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Blupinta

Block

The Block tool draws a block: a rectangle on the plan with a height, for what takes up room and isn’t a wall, a pillar, a shaft, a piece of furniture that isn’t in the catalogue.

Picking it

Section titled “Picking it”
  • Elements in the dock, then Block (pillars, shafts), or BB.
  • The search (⌘KCtrl+K): type Block.

The tool has no options: its bar holds its name, what to do and where the pointer is.

The Block tool's bar: Drag from corner to corner, or click two corners: a block (a piece of furniture, a bulk)

Using it

Section titled “Using it”
  1. Press the pointer on one corner and drag to the opposite one; or click one corner, then the other.
  2. While you drag, the block shows with its width × depth under it.
  3. Release, or click the second corner: the block is made.
A block being dragged in the bath's north-east corner, 0.30 m × 0.30 m shown under it

Keys inside it

Section titled “Keys inside it”
  • EscEsc: with the first corner placed, drops it; otherwise back to Select. Done (✓): back to Select.
  • ⌘Ctrl held: no snapping.
  • ␣␣ held: move the view; ⌘Ctrl with the wheel: zoom.

What it snaps to

Section titled “What it snaps to”

Both corners snap as a wall’s corner does, within 10 pixels on screen: the walls’ ends and middles, a point on a wall’s centre line, the lines through the ends already there, the grid if it is on. ⌘Ctrl held puts the corner exactly under the pointer. Its sides are always square to the sheet: turn it afterwards in its inspector.

What it refuses

Section titled “What it refuses”

A block with no area: both its sides must be longer than the snapping reach (10 pixels on screen). A second click too close to the first starts again from there. Blocks may stand anywhere, over walls and rooms too.

After

Section titled “After”

The block is selected and its inspector open; the tool stays on for the next one. A new block is grey, 0.80 m high, on the floor. In the inspector: It is a Block or Cladding, Width, Depth, Height, Above the floor, Rotation, Colour, Glass, Glowing (Elements). One step in the history (Block drawn).

The block made and selected: It is a Block, Width 0.30 m, Depth 0.30 m, Height 0.80 m, Above the floor 0.00 m

Example: the shaft in the bath

Section titled “Example: the shaft in the bath”

On the bare example flat, a 30 × 30 cm shaft for the pipes in the bath’s north-east corner, as high as the ceiling.

  1. Press BB and zoom on the bath.
  2. Drag from x 6.62 · y 5.08 to x 6.92 · y 5.38, the inner corner of the walls: the pill reads 0.30 m × 0.30 m.
  3. In the inspector, type Width0.30 and Depth0.30 if they are off, then Height2.70.

If something goes wrong

Section titled “If something goes wrong”
  • The first corner in the wrong place: EscEsc and start again.
  • The wrong size: type it in the inspector (the block grows about its centre), or ⌘ZCtrl+Z.
  • A click on a hatched region’s Make a room button makes a room instead: start the block a little away from it.

See also

Section titled “See also”