GC's CFE Tutorials *Moved*

Stopping Your Arbors From Floating

Introduction





Have you ever set out to make a beautiful arbor for your garden, but been frustrated by the fact that the latticework hovers above your pillars? The easiest way to solve this is to lay some floor tiles between the two, but that doesn't always work for the look that you want to create.

This tutorial will show you in a few easy steps how to move your lattice down a little bit so that it meets your pillars. The example I'm using will end up looking like this:

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/Finished.png

If you haven't encountered the floating lattice problem before, for my example it would look like this:

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/Bad.png

If you are unfamiliar with the tools and challenges associated with working with cfe turned off, you may first wish to read Learning the Basics and Tips and Common Problems.


The Tutorial

Begin by building the basic structure of your arbor. Don't worry too much about the placement of the pillars, since you'll need to move them later anyway. The 'Monorail Fencing' is the one we usually use to create the latticework for arbors. The pillars I've chosen for now are called 'Column Contempo', but I'll be changing them later.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/BasicStructure.png

Tile over your structure. I'm using the flat roof tool, but floor tiles are fine too. Don't worry, we'll get rid of this later. I always tile any area on which I'm doing cfe work, since it makes mistakes easier to fix.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/Tile.png

It's now time to turn constrainfloorelevation off. Select the Lower Terrain Tool, at the smallest size and softest setting and lower a square beneath one of your pillars by clicking once at each of its four corners.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/LoweredTerrain.png

We now have a pillar floating above the ground. Grab it and place it back at ground level.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/FloatingPillar.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/DragPillar.png

You should notice that lowering the terrain also drags down your tiled lattice with it.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/PulledDownCeiling.png

At this point, you can simply use the Level Terrain Tool to bring all of your tiled lattice down to the same height. However, that would leave us with pillars at different heights and therefore break our grid, which I don't want just yet because I plan on adding some greenery to the top of my arbor.

So, I am going to bring all my pillars down to the same height, by clicking and dragging using the Level Terrain Tool, then grabbing each column to bring it down to the new ground level.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/LowerTerrain.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/PillarsLowered.png

The whole tiled lattice should now be at the same height. At this stage it's imperative that you turn constrainfloorelevation on.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/LoweredCeiling.png

We can now remove the tiles. I'm also going to enter the cheat 'move objects on' and add some greenery. I think all
the heathers work really well, though of course you can experiment with other plants or even leave your arbor plain if you like. I'm using the Perennial Heather than came with Late Night.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/AddFlowers.png

Next, double-checked cfe is turned back on, then move your pillars out of the way, and use the Level Terrain Tool to bring the sunken ground back up it its original height.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/LevelUnderneathTerrain.png

If you haven't already, enter the cheat 'moveobjects on' and move your pillars back to wherever you want them.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/ReplacePillars.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/ReplacedPillars.png

Lowering the lattice will look good with most pillars. Here are just a couple of examples, the Wooden Spa Column from Sunlit Tides Gold and the Front Porch Column.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/PillarChoice3.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/PillarChoice2.png

Since the pillars are no longer actually providing support, you can even substitute in the Centennial Fence from Supernatural or the Frat Bros. Tall Fencing from University Life. I'm going to use the Supernatural one.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/PillarChoice4.png

And that's us done. Decorate as you choose.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Arbors/Finished.png