Welcome to MyVirtualHome, the easiest way to build a virtual home; it is also supported by

numerous manufacturers so that you can preview their products directly in your own home.
You will not be building and decorating with just any old brick, window, benchtop or paint,
you will be placing an accurate representation of a real product available for purchase from
manufacturers and suppliers in your area.
Designing, decorating and furnishing a house has never been this easy. Experiment with
colour schemes before you have bought a single drop of paint. Renovate your kitchen and
show your tradesman exactly what you want.
See It First!
Use MyVirtualHome to not only save you time and money, but allow expanded creative
choice when designing your personal living space.

Overview

What is MyVirtualHome?
MyVirtualHome (MVH) is a visualisation tool specifically designed to be the simplest,
quickest and most visually accurate way to design and build a home on your own PC. Houses
are quickly built by placing together pre-made rooms to produce a basic layout. Furniture,
fixtures, colours and other elements can then be
customised to suit.
MyVirtualHome is also a communication tool. As
you select products, you can review the products
details and reference manufacturers, retailers
and post-sales services of that product which are
local to you. Your virtual homes can be shared
with other MyVirtualHome users, which include
industry accredited builders, designer,
decorators, services suppliers and tradesmen.
This makes it an ideal collaboration tool for
working with your real home.

Within MVH you can build homes, refurbish

bathrooms and redecorate bedrooms. You can put in a basement, add a second (or third, or
fourth, or fifth ... ) level to your home. Drop in a pool, add a sunken garden.
Prerequisites
You are expected to be familiar with basic Windows terminology, for example dragging the
mouse and right-clicking.
You do not require any 3D design experience.
Minimum Specification
OS Windows XP (SP2), Windows Vista or Windows 7
CPU Pentium 4 450MHz
Must support the SSE instruction set
System memory 1Gb RAM
Video card 3-D capable video graphics card with support for either OpenGL
(version 1.2) or DirectX 9.0c (October 2006 or later)
Disk 1Gb free space for installation
Internet Connection 5kb dial-up connection
MVH must be able to connect to the internet to run.

Recommended Specification
OS Windows Vista (64-bit) or Windows 7 (64-bit)
CPU Any Quad-Core CPU
System memory 4Gb RAM
Video card NVIDIA Series 200 or ATI 4000 Series with 1Gb RAM
Disk 1Gb free space for installation
Internet Connection Broadband internet connection

Conventions

Ctrl+Alt+Del Keys to press. The example means to press the Ctrl, Alt and Del
keys all at once and then let them all go.
1st option > 2nd Select the 1st option, which reveals the 2nd option for selection.
option > In a similar fashion, select the 2nd option to reveal the 3rd option,
3rd option and finally select the 3rd option to complete the instruction.
For example:
Select Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad.
Select Start, then from the revealed menu select Programs, then
the option Accessories and finally the option Notepad.
Table of Contents

