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.

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.

When you have drawn a circle, how do you determine where the centre of that circle is? Center determination - Select a circle, arc, rectangle or oval. - The Generate Attach point at center command from the Process menu (or the equivalent icon on the palette #2) generates an Attach point in the centre of the shape. Note: The Oval, Circle, Rectangle and Arc tools generate regular polygons that can be modified in various ways. Domus.Cad remembers the original shape and the centre is referred to it. The original shape can be regenerated in any moment.

When you modify a design (whose elevation or section is already saved on another layer) do you need to start all over and create a completely new elevation? No, it isn't necessary. Copy the new elevation or section generated to an empty layer and check it against the previous layer.  You can update the differences manually, deleting old parts and transferring parts of new drawing to old. You can also check automatically. Choose the command Generate Demolition/Construction Overlay, from the Process menu. Select the original, new and destination layers. Domus.Cad generates a new drawing in the destination layer where all the unchanged parts are black, the deleted parts are yellow and the new parts are red. Simply select the yellow parts (with Parametric selection) and delete them to make a new elevation or section, without losing your additions or modifications.

The door symbol in the tools palette is shown with the "door swing" drawn in, so users are encouraged to think that a door will be drawn like this. But the plan view of a door does not show a door swing. Is it possible to show the door swing rather than the current door symbol or draw my own symbol which would appear for the plan view of a door?

The visualization of the symbols can be disactivated and the user can create an object with the desired symbol to insert in the openings manually or automatically with the Apply Object command or with the Add Frame button in the door/window dialog window.

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.

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.

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.

The User Guide example creates roof slabs, adds upper-level wall segments and then cuts each wall segment to fit under the slope of the roof. Roof design and modification is critical for me; my current project involves re-designing some roof sections on an existing home to accommodate architecture changes to the interior. Basically there are 2 ways to design roofs: as a serie of sloped slabs or as a complex hip roof. There are 2 procedures to adapt the top or the bottom part of the walls to the roofs. This procedures work on a single slab-roof, so if a wall is under 2 different slabs, it is necessary to cut it with the scissors tool and adjust each part to the corresponding slab-roof. You can modify the angle of the roofs and re-adjust the bottom or top parts of the walls in any moment. The height and reference height of the extremes of the walls can be modified also with the corresponding icons on the 3D Palette.

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).

Is there a technique for adding skylights, i.e. windows on/through a roof or slab? There is a couple of ways of doing this: 1. Using any polygon or curve of any form to "punch" the roof or the slab (select the slab and the polygon on it and execute the command Process -> Punch Slab or click on the equivalent icon of palette #3) 2. Using the scissors to cut the slab into parts and cutting away one of them. Using the light of the sky as a light source (like a room with a window on the north side of the house, where the light of the sky lights the room) isn't possible - you must use one of the 3 types of artificial lighting or sunlight.

I want to create a hexagonal room. I chose 120 degrees and a wall appeared with 120 degree angle. The next wall that I need to build is at 90 degrees. So if I choose Free Angle, how can I build shapes with precise angles? It's similar to the manual method used on drafting machines. If you set the drafting machine to 120 degrees, you can draw elements with 120 and 120 + or - 90 angles. There are several methods to do what you want. By mouse: Change the drawing angle for each wall By keyboard: Select the Pen and the Walls icon Click where you want to start Click on the Polar input box  In the distance and angle fields, input 300 and 0 then click Continue Continue the drawing with the following data: Distance Angle 300 60 300 120 300 180 300 -120 300 -60 By a 2D hexagon: Double click on the Circle button and set the following parameters: Draw a hexagon Select it. Click on the Wall on polygon generation button (palette #3) This is the result

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.

When I import from AutoCad, why can't I see each layer? And when I export to AutoCad, why can't I see the entire project? DomusCad offers a choice of import/export modes, depending on what you want to do. Either : - Layers -> Import DWG-DXF to Active Layer or  - File -> Import -> Import DWG-DXF document (Archive ->Import, for Mac users) The first mode is used for importing, say, a cadastal drawing, to an existing project, for which you have already set up parameters such as layers, colors, etc. The second mode is used when you import an entire project, maintaining its original layers, names, colors, etc., as well as layout and impagination ready for printing. Remember that Domus.Cad organizes projects, not single drawings like AutoCad. The project is 3D and so the layers are one on top of the other.  To export the whole project, use Export ->impaginate DWG-DXF. For more details see Release Notes of version 14.

Sometimes a drawing imported from AutoCad is either very small or very big, or the text is larger than the drawing. Why? Check the units of measurement. DWG and DXF files have no unit of measurement - AutoCad doesn't take this into consideration until time of printing. For example, if an AutoCad drawing in meters is imported in centimeters, the drawing is 100 times smaller and the texts, which cannot be reduced by 100, appear enormous with respect to the drawing. Vice versa, if the original file was in centimeters and it is imported in meters, it will be 100 times bigger. In either case, simply cancel the operation and re-import, changing the unit of measurement.