Tip of the month! November: Program interface

Novembers tip of the month shows you how to restore your program interface. If you have accidentally closed a list or hidden something, you can easily recover it! Check it out for yourself:

If you want to customise your interface a little, resize the windows etc. now you can rest easy knowing that anything you do can be easily restored! Have a go.

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! October: Decorative letters

Octobers Tip of the Month is a great way to help with those finishing touches for your rooms, and give them a more homely feel.

Add 3D text to your plans to give them a little personality. Wooden, plastic, or metal, blocks, candles, fridge magnets, embossing, custom branding and more. The possibilities are endless!
Check out our video on how to do this with ease in Palette CAD.

Go ahead! Add a splash of personality.

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tutorial - Create 3D floor plans from 2D DWG or DXF files

Creating 3D floor plans from 2D DWG or DXF files is simple and fast in Palette CAD. You can even import pdfs and build accurately, fast and easily on top of them.

Here is an example of a full floor plan:

Check out the rest of this blog, as well as our Youtube channel for more hints and tips, like our Tip of the Month and more.

For more in depth and personalised training, contact letsdesign@palettecad.com to book one to one online training.

We hope you find the video informative, and wish you success in your planning.

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! September: Organisation

A simple but useful function for the TotM this month.

Keep your catalogues looking neat and tidy. Speed up your process by hiding unused folders and highlight the ones you use the most. 

Give it a go!

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Your first steps in Palette CAD

As with all things, it's important to get a good start and build from a strong foundation. The following video helps you to do just that.

Here you will see how to license your Palette CAD, as well as learn important basic tools and functions, such as adding windows and doors, rotating products, adjusting intelligent objects, and adding materials.

Be sure to check out the rest of this blog, as well as our Youtube channel for more hints and tips, such as with the Tip of the Month and more.

For more in depth and personalised training, contact letsdesign@palettecad.com to book one to one online training.

We hope you find the video informative, and wish you success in your planning.

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! August: Create watercolours

In this TotM, we show you how to quickly and easily create watercolours for your plans.

You will also get an idea of how to add your own materials, and a basic understanding of adjusting material properties. 

Over to you! Get creative!

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! July: Skirting boards

This month we are trying something a little different by providing the tip of the month in video form.

This time around you will see how to quickly and easily add skirting boards, as well as how to adapt them to serve as wall boarders. You will also get a glimpse at the leaf pick function, and how to select and add materials.

What do you think? Easy right! Now its your turn!

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

New product range! Palette Showroom and Showroom PRO

Introducing Palette Showroom!

Palette Showroom is the pefect presentation and consultation companion tool for Palette CAD. Create plans, exposés, panoramas and interactive experiences in Palette CAD and place them all in Palette Showroom, an unlimited exhibition space for you to easily and professionaly present to your clients.

Show off your best projects and plans. Display your portfolio with before and after examples. Create filters to quickly narrow down the customers needs. Show them variants of surfaces and products to suit different budgets. And if they are still undecided, show them their future room with the help of Virtual Reality!

Features:

• Create exhibits from pictures, 360° photos, panoramas, virtual rooms and PDFs
• Add descriptions, notes, and communicate prices
• Create and manage your own filters
• Integrated slide show
• Stand alone kiosk mode
• Digital showroom

Oh, and did we mention; the standard version is ABSOLUTELY FREE!


The link to download it is here.


You can find the user guide here.

The PRO version takes things a step further.

PRO features:

• Customisable UI - Add your own logo and change the appearance of Palette Showroom
• VR functionality (Oculus Rift and HTC Vive)
• Cloud accessability

Palette Showroom PRO is available now as a subscribtion.

Check them out for yourself and explore the possibilities!

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! June: Object material variations

Welcome to the TOTM for June! This month we'll go over the function for giving objects multiple material variations. Very useful if you are looking to highlight a specific object for a client, or for changing the look of the scene on the fly.

To begin, select an object that you would like to add material variations to.

Once you have done this you need to select the Edit object function. This can be done from the ribbon as you can see above, or you can also right click the object and select the function from the options that pop up.
The object editor will now open.

