Importing and Organising Custom Furniture Libraries in Sweet Home 3D

[cedricvale]

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in how people manage additional furniture models in Sweet Home 3D when the default library doesn't include the items they need.

Are there any tips for importing custom models, keeping the furniture library organised and avoiding problems with models that appear at the wrong scale or orientation?

I'd appreciate any advice on the best way to manage custom furniture so it's easy to reuse across different projects.

[Keet]

There are three ways to import furniture: import individual models (OBJ/3DS/DAE), import a furniture library with multiple models, or drag a model file in the 2dview pane.

- When you import a single model you can set in which category the model is added during the import process. If you set a category that doesn't exist yet then it is created as a new category.

- Furniture libraries have everything already set, including the categories.

- Dragging a file in the 2Dview does not add the model to the catalog but just imports it in the current project. In some cases that is exactly what you want. It also has the advantage that it imports at the position where you drop the file.

You can create your own furniture libraries with the Furniture Library Editor . This is a separate program. You can read about it here. Creating your own libraries has the advantage that you can set extra properties for each model. For some models it a requirement that they are in a library because they need some of these properties set (lights, custom cutouts, wall distance, etc).

As you can see on my site I organize all models I created in furniture libraries. Some libraries by room type, others by function type.
It depends on how many models you intend to import/manage which is the best method for you.

In the preferences dialog you can set your catalog view to 'Searchable list'. This allows you to type (partial) words in the search box which makes it very easy to find a model in a large catalog.

...avoiding problems with models that appear at the wrong scale or orientation?

When you import a single model you can set the orientation during the import process. You can also change the size/scale, the elevation, and if it is a door/window or staircase. Of course you can always import as-is (drag the file in the 2Dview), change what you want, and export as a new model. Then you can import the new model. This is the best method if you want to change colors or textures before adding a model to your catalog.

[cedricvale]

Thanks for explaining the different methods. I didn’t realise dragging a model into the 2D view would add it only to the current project rather than the furniture catalog. The searchable list sounds especially useful when working with a large collection. It seems creating a custom library is the better option if you plan to reuse and organise lots of models across different projects.

[Keet]

I didn’t realise dragging a model into the 2D view would add it only to the current project rather than the furniture catalog.

Drag&Drop works on more places, for example when you want to add/import a texture you can D&D an image in the preview of the import dialog. You can also select multiple OBJ files and import them with a single drop. And that also works in the Furniture Library Editor: select a bunch of OBJ files and drop them in the list to add them to the library.

It seems creating a custom library is the better option if you plan to reuse and organise lots of models across different projects.

That's what they are for!