Overview ...................................................................................................2
What is MyVirtualHome? .............................................................................. 2
Prerequisites ................................................................................................... 3
Conventions .................................................................................................... 3
Getting Started ........................................................................................ 9
Starting and Exiting MyVirtualHome...........................................................9
Starting MyVirtualHome ............................................................................... 9
The MVH Launcher ......................................................................................... 9
MVH Updates .......................................................................................... 10
Launcher Options .................................................................................... 10
Exiting MyVirtualHome ............................................................................... 10
Your MyVirtualHome Profile .................................................................... 11
MyChannels .................................................................................................. 12
MyDetails ...................................................................................................... 12
MyBusiness ................................................................................................... 13
The Screen ............................................................................................... 13
Your First Home ....................................................................................... 15
Load the Home ............................................................................................. 15
Walk around the home ................................................................................. 15
Explore the Camera Modes .......................................................................... 15
Paint a Wall ................................................................................................... 16
Build a Home ........................................................................................... 18
Decorate your Home .................................................................................... 19
The User Interface ................................................................................. 21
Hiding the Interface ................................................................................. 21
Current User and MVH Build Number ....................................................... 21
Help ........................................................................................................ 21
Menu Bar ................................................................................................ 21
Tool bar ................................................................................................... 21
Camera Controls ...................................................................................... 22
Zoom........................................................................................................ 22
Camera Modes ............................................................................................. 23
Rotate \ Tilt the Camera ............................................................................... 23
Free-look Mode ....................................................................................... 24
Move Camera ............................................................................................... 24
Walkthrough Mode ...................................................................................... 25
Walking & Turning ................................................................................... 25
Walking Through Walls............................................................................ 25
Resetting the camera .............................................................................. 25
Left Panel ................................................................................................ 25
Breadcrumbs ................................................................................................ 26
Notifications Bar ...................................................................................... 28
Download Progress Bar ............................................................................ 28
Lightmapping Progress Bar ....................................................................... 28
Right Panel .............................................................................................. 28
Info Tab ......................................................................................................... 29
Customise Tab .............................................................................................. 30
Alternatives................................................................................................... 33
 Workspace .............................................................................................. 33
Context Menu .......................................................................................... 34
Loading and Saving Homes .................................................................... 35
Starting a New Home ............................................................................... 35
Loading Homes ........................................................................................ 35
Loading a Home from the Catalogue ............................................................ 35
Loading a Locally Saved Home ..................................................................... 36
Loading a Home from HomeShare ............................................................... 36
To load a home that you have saved to HomeShare: ............................. 37
To load someone else’s home from HomeShare: ................................... 37
Recovering lost work .................................................................................... 37
Saving Homes .......................................................................................... 37
Saving a Home Locally .................................................................................. 37
Deleting a saved home ................................................................................. 38
Copying Homes ........................................................................................ 38
Copying a Saved Home ................................................................................. 38
Copying a Catalogue or HomeShare Home .................................................. 38
MVH HomeShare ..................................................................................... 39
HomeShare Codes ........................................................................................ 39
HomeShare Links .......................................................................................... 39
Building a Home .................................................................................... 41
Floorplans................................................................................................ 42
Loading a Floorplan ...................................................................................... 42
Resizing a Floorplan ...................................................................................... 42
Rotating a Floorplan ..................................................................................... 43
Locking a Floorplan ....................................................................................... 43
Floorplans & Multi-Level Homes .................................................................. 43
Hiding Floorplans .......................................................................................... 44
Deleting Floorplans ....................................................................................... 44
Placing a North Marker ............................................................................ 44
Rooms and Walls ..................................................................................... 45
Adding Rooms............................................................................................... 46
Moving Rooms .............................................................................................. 46
Moving rooms between levels in the home............................................ 47
Rotating Rooms ............................................................................................ 47
Cut, Copy and Paste Rooms .......................................................................... 47
Cut a Room .............................................................................................. 47
Copy a Room ........................................................................................... 48
Paste a Room ........................................................................................... 48
Aligning Rooms ............................................................................................. 48
Aligning Rooms with a Floorplan ............................................................. 48
Aligning Rooms with other Rooms .......................................................... 48
Joining Rooms ............................................................................................... 49
Resizing and Reshaping Rooms .................................................................... 50
Using Nodes............................................................................................. 50
Using Walls .............................................................................................. 51
Splitting Walls (‘L’ Shaped Rooms) .......................................................... 52
Restrictions to Resizing and Reshaping Rooms ....................................... 52
Interior and Exterior Walls ........................................................................... 53
Deleting Walls (Open Plan Spaces) ............................................................... 54
Half-Height Walls .......................................................................................... 54
Multi-Level Homes ................................................................................... 55
Adding a Level............................................................................................... 56
 Adding a Basement ....................................................................................... 56
Removing a Level .......................................................................................... 57
Removing a Basement .................................................................................. 57
Moving Between Levels in the Home ........................................................... 57
Stairs ........................................................................................................ 57
Camera Modes & Level Controls ............................................................. 57
Void Floors .................................................................................................... 58
Doors and Windows ................................................................................. 58
Internal and External Walls ..................................................................... 58
Ceiling Height .......................................................................................... 59
Doors ............................................................................................................ 59
Placing a Door.......................................................................................... 59
Moving a Door ......................................................................................... 60
Replacing a Door ..................................................................................... 60
A Door’s Opening Direction ..................................................................... 61
Customising a Door ................................................................................. 61
Windows ....................................................................................................... 61
Placing a Window .................................................................................... 61
Moving a Window ................................................................................... 62
Replacing a Window ................................................................................ 62
Customising a window ............................................................................ 62
Stairs ....................................................................................................... 63
Furnishings and Electrical ......................................................................... 63
Hide Furniture............................................................................................... 63
Clear Furniture .............................................................................................. 64
Placing Furniture........................................................................................... 64
Removing Furniture ...................................................................................... 65
Customising Furniture .................................................................................. 65
Replacing Furniture with the Alternatives tab ............................................. 66
To Replace an Item .................................................................................. 66
Rotating Items .............................................................................................. 66
Cut, Copy and Paste Items ............................................................................ 67
Cut an item .............................................................................................. 67
Copy an item............................................................................................ 67
Paste an item ........................................................................................... 67
Decorating with MVH Materials ............................................................... 68
Applying Materials (Paints, Carpets, Tiles etc) ............................................. 68
Applying Materials to Linked Surfaces .................................................... 69
The Roof .................................................................................................. 70
To Show \ Hide the Roof............................................................................... 70
Rooms without Roofs ................................................................................... 70
The Roof-line ................................................................................................ 70
Layout of the Rooms ............................................................................... 70
Roof Specific Wall Properties .................................................................. 70
Tiles, Shingles or Sheeting? .......................................................................... 71
Changing the roof material via the catalogue ......................................... 71
Changing the roof material via the Customise tab.................................. 71
Outdoors ................................................................................................. 72
Time of Day ................................................................................................... 72
Simple Lighting and the Time of Day ....................................................... 72
Advanced Lighting and Time of Day ........................................................ 73
Location ........................................................................................................ 73
To set the Location of your Home ........................................................... 73
Terrain Options ............................................................................................. 74
To Change the Terrain ............................................................................. 74
 Show \ Hide the Terrain Grid................................................................... 74
Show \ Hide the Terrain .......................................................................... 74
Panoramas .................................................................................................... 75
Changing Panoramas ............................................................................... 75
Custom Panoramas ................................................................................. 75
Custom Cube map background ............................................................... 76
Custom Cylindrical map background ....................................................... 77
Custom Spherical map background......................................................... 77
Fences ........................................................................................................... 78
To Build a Fence ...................................................................................... 78
Moving a Fence ....................................................................................... 78
Paths & Driveways ........................................................................................ 79
To Build a Path or Driveway .................................................................... 79
Moving a Path or Driveway ..................................................................... 79
Pools, Spas & Saunas .................................................................................... 79
Placing a Pool, Spa or Sauna .................................................................... 79
Restrictions on placing Pools ................................................................... 80
Customising a Pool .................................................................................. 80
Gardens ........................................................................................................ 81
Make your Home look its’ best .............................................................. 82
Lighting ................................................................................................... 82
Lightmapping ........................................................................................... 82
Lightmapping Settings .................................................................................. 83
When to Lightmap ........................................................................................ 83
Actions that will invalidate lightmaps are: .............................................. 84
Actions that do not invalidate lightmaps: ............................................... 84
To Start Lightmapping .................................................................................. 84
To Clear Lightmaps ....................................................................................... 84
Display Settings ....................................................................................... 84
Screen Size .................................................................................................... 85
To adjust the screen size: ........................................................................ 85
Image Settings .............................................................................................. 85
Optimisation ................................................................................................. 86
Tips and Tricks ....................................................................................... 87
Editing with the Eyedropper Tool ............................................................. 87
Why won’t my door make a doorway? ..................................................... 88
Painting ................................................................................................... 89
Painting all the walls at once ................................................................... 89
Technical Issues ..................................................................................... 90
Appendices ........................................................................................... 91
1. Menus .............................................................................................. 91
File Menu ...................................................................................................... 91
Edit Menu ..................................................................................................... 91
Editing Locks Sub-menu .......................................................................... 92
Measurements Menu ................................................................................... 92
Options Menu ............................................................................................... 92
Edit Preferences Sub-menu ..................................................................... 93
Visibility Options Sub-menu .................................................................... 95
2. Keyboard Shortcuts .......................................................................... 97
Camera Controls ........................................................................................... 97
Rotating the Camera ............................................................................... 97
Moving the Camera ................................................................................. 97
Getting Started
There are a number of general controls and a common toolbar to help you with your home
design. This section explores the general functionality of the standard controls.

Starting and Exiting MyVirtualHome

Starting MyVirtualHome
To start the program, double-click the MyVirtualHome program icon on your desktop.
If you cannot find a program icon, the standard install provides an icon in your Start menu.
See,
Start > (All) Programs > MyVirtualHome > MyVirtualHome

This will start the MVH Launcher.

If you will be loading MyVirtualHome regularly, the easiest way to manage the starting of the
program is to copy the program icon into the Quick Launch area of your Windows Taskbar, see
your Windows documentation for more information.

The MVH Launcher

The MVH Launcher fulfils a number of tasks:
 presents MVH News to the MVH community

 manages MVH Updates

 contains basic display options and details concerning how MVH connects to the
internet

 contains maintenance facilities for your MVH installation

Version number
Version details
(click to view)

News
Start MVH

MVH Options

MVH Updates
When the launcher is run, it contacts the MVH Server and checks to see if there is an updated
version of MVH available. If there is the launcher downloads and applies the update, ensuring
that your copy of MyVirtualHome is always up to date.

