Trace Floor Plans
This tutorial will show you how to import
a digitized floor plan into plan3D, like the one shown below, and trace
it to see how it looks in three dimensions.
Contents
Tracing
a Floor Plan Step-By-Step
Tracing Upper Floors
More About Tracing Floor Plans
Tracing a Floor Plan Step-By-Step
The steps below show how to trace a floor
plan from HousePlans.com. Read steps and watch
animations to see how it's done.
If you want to import your own floor plans,
see File> Import Trace Plan...
Part One: Import
trace file image and scale it:
In our example below, we
drag in a floor plan from www.HousePlans.com.
When the house imported you
need to orient it to north. This house came in facing north so we right-clicked
it and chose Rotate>180° from the pop-up
menu so it faces south.
We need a reference dimension
to scale the image. so we picked the 54' back wall. The right wall and
other room dimensions could also have been used.
Right-click the Trace Image and choose "Scale Trace Image..."
a. Enter 54 feet zero inches.
b. Click OK to close window.
When you close the window,
the cursor will change to a trace file cursor. Click-and-drag from the
left edge of the back wall to the right edge so plan3D can scale the image
so that distance equals 54 feet. After drawing the red line, the trace
image is scaled and you'll be informed it was successful.
Continue with Part Two after you watch the Part One animation.
Part One: Trace File
Example - click refresh to start over
Part Two: This
explains how to add 3D walls, doors, windows, etc.
Draw exterior walls around
floor plan with Build>Draw Walls.
The wall height for this
house - as specified at www.HousePlans.com -
is 13 feet. Adjust exterior wall heights by either raising the top handles
for the front and back walls or right-clicking on the front and back walls
and choosing "Set Dimensions".
Part Two: Trace File
Example - click refresh to start over
Set default wall height to
11' 6" using Edit>Preferences>Walls
so interior walls are drawn at the proper height. Although the exterior
wall height is 13 feet the roof is actually recessed below that a little.
Press "2" key to
raise grid to 11' 6".
Walls, floors and other objects are drawn on the grid level.
Choose Build>Draw
Floor and draw a flat roof for the house.
To lower the grid to ground
level so interior walls draw there - press the 1 key or Page Down key.
Also see Edit>Move Work Grid To.
Add two exterior walls inside
outer walls as shown. The one that separates the garage from the house
and other one separates the porch area.
Draw interior walls using
Build>Draw Walls>Interior Walls.
Add holes to front wall using
Build> Cut Hole in 3D mode.
a. Make holes 7 feet high by dragging upper blue handles.
b. Go to blueprint mode and zoom in to a hole
d. Click wall to select it
e. Click the hole's center brown handle to select it
f. Adjust blue handles to align holes to floor plan.
Drag doors and windows from
the Directory onto walls where indicated on the floor plan. Also drag
in a garage door. Resize as needed by right-clicking them and choosing
"Set Dimensions."
Right-click doors and garage
door and choose "Reverse Object Direction" or "Face Other
Side" so they swing in the same direction as the floor plan.
Drag in stucco material from
the directory (or cement or plaster textures) to make a stucco texture
on the walls.
Go to the Paint category,
check "Tint Surface" so paint colors dragged in "Tint"
the texture, and then apply colors to the walls.
Drawing
of house from www.HousePlans.com.
Tracing Upper Floors
Here are the steps for tracing
upper floors:
Delete
the first floor trace image.
Import the trace file for
the upper floor.
Press the number key or Page
Up key to position the grid on the floor you want to trace. See Edit>
Move Work Grid for more information.
Note: Tracing upper floors is best done in blueprint mode.
More About Tracing Floor Plans
For more information about importing floor plans, scaling
and tracing them see File> Import Trace
Plan...
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