FAQ Domus Cad

I would like to add texture to a 3D perspective, but when I "paste" a fill to the floor, it is visible only in 2D. In the 3D view you can use photorealistic textures. Go to the Colors parameters, associate a texture to a color, activate the texture check box on the color parameters dialog and on the 3D view (far right button).

How to add a texture to the texture list? In your Domus,Cad folder you should have a DOMUS-Cad Texture folder. On Windows the Texture folder is inside the Domus.Cad Data folder, on Macintosh there is an alias on the Domus.Cad folder Any image added to this folder will be accessible via the internal texture menu in the Materials Windows of Domus.Cad. If , on a Mac, the texture folder alias doesn't work, you can access the Texture folder directly inside the Domus.Cad Package. To do that, follow the steps below: - Ctrl click on the Domus.Cad icon and on the pop up menu choose the Show Package content command - Open the Content folder - Open the MacOs folder - Open Domus-Cad Data folder - Open the Domus-Cad Texture folder - Drag your Texture to the Domus-Cad Textures folder

How to use specular color and coefficient? All materials have a diffuse color and a specular color, which can be different. If so, the color of the material changes depending on the position of the light. The specular coefficient changes the aspect of the material, giving it a more plastic or metallic appearance. With RayShade an high specular coefficient generates a mirror effect.

The rooms of my building, which have no external lighting, are completely dark. Is there any way of defining natural lighting for the whole interior, valid all through the evolution of the 3D version? Or must I define the light source as I go? Natural lighting is really all about shadows - more light means fewer shadows. It all depends on the type of renderer you are using. For example, the interactive renderer doesn't support cast shadow, so if you use an external light, it lights the interiors too. The RayShade renderer supports cast shadows, so the light doesn't penetrate across the surfaces and doesn't light the interior - you have to put other lights in the building.

How can I create shadow for objects in 2D or 3D? In DomusCad, cast shadows can only be created using RayShade in 3D. For 2D drawings, use the traditional method of indicating shadows by a hatched or colored polygon. Or try this interesting method : create a 3D view with RayShade, complete with cast shadows. This can then be transferred to a layer which has been rescaled and placed under the technical view. The result is a technical view with colors and shadows. The same can be achieved in plan.

Please explain how to illuminate the interior of a building. I would like moderate lighting with one illuminated wall, opposite a wall in shadow. Are you using Interactive renderer or Ray Shade? The two renderers work differently. The Interactive renderer doesn't support cast shadows. This means that the light "penetrates" inside the objects and the building, lighting internal objects too. The Ray Shade and OpenGl renderers  support cast shadows. This means that if you have an external light, the internal parts of a building aren't lighted and you must insert some point lights inside. When you insert point lights, pay attention to the Z coordinate. Light coordinates are calculated overall, not by layer, so if you put a light on the second floor, the Z starts from ground level, not from the 2nd floor.

Why does a light inserted in one room illuminate the adjacent rooms as well?

Shadows are not an available option for Interactive rendering, therefore the elements themselves (such as walls and floor slabs) are merely shaded according to their relationship to the light source and do not have the ability to cast shadows on other objects, making it seem as if the light passes through them. It is not possible, for example, to create a completely dark room, even if it has no doors or windows. Use OpenGl and Rayshade renderers for casting shadows.

What purpose does ambient light serve?

Ambient light's primary purpose is to lighten the shaded areas. Without ambient light, all shaded areas would be completely black. A lack of ambient light creates a greatly contrasting image, while a predominance of ambient light creates an image with little contrast. Another purpose is to create a certain atmosphere by changing the ambient light's color.

How do you print the 3D view?

The easiest way is to transfer the view to an unused layer and page it using the normal DomusCad procedure, after which it can be printed.

Is it possible to make a QuickTime film from the 3D view?

It is not possible to make a QuickTime film from inside Domus.Cad, but it can be done using other programs, such as Snapz Pro and Screenium, it is possible to film everything from the 3D View window.

