Recommended test
Add a simple roof covering to a sheathed gable and inspect the visual pattern separately from the structural layers.
- Enable roof sheathing and choose OSB, plywood or custom sheet dimensions.
- For a gable or skillion roof with overhangs, inspect the staggered sheet-end joints against the actual rafter centres.
- Enable Simple roof covering and choose Flat, Wave or Standing seam.
- Inspect ridge, eaves and both slopes; use Live Controls to adjust the visible pattern.
- Open the cutlist and distinguish sheet quantities from the visual covering representation.
Start with sheathing
Roof sheathing can use OSB, plywood or custom sheet dimensions. The existing gable/skillion roof-tile workflow requires it to establish the receiving roof surface. Sheet layout contributes to quantities, so match the intended product dimensions.
Fit sheet joints to the rafters
New gable and skillion builds place sheet-end joints on the centres of the actual rafters or truss top chords where the selected stock length allows it. The first and last sheets are cut to fit the roof edges, including overhangs. Alternating rows stagger by whole framing bays.
For example, 2400 mm sheets can span four regular bays at 600 mm CC. An 1800 mm sheet spans three bays, so its stagger follows a whole bay rather than a 900 mm half-sheet offset. End bays follow the actual framing positions. If a sheet is too short to reach the next support, every joint cannot be supported with that stock size; the generator keeps the selected maximum length.
The parts list records the generated cut sizes. Generate a fresh building to use the corrected layout; existing saved sheathing is not rearranged. Hip-roof and dormer sheathing have separate layouts.
Simple and detailed modes
Simple covering is the efficient recommended representation. In the existing gable/skillion controls, enabling it also establishes the sheathing, counter-batten and tile-batten stack expected by the option. Detailed covering creates richer visual geometry and costs more viewport performance.
Hip roof covering
Hip roof V1 uses independent layer toggles. Explicitly enable Roof sheathing, Counter-battens, Tile battens and Roof covering and hip/ridge caps for a complete tiled stack. Panels, battens and tile courses fit the four roof faces.
Simplified covering supports Wave, Flat and Standing seam appearance. Individual flat tiles provides tile length, width, overlap and staggered-row settings. Its courses remain physically flat when a live surface pattern changes. Use Build and regenerate to change covering detail or supporting layers; live thickness, offset and pattern adjustments work after generation.
With eaves flashing enabled, Hip covering projects 10 mm horizontally past its upper fold. Diagonal hip-cap tips extend 5 mm past each adjoining tile edge, also when flashing is off. These are automatic details included in Hip roof V1, released on 13 September 2026.
Covering styles
Choose Flat, Wave or Standing seam. Live Controls expose thickness, offset, lightness, relief and seam-related settings. These controls are for readable modelling and presentation; they do not generate a manufacturer’s installation specification.
Know what is visual
A highly detailed tile surface can look fabrication-ready while remaining a visual representation. In particular, roof detail around advanced openings must be checked against the current Dormer limitations. Use sheathing and supporting layers for structured quantity review, and price the real covering product through the supplier/BOM workflow.