Just can't get good at building?

"Camkat;c-17500158" wrote:
One trick I use to help to learn, if I see something interesting on the gallery and not sure how they did it, I download it into my game and go into build mode and deconstruct it a little bit. Some of the time you think it was just one roof piece (for example) and actually find out it was 3 once you start to move things around. It kind of opened my eyes a bit to how much you can actually do with the tools. I often find inspiration in it to make my own similar interesting shape and trying to mix and match the different bits to make it work.

To be clear, I'm not saying to copy people's lots. I'm saying they can be useful as tools to learn how to roof different shapes and as inspiration for your own. ;)

Thank you very much for the tip! A few people have suggested this so I definitely think I need to give it a go to properly learn about the tools and everything that can be done with them, as you say! Glad you managed to find building inspiration from it! :)

this is gonna sound dumb but try building shells (so just outside) based on houses you see irl. this is mostly to make yourself understand how the house is structured and then you get the whole inside to go wild.

when it comes to roofing try and roof the biggest 'piece' of the roof first and then use small pieces to fill in the space. my origin id is blackrosespl if you wanna have a look at some of my houses and how I roofed them

"gothiclolitapl;c-17501999" wrote:
this is gonna sound dumb but try building shells (so just outside) based on houses you see irl. this is mostly to make yourself understand how the house is structured and then you get the whole inside to go wild.

when it comes to roofing try and roof the biggest 'piece' of the roof first and then use small pieces to fill in the space. my origin id is blackrosespl if you wanna have a look at some of my houses and how I roofed them

Thank you so much for the tips! I'll definitely check out your gallery when I next play! :)

I agree with pretty much all the advice here. Here's a couple additional bits that might be helpful. Build from the outside FIRST. I used to do each room, then put them together as a house when I first started building. But the outside was a mishmash of weirdly placed windows and bad proportions. So build the outside shell FIRST since people will download based on the "curb appeal" of the exterior. Do the windows and exterior wall coverings etc first to make sure you have a pleasing and interesting shell. THEN cut up the interior into rooms. You may have to make a few adjustments to the exterior to get rooms that are large enough or shaped decently but hopefully those are minor adjustments. And you may have windows in a room that aren't placed symmetrically in a wall, but you'll have to live with that since you want the exterior to be as proportional and harmonious and interesting as your can get it.

Second, and this applies mostly to modern builds and some other styles, asymmetry is your friend. If you make everything symmetrical and matching, the result will be somewhat boring. Change the depth of the front by having some places stick out or recede so it doesn't look like a box with windows. Do not use the same windows throughout, change the shape and size of the windows on different parts to add visual interest, although you might want to carry through with the same window colors (black, brown, white etc) to give some coherence. You need to add visual interest or a focus point to make the eye stop and go "whoa, that's interesting." Use roof lines, columns and windows to draw the eye up or across the build so there's a sense of movement in the design. Think about where the focus point is on the build and make sure that area shines. As a caveat, there are some building styles like Colonial or Ancient Greek/Roman classical styles which (to me) depend heavily on symmetry. So the use of heavy symmetry might be important in some building styles but avoided in other styles (esp. modern).

Lastly, yes, DL builds you like to see how the creator made that the effects you like. You can always learn a lot from other builders and we have so many GREAT builders on the gallery. I still DL tons of builds that take my breath away.

Make sure you enjoy yourself...building and creating should be FUN!

"lsnishi;c-17506040" wrote:
I agree with pretty much all the advice here. Here's a couple additional bits that might be helpful. Build from the outside FIRST. I used to do each room, then put them together as a house when I first started building. But the outside was a mishmash of weirdly placed windows and bad proportions. So build the outside shell FIRST since people will download based on the "curb appeal" of the exterior. Do the windows and exterior wall coverings etc first to make sure you have a pleasing and interesting shell. THEN cut up the interior into rooms. You may have to make a few adjustments to the exterior to get rooms that are large enough or shaped decently but hopefully those are minor adjustments. And you may have windows in a room that aren't placed symmetrically in a wall, but you'll have to live with that since you want the exterior to be as proportional and harmonious and interesting as your can get it.