How can I create people, animals, etc. in a 3D view ? You can either create 3D models (quite complicated), import a 3D model in DWG, DXF and 3DS formats or insert the images people or animals into the 3D view. For example:

• create a 3D view and place it on a free layer
• import the image into DomusCad (e.g. using Cut and Paste).
• Draw a polygon on the image around the part of the photo to be cut. Use PictRot to extract the internal part and set white part transparent.
• rescale the image if necessary, to the same scale as the photo

How to insert a rendering in a photo? The first step towards inserting a rendering in a picture is to place the Domus.Cad camera in the same position as the real life camera. Place the observed point in Domus.Cad on the point corresponding to the center of the photo. Set the camera angle parameter the same as the lens of the camera. Set the Domus.Cad light direction parallel to the direction of the light in the picture. The sun light generation tool can help you. Set the 3D view background color to white. After that you should obtain a 3D view that is consistent with the photo perspective. Save the image on a free layer. Select the image and with the PictRot module of the Plug In menu change the image to make the white color transparent. Select the image and group it in an object. Place the object on the top of the photo. Resize the object, with the mouse, so that it is perfectly superimposed on the photo.

Is it possible to paste a 3D perspective onto a photo of landscape, in order to show the project's integration into its environment? There are several interesting dxf and dwg models that you can import in Domus.Cad. To superimpose a Domus.Cad rendering onto a photo in Domus.Cad follow the steps below:

• Import the photo in Domus.Cad
• Generate the rendering with a white background
• Save the rendering to a free layer
• Select the rendering image and choose the PictRot command from the Modules menu
• Set 0 rotation, million of colors, 72 dpi and white transparent. Confirm
• Now you can move the rendering onto the photo because the background is transparent.

I have a series of elements which are repeated throughout my drawing, but with different dimensions, so I changed the height of each single element, one by one. Was there a quicker way of doing this? There are several possible procedures. A couple follow below. 1) - Select the elements and group them in an object with the command in the Edit menu. The object is created with a 0 reference height which you can then increase, thus enlarging all the elements inside the object. 2) - Use the offset parameters. In the offset parameters dialog set the z that you want to increase. Enable the offset operations in the Edit menu. Select the elements and execute the Process on Active Layer command (Edit menu).

How do you create new hatching or change the color of standard hatching ? The easiest way is to draw it on a layer and import the layer into the tile. Diagonal and bitmap hatching can be created inside the Fills window. Bitmap hatching takes on the same color as the element containing it, while diagonal hatching or fill tiles can have different colors (export hatching to a layer, modify and re-import).

Each new element I draw goes under, instead of over, existing elements and there is no way to move it up. Please help! In Domus.Cad different elements are ordered as followed: - Pictures - Polygons and curves - Slabs and roofs - Stairs - Walls - Objects So a wall will always be on top of a polygon, even if the polygon is inserted after it. The Send backward-forward functions work on elements of the same group. How to change this order? Simply group bottom elements in an object and the new object will be drawn on top of everything.

How to use specular color and coefficient? All materials have a diffuse color and a specular color, which can be different. If so, the color of the material changes depending on the position of the light. The specular coefficient changes the aspect of the material, giving it a more plastic or metallic appearance. With RayShade an high specular coefficient generates a mirror effect.

Would you mind explaining a bit more about this parametric selection and the AREF code. AREF means Architectural Exchange Format. It's a file format that allows the communication between Domus.Cad and other engineering software. AREF code is a name that we can give to any element to identify it in other softwares or in Domus.Cad. We can use it to name elements, to group them and retrieve them quickly by the Parametric Selection. Parametric Selection allows to select or de-select elements depending on their characteristics (color, element type, fill, set etc). Let suppose that you want to select all the walls of the drawing excluding the red walls. You can select all the walls usually with a selection rectangle and after, with the Parametric Selection command, you can take off all the red walls. AREF code, Set and Category add three not graphic information data to the drawing and you can use this information for a more quick, flexible and productive use of Parametric Selection.

