GC's CFE Tutorials *Moved*

GC I can't wait to see the tutorials on Sculpted Windows and Waved Roofs. They sound so interesting. You do such good tutorials dear.

More Versatile Saltbox Roofs

Introduction





Making a simple saltbox roof is easy and requires no cheats. Start by making sure autoroof is turned off.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/1.png

Next build your walls, leaving 3 rows of exposed tiles at the top of the first floor where the lower part of the roof will be. Add a gabled roof to the second floor and a shed roof to the exposed part of the first floor.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/2.png
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/3.png

Tidy up the heights a little bit if necessary, and viola, a saltbox roof.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/4.png
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/5.png

The problem is that sometimes you don't have 3 rows of tiles to spare. Sometimes you only have two, or even one. With only two rows of tiles to spare, and without the help of cheats, you'd end up with something like this...
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/6.png

...or this...
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/7.png

...which both look fine, but might not be exactly what you have in mind.

This tutorial will tell you how to get a seamless saltbox look with only one or two row(s) of tiles. As always, if you are new to working with CFE turned off, I recommend first reading my Learning the Basics and Tips and Common Problems sections.


Just for Show

This part of the tutorial will explain how to make purely decorative saltbox roofs, where the second story can't be used as living space. I'll explain later on how to make functional second stories.

Open the cheat console and enter the cheat placefriezes on. This tool allows you to place foundation-like structures, one third of the height of a normal wall, on any level of your build.

Select the foundation tool and click and drag over the area you want to cover with a frieze. Let's start by leaving one row of tiles exposed.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/8.png

We can now turn placefriezes off, and cover the top of our frieze with a gabled roof and the exposed row of tiles with a shed roof.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/9.png

The process for two rows of exposed tiles if similar, except that you need to place two friezes, one on top of the other.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/10.png
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/11.png

You can use this technique to create a variety of interesting and realistic roof shapes. Here's just one example.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/12.png


Livable Saltboxes

For a full height, usable second story, we have to make things just a little more complicated. If you were following along with the previous section, start again from scratch - this is a different method I'm now describing.

Let's start by creating both stories. This time round, we'll leave one row of tiles exposed. (The method for leaving two tiles exposed is very similar, but we'll get to that later.)
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/13-1.png

At this stage, I recommend adding any room divisions you want on the second story. It can be done later, but it will be less fiddly to do now.

Add a gabled roof to the upper level.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/14.png

Now we need to create supporting walls for the shed part of our saltbox roof. We'll lower the height later - for now, create them at full height, and add tiles to the top.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/15.png

Next, we build a two-story 'construction tower' off to the side of our main build. This tower will help us get the heights we need without messing around too much with our main build.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/16.png

Now we can finally turn constrainfloorelevation off.

Select the Lower Terrain tool, choosing the small square brush and the softest brush setting.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/17.png

Choose any ground level tile underneath the construction tower, and as gently as you can click four times in each of its four corners. This will lower the tile down by 1/3 of the height of a normal wall.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/18.png

Go up to the top level of the construction tower. One of the tiles there will have sunk down by the same amount as the ground below. Select the Level Terrain tool and drag across until you have lowered the first row of tiles on the main build down to the same height.These are the tiles that will be covered by the shed part of our roof.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/19.png
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/20.png

The build should look like this. I know the floating roof looks weird - we can fix that later.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/21.png

We can now add the shed part of our roof.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/22.png

Use the Level Terrain tool to bring all the tiles underneath the main gabled roof back to full height.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/23.png
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/24.png

The floating roof problem should now be gone.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/25.png

Now turn constrainfloorelevation on.

Inside, the second story should look something like this (plus any room divisions you've added - I don't have any in my example).
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/26.png

If you like, you can keep the dividing wall between the large full height area and small slanted area in place. I think a wonky ceiling adds character so I'm deleting my wall.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/27.png

Because I deleted that wall, my ceiling now looks like this. I you find there's a gap where your row of slanted tiles should be, try tiling the whole ceiling using the shift key.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/28.png

If you would like to create a saltbox with two rows of tiles beneath the shed part of the roof, the process is almost exactly the same, except that instead of lowering the ground by four clicks you need to lower it by eight clicks, which is the equivalent of 2/3 of the height of a regular wall. The result should look something like this.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/30.png

