Visual Build Generator

The Build tool opens the full-window visual building designer. Its lightweight preview updates while you edit. The existing building generator creates the CAD model after you choose Generate building, review the settings, and click Build now.

Header dimensions and editing in 3D

Under Building > Walls > Advanced, Load-bearing headers sits below the stud dimensions. Enter height and thickness (default 148 × 48 mm) for rectangular main-wall openings on both storeys. Thickness is limited to stud depth. Full-depth beams leave shorter supports beneath them. Drafts and projects retain these settings; they define the model section, not structural capacity.

For an existing building, right-click a header and choose Update opening headers. Select ordinary/load-bearing headers, the storeys and individual openings, then optionally Fit studs to headers. The list identifies opening size, wall and storey. Preview the batch before applying it. See header sizing and updates.

Supported generated parts also offer Edit object for Push/Pull, Fillet, Chamfer, holes and notches, or Cut with object to use another solid as a cutting tool. See generated-object editing for linked/independent scope and rebuilding customized models.

Roof finish, glazing and doors

New simplified roofs and starter buildings use Black at 0% Tile lightness. Choose Black or Terra cotta in Live Control > Roof Control; roof panels and main/dormer/hip ridge caps follow colour and lightness together. Saved older percentages are retained. See Live roof controls.

Solid glass shares a light-blue gradient across windows and glazed doors. Grille outlines match and omit covered crossing lines. In the normal workspace, hover a handle and left-click or drag to open a hinged or sliding patio door. Door positions save with the project; regeneration creates closed doors again.

When using foundation walls, simplified siding clears the full thickness of door and garage openings, including the bottom edge. Regenerate an older design to remove a previously saved thin strip across an opening.

Plan the interior in Floor planner

Floor planner shares the design with Building, Openings, Dormers and Porch / balcony. Draw connected internal walls, place doors, name rooms and arrange furniture on Floor 1, Floor 2 when enabled, or a compatible attic-truss loft. Dimensions and exterior openings are shared across modes: resize the rectangular footprint or move a window sideways in the plan and the other views update too.

The generator creates partition framing, finishes and white internal doors. Furniture and interior symbols currently stay in the 2D plan; 3D support is in development. See Floor planner, internal walls and doors and furniture placement for the controls, floor references and current limits.

Covered porch, balcony and entrance terrace

In the separate Porch / balcony tab, add an open gable roof and configurable posts, with a floor aligned to either storey. Roof eaves and ceiling follow the main roof and soffits. Main walls and roof framing remain intact.

Include balcony / porch floor starts on. Clear it for a roof with continuous posts; enable Entrance / terrace separately for a ground concrete slab or timber deck, with its own size and optional front step. Doors are added in Openings on the appropriate storey.

The right sidebar includes post/beam sections, decking, railings, roof settings and independent simplified gable siding. A two-storey separator board can wrap the balcony and optionally decorate the roof front. See the porch and balcony guide and entrance terrace guide for controls and current limits.

Start from a complete design

The startup cards offer Customize to open the complete design in the visual builder and Build to generate it directly. Both routes retain the saved openings, finishes and roof settings. The schematic thumbnails show each design.

Sauna has 2300 mm insulated walls and an uninsulated floor. While generating, the selected card shows an animated house and elapsed seconds. Startup remains open until the building and its openings are ready. If a design needs correction or generation fails, the visual builder opens for review.

Single-glass balcony door

In Openings, open Door settings, choose Balcony doors, then select Single balcony door. It has one uninterrupted glass pane in a slim frame, without glazing bars or a lower panel. Set width, height, handle side and two or three hinges. Apply updates the selected door or the next door preview; generate or regenerate the building to update its 3D door. The style and hardware are retained in the saved design.

Roof and opening details

Skillion preview gutters follow the low roof edge and are hidden by nearer walls or roof surfaces where appropriate, including single-slope rafter roofs.

Building and Dormer previews show a subtle roof-tile pattern when roof covering is enabled. Standing-seam covering shows parallel lines. The pattern follows each roof slope, including dormers and extensions, with consistent line weight and opacity. Framing view and roofs without covering stay plain.

Garage doors show four horizontal panel divisions in Building, Openings and Dormer previews, including extension doors. These are schematic details; generated parts and quantities follow the existing construction settings.

One or two storeys

In Building, the Storeys house buttons are at the top of the right sidebar. The house with a floor line selects two storeys. Set Wall height 1 and Wall height 2 independently; upper walls allow 600–6000 mm when openings fit. Hover or focus the ? before Storeys for height and navigation help.

Use Upper-floor joists beside Floor joists below the preview for the intermediate floor. 2nd floor joists: combines width × depth, followed by CC spacing and deck thickness. It appears only for two-storey buildings and keeps the ground-floor joists/foundation settings separate.