Launcher Options

The Launcher Options are initially set during the installation process. These settings may be
reviewed and modified as required by clicking the Options button.

The Display settings tab contains settings for

which Renderer to use (for the best visual
quality we suggest you set this to DirectX9) and
display resolution. The Display Resolution
should be set as high as your monitor allows.
The Internet settings tab details how MVH
connects to the internet and to test MVH's
ability to connect using the specified settings.
The Maintenance tab need only be used if you
encounter issues launching MVH after applying
an MVH Update. In this instance apply each option one at a time from the top down,
attempting to run MVH after each change until MVH launches successfully. If issues still
present themselves, contact MVH Support in your region.

Exiting MyVirtualHome

To exit MyVirtualHome select the red square with the X ( ) at the top-right of the
MyVirtualHome window.
Your MyVirtualHome Profile
To use MVH you must create an MVH User Profile, this profile is used to associate you with
your MVH preferences and the home designs that you have saved to the MVH HomeShare
server. This allows you to access your MVH content on any PC you use and to protect your
shared designs for future reference.
The first time you run MVH you are asked to create an MVH profile.

 Fill in the details and click Register for MVH.

If you have registered and have run MVH previously you are considered an existing user and
will be presented with a login dialog rather than the registration dialog.

Once you have registered \ logged in you can access your MVH Profile page.
The Profile screen contains three sections, MyChannels, MyDetails and MyBusiness. These
sections are accessed by clicking the relevant button.

MyChannels
In MVH, a Channel features a reduced catalogue containing a selection of assets and rooms
specific to the purposes of that channel.
E.g. A bathroom renovation channel providing, the assets to plan your new bathroom,
instructions for D.I.Y.’ers and links to local business that can be of assistance with your
renovation job.
Since each channel will contain focused content, you may need to move between channels to
access all of the content you require for a specific design project and you designs are never
lost while moving between channels..
The Australian Home Building Channel will always contain the complete catalogue of free-to-
use assets and is recommended for all general building and design projects.
Some content contributors create their own channel to present their products and services.
These channels may also alter the look and fell of MVH by re-colouring the interface with their
own corporate colour-scheme.
The MyChannels section lists the channels which have been linked to your MVH User Account.
Selecting any of these Channels will present:
 details regarding the channel

 an option to receive updates from the channel owner about changes within that
channel

 a Start button to launch the channel

MyDetails
The MyDetails tab can be used to view and update your profile information such as passwords
and email addresses.
MyBusiness
The MyBusiness tab provides information regarding associating your business with products
available in MVH.

The Screen
When you first start MyVirtualHome, the initial screen looks like the screenshot below.

Greyed-out elements are inactive

Active
dialog

There is an active dialog (the MVH Help screen) displayed and the rest of the User Interface
(UI) has been “greyed-out” to indicate that it is currently inactive. In these instances the active
dialog must be completed or closed before the rest of the UI becomes active.
For now:
 close the active dialog by clicking the red X in the top right-hand corner of the dialog

 click anywhere on the green \ white grid, this will show the right-hand panel
 The screen now contains the workspace surrounded by the various elements which comprise
the MVH User Interface (UI). Some UI elements, such as the left and right panels can be
collapsed or set to fade out when not in use, in order to maximise the amount of available
workspace.

Menu Bar Current User and MVH Build

Number

Tool Bar Help

Camera Controls

Right Panel
Left Panel

Workspace

Notification Bar Download Progress Lightmapping

Progress
Interface Element Function
Menu Bar Contains the various MVH menus
Tool Bar Contains the most commonly used Tools and Actions
Left Panel Contains the MVH Catalogue and Search; look here to
homes, rooms, furniture, paints, plants etc
Camera Controls Use these to control to move and look around your home
Right Panel Contains details about the selected MVH object and
options to customise that object
Workspace This is the space where you construct and decorate your
homes
Notification Bar Present various alert and information messages concerning
your current actions
Download Progress Charts your progress through downloading objects to place
in your home
Lightmapping Progress Charts the progress of the MVH Lightmapper
Help Access the MVH Help system
Current User and Build Number Details the User currently logged in to MVH and the Build
(version) number of MVH in use

Note: for further details on all Interface elements, their contents and their use, see the section
titled The User Interface
Your First Home
The quickest and easiest way to see just what MVH can do is to load a pre-built home from the
MVH Catalogue.

Load the Home

To do this:
 select the Homes category in
the MVH Catalogue

 select MyVirtualHome Homes

 select Small Tutorial Home –

Complete

This will load the Tutorial home and place

you in the Walkthrough camera mode.

If you installed MVH from a DVD then you can load homes from the catalogue quite quickly. If
you downloaded MVH from a website then some homes may take a few minutes to load the
first time as some files will need to be downloaded from the MVH Data Server. Any
subsequent loads of the home will be much quicker.

Walk around the home

Now that you are inside the home:

 Use the camera controls to move about the home (or use arrow keys ← ↑↓→ on your
keyboard)

 Hold down the right mouse-button and move the mouse to look around the home

 practice moving around the home in this manner

Explore the Camera Modes

 click the camera mode icons to change the camera mode (or use the spacebar on
your keyboard)
  experiment with the camera controls to get an idea of how you can move the camera
in the various camera modes

Camera
Controls

Camera
Modes

When you are familiar with the camera controls and the various camera modes:
 return to the Walkthrough camera mode once more

Paint a Wall
 click a wall to select it

Clicking on any object will select the object and present information about the object in the
Right Panel.
 select the Customise tab in the right panel

 scroll down to the Materials section in the Customise tab (you can click a section
headers to expand\collapse that section)

Note: in MVH, Material is used to describe anything that can be applied to the surface of an
object or room. Materials include paint, wallpaper, carpet, tiles, fabrics, polished metal
finishes, pavers, bricks and many others.
You will notice that the wall object contains three editable Material slots; Wall, Cornice and
Skirting.
 select the Wall slot

The bottom half of the Customise tab now shows selection of categories containing alternative
Materials that can be applied to the wall
 click to browse the categories and select an alternative material to apply to the wall

The wall is immediately updated with your new selection.

 click Back to Customise

 experiment with changing Materials on other objects within the home

Note: clicking on the floor will select the entire room.