Delete the construction tower and decorate as you like. Bear in mind that you will not be able to use horizontal styles on the wall directly beneath the slanted ceiling, as that would draw unwanted attention to the height transition.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/29.png

As with the decorate frieze method, you can use these techniques to create a variety of roof shapes.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/Saltbox/31.png

Thank you so much for the tutorials GreenCats!
Always love your step by step tips with screenshots, it makes me easy to understand.
I've never used the placefriezes cheats before but it looks really useful :D

BreeMiles wrote:
GC I can't wait to see the tutorials on Sculpted Windows and Waved Roofs. They sound so interesting. You do such good tutorials dear.

Thanks for all your support, Bree! I'm sorry it takes me so long to get these up :oops:

I think I would like to do the Waved Roof tutorial next. I've just been waiting until it's useful for something I'm building. That time may have come because I have plans to make something like this for Barnacle Bay:

http://alinearchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Cover-Shot-Wave_House__Addition_Aline-T1-Jrolf-e1323282856338.jpg"width=600"

I know how to do it; it's just tricky to find the time to take and edit all the pictures and write the text so I always end up putting it off :P

saitouamy wrote:
Thank you so much for the tutorials GreenCats!
Always love your step by step tips with screenshots, it makes me easy to understand.
I've never used the placefriezes cheats before but it looks really useful :D

No problem! I'm so glad you like them :-)

Placefriezes is very useful sometimes, especially for stuff involving roof heights and cornices, but it's not something I've explored much myself (except in this tutorial!), partly because I more want a 1/4 wall more often than a 1/3 wall, and partly because I can never remember how to spell it...

Thank you so much for this tutorial. I have used the PlaceFrieze cheat a couple of times. I cannot wait to try this out :D

You're welcome :-)

Also for future reference:

With the raise and lower terrain tools, if you use the small square brush at the softest setting and click as gently as possible:

1 click = 1/12 the height of a regular wall
3 clicks = 1/4 the height of a regular wall (or the same as the height of a regular foundation)
4 clicks = 1/3 the height of a regular (or the same height as a frieze)
12 clicks = the height of a regular wall

Really EXCELLENT tutorials, GC!! Thanks so much for sharing them with us. I have you bookmarked and will be watching for more.

By the way, if you would ever like to do a "live" class for Zoo U, we would be very honored to have you as a guest professor.

The lessons that you have done in this thread are just what would be expected. The big difference is that you would have a class time and a date and actual students who will be online at that time. You would reserve posts for your lesson and put them all up (just as for a regular tutorial) and then you would stick around (generally for two hours, but it is up to the teacher) to answer questions as students go into their own games to try to apply the things that you have shown in the lesson.

Most people break a Zoo U course into more than one lesson (one or two weeks apart) and assign homework in the interim for students to post on their own homework threads.

It is just a lot of fun to KNOW that there are people looking at the tutorials that you posted (since I know from experience what a HUGE amount of work they are) and to get to interact with the folks that you are helping. Zoo U courses become regular tutorials after the "live" portion of the class is over, but I monitor all Zoo U course threads (which I set up for the guest professors) and if students have a questions months or years later I will attempt to answer it OR contact the professor to see if they can.

Just let me know if this sounds appealing at all. I am SO impressed with your skills as a teacher (which is huge praise from me since I am a college math professor by trade) and would be very happy for you to have your choice of topics, dates, and times if you wanted to teach for Zoo U.

Zoo

Hello! Thank you so much for stopping by my thread and for your kind words.

I have more tutorials planned, it always just takes me longer than I expect.

I love the Zoo U course and almost always lurk in the threads! There was one about tomb building I found particularly useful :-)

I'm honoured to be asked to guest lecture of course and would really love to participate BUT I'm currently in the final term of a DPhil, so I'm trying not to commit to anything until it's done. I've been away from it with health problems for the last two years but am finally back to it!

I'm still enjoying creating and uploading when I need a break - I just don't feel comfortable right now saying I'll be free at a certain time, because I never know when I'll be on a roll with work.

I'll be submitting at the end of September, so if the course is still running then and you'd still like to have me, perhaps we could set something up then? I'm not sure what DNA's plans are re: TS4, but no CASt and no build cheats are deal-breakers for me so I won't be going anywhere :-)