Both storeys share the footprint and framing settings. The intermediate floor bears on the lower top plates; upper walls start on its deck and carry the roof. In Openings, choose a floor and wall in Wall. Upper sill heights use that floor’s sheathing top. Openings and facades must fit within one storey. Remove upper-floor main-wall openings before returning to one storey.

Under Walls → Advanced settings, Siding storey selects the floor to edit. Upper siding initially matches the ground floor. Storey junction offers continuous siding/corner posts or a Flat/Capped separator board. Its ? tooltip explains the floor reference and board face width. Separator boards have mitred outside corners and extension inside corners. After generation, Wall Control → Apply to targets simple siding on either floor or all walls.

Dormers attach to the upper roof. Full-height extensions reach the ground floor and extend both timber floors; they currently use the upper-storey siding finish throughout. Calculation Preview is one-storey only; generate two-storey models for quantities. Stairs and floor voids are not generated.

See Design a two-storey building for the complete floor, siding, opening and extension workflow.

Window options and glazed facades

In Openings, use the gear beside Window to open Window options. Choose Sloped top — follow roof for triangular or trapezoidal glazing on a gable end or gable dormer front. The angle follows the host roof automatically, and the height is measured at the window’s centre. Position the window on one side of the ridge and leave room for the frame and roof clearance. Choose a grille pattern or No grilles, then apply the settings and place the preview.

Choose Glazed facade to configure and place a complete glazing assembly as one opening. Start with Full-height glazing, With transom, or Two-storey band. Set a rectangular or roof-following gabled top, two/four/six bays, one to three rows, frame colour and profile sizes. The first-divider height and optional opaque band can represent a floor zone. With multiple rows, the lower centre pair can be shown as closed sliding doors.

Drag facade bars in the preview, or focus one and use the arrow keys (10 mm, or 1 mm with Shift). The gable’s centre bar stays beneath the ridge; the other bars move within the available pane space. Reset bars restores even bay spacing and default horizontal positions, keeping the other options. Escape during a drag undoes that movement. Apply saves the configuration; Cancel discards the dialog’s changes. Sampling a facade copies its layout.

Gabled facades stay centred beneath the roof ridge while moving or resizing; their overall height is measured to the peak. Rectangular facades can be moved across a wall like normal windows. The generated model follows the preview, including customized bars and separate glass panes.

Use an up-to-date CAD app to reopen newly saved projects. Earlier supported projects still load. Keep an original copy or export GLB when sharing geometry with an older reader.

Zoom and pan

Scroll to zoom, hold Shift and drag with the middle mouse button to pan, or use Fit view to show the whole drawing again. Building, Openings and all Dormer views use the full viewport behind transparent menus and bottom controls. Fit view leaves room for the controls and guides.

Review and build

Generate building opens a summary of the building size, framing, finishes, openings and dormers/extensions. Any problems are shown in red, with Fix links back to the relevant controls. For a gable roof using Truss, No truss selected also appears beside the Roof Structure dropdown until you choose a saved truss. The review stays available even when there are problems; resolve them to enable Build now, or choose Keep editing to return to your design.

If a model already exists, the review explains what will be replaced, including any manual edits, and offers Save project copy before building. Once you click Build now, the dialog shows an animated gable outline and Building… while the model is generated. The number inside the outline shows elapsed seconds. Large designs with openings and dormers can take longer. If generation fails, the previous model is restored and the review reopens so you can edit or retry. Reduced-motion settings show a static progress symbol.

Textures starts enabled for new builds and the Default building preset. Use the Textures button in the header to turn it off. Saved designs and presets keep the texture choice you saved with them.

With Textures enabled, hip roofing and its flashing, gutters, hooks and downpipes keep the same grey finishes as the other roof types. Roof sheets use their sheet texture, while framing and fascia use wood. Foundation walls use concrete, including the pieces beside garage-door openings. The timber bottom plates on top of the foundation keep spruce, including plates cut around doors. These assignments survive project save/load. Regenerate an earlier affected build from its saved design to apply the corrected finishes.

Shape and dimensions

Keep openings in position when resizing

Select a placed window or door in Openings, then choose Position anchor:

• Left corner keeps its distance from the left edge when viewed from outside.
• Wall centre keeps its offset from the wall centre; centred openings stay centred.
• Right corner keeps its distance from the right edge.

Changing the anchor does not move an opening immediately. New openings start with the nearest corner as their anchor, or the centre if placed centrally. The choice stays fixed when the wall changes size. Opening width, height and height above the floor remain unchanged. Dormer and extension openings follow their own front-wall width.