Build a Home
We will now build the MVH Tutorial Home from scratch.
 reset the MVH Catalogue by clicking the Home icon above the catalogue in the left
panel

 browse the catalogue to the MyVirtualHome Homes category, select Homes >
MyVirtualHome Homes

 select Small Tutorial Home - Floorplan

This will load the floorplan and place the camera in Plan Mode.
From the catalogue, within the MyVirtualHome Homes category:

 select the Living Room (Tutorial Home)

The room is loaded and attached to the mouse

pointer.
 you will notice an area on the floorplan
labelled Living Room

 move the room to the correct position and

click to place the room into the workspace

To move the room once it is in the workspace:

 click the floor of the room and the room will show a blue border to indicate that it has
been selected

 hold down the left mouse button and drag to move the room

 release the mouse button to place the room

When aligning rooms with a floorplan it is a great idea to hide the floor of the rooms so that
you can see the floorplan underneath. To do this:
 from the Menu Bar select Options >
Show\Hide ...

 click the Show\Hide Floors button,

then click Close

The floors are now hidden and you can see

the floorplan beneath the room.
 align the room with the floorplan

 select the Kitchen and place it into the scene

 drag the kitchen to ‘snap’ it against the living room

Note: when two (or more) rooms are snapped together, their shared walls become internal
plasterboard walls. This change from External (brick) to internal wall impacts many things in
MVH including the way lighting is calculated for the rooms, the availability of doors and
windows for the affected walls and the shape of the roof. Sometimes two walls can appear to
be snapped when they are not. To indicate this, the nodes of the adjacent walls are coloured
red.

 continue down the category, selecting and placing the rooms onto the floorplan

Note: if you have Auto-place doors and windows set in your MVH Preferences, then MVH
uses some simple logic to place suitable doors and windows in suitable locations throughout
your home. This same process may also hide some internal walls, such as when an open
kitchen is snapped to a living room. This can be seen in the MVH Small Tutorial Home.

Once all the rooms have been placed:

 return to the Show\Hide menu and click Show\Hide Floors again to reveal floors once
more

Well done! You successfully built a home in MVH.

Decorate your Home

 select the Walkthrough camera mode to view your home from the inside

 select an object or surface within your home

You can use the Alternatives tab in the right panel to quickly swap an object with another of a
similar type.
You can use the Customise tab in the right panel to modify the configuration and look of any
object you select.
 modify the furnishings, redecorate and customise the colour scheme as you see fit
The User Interface
Hiding the Interface
When you are simply viewing a home rather than building or decorating you may like to hide
the entire UI, this can be done via the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Spacebar.
The UI can then be revealed once more using the same shortcut.

Current User and MVH Build Number

Located in the top right-hand corner of the MVH window are details of the current MVH user
and the MVH Build number. These details may be useful in the event that you contact your
local MVH Support Department.

Help

The Help icon launches the MVH online Help dialog which contains useful information
such as:
 a Quick-start Guide

 various Tips and Tricks to get the most out of MVH

 Keyboard Shortcuts to more efficiently use MVH

 Credits, an acknowledgement to those whose time and effort have made the
MyVirtualHome project a reality

Menu Bar
The Menus in MVH are similar to all other software applications; they can be opened by
clicking the menu name and each hold a number of different options.
Menus in MVH are grouped together in the Menu bar.

Each menu opens a drop-down containing a number of options. These menus are covered in
the Menus section.

Tool bar
The Tool bar provides quick access to the most commonly used tools in MVH.
Function Shortcut Use
Ctrl+S Save the current Home
 Change the cursor to the Selection tool

Change the cursor to the Interact tool.

Many objects in MVH have actions that can be triggered via the
Interact tool, e.g. doors open and close, fans spin, lights turn
on\off
Select a material or component of the current selected object

Ctrl+Z MVH records your last 20 changes in the MVH History.

Move back 1 step in the history
Ctrl+Y MVH records your last 20 changes in the MVH History.
Move forward 1 step in the MVH history
Show \ hide the roof.
The roof is always shown when in the walkthrough camera
mode
Show the Home Properties in the right panel

The Tool bar also features the MVH Home Level Controls.
Current Level

Open dropdown menu

Levels currently in the home,
click to select as active level.

Dropdown Level actions

menu

Basement actions

Camera Controls

Rotate Camera Highlight indicates active

camera mode

Zoom Camera Modes

Move Camera

Zoom
Camera zoom functionality only works in the Plan and Isometric camera modes, you cannot
zoom in the Walkthrough camera mode.
Function Alternatives Use
Zoom in
 Mouse-wheel forward

 Home key

Zoom out
 Mouse-wheel backwards

 Insert key

To zoom the camera in on an object to view the object very closely you can use Focus Mode.

To enter Focus mode:

 left-click the object to select it

 right-click the object to view the context menu

OR

 view the Actions section of the Customise tab

 select Focus camera on object

To exit Focus mode:

 view the context menu

OR

 view the Actions section of the Customise tab

 select Leave object focus mode

Camera Modes
Icon Mode
Plan Mode – use to layout your rooms

Isometric Mode – a standard architectural 3D model of your home and

contents
Walkthrough Mode – a realistic representation of walking through your
home.
Note: walls are 'locked' and may not be edited in this mode.

Rotate \ Tilt the Camera

You can rotate the camera using any of the icons in the outer-ring of the camera controls or
from their associated keyboard shortcuts, but some rotations are only available from some
camera modes.
 Plan Mode

Rotate Rotate
Clockwise Anti-clockwise

Note: holding down the right mouse button and using the mouse will allow you to move the
workspace in relation to the camera while in the Plan or Isometric camera mode.

Isometric and Walkthrough Modes

Tilt up

Rotate Left Rotate Right

Tilt Down

Free-look Mode
In the Walkthrough camera mode you can enter a “free-look” mode in which you can point the
camera in any direction. You can access free-look by holding down the right-mouse button.
Then simply move your mouse to point the camera in the direction of the movement.

Move Camera
You can move the camera using any of the icons in the inner-ring of the camera controls or
from their associated keyboard shortcuts.
Move Forwards

Move Left Move Right

Move Backwards

Note: remember that holding down the right mouse button and using the mouse will allow
you to point the camera in any direction while in the Walkthrough camera mode.
Walkthrough Mode
MVH’s Walkthrough camera mode is great way to appreciate and to showcase your home
designs.
It is also the ideal camera mode for fine tuning the placement of furniture and applying
materials such as paint, tiles and carpet.
The Walkthrough mode, as the name suggests, allows you to walk through your home.

Walking & Turning

You can use the ↑ (up arrow) and ↓ (down arrow) keys while holding down the Right Mouse
Button to move the camera and change the direction that the camera is facing at the same
time.
 Press and hold the Right Mouse Button.

 Press and hold the ↑ (up arrow) key to move forward.

 Move the mouse to the left or right to change direction while moving.

This method of moving is very useful and quickly becomes a natural way to navigate your
home.

Walking Through Walls

Be default, the camera cannot move through a wall when in walkthrough mode.
In some situations you may wish to be able to move freely throughout your home without this
restriction; to do so hold down the Shift key while moving.
Likewise, closed doors will block your path. These too can be bypassed by holding down the
Shift key while moving or by opening the door.
Doors may be opened by a number of methods, including:
 Double-clicking the door

 Right-click to activate the doors context menu and then select Open Door

 Left click the door to select it then select Open Door from the Actions section of the
Customise tab

 Select the Interact tool from the Tool Bar, then click the door to open it.

