Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Even though many residential interior walls extend to 9 feet, this height is not ideal for rendering 3D floor
plates. Higher walls occlude more of the interior and make the view less useful. If you want to see the area
above the tops of the windows and doors, a wall height of 2.5 m is a good level. At this height, upper details
such as crown molding can be added. If this type of detail is not necessary, cutting off the walls at 2 m will
work well. This will give a better view of the interior and simply cut off everything above the tops of the
doors and windows. Creating some breakup in the solid walls and making the top side of the window glass
visible can have a nice visual effect. This is an option that will probably change from project to project, but
it is nice to have options available for the final look of the renders.
In this case, some architectural details, such as arches and crown molding, reside above the doors and
windows, so you will bevel up to a total height of 2.5 m. It can save work later if you first bevel up to a
height of 0.6 m (for the bottom of the windows), and then to 2 m (for the top of the doors/windows), and
finally to a full 2.5 m for the top of the wall. This means the three bevels will be 0.6 m, 1.4 m, and 0.5 m.
When these are in place, you will not need to slice the mesh to create vertical slots for doors or windows. At
this point, your model will look like
Figure 8-24
.
Figure 8-24:
Using three successive bevels to create the walls will save time in the next phase.
Cutting Doorways and Windows
Because the doors were already included in the planning of the interior walls, they are the next order of busi-
ness. To create cutouts for a door, select the two polygons on either side of the door and use the Bridge tool
(found in the Basic tab or the Polygon tab). To activate the tool, click its button (with the polygons selected)