Use Resize together with to link openings on the same wall. They share an anchor and retain the gap between them during wall resizing. Choose Independent to unlink an opening. Direct opening edits still use the existing gap controls. If a smaller wall leaves insufficient room, affected openings are highlighted and must be corrected before generation.

Choices are saved with drafts and projects. Existing projects open without moving their windows. New saves require a reader that supports the current project format; keep an original copy for older CAD/Viewer releases.

Editing the building

• Drag the side wall to change width and the end wall to change length. Hold Shift during either drag to snap the dimension to multiples of the building’s selected CC, including Custom CC. This uses the building CC rather than the viewport grid. Exact numeric entry remains available.
• Drag a roof face to change wall height, keeping the roof pitch unchanged.
• Drag the ridge or high roof edge to change pitch; drag the eave handle for overhang. The overhang label sits to its right and can also be dragged.
• The corresponding Exact dimensions field highlights. Labels sit beside their inputs in compact rows. Type an exact value, or hold and drag a numeric label left/right. Shift makes finer adjustments.
• Focus a preview dimension and use arrow keys. Escape cancels a current drag.
• The bottom bar keeps Calculation Preview and the build actions; the general drag/arrow-key instruction has been removed from Building and Dormers.
• Exterior and Framing change the schematic view. The ridge beam appears in Framing only. Fit view restores the fitted preview.

Framing preview: Framing shows studs and plates on all four walls. Far-side framing and window/door outlines use lighter colours so the near walls remain easy to read. Gable and hip roofs also distinguish the far rafter sets. This is a schematic display change; it does not add or remove generated CAD parts.

Exterior appearance: Building → Exterior, Openings and Dormers share white walls, grey siding lines and a darker grey roof. This includes the small wall navigator and the Dormer Elevation, Roof plan and 3D views. Windows and doors have clearer outlines. In the Building and Dormer 3D previews, the main building’s fascia and bargeboards appear as narrow boards; enabled gutters and downpipes use simple rounded shading. Selected items, pending placements, yellow top-plate guides and editing handles keep their accent colours. Framing retains its member colours. These are schematic preview details; generated materials and part sizes are unchanged.

Door previews: Sliding patio doors have a thicker frame, two slightly different grey centre bands and a slim vertical pull. Regular doors have a small lever handle. These simple symbols appear throughout the designer, including the wall navigator. They do not change the generated doors or specify which way a real door opens.

Building width and length follow the selected CAD display unit (feet in imperial mode). Timber sizes and other millimetre-backed fields use millimetres or inches, matching the existing generator. Generated settings keep their established units.

Building options

Consistent view when changing roofs

Building and the Openings miniature now use the same viewing direction as Dormer mode: the Front wall is on the right of the screen and the Left end wall is on the left. Switching between Gable, Hip and Skillion keeps this direction and the same window and door offsets. The preview may resize to fit a taller roof. Selecting a hidden wall still turns the miniature to show it.

Steep Skillion roofs now appear behind the high wall when viewed from that side. Drag the angle’s own round handle or label to change pitch; the overhang has its own handle and label, so adjusting one does not accidentally grab the other.

Opening direction on all four walls (local correction)

Opening distances are measured from the left when looking at each wall from outside. The elevation, miniature and generated model now agree on this direction for Left and Right as well as Front and Back. For example, a 1200 mm window on a 5950 mm wall with a 900 mm left gap leaves 3850 mm on the right in every view. Skillion Rafters end walls also measure from the building corner, accounting for their shorter sloping wall frames. Both Skillion roof structures rise toward Front.

Saved window and door dimensions are retained. Refresh and reopen the designer to see the corrected views. Regenerate an affected build to apply the corrected end-wall opening positions to its existing 3D model.

Skillion Rafters

Choose Skillion → Roof Structure → Rafters for a roof supported by walls of different heights. Truss remains the default and retains its existing framing and settings.

Skillion Truss consistently uses its standard 48 × 98 mm chord profile. A size previously chosen in Rafters mode no longer changes the truss chords, roof fit or outrigger placement. Switching back to Rafters restores the chosen rafter size. Regenerate an affected building to update its geometry; opening positions and building dimensions are retained.

In Rafters mode, Wall height sets the low wall. The designer calculates and displays the high wall height from the width and roof pitch. The high side is labelled Front in Openings. Changing overhang does not change either wall height. The high wall has full-height studs; the end walls have sloping top plates and studs cut to fit. Double plates follow the same slope.