Resetting the camera

If at any time you become los, the Backspace key on your keyboard will reset the camera
position. If you are still lost, then press the Spacebar to change to a different camera
mode.

Left Panel
The User Interface (UI) panel on the left of the MVH window contains the MVH catalogues; the
Homes, Rooms, Fixtures, Furniture and Materials (paints, carpets fabrics etc.) which can be
used to build and decorate your home.
 Whenever you want to place a room or object into your home, you will find it in the left-panel.

Expand \ Collapse Fade Panel

Tabs
Category Reset Breadcrumbs

Catalogue

Expand \ Collapse

Feature Use
Expand \ Collapse Click to expand and collapse the tab
Category Reset Click to set the catalogue back to the root categories
Fade Panel Click to toggle the Panel Fade feature. When active, the panel will
fade out when the mouse leaves the panel and fade in when you
mouse over the panel.
Tabs Click to change tabs
 Browse – browse and select objects from the catalogue

 Build Help – a quick guide through the basic steps of building

a home in MVH

 Search – search the MVH Catalogue for objects to place, or

search the MVH Directory for the businesses in your area
associated with those products

Catalogue Click to browse categories.

Click a Home, Room or product to select it
Breadcrumbs Describes your current location within the catalogue and can be used
to jump between categories.
See the Breadcrumbs section for details.

Breadcrumbs
The MVH Catalogues contain many thousands of products, including entire furnished homes
 and everything to put into a home from a bathroom to a single piece of cutlery, photo-frame
or door handle.
These objects are sorted into categories and placed into catalogues; the breadcrumbs feature
in the left-panel is used to indicate your current location within a catalogue.
The Reset Catalogue icon will return you to the root (start) level of any catalogue you are
viewing.
Your current category is always the right-most entry in the breadcrumb trail, and the contents
of this category are displayed below the breadcrumbs.
Parent categories describe the path from the root of the catalogue, to your currently selected
category. A maximum of three (3) parent categories are displayed at any time and these
categories are links back to that category.
 click on a parent category to navigate back to that category

In the example below, we have:

 selected the Furniture and Electrical category

 from within that, selected the Furniture category

 from within that selected the Bedding category

 and finally, from within that selected the Single Beds category

Parent Categories
Current Category

Reset Catalogue

Category
Contents

The contents of the Single Beds category are displayed.

Notifications Bar
The notifications bar displays confirmation and information messages relating to your current
actions.

Download Progress Bar

Charts the progress of downloading files for the rooms and objects that you place in your
home.

Lightmapping Progress Bar

This bar charts the progress of lightmapping each room and outdoor area within your home.
Lightmapping can be set to occur automatically from within the MVH Preferences, but can
always be triggered manually by clicking the Start button next to the progress bar.
Once Lightmapping has begun:
 the Start button becomes a ‘Clear’ button which removes all lightmaps when clicked.

 mouse over the progress bar to reveal details regarding the current lightmap target

Current Lightmap
Target

Start Lightmapping \
Clear all lightmaps
Lightmapping Progress

Right Panel
The right panel offers detailed information on every object (home, room, fixture, furniture and
material) in the MVH Catalogue and the ability to customise these objects to your satisfaction.
The right panel offers the same panel controls as the left:
 Fade Panel
Expand \ Collapse
Tabs

Expand \ Collapse

Feature Use
Expand \ Collapse Click to expand and collapse the tab
Fade Panel Click to toggle the Panel Fade feature. When active, the panel will
fade out when the mouse leaves the panel and fade in when you
mouse over the panel.
Tabs Click to change tabs, each tab contains different contents
Tab Contents This are provides the information and functionality available for the
currently selected object.

Info Tab
The Info Tab provides product information specific to the currently selected object.
 Object Name

Manufacturer \
Supplier

Object
Name

Description

MVH Directory
Search

Feature Use
Object Name The full name of the currently selected object
Manufacturer \ Supplier The business logo of the Manufacturer \ Supplier of the currently
selected object. Clicking the logo will open your default web
browser and then load the Manufacturer‟s MVH Directory page.
Description The full description of the currently selected object.
MVH Directory Search Search for businesses, related to the currently selected object,
which operate in your local area.

Customise Tab
The Customise Tab allows you to interact with and modify the selected object. The contents of
this tab are separated into collapsible sections.
Feature Use
Actions Various ways to interact with the currently selected object.
Click an action button to interact with the current object
Properties All editable properties for the selected object are presented here.

Components All editable components are presented.

Click a component slot to change the current component
Materials All editable Materials are presented.
Click a material slot to change the current material
 Actions

Click to interact
with the selected Click to
object Expand \ Collapse

Properties

Modify to suit
 Components

Click a
component „slot‟
to change it
 Materials

Click a material
„slot‟ to change
it

Click the „Paintbrush‟

tool to select this
material.
Use the Paintbrush to
apply the selected
material to other
objects in the home

Alternatives
The Alternatives tab is a quick method to replace one object in the workspace with another.
The alternatives tab will show all categories which
contain objects that are similar to the currently
selected object. These categories can then be
browsed and a replacement object selected.
Once selected, the chosen replacement is
automatically placed into the workspace, replacing
the previous object.

Note: The Alternatives tab is not available when

you have selected one of the following MVH
Object Types:
- MVH Home
- MVH Room

Workspace
The MVH Workspace is your window into the MyVirtualHome world; a place where you can
design, build, renovate and decorate homes and gardens then share these creations with
other users, businesses and tradespersons.
Objects, be they couches, doors, bathrooms or entire homes, are selected from the catalogue
and placed into the workspace. Once in the workspace they can be customised to suit your
needs.

Context Menu
The context menu offers a range of commonly actions specific to each room or object in MVH
at the click of a button. To view the context menu for an object (or room):
 right-click the object

Note: right-click means to click the object with the right mouse button instead of the left
mouse button.

The majority of the options presented in this menu are actions, and as such can also be found
in the Actions section of the Customise tab.

Typical MVH Room

Context Menu
Loading and Saving Homes
Starting a New Home
When you run MVH you are initially presented with a clear workspace, ready to build a new
home. At any time while using MVH you can return to this state by:
 File Menu > New Home

or

 Ctrl+N
If there are any objects in the workspace when you select New Home, then you will be
presented with a dialog asking if you would like to save the existing home before starting a
new home.

Note: if this dialog does not

appear it means that no changes
had been made to the existing
home since the last time it was
saved. Starting a new home will
not cause you to lose any of your
previous work.

Loading Homes
Loading an existing home will place the home on your workspace and place the camera in the
position it was when the loaded home was last saved.
Homes can be loaded from your local MVH Homes directory on your computer, from the MVH
HomeShare server or from the Homes section of the MVH Catalogue.