How can I create people, animals, etc. in a 3D view ? You can either create 3D models (quite complicated), import a 3D model in DWG, DXF and 3DS formats or insert the images people or animals into the 3D view. For example:

• create a 3D view and place it on a free layer
• import the image into DomusCad (e.g. using Cut and Paste).
• Draw a polygon on the image around the part of the photo to be cut. Use PictRot to extract the internal part and set white part transparent.
• rescale the image if necessary, to the same scale as the photo

Does the package allow the insertion of windows and doors accurately using coordinates, as for walls? Yes, there are several methods to accurately insert or modify an opening, window or door, in a wall. Double click on the Windows/Doors icon and look at the Windows or Doors parameters dialog window: You can choose several tracing modes. Example:  I want to insert a door of 150 cm starting 60 cm from the corner of the room. In this case I choose the (b+c) Fixed Width+Dist. option and set the fixed distance = 60 cm and the Fixed length = 150 and press OK. Click inside a wall - the program finds the closest corner or end of the wall and places the opening correctly. (Move the mouse around to find the internal part of the wall, marked with a bullet.) In the same way you can modify the position and length of one or more selected windows/doors. Or, you can insert openings using the polar absolute and relative coordinates of the coordinates palette. The absolute coordinates are referenced to a global or local origin that you can place in any point, so it is a good idea to place elements with progressive distances.

When I draw circles, ones that particular have a tight radius (150- 300mm) the number of points seem to default to about 5 or so creating a pentagon ,rather than a circle. Is there a way of altering the number of points in a circle and if so, how do I do it. It is particularly important for circular columns. Inside the Oval/Polygons parameters dialog you can see two fields: - Max. num.vertixes - Max. edge length Let suppose that you have 40 vertixes in the first field and 400 millimeters in the second. If you draw a large circle , you obtain a polygon with 40 vertixes . But if the circle is small then the value in the second field begins to work, reducing the number of vertixes until the length of the polygon side is greater than 400 cm. In your case is better to reduce to 1 mm the Maximum edge length and to control the circle shape by the vertixes number only. By the way, you can change the number of vertixes of an inserted Oval-Circle-Arc as follows: - Change the Oval/Polygons parameters dialog as you want - Select the element to change - Choose the "Process -> Automatic Generation -> Regenerate Polygon" command This command re-generates also stretched and modified ovals, circles, arcs and rectangles, using the original radius or sizes.

In terms of working with layers and assigning different elements to a layer - ie separate layer for walls, beams, roof slabs, ceilings (assuming a single level building) What do you suggest you set at the reference height for each layer I've been primarily working with walls at level (0000) wall height is say 2900 I set roof ref height at (2900), I've just been working on another project , where I was doing that, but roof's where at different heights, so I made the roof reference height ground level (0000) then made all the roof elements what they need to be (ie pitching off top of wall). Which way do you recommend. You might be taking the separation a bit to far and then it becomes counterproductive trying to manage everything flipping between layers. Separate layers are used primarily for two reasons: 1) to control what you want visible on a layer 2) to separate conceptually different parts of the design (plans, furniture, utilities) We usually separate the roof structure from the floor plan because they're two conceptually different entities, but it depends on what you have to do. If you need to generate garret walls, you need to have the walls and roof on the same layer. So there's really no "best" way. It sounds like you've solved the problem well, doing what worked best for that particular situation. The layer reference heights can all be the same...then you don't have to worry about that anymore and it's just a matter of setting the individual element reference heights.

When applying a library Window to an opening, why does the program turn the object 90 degrees ? The library Window must be saved horizontal, with the internal part facing up and the external, down. In this way Domus.Cad applies the object correctly, no matter which way the opening is orientated. Simply open your Window on a free layer, turn it and save the layer as Object.