Now simply select the Edit variants option from the ribbon and we are ready to go.

On the left you will see a list of materials that are currently associated with your object. To begin adding variants you simply need to choose which of those materials, if not all, you would like to add a variant to.
Select a material, and then click the Add button as highlighted above. Repeat this until you have all of the materials you want to add a variant to.

Now that you have all of your original materials in, you need to add variants. Click New as highlighted above for as many variants as you would like to add.
Once you have these, you can start adding new materials. Click on the preview images as highlighted to open the Material catalogues, then select your new materials. Be careful not to select materials with an "*" at the end of their name.

When you have finished, click the yellow Accept button and select OK. You can now close the editor. Select Yes when it asks you if you would like to update the object in your project.

With the object selected, you can now switch between variations on the fly. Click the Select variation option from the Extras tab.

Simply choose the variant that you would like to see from the window that pops up, select OK and the object will switch to the selected variation in the scene.

Easy! Have a go and offer up some interesting options for your clients!

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! May: Similar materials and the NCS Navigator

To find a specific material, instead of the name based on the colour, in Palette CAD there is the "Search for similar material" function.

For all customers with the Interior and Design catalogue, the NCS Navigator can be found in the Material Catalogue, in the _colours subfolder. It is a catalogue of standardised colours.

For more information on the NCS Navigator, which is comparable to the RAL colour system, see: http://ncscolour.com.

To use the "Search for similar material" function, simply right click the material to open the context menu, and select the function from the list.

The search results will now list materials with a similar colour value.
Enjoy!

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! April: Construction Plane

Following on from March's TOTM, this month we have another useful tool for positioning objects; the Construction Plane function.

The Construction Plane function allows you to set a certain level (height or Front distance) for the placement of objects.

To place objects at a predetermined height, a Construction Plane must be set in the Front view. First select the Front view. Now with no objects selected, right click and select Construction Plane (or use the shortcut Shift + N).

You can now either enter a height manually, or select a point with the cursor (in this example I selected the table top, also using the Snap line points function).

Now when adding objects in to the Plan view, they can be dropped directly on to the plane.

To create a Construction Plane for the Front distance, simply follow the steps above, but create the Construction Plane in the Plan view instead.

To remove a Construction Plane, select the respective view, activate the Construction Plane function as above, then click Set to 0.

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! March: Installation height

This month we'll go over a useful function that helps with the positioning of objects.

With the Plan view active, the Installation height function allows you to adjust the selected objects distance from the floor, relative to the top or bottom edge of the object.

 
With the Front view active, the function allows you to adjust the selected objects distance from the selected wall or Front, relative to the rear or leading edge.

The Installation height function is found in the positioning section of the Edit tab, or can be activated with the shortcut - N.

The operation always refers to the red bounding box of a selected object.
In addition to adjusting relative to the top/bottom edge, using the Drop option the object can be set on the highest/closest area available (for example on to a table). If there is no existing object to be dropped upon, the object will be dropped to level 0.

As an example, in the finished plan shown at the top of this post, the rug was added after the coffee table had already been placed. So the Drop option in the Installation height feature was used, to sit the coffee table on the rug (just remember to repeat the process for any objects already sitting on the table!).

Be sure to select the object and the correct view before activating the Installation height command.

Give it a go and see how you get on.

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! February: Present plan variations

Following on from Januarys Tip of the month, we now have a useful new feature that allows you to prepare multiple varialions of a design/plan, and present them all together, quickly and easily to a client.

To begin, once you have the initial plan prepared, you simply need to follow the steps in January's TOTM to create a panorama.

Save the panorama with a descriptive name to a folder of your choice, then prepare your second variation. Create another panorama from this and save it to the same folder as the first (just for conveniance). Now repeat these steps for as as many variation as you need.
Keep the camera position and view consistent across each variation for the best results.

When you are ready, select File » Export » Create panorama sequence with variations.

Now it is a simple case of adding the varients that you would like to present. Click the Add button, select the folder containing your panoramas, and then choose the panoramas you would like to add. when you are finished click Save to save the sequence as a single file.