Loading a Home from the Catalogue

MVH v2.1 introduced Homes is the MVH catalogue. The homes presented are those from
commercial Home Designers, Developers and Builders; these are real homes available for
purchase.
Many of the homes provide in the catalogue come in two varieties, furnished and unfurnished
and all are constructed to specifications provided by the Home Designer.
The furnished homes have been furnished and decorated to showcase the great features of
the home and many are copies of existing display homes.

Note: due to the number of objects present in these fully furnished homes, the homes may
take a few minutes to load the first time as some files will need to be downloaded from the
MVH Data Server. Any subsequent loads of the home will be much quicker.

Unfurnished homes are just that complete but unfurnished. These homes have been fully
constructed and all fixtures (doors, windows, fixed cupboards etc) have been added; the home
 is built and ready for your furnishings
and decorations.
To load a home from the catalogue
simply browse the catalogue and click
a home to select it.
You will be presented with a loading
screen that offers a preview image
and some basic details about the
home and a progress bar which
details the progress of the loading
process.

Loading a Locally Saved Home

Locally saved homes are homes that you have saved to your computer. Usually these are
homes which you have created yourself but these can be homes that you have loaded from
the MVH Catalogue or from the MVH HomeShare Server and then resaved locally.

To load a locally saved home you can:

 File Menu > Load Home

OR

 Ctrl+O
This will open a standard windows dialog
allowing you to browse your computer to
the location in which you saved your home.
Usually this is in your My Documents \
MyVirtualHome folder. Use the dialog to
locate the home you wish to load, select the
home and click OK.

Loading a Home from HomeShare

HomeShare is an MVH feature which allows you to share your homes with other MVH users.
This allows you to showcase your designs, communicate your expectations with tradespersons
and view the designs of others. For more details on
HomeShare, see the section titled MVH HomeShare.
To load a Home from the MVH HomeShare Server:
 select File > Load from HomeShare

This will open the HomeShare dialog which features

two tabs:
 My Shared Homes – a list of the homes that
you have saved to HomeShare
  Search for other shared homes – a search dialog where you can search for homes that
other users have saved to HomeShare

To load a home that you have saved to HomeShare:

 browse the list of homes in the My Shared Homes tab

 click Open to load the home into the workspace

To load someone else’s home from HomeShare:

 select the Search for other shared homes tab

 enter the HomeShare Code for the desired

home and click Search

 browse the results of the search

 select the home to load and click Open

Recovering lost work

By default, MVH saves your home every 10minutes, in this way if your system crashes during
an editing session, there will be an AutoSave file that contains most of the lost work.
After restarting MVH:
 press Ctrl+O to display the Load dialog

OR

 select the AutoSave.home file located in your My Documents > MyVirtualHome

folder

 click Open

Saving Homes
Any home that you build can be saved and then accessed again at a later date. Homes may be
saved locally to your computer, or, to the MVH HomeShare Server and from there shared with
other MVH users

Saving a Home Locally

You can save any home that you create to your computer to be accessed at a later time. You
can also save a copy of other homes that you have loaded from the catalogue or from the
MVGH HomeShare Server.

Note: when you save a home a screenshot of your home is taken to use as the preview image
for the home. You may wish to position the camera in a particular mode or focus on a
particular feature prior to saving the home.

To save a home locally to your computer:

 File Menu > Save
 OR

 Ctrl+S
This will open a standard windows dialog allowing you to browse your computer to the
location in which you want to save your home. By default, the dialog will open with the
location you last used to save a home.
 browse to the location in which you wish to save the home

 enter a name from the home

 click Save

Once you have saved a home for the first time, any subsequent saves will not show the Save
dialog, instead MVH will just save your home to same location with the same name.
To save the home under a different name or ina different location see the topic, Copying a
Saved Home.

Deleting a saved home

You can delete your locally saved homes from your operating system’s file browser, simply:
 open your file browser

 navigate to the saved homes directory (typically this is My Documents \

MyVirtualHome)

 select the file and hit the Delete key

You can delete homes that you have saved to HomeShare by:
 opening the HomeShare Dialog (File > Load from HomeShare)

 browse your shared homes and click the Delete button associated with the home you
wish to delete

Copying Homes

Copying a Saved Home

You can make a copy of one of your locally saved MVH homes by using your operating
system’s file browser. Simply navigate to the directory in which you save your Homes and
make a copy of the home file as you would any other file.
You can also do this from within MVH by:
 loading the home

 File > Save Home as ...

This will open the normal Save Home dialog allowing you to select a location in, and name
under, which to save the home.

Copying a Catalogue or HomeShare Home

You may wish to load an unfurnished home from the catalogue or a HomeShare home and
then see how it looks with your furniture inside. Simply load the home and:
 File Menu > Save

OR

 Ctrl+S
This will open a standard windows dialog allowing you to browse your computer to the
location in which you want to save your home. By default, the dialog will open with the
location you last used to save a home.
 browse to the location in which you wish to save the home

 enter a name from the home

 click Save

MVH HomeShare
HomeShare is a feature that allows you to save your home to the MVH HomeShare server and
from there other MVH users can access your home.
When your home is saved to HomeShare it is assigned a unique HomeShare code. Sharing this
code with someone else allows them to download, view, and if you allow it, edit your home.
If another user downloads your home, edits the home and then attempts to save your home
back to the HomeShare server, then they are assigned a new HomeShare Code ensuring that
your original version is always safe for future reference.

Note: you are the only person that can ever modify or delete the home that you have saved to
HomeShare.

HomeShare is:
 a great way to share your design ideas with friends, family and teachers

 a quick and simple way to share your vision and expectations with tradespersons

 a powerful way to showcase your home designs to potential home purchasers,

wherever they are at any time of day

If you are a manufacturer (or salesperson) of items that are available in MVH, then you can
even use HomeShare to present a virtual showroom full of your products. This option is best
used in conjunction with HomeShare Links.

HomeShare Codes
When you save a home to HomeShare, the home is assigned a unique HomeShare Code. This
code is displayed in the HomeShare dialog once the save is complete.
This code may be shared with other MyVirtualHome users, enabling them to download, view
and edit a copy of your
home. HomeShare Code

HomeShare Links
HomeShare Links are

Copy HomeShare Link

similar to HomeShare Codes in that they allow you to share homes that have been saved to
HomeShare.
A HomeShare Link is created along with the HomeShare Code whenever a home is saved to
the HomeShare Server. This link can be added to an email or website or as you would any
other hyperlink, or the text of the link can be printed on a flyer or brochure and users can type
the link into their web browser.
If the user doesn’t have MyVirtualHome installed, they will be taken to a webpage describing
what MyVirtualHome is and where they can get it.
If the user has MVH installed, then clicking link will launch MVH and, once they have logged
in, load the home.
Building a Home
Floorplans
Floorplans can be used to guide your build in order to quickly construct an accurate model of a
real home.