Does Domus.Cad have a command line interface ? Domus.Cad doesn't have a command line interface. Usually CADs with a command line user interface derive from old versions or have a compatible Autocad user Interface. In this case the commands follow the form: verb and object :

Example: To change color set the current color and then execute: Change Color - click on the element Changing a fill or rotating an element etc. are done in the same way.

Example: Select an object (the subject) and after execute any command (the verb) like change color, fill, rotate, scale etc.

Does the package allow the insertion of windows and doors accurately using coordinates, as for walls? Yes, there are several methods to accurately insert or modify an opening, window or door, in a wall. Double click on the Windows/Doors icon and look at the Windows or Doors parameters dialog window: You can choose several tracing modes. Example:  I want to insert a door of 150 cm starting 60 cm from the corner of the room. In this case I choose the (b+c) Fixed Width+Dist. option and set the fixed distance = 60 cm and the Fixed length = 150 and press OK. Click inside a wall - the program finds the closest corner or end of the wall and places the opening correctly. (Move the mouse around to find the internal part of the wall, marked with a bullet.) In the same way you can modify the position and length of one or more selected windows/doors. Or, you can insert openings using the polar absolute and relative coordinates of the coordinates palette. The absolute coordinates are referenced to a global or local origin that you can place in any point, so it is a good idea to place elements with progressive distances.

Any tips you might have on making a Column would be helpful! If the section of a column is a rectangle, treat it as a simple wall with the desired dimensions. For a circular column, you can use circular slabs as in the example below - let’s suppose that we want a circular column with a height of 3 meters. Double click on the Floor/Slab icon and set Slab thickness and Ref. Ht. as below. Double click on the Circle/Polygon parameters and click on Slab Generation With the Slab Generation option enabled, every time you draw a 2D shape like a circle, ellipses, regular or irregular polygons or a freehand curve, you are inserting a slab with the current characteristics. If you draw circles as below, you obtain circular columns as in the 3D view. For more complex columns, you can use the SuperRot module from the Modules menu as follows: - Draw half a column with a 2D polygon starting from the origin of the axes. - Select it and choose the SuperRot module. - Set the SuperRot parameters as below and click on OK. You will see the column in plan. Drag it where you want - place and accept it by clicking on the Space bar or the Enter key. The result in plan and in the 3D view are as below.

Below is one of several possible methods, using the Scissors, a simple but powerful function.  - below is a roof with four walls. Select the Roof/Slab icon and make 3 cuts (shown as red lines. - now modify the color and thickness of the portion destined as a window and reduce the reference height by 5 cm.  This is what it looks like in 3D: - draw 3 more cuts inside the window - and change the internal section into glass - in very little time, we have obtained a skylight Now let's do a dormer window. Begin, as for the skylight, but raise the front end of the window up to form a roof. - build 3 walls around the resulting opening - select Walls and Roof, then execute Generate Garret Walls , to bring the Walls right up to join the dormer window Roof. Finally, how to put several windows into a roof: if you need to make more complex openings in your roof, it is actually easier to create a vertical Wall, insert the windows and then incline the Wall until it becomes a roof. See below: - Create a Wall and insert the Windows - Select it all then use the command from palette no.3, Process menu: Convert to Facets - regroup the facets into one single Object - select the Object and execute ObjRot from the Modules menu as follows: - put the Object on the layer. Here's how it looks in 2D and 3D :

When viewed in 3D , the top of arch/vault looks like it is the correct thickness,, but it tapers down to a point at the bottom ends Any suggestion on how to correct this ,so that the arch's maintain the same thickness from bottom to top? cheers The slab thickness is always considerated in the Z direction, so the real thickness depends on the inclination of the slab. The extrusion process of the arc produces short slabs with various inclinations, which at the bottom are more inclined, so the real thickness is more at the top and less at the bottom. For this reason is often better to use zero thickness slab for extruding. How to solve your modelling request? There is one solution:   - Draw two concentric arcs. The distance between the two arcs must be equal to desired vault thickness. - Add two vertexes at the bottom to join the two arcs - Select the two arcs and click on the following icon. The two arcs are joined in a closed polygon. - Select the polygon and click on the Extrusion icon.   - Fix the created object pressing the space bar. You should have the following result.