The generated members are named Single-slope Rafter and appear in their own Single-slope Rafters group under Roof. They remain separate from gable rafters in selection and cut lists. They use the building CC spacing and a birdsmouth at each supporting wall. Their ends are plumb and flush with the outside front/back wall framing. Separate Single-slope Outriggers support those two overhangs; the end-wall outriggers complete support on all four sides. Changing overhang changes the outrigger lengths, while the main rafter lengths stay the same. Roof layers, fascia, bargeboards and drainage retain their existing controls and overhang. A zero-degree pitch produces level bearing without a notch.

When overhang is enabled, siding and corner boards extend to the underside of the outriggers on all four walls, with sloping top cuts where needed. This applies to both simple siding and individual siding boards. Side-wall sheathing and regular wall battens also reach the outrigger undersides, including the short vertical battens above openings. Their tops follow the roof slope; battens beside doors and windows keep their opening-specific lengths.

Low-side wall sheathing extends to the top of the rafters, beneath the roof sheathing. Its top follows the roof slope and is cut around the outriggers. If the required height exceeds the existing sheet length, an upper piece is added with a horizontal joint. Sheet widths and vertical joints stay aligned.

Openings uses the raised and sloping wall heights, including the yellow plate guides, so windows can be positioned above the low wall height. The roof option is saved with building settings, presets and designer drafts. Regenerate the building to apply changes to an existing model.

Skillion Rafters side-wall openings use a single opening header, with no extra load-bearing header or notched studs. The studs beside windows and doors extend to the sloping top plates; the shorter studs above the opening run from its header to those plates. Their tops are bevelled to fit. Regenerate an existing build to apply this framing. Front/Back walls and Skillion Truss retain their existing framing.

Walls are on the left, roof controls at the top of the viewport, and floor controls at the bottom. The roof’s Advanced settings contains roof layers, edges and drainage, and soffits. The menu opens beneath its link and names the selected roof preset in its heading, such as Advanced settings - Vented roof. If you customize the settings so they no longer match a preset, the heading shows Custom roof. Compact summaries beside each section show its current settings even while it is closed—for example, OSB · Battens · Roof tiles or 16 mm · 3 boards · 5 mm gaps. These update as you change presets or individual settings. Empty sections show None, and disabled soffits show Off. Soffits are available for gable roofs and Skillion → Rafters or Truss. Skillion soffits fit under the existing overhang framing: full-width high/front run, side runs butted into it and reaching the low fascia, and a low/back run between the sides. Corners are not mitred. The existing panel thickness and visual board-gap settings apply; fascia and sufficient overhang are required. Truss uses its existing chord tails at the front/back and outriggers at the sides. See Soffits. The roof bar now shows Vented roof, Sheathing only, and Framing only before Advanced settings. New designs and Default building start with Vented roof, which applies 18 mm OSB sheets (2400 × 1200 mm), roof tiles, counter battens and tile battens at 350 mm, fascia and 19 × 173 mm bargeboards, flashing and gutters. It also enables 16 mm soffits with three boards and 5 mm gaps, eave-end siding closures, and 22 × 98 mm eave supports where the roof and siding support them. You can adjust these values in Advanced settings. Sheathing only applies the same settings with roof covering, counter battens and tile battens turned off. OSB, sheet dimensions, trim, drainage and soffits remain the same. The 350 mm batten spacing is retained but inactive. The roof’s Framing only option also turns off sheathing, fascia, bargeboards, flashing, gutters and soffits. The roof structure stays in place; the disabled layers keep their dimensions for later edits. All three roof options remember their selection when you reopen a matching design. The Walls sidebar starts with Ready for insulation, Uninsulated, Framing only, and Advanced settings. New designs and Default building start with Ready for insulation, including siding and corner posts. Ready for insulation adds wind-barrier preparation and standard wall battens (23 × 48 mm, or nominal 1 × 2 in imperial), and enables siding and corner posts. It does not add insulation material. Uninsulated removes the wind-barrier preparation and battens, and also enables siding and corner posts. Framing only enables double top plates and turns off insulation preparation, battens, siding and corner posts, keeping your current stud dimensions and materials. Clicking an already selected option reapplies its settings. These shortcuts preserve your other wall settings. Advanced settings reveals the stud, material, plate, batten and siding controls directly in the sidebar. Reopened drafts and presets keep their saved settings. The floor’s Ready for insulation switch is also enabled by default for new designs. It prepares the joist assembly without adding insulation material. Roof type, structure, rafter/beam dimensions, collar-tie distance and rafter material are edited in the roof bar. Pitch and overhang are in Exact dimensions and on the model handles. These controls are not repeated in the roof’s Advanced settings. When you switch from Gable to Skillion or Hip and back while editing, your previous gable structure (Beam, Collar tie or Truss) is restored, including the selected saved truss and its span-fitting choice. Choosing Truss or Rafters for Skillion does not replace your gable choice.

