifyouwantthatthelastwallconnectswiththefirstwallofthatseries,youhavetodoubleclickcarefullyontheendofthefirstwall(thefirstwallgetsselectedduringthedrawingtoshowyouitwillbeconnectedtothecurrentwall).Ifthelastwallisn'tconnectedtothefirstwall,orifyoucan'tconnectawalltoanotherone(forexamplebecausetheendofthatwallisalreadyconnectedtoanotherwall),thisproducesajaggedcorner.Ifyouwantyourrenderingstoshowperfectlysmoothcorners,withoutthejaggededges,youwillhavetomanuallycorrectthelengthofthefirstand/orlastwall.

Thebestwaytodoso,istousethefunctionPlanConnectwallsoftheAdvancedEditplugin.

IfindthattheonlywaytomakeagooddrawingisenteringtheexactX,Ycoordinatesbyhand.Thiscanbeachieveddirectlybyenteringthelengthandangleofeachwallduringthedrawingofwalls(bypressingtheEnterkey),ormanuallybycorrectingthecoordinatesafterdrawingthewall(s).

5

Illustration1:Layer0

Drawingthegroundfloorlevel

OpenLayer 0andsaveitasLayer 1.Onthislayerwewillshoweverythingthatisunderneaththetextureofthefirstfloor.Becauseit'saraisedhouse,hereyouwillputthefoundation,thegroundtextures,etc.Seepicture2.

Thislayercontainsninerooms. threegrassrooms fivepavementrooms onegravelroom

Allroomsweredrawnbyhand.SH3Dprovidesseveralmagneticaidestohelpyoupositionthecursor. Whenthecursorlinesupwithawallyoucanseeasmalllinewhenitlinesupwiththecenteror

sideofawall,oryoumayseealonglinewhenitlinesupwithapointfurtheraway Whenthecursorlinesupwithacornerorintersectionyouwillseeacrosshair,oryoumaysee

apurplishdotaroundthecursor. Makesureroomsdon'toverlap,becausethiswillcausestrangeglitchesfromtherenderengine.

So,aftermakingaroughfirstdraught,zoominandcarefullycheckeverylineandcorner.

6

Illustration2:Layer1

Tip:perfectroomsTomakeperfectlyfittingrooms,youmayusePlanEditroompointsofthepluginAdvancedEdit.Seethe plugin manual tolearnhowtoinstallanduseit.

Tip:betterilluminationThereasonthattherearefourgravelroomsunderthebuildingistoaddlightintherendering.Whenyoumakeaphoto(3Dview Createphoto...)thetwohighestqualitysettingswilltakeintoaccountonelightineveryroom.Foralargeroom,thelightwillbestronger,butitmaystillresultindarkcornersandunnaturalshading.Dividetheroominseveralsmallerroomsandeachsectionwillhavealightsourceatitscenter.NotethatthisonlyworkswhenDisplayceiling ischecked.Seepicture3.

7

Illustration3:Displayceilingisalightswitch

Drawingthefirstfloor

Todrawthefirstraisedfloor,loadtheLayer 0fileagain.Becausethefirstfloorwillconsistoftwoblocks,youwillneedtosavethefiletwice,asLayer 1aandasLayer 1b.

UsingthefileLayer 1adeleteallfeaturesintherightpartofyourdesign.RepeattheprocessusingthefileLayer 1b,whereyoudeleteallfeaturesontheleftpartofyourdesign.Seepicture5and6.

Note:orientationoftexturesSH3Ddoesn'thaveanoptiontorotatetextures.Aworkaroundwouldbetoimportatexturetwice,withthesecondtexturerotated90degrees.

8

Illustration4:FalsefloorinexportedOBJ

9Illustration5:Layer1a

Illustration6:Layer1b

Wenowhavethebasicbuildingblocksofthefirstfloorofourhouse.It'stimetoaddsomedetails.

Theinvisiblewallopening

Wallsalwaysstartonthefloor.Thatseemsobvious,butsometimesyouwantyourwalltostartabovethegroundlevel.Forthis(anymanyotherthings)weusetheinvisiblewallopening.Youcandownloadthefilehere.

Basicallythisobjectresemblestheservicehatch,butitswallsarethinnerandit'smadeinvisiblethroughmanipulatingtheMTLfile.Thelastline(d 0.0)doesthetrick:

newmtl piece_1_piece_a_1_1illum 9Ka 0.78125 0.78125 0.78125Kd 0.78125 0.78125 0.78125Ks 0.78125 0.78125 0.78125Ns 64.0d 0.0

10

Illustration7:Invisiblewallopeningtoraiseawall

Ifyoulookattheillustrationabove,youwillseethatthere'sagapbeneaththewallatleft.Thatiswheretheinvisiblewallopeningwent.Toavoidglitchesintherendering,letinvisiblewallopeningsextend0.5cmsbeyondtheendofthewall.

Ifyoulookattheillustrationbelow,you'llseeanotherplacewhereIusedtheinvisiblewallopening.It'sawallwithtwonormalwindowsinserted.Inbetweenthere'saninvisiblewallopening,andintothatopeningIinsertedarotatednoninsertingwindow.Seepicture8.

Fillinginthedetails

ThedetailsonLevel1aareprettystraightforward.Youcanexaminethefilestoseehowthingsaredone.Thelowwindowsjustbeneaththeceilingarenoninsertingwindowsthatfloatinmidair.Alltheceilingsarejustboxes.Seepicture9.

11

Illustration8:Invisiblewallopeningwithdoor

Tip:UseagridWhendesigningyourhouse,usingagridmakeslifeeasier.Grid,inthiscase,meansasetofrepeatingmeasuresandsizes.ThisBradPitthousewasoriginally(probably)designedona3x3footgrid:allwallsareplacedonmultiplesof3feet,windowsaremultiplesof3feetwide,etcetera.Thismakescalculatingdistancesmucheasier,whichinturnwillmaketheassembledbuildingblocksfitbetter.

AssemblingyourcomponentsWhenthefirstfloorisready,wecancopyit.Selectthepartofyourdesignthatyouwanttocopy,andclickTools Copyasnewfurniture.Thiscopiestheselection.UseEdit Paste(orrightclick+Paste,orCTRLV)toinsertthecopyintoyourdesign.Thecopywillbeinsertedexactlyonthesamespotastheoriginal.NowuseModifytochangetheelevation,sothatthissegmentappearsatthecorrectheight,andchangetheX,Ycoordinatestoplaceitexactlyabovethegroundfloor.Repeatthisproceduresfortheotherbuildingblocks.

TheeasiestwaytoassembleyourhouseistohavemultiplecopiesofSH3Dopenatthesametime.UsingCopyAsNewFurnitureyoucreatethebuildingblocks,andthenyouswitchtoanothercopyofSH3DwhereyouPasteittoassembleyourbuilding.

12

Illustration9:Level1a,backside