Better Homes and Gardens Home Design Software Products can help you create your dream home.
Click on any number in the image below to see How We Did It. *
1. Dormers
Use the Roof Tools to create dormers with the look you desire. You can choose from several different Roof Types, and adjust the pitch as well as the overhang of the roof. For these dormers we used Roof Tools in the Toolbar, selected Dormer, and then clicked on the roof to place the dormers in their desired locations. Then using the Material Painter we changed the material on the front face of the dormer to add some variety. Then we selected a window, and opened the Window Specification dialogue to make some changes, adjusting the number of lites, window size, and the materials. With lots of control on selecting the wall type, height, width, Window Specifications, and an option of roof returns both full and gable; you’ll have the tools you need to find the style of dormers you want.
2. Covered Entryways
Creating a covered entryway is quick and easy. Draw exterior walls where you wish to have an entryway, creating a room. Open the wall specification, and under options click invisible. Do this for each wall. Now just open the room specification and change it’s room type to Porch, and you have your covered entryway. Get a little more creative and change the roof options on your exterior walls to change the look of the roof above, and add Columns found under Millwork in the Library Browser for more visual appeal.
3. Sidewalks
Create sidewalks to a shape that fits your needs. Under Terrain, then Roads and Sidewalks, use the Straight or Spline Sidewalk tool to simply draw a sidewalk into your plan! Here we used the Spline Sidewalk tool to draw a curvy shape to match look of the curved steps. Just click and drag in one direction, then to add a curve click again where you left off in a new direction and it will automatically draw the perfect curve in for you!
4. Steps
To make these curved steps we had to get a little creative and use the Polyline Garden Bed tool under Terrain>Garden Beds. Draw out a square with the tool and place it against the porch. Change the material to match the Porch material. Do this quickly in a camera view with the Material Eyedropper tool. Open the Terrain Feature Specification on your Garden Bed and change the Height to half that of the Porch. Then you can select an edge line and use the Change Line/Arc tool to make that edge curve. Do this to the three edge lines not touching the porch, then use the edit handles to create the half circle shape seen in the render. Now just copy and paste the bottom step over itself, increase the height of your new step to that of the porch, and use the edit handles again to shrink the shape of your top step in. You now have custom steps!
* The information in this article may not apply to all titles.
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