For gable and skillion roofs, Roof layers uses sheathing and covering dropdowns, paired thickness/covering fields, and blue batten switches. Roof tiles selects the existing simplified covering; Roof tiles · Advanced selects individual tiles. Selecting either covering enables OSB and both batten layers, as before; you can then change the sheathing or turn battens off. Open Sheet size for sheet length/width, Batten material for its shared material name, and Tile settings for advanced tile style, dimensions, spacing and texture settings.

Edges & drainage uses the same flat layout and blue switches for fascia boards, bargeboards, and the combined flashing/gutters assembly. The outer bargeboard size and shared trim material remain available. Enabling flashing/gutters reveals the existing material-name editors for flashing, gutters, gutter hooks and downpipes.

Open Roof Structure, then hover over Truss › to browse saved trusses. Hovering does not change the roof. Click a saved definition to use it, or click/tap Truss to select the structure and open its submenu. It retains span fitting, loft-floor options and Build custom truss. Arrow keys navigate the menu; Right opens the Truss submenu, and Escape returns to the parent menu or closes it. You can also click outside or use its X to close. The submenu moves below the menu on narrow screens. It stays closed when returning to Gable until you open it. The separate rafter inputs are hidden in Truss mode. Only one options panel opens at a time; the pre-flight Fix link opens the same Truss submenu.

The header includes spacing, Timeline, Textures and existing account presets.

Type a value in Custom CC beside the spacing buttons, or choose a preset. The field always shows the current framing spacing. Metric projects use millimetres; inch projects use inches. The minimum is 50 mm (about 1.97 in). Press Enter or leave the field to finish, or Escape to cancel. Custom spacing uses the same building setting for joists, studs and roof framing as the preset buttons, and is retained in drafts, presets and project files. Generate the building again to apply a changed CC to its 3D framing.

Changing a timber size in the compact controls immediately commits that size. Wall stud sizes are edited directly in the sidebar; floor sizes are edited in the bar below the preview. There is no separate Wall options popup. Material names follow the existing shared-by-dimension BOM behaviour.

Saved gable trusses retain control of their pitch, overhang and framing dimensions. Choose the saved truss from the roof bar. The visual controls show the inherited values and cannot override them. A gable truss matched to its saved span also locks the building width. The amber note below the viewport width label offers Unlock to allow dragging or typing a different width. Lock to span restores the saved span and locks width again. For A-frame trusses, unlocking uses the existing auto-adjust behavior. Choosing Keep width and auto-adjust while selecting a truss already leaves width unlocked. Older saved designs whose width differs from the truss span keep their dimensions; the amber note shows the saved span and offers to lock to it. Other roof structures do not have this width lock. Built-in definitions are marked (Example truss). Click Build custom truss beside Saved truss to open Truss Builder. Your building settings, placed openings and dormers are kept. Save the custom truss, then use Build to return to the designer and select it from the list. The truss opens in the same fitted, parallel Front view as the toolbar’s Truss button.

Cancel and Exit close the designer without generating CAD objects. As in the previous generator, edited form preferences remain available next time it opens. An active drag can be cancelled with Escape before exiting.

Designer modes and openings

Building, Openings, Dormers and Floor planner share the same building design. Their tabs use larger, bold labels without step numbers.

Dormer previews: Dormers and building extensions show the building’s siding pattern and each window’s saved grilles in Building exterior view and Dormer 3D/elevation views. Smooth or disabled siding stays plain.

Select Place openings, choose a wall and opening type or an Opening Framer preset. Drag the purple preview into position, resize it using the lower-right handle, then click its check mark. The preview moves beside the placed opening so you can place another. An unchecked preview is never generated.

Opening defaults: New windows start at 900 × 1200 mm (width × height), reduced where needed to fit a small host. Presets and existing openings retain their own sizes. The opening-menu icons now use rectangular proportions, with a taller, narrower door symbol and slightly larger icons for readability.

The height guide starts at 2100 mm above the interior floor. Its padlock keeps opening tops on the line and allows horizontal dragging. Unlock it for sill-height changes. Select a placed opening to edit its dimensions or grilles; Use these settings copies it into the next preview. Remove deletes only that draft item. After selecting a placed opening, click its type in the opening menu to add another with the same size, fitting gap, grilles and door settings. Edits made in the properties panel are included. Choosing a preset instead uses that preset’s settings. The original opening is kept. When the purple preview is visible, click any placed opening to copy its type and properties directly into that preview; it stays visible and ready to place. This also works from the opening list. Moving the pointer while sampling keeps the preview active and leaves the original opening untouched. To move, resize or edit an existing opening, cancel the preview first, then select it. Widths and heights are rough openings; the fitting gap follows Opening Framer. Front/Back are the long walls, and Left/Right the end walls, matching the live tool.