When you click double click the new file, it will open in Palette Move. Click the variations icon. You will now be able to switch between each variation and manipulate each as you would a normal panorama file, giving you even more ways to impress your clients.

Go ahead and try it out! For added wallop, upload it to the Palette Cloud and use it on your mobile devices with portable VR solutions.

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! January: Panoramas

A relatively simple one this month, but it links nicely to a new feature that will be explained in Februarys TOTM.

With your plan open, we start by selecting the camera position. A central position is best (a central camera is created by default with every new room), but feel free to adjust its position if there is a certain area you would like to display more of.

Now you have the position, click File » Export » Create panorama. You can then select from a few options, such as adding your company logo, which presentation style you would like to use, and pixel count (make it higher for better quality, lower to render faster). Click save, choose PPAN3. as the file type and wait for it to render.

Double click the file and it will open in Palette MOVE (the newest version of Palette MOVE must be installed, available from app stores).

Now go and show your clients their future, created by you!

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! December: Material properties

Materials are an important tool that help bring your plan to life.

In Palette CAD, materials can be adapted for many applications.

On the right side of your plan are your lists. In addition to the Object list, you will also find the Material list. With a right-click on a material you will be offered several practical options to manage the material.

Double-clicking on the material opens the material properties:

Here colour, light and surface behavior, transparency and more can be set. For more information about materials, use the F1 key and search the following terms in the help guide: #Materials #Assign Material #Create Material.

There you have it! Now go ahead and add a little shine!

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! November: Units of measurement

This month we’ll cover a topic that we get a fair amount of questions about;

Can I change the units of measurement and if so, how?

The answer being; Of course!
Here is how:

We begin as with most program settings at the File tab.
File » Program settings » Program settings » Sceneries » Units

And there we have it. Select your desired unit – you can even choose the number of decimal places – click OK and away we go!

You even get a handy little reminder in the bottom right of the program window.

Now you can plan with pin-point accuracy!
Enjoy!

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! October: Set up and restore the Object and Material lists

By default, the Object and Material lists are docked on the right and permanently open. Right clicking on the title bar will open a context menu for you to set up the selected list.

Here you can decide whether you want to have your lists docked, or as floating windows. This is especially useful if you use a second screen.

Floating windows can be grouped together. You can then switch between each list using the tabs at the bottom of the window.

If you have lost a list, you can find it again in the Design tab. Here you will also find the catalogues that can be docked, undocked and grouped.

If you have lost one of your catalogues, or they are not behaving as you would like, you can return them to the default setting from the Program Settings:

Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! September: Auto backup

You’re deep in to a project when suddenly…Power cut!

Your PC shuts off, you can’t remember the last time you hit the save button and the work is due tomorrow.

Do not fret! Palette CAD has an automatic backup save function. By default, the software creates a backup save every 20 steps. The file is saved to the same folder as your normal save, but instead of being a .p3d extension, it is .p3b.

To open the file, click “Open existing project”, then select the “Display auto save files” check box.

It is important to note that the Backup file is only a “light” save file to ensure top performance from the program, and therefore it is occasionally possible for materials or objects to be missing when it is loaded. So, while this can save you in a pinch, you should be hitting the standard save button regularly to keep your work safe.

To change the settings of the Automatic backup, go to File --> Program --> settings --> Input/output --> Object Browser:

Here you can change the Automatic backup frequency or turn it off (we recommend against this!).

So, the moral of the story, Save, Save, Save!


Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team

Tip of the month! August: Customise object list

To help you work more effectively with the object list, you can customise the information that you want it to show you.

To customise the object list, click on the symbol for Fields:

By default, the name of an object or group is listed, followed by whether an object is active or inactive. And finally, whether an object is draggable.

Number of faces is recommended as it will allow you to monitor the complexity of the objects. Type of an object is also very useful (e.g. Wall, Profile, Window, Wood technology board, etc.) among others.

The Fields dialog box shows the pre-built fields available to add to your object list.
These can simply be drag and dropped into the object list, or removed in the same way. The fields in the object list can be sorted in the same way, so long as the Field dialogue box is open.


Greetings from Stuttgart

Your Palette CAD Blog Team