Second, and this applies mostly to modern builds and some other styles, asymmetry is your friend. If you make everything symmetrical and matching, the result will be somewhat boring. Change the depth of the front by having some places stick out or recede so it doesn't look like a box with windows. Do not use the same windows throughout, change the shape and size of the windows on different parts to add visual interest, although you might want to carry through with the same window colors (black, brown, white etc) to give some coherence. You need to add visual interest or a focus point to make the eye stop and go "whoa, that's interesting." Use roof lines, columns and windows to draw the eye up or across the build so there's a sense of movement in the design. Think about where the focus point is on the build and make sure that area shines. As a caveat, there are some building styles like Colonial or Ancient Greek/Roman classical styles which (to me) depend heavily on symmetry. So the use of heavy symmetry might be important in some building styles but avoided in other styles (esp. modern).

Lastly, yes, DL builds you like to see how the creator made that the effects you like. You can always learn a lot from other builders and we have so many GREAT builders on the gallery. I still DL tons of builds that take my breath away.

Make sure you enjoy yourself...building and creating should be FUN!

Thank you for going into so much detail! Recently I had been trying building from inside out- mainly to get used to sizing; I put down core furniture and then build around it and do the shell and then go back and decorate properly, otherwise I always seem to make rooms or houses way too big- but maybe I should get out of that before it becomes too much of a habit!! I'll try what you've said.

Would you mind giving me a small list of some key building styles (e.g. colonial and Greek like you already said) so that I could have a look at Google to get inspiration? I never know names of building styles and I'm not very comfortable with many building styles so it would be really useful if you could perhaps write a list of building styles to spend some time looking at to understand what is central to them. Thanks @lsnishi :)

But you're definitely right- building has been so much fun from what I've tried so far!! And yes, I'm always so shocked by how incredible the builds on the gallery are!!

@moo, here's a link that has some info on architectural styles and what distinguishes them.

https://99percentinvisible.org/article/style-house-visual-guides-domestic-architectural-designs/

And if you have trouble with sizing rooms, then just make the front wall FIRST (the wall that will be most visible when your lot thumbnail is taken). When you take a picture of the lot, the thumbnail will show you where the front wall will be. If you can make that front wall look like a great house facade, then you can fill in and size your rooms and hallways behind the front wall. That might be easier in the beginning.

Most of all...just enjoy yourself. Be creative and try new things. You can always do an eclectic home with a mix of architectural styles. Just remember that if you want to do a home in a particular set style, you will have to use that style to determine how much symmetry/asymmetry your facade has.

"lsnishi;c-17506568" wrote:
@moo, here's a link that has some info on architectural styles and what distinguishes them.

https://99percentinvisible.org/article/style-house-visual-guides-domestic-architectural-designs/

And if you have trouble with sizing rooms, then just make the front wall FIRST (the wall that will be most visible when your lot thumbnail is taken). When you take a picture of the lot, the thumbnail will show you where the front wall will be. If you can make that front wall look like a great house facade, then you can fill in and size your rooms and hallways behind the front wall. That might be easier in the beginning.

Most of all...just enjoy yourself. Be creative and try new things. You can always do an eclectic home with a mix of architectural styles. Just remember that if you want to do a home in a particular set style, you will have to use that style to determine how much symmetry/asymmetry your facade has.

Ah thank you so much for this! That’s so helpful, and the tip about building the front wall first is such a good idea! Will definitely be using this advice and the link you’ve provided :)

You'll get good at it pretty soon, James Turner does the same thing i already do and that's putting a roof in the biggest rectangle and then fiddles around with what fits and looks best, builds that are longer that's more shaped it's limited what you can do with it but you can either do a Modern Build or a Country Build and use porch roofs along the edges and adjusting it to look as good as it can but i wouldn't go super crazy on the shape of the house for other Builds but just mess around with it to shape it and now we can add stuff in smaller spaces and the sims can move around stuff in smaller spaces it gives us more freedom to shape the rooms. I still need to get better at it though but i'll get to the level of building some people can man... hands down they're amazing at it but i'm not bad either, just go with it it's still not perfect especially the roofs so it's a lot of trying to experiment with the different roofs.