Grille settings: Click the gear beside Window in the opening list to open the same grille pattern overview and editor as Opening Framer. Choose a pattern, drag its bars or enter measurements, then apply. A selected window receives the change; otherwise it updates the next window preview, which you place with the check mark. The selected window’s properties also include Grille settings. Cancel leaves the design unchanged. Other windows and saved presets are unaffected; the quick grille dropdown still includes None to remove a grille.

Door settings: Click the gear beside Door to choose Plain, Vertical glass (a narrow central pane), Classic glazed (two glazed sections with fixed glazing bars and two lower panels), or Diamond glass (a diamond-shaped pane with light-grey chevron lines). Set width and height (900 × 2100 mm by default), handle side and two or three hinges (three by default). Left/right is viewed from outside; hinges are on the opposite side. Each style includes a simple lever, lock and a stronger bottom edge. The gallery has no line-editing controls. Apply updates a selected door or the next preview; Cancel leaves it unchanged. The style appears in the designer previews and on the generated door. The Vertical glass style has light-grey horizontal lines in 3D; regenerate an existing building to update its door lines. Dimensions follow the existing rough-opening and fitting-gap rules. Patio and garage doors keep their existing styles.

Door settings are saved with drafts in the .strek project. The current CAD app opens earlier supported files and retains their existing door geometry. Keep your original copy for older releases or export GLB for geometry interchange.

22 September 2026 update: the Openings elevation highlights top plates with translucent yellow bands. Their thickness follows the wall timber size; double plates have a darker dividing line. Gable dormer fronts omit a horizontal top-plate band so windows can fit into the triangle with framing clearance. Sidewalls and shed fronts retain their plate references. Two-storey extensions show the plates at both storey levels. Guides follow each wall face and remain behind opening previews, so selecting and dragging windows works as before. These are visual references; they do not change opening positions, placement validation, generated framing, or saved project data.

With Foundation, opening heights are measured from the ground floor, below the top of the foundation wall. A door or garage door with a sill height of zero starts at that floor, and window sills use the same reference. Timber-joist builds use the finished floor. Regenerate an older affected build to correct openings that were placed too high; existing geometry is not moved automatically.

Building and Dormers 3D previews use the same foundation floor level as Openings mode. Garage doors and regular doors extend to the bottom of the foundation at zero sill height, and windows keep their height above that same floor. This is a preview correction; saved opening positions and generated models are unchanged.

Opening gaps appear above the roof with dashed guides to the rough opening edges. Click a measurement to enter a distance, then press Enter or Move opening. For a gap between openings, choose which neighbor to move. Green outlines show which openings will change; Escape cancels. Moves that overlap or leave too little room for framing are rejected. Dormer and extension fronts use their own wall edges.

Both outer gap measurements are always visible. Mirror across centreline is off by default. When enabled, placing an opening creates its reflected counterpart on the same wall. Moving, resizing, changing options or deleting either opening also updates the opposite opening. The preview shows both before placement; an opening centred on the line stays single. Each pair is independent of other pairs and floors. Doors reverse their handle side, asymmetric grilles and facade bars reflect horizontally, and tapered windows follow the opposite roof slope. Invalid mirrored placements are rejected together. Existing layouts stay as saved when the option is turned on; edits use an existing geometrically mirrored partner or create one if absent. Turn mirroring off to edit openings independently.

Select openings in the mode bar lets you drag a rectangle across several openings in the current view. Shift adds to the selection; Shift-click toggles a single opening. On release, the selection menu offers:

• Remove deletes the selected openings.
• Project to opposite wall copies them to the same position and elevation on the opposite parallel wall.
• Around corner copies them around the left or right building corner, retaining each opening’s distance from that corner.
• Edit options changes dimensions and window/door options together. Leave fields empty to preserve their current values. Window options affect selected windows; door options affect selected doors. Apply commits the full edit.

Selection actions affect only the chosen openings, even if mirroring is on. Check Include matching openings on all walls below the selection count to include openings with the same type/model, shape and size throughout the building, including other storeys and dormers. Different grilles still match, so you can standardise them together. Door models and facade frame/panel layouts must match. With several opening types or sizes selected, matches for each are included. The count shows how many openings and wall views are included. Edit options and Remove also affect those on hidden walls. Copying is disabled while this checkbox is checked. Uncheck it to restore your original selection. The group stays fixed while editing, even after sizes or options change; selecting again or changing views resets it.

Copies are independent and keep the source openings. If any result overlaps or does not fit its destination, the whole operation is rejected. Use View copies to inspect the destination. Escape cancels selection; turn the tool off to move openings normally.