Note: floorplans are entirely optional; you do not require a floorplan to build a home in MVH.
But if you have one, they are a great place to start.

MVH can use almost any image as a floorplan so you can scan your paper floorplan or
photograph it and import that into MVH. Most home builders and designers can now offer an
electronic version of their floorplans for you to view on your PC and there are many websites
which offer floorplans for download.

Loading a Floorplan
Almost any image can be loaded into MVH to be used as a floorplan. MVH may make some
changes to the image in order to handle the floorplan; the image may be resized and rendered
in gray-scale (no colour) once it is in MVH.

Note: no changes are actually made to the image, only to the way the image is presented in
MVH.

To load a floorplan:
 select File > Load Floorplan

This will open a dialog allowing you to

browse your computer to find your
floorplan. Once you have located your
floorplan:
 select the floorplan and click
Open

This will import your floorplan into

MVH.

Resizing a Floorplan
The first and most important thing to do when working
with floorplans is to ensure they are to correct scale. When
you placed the floorplan, two survey pages were also
placed. Between the two pegs is a yellow measurement line
which displays the current distance between the two pegs.
This measurement is updated as you drag a peg.MVH
provides two survey pegs as an aide when setting the scale.
 select one of these survey pegs and drag it to one
edge of a measurement on the floorplan
  drag the other peg to the other end of the selected floorplan measurement

Chances are that the measurement between the survey pegs doesn’t match that of the
floorplan. We need to resize the floorplan so that these two measurements match; to do this:
 select one a corner of the floorplan and drag it to resize the plan until the floorplan
measurement matches the survey peg measurement

Your floor plan is now to the correct scale. From this point forth, the dimensions in
MyVirtualHome will match the dimensions on your floor plan.

Rotating a Floorplan
Floorplans, like all other MVH objects have a rotation handle which is visible when the object is
selected.
 click the floorplan to select it

 click and drag the rotation handle to rotate the floorplan

 release the mouse button to stop rotating the floorplan

This will rotate the floorplan in 5° increments, finer adjustments can be made by holding the
Ctrl key while rotating.
Floorplans can also be flipped in 90° increments by using the < and > keys on your keyboard
to rotate anti-clockwise and clockwise respectively.

Locking a Floorplan
Once your floorplan has been resized it is a good idea to ‘lock’ the floorplan to prevent
accidentally moving or resizing the floorplan. To lock your floorplan:
 select Edit > Lock\Unlock

 click the Floorplan icon to lock your floorplan

Unlocked Locked

Note: when using a floorplan it is useful to hide floors to aid in aligning the rooms with the
floorplan. To hide floors:

- select Options > Show\Hide

- click the Show\hide Floor icon to hide the floors

Floorplans & Multi-Level Homes

When building a multi-level home you may have floorplans for each level. A single floorplan
can be placed for each level of the home.
To place a floorplan on a specific level:
 use the level controls to select that level

 select File > Load Floorplan

  browse to the location of the desired floorplan and click to select

 click Open
Ground Level
You may notice that floorplans Floorplan
placed on the upper levels of
homes are slightly transparent
allowing you to see the rooms
that lie on the level below. This
allows you to align the Transparent
floorplan with the floor below. Upper-Level
The MVH Home property Force Floorplan
opaque floorplans can be set
to prevent floorplans from be presented in the translucent state. To set this property:

 click the Home Properties icon on the Toolbar

 scroll down Properties section of the Customise tab until you locate the Force opaque
floorplans property and click to select it

Note: rooms placed on upper levels will ‘snap’ to align themselves with rooms on the level
below as well as those on the same level to assist in room placement. Snapping behaviour can
be overridden by holding the Ctrl key while placing the room.

Hiding Floorplans
Once placed, floorplans can be hidden at any time. This may be useful when you are designing
outdoors.
To hide floorplans:
 select Options > Show\Hide

 click the Show\Hide Floorplans icon

Floorplans can be made visible once more by clicking this icon again.

Deleting Floorplans
To delete a floorplan:
 click the floorplan

 hit Delete on your keyboard

OR

 right click the floorplan and select Delete Object from the context menu

Placing a North Marker

MVH accurately calculates the position of the sun in the sky as well as the intensity and the
quality of sun-light for any location on Earth. The aspect of a home greatly affects amount of
natural light that a room will receive and in order to determine the aspect of a home, you will
need to place a North Marker.

Note: if a North Marker is not placed, then MVH considers north to be in the direction of the
top of the screen when a new home is created.

To place a North Marker:

 select Measurements > Place North
Marker
North
 move the mouse to position the marker
Marker
and click to place the marker into the
workspace

 rotate the North Marker as required by

dragging the marker’s rotation handle

Some floor plans indicate the direction to true

north; this is usually the case for floorplans of Rotation
homes already built or ready to build. Handle
A north marker’s location in the workspace is not important, only the direction in which it is
indicating north.

Rooms and Walls

In MVH, the Room is your core building component; think of it as a child’s wooden block, you
build a home by placing blocks next to and on top of each other.
Some rooms are obvious, such as a Bedroom or Kitchen, others not so obvious, such as a
Hallway, Built-in Wardrobe or Linen Cupboard. While most rooms are part of the indoor
space, some rooms are considered to be outdoors, such as the Patio and Courtyard. All of
these spaces are considered to be rooms.
Rooms are very flexible and what you can do with one room, you can do with any other. If you
have an idea for a space, be it inside or out, you can almost certainly realise your vision, just
start with a room. The sunken garden below began life as an Entry Foyer.

Most rooms in MVH are at least partially

furnished. This allows you to recognise the room
at a glance and most importantly, provides an
immediate sense of scale. Most people do not
know the width of their bedroom in metres but
they do know how much room they on each side
of the bed – at least visually. Pre-furnished
rooms provide you with this scale immediately,
to give you an impression of the real size of the
room and are great to work with when not using
a floorplan.

Note: a room cannot be placed inside another

room.
 Adding Rooms
Rooms are located in the Rooms category of the MVH Catalogue. This category is a root (top-
level) category so it can be accessed quickly from anywhere in the catalogue by clicking the
reset catalogue button .
 click the Rooms category to view the category contents

The rooms are grouped into various categories to allow you to quickly locate the type of room
you are looking for.
 browse the categories and click a room

The room is then attached to the mouse cursor. If MVH needs to download any files for the
room (or its’ contents) then the room is displayed as a crate until the download is complete.
The download progress is
displayed in the Download The room is shown as a
Progress Bar in the lower right crate while downloading
of the MVH window.
Once the room is attached to
the mouse you can move the
mouse to drag the room
around the workspace.
If other rooms have already
been placed in the workspace Room is shown once
you may notice that the room download complete
attached to the cursor will snap
to the edges of existing rooms and snap to be in-line with the edges of existing rooms. This is
to assist in aligning or joining rooms.
 hold Ctrl while moving the mouse to override this ‘snapping’ behaviour

Note: Rooms cannot be placed on top of another object on the same home level.

