Presentation Extras

Follow these steps to add floors to your presentations and make them more realistic. Here we will use a simple 3D object to create an opaque floor to which you can assign materials and colors.

1. From the menu bar choose Draw, 2D CAD.
   
   

2. In the Draw tab choose the 3D Rectangle icon.
   
   
   
   

3. Using the corners of the building or room draw a rectangle to fill in the floor.
   
   

4. Right-click on the corners of the room or building to snap the carpet/floor covering to the exact dimensions of the space.

Note: If more than one floor covering is used, draw a rectangle for each floor covering.

The following example shows that adding a floor helps to ground a rendering.

Ceilings are only necessary when you use the perspective camera for renderings. Ceilings are removed from 3D views so that you can see into a room.

1. From the menu bar choose Draw, Furniture.
   
   

2. Click the drop-down arrow beside Furniture and choose Misc Furn + Items.
   
   
   
   

3. Choose the Lights/Ceiling tab.
   
   

4. Click the Ceiling icon under Ceilings.
   
   
   
   

5. Choose the ceiling type and size from the matrix. You may need to piece the ceiling together depending on the size of the room.
   
   
   
   

6. When you create a regular 3D view, the ceiling will obstruct the furniture. You will need to create perspective views to see furniture once ceilings are placed. Unless the ceiling layer is turned off, in which case 3D views will show the inside of the room).

Lighting may be added to the ceiling and walls to make the rendering realistic. The lighting will not change the shadows created using the Rendering properties settings.

1. From the menu bar choose Draw, Furniture.
   
   

2. Click the drop-down arrow beside Furniture and choose Misc Furn + Items.
   
   
   
   

3. Choose the Lights/Ceiling tab.
   
   

4. Select any lighting options you want under Lights. This will help to make renderings more realistic. Colors and textures can be assigned to these items.
   
   

Add decorative items to drawings to create realistic presentations. Decorative items include: Art, Desktop items, Desktop Clutter, Electronics, and People.

1. From the menu bar choose Draw, Furniture.
   
   

2. Click the drop-down arrow beside Furniture and choose Misc Furn + Items.
   
   
   
   

3. Choose from the various tabs available.

You may need to change your snapping to Surface to place objects on worksurfaces, or you may modify the Z-height of certain objects after they have been placed to make the most realistic rendering.