The building centreline stays visible, with an additional local centreline when working on a dormer or extension. Drag an opening near it to snap the opening’s centre. Hold Shift to bypass snapping; Escape restores the positions from before the drag.

To align openings vertically, drag near an opening above or below. Left edges, centres and right edges snap into line, with a guide showing which alignment is active. This also works across storeys and dormer fronts in the same elevation. Hold Shift to bypass snapping. After release, a faint dashed connector marks the alignment; selecting either opening makes it clearer. These guides do not link the openings, so later edits remain independent unless mirroring is on.

All floor settings are in the bar below the preview; there is no separate Floor options popup. For Floor joists, edit joist sizes and material, subfloor type, sheet sizes/thickness, custom material name and Ready for insulation directly. For Foundation (garages), set the foundation height. Switch between the two using the floor tabs.

The floor tab is labelled Foundation (garages) and uses a concrete-grey active style. All visible foundation faces and outlines are grey in the Building and Dormers 3D previews, with slightly darker shading on the side face.

Foundation always turns off the floor’s Ready for insulation setting, including when loading an older preset or draft. The floor preparation control is unavailable in this mode. Switching back to Floor joists restores your previous choice. The wall’s Ready for insulation setting is independent and stays as set.

Build now in the review creates the building first, then its placed openings using Opening Framer. When dormers are present, they are generated after the building and before its openings. Rectangular openings can be placed in main walls, including the upper gable ends, dormer front walls and extension front walls. To add an upper gable window, unlock the height guide, then drag it above the eaves or enter its sill height. The whole opening must fit below the slopes with room for framing. Ground-floor doors keep their positions. Normal dormer fronts support windows; extension fronts also support doors. Leave room for framing at wall ends, above openings and between adjacent openings. The designer highlights invalid placements and prevents generation until fixed.

The standalone Opening Framer continues to place openings directly in the 3D model. You can use it after designer generation, including its existing presets, grille editing and opening history/removal tools.

Drafts and named variants

Open Drafts & variants to save a design. Each saved draft keeps building settings, placed openings, dormers, porches and entrance terraces, and floor layouts with partitions, internal doors, room names and furniture. Opening sizes, positions and grilles are retained too. Enter an optional name, then choose Save draft. Save as new variant creates a named alternative, useful for different garage or customer configurations.

Select a draft to reopen it. Editing an older draft and saving adds a new revision; the original remains available. Switching away from unsaved changes preserves them as another draft. Successful generation also saves a revision. These are small settings records, not complete model copies. Account building presets still save building settings only.

Exit keeps your working design in the open project. Save the .strek project to keep drafts after closing the workspace. Save project copy downloads a separate project with the current model and all drafts, even before first generation.

Editing an existing design

Choose Build again to reopen its saved design. The current model stays intact while you edit the preview. Regeneration replaces the entire current model after the building and openings succeed; if generation fails, the previous model is restored. Restore previous model in the draft panel recovers one previous successful model during this session. It is not retained after closing the project.

Moving, rotating, duplicating, deleting or changing model parts shows Modified in 3D. Direct Opening Framer operations also count. These actions are not imported into the saved designer settings. Supported exact component customizations now survive compatible regeneration. Review edited objects identifies conflicting source sizes, positions or identities and lets you reset selected edits or cancel without replacing the model. This does not preserve every manual move, deletion or separate opening operation. Inspect the replacement review and use Save project copy before rebuilding a manually changed model. Orbiting, selection, hiding and model color changes do not trigger the badge.

Older projects may contain their original building settings but no saved opening layout. The designer clearly labels that limitation. Add the openings again before replacing such a model, or keep working directly in 3D. Files without original creation inputs cannot reconstruct a designer recipe.

The visual builder saves designer drafts, openings, dormers, porches, entrance terraces and floor layouts in the .strek project. The current CAD app opens earlier supported projects through its migration path. Use an up-to-date reader for new saves; keep an original copy and export GLB when sharing geometry with an older Viewer. The builder preview is schematic; generated framing and finishes use the existing engines.

Design dormers before generating

Open Dormers, choose a roof side and add a Gable dormer, Shed dormer or Building extension. In Elevation or Roof plan, drag it into position, or enter the centre distance from the outside-view left edge. Drag upward to increase the setback from the wall. The roof plan shows the horizontal footprint, with the main ridge at the top and wall/eave at the bottom. Elevation shows the front wall and roof outline. Shift gives finer adjustment; Escape cancels a drag. Labels beside number fields can be dragged too.