I want my wall to be 100 cm wide at the base, narrowing to 80 cm at the top. It is 150 cm high. How can I draw this lopsided wall? Draw one 80 cm wall and one 20 cm wall. Change the height of one side of the 20 cm wall to 0 (you obtain a triangular wall). Move the 20 cm triangular wall close to one side of the 80 cm rectangular wall.

I want to design a hexagonal apartment starting from its inhabitants and the furniture, then defining the walls. I'd like to do the geometric transformation afterwards. First choose your furniture from DomusCad Folder ->Object Libraries->3D (or 2D) Libraries->Furniture and place it where you wish inside the hexagon. If you want to transform any furniture elements, now is the time to do rotating, re-scaling, deforming, mirroring etc. Next select all the objects and un-group them. Then select everything - walls and objects - and group them in a new object Now you can apply all the geometric transformations to the object

The vaulted roof method turns the slab into an object - How can you edit it, in terms of creating a garret wall to close off a gable end, and then insert a door or window into that garret wall.? The easiest way to do this is to use the same polygon you used to generate the vault and choose the "Generate Arch on Polygon" command to make an arched wall (make sure your wall parameters - width, height, etc - are set at what you want before generating). The generated arch is your garret wall. It seems like you've already done this though. If you need a more complicated garret wall shape you can modify the original polygon and generate an extrusion. As for inserting the window opening, the best thing is to have a garret wall composed of two elements, a top part (the arch itself) and a bottom part (a wall element to fill in the rest...inside which you can easily insert a window). But I imagine that life is not that simple and you want to insert a window right in that top part. This is a bit more difficult. The arch is made up of many vertical wall parts. The best way to do this would probably be to lower the wall height of the parts where you want the opening, then, using a polygon traced over the correct area, generate an extrusion to fill in the missing piece. Place the extrusion at the right ref. ht.

How do I create a Garret wall that is void below the lower roof and solid above the roof line? Select the wall and the roof and execute the command Adjust Walls on Roof from the Process menu.

How can I draw trapezial sun blinds ? If your blinds are vertical, you can use the Slab elements. Simply draw a slab with the section of one element of the blinds. After, duplicate the element with the right offset.

How do I draw in doors and windows so that they share the same mullion frame? One method could be as follows:

• Draw a large door opening equal to the width of the door base + the window base
• Inside the door opening, draw a slab with a Reference Ht and Thickness equal to your sill height.
• You can continue to add elements for window and door mullions to obtain the result you want.

We have been using AutoCad for 2D and Arcon for 3D, but it would obviously be preferable to have only one program. How does DomusCad differ from other programs, say, Archicad or ArchiDesktop? DomusCad is based on totally different concepts from Architectural Desktop. A DomusCad user tends to think in terms of his 'project', because he uses one software to produce one plan, from which he can then develop a 2D drawing, a 3D model, facades, sections, etc. There are more similarities with ArchiCad ad other BIM programs, which, like DomusCad, is part of the Architectural Parametric 3D CAD group. Some differences are highlighted in the first part of our Getting Started manual but there is one fundamental one between DomusCad and other parametric software: we don't believe in 'parametrising to excess'. We don't believe that every single construction element - every wall or window - should be conceived by inserting parameters. In Europe, much designing is done on old buildings, which have infinite varieties of form, dimension and building type. Translating such a wide variety of data ito a large number of parameters in a dialog window - and having to modify them - would be impractical. Our view is that parameters should control 90% of the situation, leaving the designer to free to do as he wishes for the remaining 10%, so within the same drawing there would be fairly automatic parts, integrated with manual ones.

Does Domus.Cad have a command line interface ? Domus.Cad doesn't have a command line interface. Usually CADs with a command line user interface derive from old versions or have a compatible Autocad user Interface. In this case the commands follow the form: verb and object :

Example: To change color set the current color and then execute: Change Color - click on the element Changing a fill or rotating an element etc. are done in the same way.