In 3D, push or pull the dormer surfaces to resize it. A side wall changes width equally on both sides. The roof changes wall height while keeping pitch fixed. Pull a regular dormer’s front wall outward to deepen it while retaining the rear roof junction. For an extension, this changes its length. Use Elevation or Roof plan to move the whole dormer. Arrow keys adjust the focused face; Shift gives 10 mm steps. Escape, a cancelled pointer gesture or leaving the browser window restores the dimensions at the start of the drag.

Use Layout for one dormer or a pair. Gable dormers can sit on the roof or at the wall with a closed eave or flush wall. A flush-wall gable can extend outward as a building extension. The main roof pitch can stay linked or be adjusted separately. Framing & overhang contains rafter dimensions, overhang and opening framing.

For a Pair, drag either member sideways in Roof plan to adjust spacing symmetrically around the pair midpoint. Regular pairs move up/down together. In Elevation, wall pairs can move along the wall together. Width and height adjustments apply to both members. In the 3D previews, the nearer dormer appears in front wherever the pair overlaps on screen. This does not change their actual spacing or placement. The preview also shows a closed exterior when switching to Roof side B, with the openings belonging to the walls on that side. This corrects the inside-out appearance in Dormers’ 3D view, including designs with a dormer on each side. Existing generated models do not need to be regenerated.

Use the Roof form and Layout icons to change the selected dormer. The Placement menu combines roof, closed-eave wall, flush-wall and extension placement. Shed dormers currently support roof placement only.

The compact dimension labels can still be dragged. Hover or focus a ? button for help. Framing & overhang contains rafter sizes, opening framing, overhang and roof-side reassignment; Use main roof size copies the building’s rafter dimensions. Align eaves resets an extension’s extra wall height to zero.

Below the preview, click the padlock beside Match main roof pitch to link or unlock the dormer pitch. An unlocked pitch can also be adjusted with the labelled ridge handle. Scale resizes the dormer proportionally while keeping its position, pair spacing, angles, framing stock and openings unchanged. It stops when the roof or an opening would no longer fit. Another edit resets the scale reference to 100%; Escape cancels a slider drag.

In Openings, all four elevations show dormers and extensions in context, including their side silhouettes when viewing an end wall. The full building stays visible when selecting a dormer or extension. Click a front wall to select it, or drag the purple opening onto it; the designer detects the wall automatically. Each member of a pair is a separate target. You can still use the wall selector. Place windows using the purple preview and check mark. Extension fronts can also have doors, and take priority over the main wall behind them. Side walls are shown for context; designer opening placement currently supports front walls only.

The opening inspector uses compact rows for width, height, position, sill height and fitting gap. Type a value or drag its label to adjust it; Shift gives finer control. Hover or focus the ? before Opening preview for help with rough opening dimensions and the fitting gap applied to each edge. The ? before Add an opening explains how to position and place its preview. The compact opening-type list keeps each icon and label in one clickable row.

The designer includes a small building navigator at the top right of Openings. It shows your roof shape, dormers, extensions and opening positions. The wall you are working on is highlighted and named. Click a wall or dormer front in the miniature to select it; paired dormers can be selected separately. Placed openings have small markers, and the current opening preview is purple.

Use the two rotation arrows to turn the miniature in 90-degree steps. This changes only its viewing angle. Selecting a wall through the tabs or selector turns the miniature just enough to reveal it when needed. A Front marker keeps the orientation clear. On small screens it sits above the elevation so it does not cover your placement controls. Keyboard users can Tab to a wall/front and press Enter or Space to select it.

Offsets and sill heights are measured from the selected wall’s own left edge and base. A locked height guide adapts to that wall. Moving an existing opening between walls keeps its dimensions; if it does not fit, adjust it before placing or generating. Escape cancels a drag and restores its original wall and position. Removing a dormer removes its attached designer openings. These settings are saved in drafts and project files, so later regeneration recreates the whole design.

Dormers require roof sheathing and a compatible gable or Hip main roof. Hip placement uses sides A and B with clearance from the diagonal hips and ridge; the end slopes and skillion roofs are not supported. Saved trusses must use an A-frame. Fit or overlap messages explain what needs changing before generation. The standalone Dormer Framer and Opening Framer still work directly on an existing 3D model.

Collar-tie roofs keep the cut main-roof rafters around dormer openings on both roof sides. If you generated a model in an earlier preview where these rafters were missing, reopen its saved design in Build and generate it again with the updated preview. Loading the old model alone does not restore missing parts.

Choosing Roof tiles also keeps the coverings visible on generated dormers, including pairs and collar-tie roofs with no windows or doors. The coverings follow the build timeline and are saved with the project. If an earlier generated model shows bare dormer sheathing despite this setting, reopen its saved design in Build and generate it again.