Example: Select an object (the subject) and after execute any command (the verb) like change color, fill, rotate, scale etc.

We are working on graphical programming where special graphic elements influence the way the program works, like the very useful Apply Object and the ##APP elements. Domus.Cad has a c++ developer API that allows you to develop plug-ins. Any plug-in in the Modules folder is automatically recognized by the program.

Maybe you could explain how to use sets and categories , including their differences, and if ther is any functional differnces? Set and Categories allows creating group of elements and handling them easier and faster. Practically there aren't differences between them. Each element can be part of a set and of a category; this allows creating intersecting groups (groups where some elements are members of both groups). The user is free to use Set and Categories as he prefers, they are tools to organize the drawing. A couple of suggestions: - Define a group (set o categories) named Construction-Line. It's easier to delete all the construction lines when they aren't necessary. - Define groups of elements when it's necessary to tray different solutions (different colors, different height, different thicknesses etc.)

I don't understand how the memory fills up so fast. I searched all over for a virus, without success. But I did find that Domus has a file called Back Up, which I emptied, immediately gaining 2 GB! I thought that, like Word or Excel, it was the actual document you were working on that got saved, without making a separate copy every time. Isn't it possible to save docs without making copies? Every time you save your work Domus.Cad makes a backup copy in the BackUp folder. In this way you can recover an old version in case of problems. You can control the number of copies inside Domus.Cad Preferences dialog.

Why does the Metric Calculation command bring up a a blank page? You probably haven't assigned a calculation mode to your elements. Select the elements and choose Calculation from the Parameters menu. For example, you can choose to calculate the volume of a Wall, or the surface area of one face, two faces, or all faces.

If I make the white background transparent, part of the white elements of construction also become transparent...and you can see cloudy bits through certain parts of the building. Can this be avoided? In this case place a little white rectangle between the background and the rendered image.

When I open my drawing, my previous layer 10 has moved to layer 9, and so on. Very strange. Maybe you executed the command Layer->Change Layer order? You can solve the problem by using this command again, following the steps below:

Let's suppose that you want the current Layer #9 on Layer #11 and vice-versa. Go on Layer 9 Execute the Layer->Change Layer order command Choose Layer 11

In terms of working with layers and assigning different elements to a layer - ie separate layer for walls, beams, roof slabs, ceilings (assuming a single level building) What do you suggest you set at the reference height for each layer I've been primarily working with walls at level (0000) wall height is say 2900 I set roof ref height at (2900), I've just been working on another project , where I was doing that, but roof's where at different heights, so I made the roof reference height ground level (0000) then made all the roof elements what they need to be (ie pitching off top of wall). Which way do you recommend. You might be taking the separation a bit to far and then it becomes counterproductive trying to manage everything flipping between layers. Separate layers are used primarily for two reasons: 1) to control what you want visible on a layer 2) to separate conceptually different parts of the design (plans, furniture, utilities) We usually separate the roof structure from the floor plan because they're two conceptually different entities, but it depends on what you have to do. If you need to generate garret walls, you need to have the walls and roof on the same layer. So there's really no "best" way. It sounds like you've solved the problem well, doing what worked best for that particular situation. The layer reference heights can all be the same...then you don't have to worry about that anymore and it's just a matter of setting the individual element reference heights.

How to export a 2D drawing To export a 2D drawing there are 2 methods. The first is the Layers->Export Active Layer -> in DXF/DWG Format. This command exports the current active layer only. The second is the File->Export->Page in DXF/DWG format. This command exports the content of the current drawing table. Before using this command you have to create a drawing table with the View->Paging procedure. It isn't possible to export all the Domus.Cad project, because the internal organization of Domus.Cad is different from AutoCad. In Domus.Cad you have a project with several different things on the same file. Several drawing tables can correspond to this project.