Moving Rooms
Once placed into the workspace rooms can be moved in the same manner that all MVH
objects are moved:
 click the floor of the room to select it and continue to hold down the left-mouse
button, the cursor will change to the move cursor

Note: if the room contains furniture, be sure to

click the floor and not the furniture.

The selected object can always be recognised

Move Cursor by the blue highlight
 drag the mouse to move the selected
room

 release the mouse to place the room

Moving rooms between levels in the home
Homes in MVH can consist of multiple levels, five above ground levels and a single basement
level. Rooms can be easily moved between levels of the home by:
 right-click the room to show the room’s context menu

 select Move Above or Move Room Below to move the room to another level

Note: these options (like most options in the context menu) are also available in the Actions
section of the Customise tab.

This action will move the room to the selected level. If the level does not currently exist, the
level is created and then the room is moved to the new level.
If the level already exists the
Rooms cannot be moved between levels if the move would cause the room to collide with
another object, if this is the case the action is not available.

Rotating Rooms
Rooms, like all other MVH objects have a rotation handle which is visible when the object is
selected.
 click the room to select it

 click and drag the rotation handle to rotate the room

 release the mouse button to stop rotating the room

This will rotate the room in 5° increments, finer adjustments can be made by holding the
Ctrl key while rotating.
Rooms can also be flipped in 90° increments by using the < and > keys on your keyboard to
rotate anti-clockwise and clockwise respectively.
The room will not rotate if the new orientation would cause the room to overlap another
room or object already in the workspace.

Cut, Copy and Paste Rooms

The basic editing tools of Cut, Copy and Paste can be applied to rooms in just the same manner
that they are applied to other objects in your MVH Home.
These tools are considered to be Actions in MVH, so in addition to being available from the
Edit menu in the Menu Bar they can also be found:
 in the context menu (right-click an object, room to view it’s context menu)

 in the Actions section of the Customise tab (available after the object has been
selected)

Cut a Room
When you cut a room the room is removed from the workspace but a copy of the room is held
in the ‘clipboard’. The room can be returned to the workspace via the Paste action.
Restrictions
 you cannot cut a room that is snapped to another

 doors and windows are removed when the room is cut

Copy a Room
When you copy a room, a copy of the room is held in the clipboard and can be returned to the
workspace via the Paste action.

Restrictions
 you cannot copy a room that is snapped to another

 doors and windows are removed from the copy of the room, the original room is
unaffected

Paste a Room
The Paste action copies the contents of the clipboard and attaches this to the mouse cursor,
ready to be placed into the workspace.
If the clipboard contains a room, then the room is attached to the mouse cursor, ready for
placement. The normal rules and restrictions regarding the placement of rooms applies.

Aligning Rooms

Aligning Rooms with a Floorplan

Prior to placing rooms on a floorplan you should ensure that you have:
 used the survey pegs to resize the floorplan to the correct scale

 locked the floorplan to avoid accidently moving it during the building process

 placed the camera in the Plan mode to better view the floorplan

It is easy to select rooms and place them on the floorplan, but even a few centimetres out can
make a difference a few rooms later. To assist you in placing rooms as accurately as possible
when using a floorplan, MVH allows you to temporarily hide the floors of rooms so you can see
the floorplan underneath. To do this:
 from the Menu Bar select Options > Show\Hide ...

 click the Show\Hide Floors button, then

click Close

The floors are now hidden and you can see the floorplan
beneath the room.

Aligning Rooms with other Rooms

When placing rooms you will notice that as you move the room about the workspace the room
occasionally ‘snaps’ to a point in the workspace. These snapping lines coincide with:
  a parallel wall of another room

 the mid-point of a perpendicular wall of another room

Snap-lines of the
new room

Snap-lines of
existing rooms

Snapping occurs when a snap-line of the room being moved aligns with a snap-line of an
existing room.

Joining Rooms
Homes in MVH are built by joining one room to another. Joining one room to another in order
to build a home in MVH is, quite literally, a snap.
 place a few rooms into the workspace

 select one room and drag it towards another

When the two rooms are quite close together, the room you are dragging will jump the
remaining distance and ‘snap’ to the other room.
When two rooms snap together:
 exterior walls become interior, plasterboard walls

 any doors or windows that were located where any two walls snapped are removed

The change from external to internal wall impacts many things in MVH including the way
lighting is calculated for the rooms, the availability of doors and windows for the affected
walls, and the shape of the roof. Sometimes two walls can appear to be snapped when they
are not. MVH uses flashing, red nodes to indicate this issue..
If this occurs you will need to either:
 drag one of the affected walls towards the other until the snap occurs; this will affect
(slightly) the room dimensions

OR

 select one of the rooms and reposition it to achieve the snap

Resizing and Reshaping Rooms

Using Nodes
Rooms are quickly and easily resized in MVH. The main control points for a room are the
Nodes of the room. A node is created where two or more walls intersect and are indicated by
a translucent blue cube.
Nodes can be selected and then dragged like any other object in MVH and by doing so you can
resize and reshape a room.

Note: nodes where 3 or more walls intersect cannot be dragged.

 place a room and click a node to select it

 drag the node to resize the room

Select the node and
 release the mouse when done drag to resize \ reshape
the room

You may notice a couple of things while

doing this:
1. that the room dimensions are
shown while you are dragging the
node
2. that the angle of the walls that
form the node does not change –
a 90 corner remains a 90 corner
To change the angle between two walls:
 select the node

 use the node’s selection handle to drag the node away from the centre of the room to
reduce the angle

OR

 use the node’s selection handle to drag the node towards from the centre of the room
to increase the angle
 Select the nodes‟ rotation
handle and drag to change
the angle between walls

Using Walls
Wall Selected
Rooms can also be resized and
reshaped using the walls of the
room. When using nodes to resize
a room you will notice that it is
very easy to resize the room in
two dimensions (length and width)
but not so easy to resize the room
in just one; it can be a little tricky
to make a room longer without
changing how wide it is.
If you want to change modify a
room’s size and shape in just one
dimension it is much easier to
accomplish using a wall than it is a
node. When using walls, you
select a wall to use as a handle and then drag the handle- wall; the handle doesn’t change size,
but the two walls attached to the handle do.
 place a room

 click a wall to select it

Ensure that only the wall is selected, you

can confirm this by the blue border that
surrounds the selected object and by the
name of the selected object at the top of
the right panel.
 Drag the handle-wall to alter the
length of the walls that are attached to it

The length of each affected wall is shown

and is automatically adjusted as you drag
the handle-wall.

Drag the selected wall to resize the walls

attached to it
  release the mouse button when done

Splitting Walls (‘L’ Shaped Rooms)

Most rooms in MVH are either square or rectangular in shape when they are placed into the
workspace, but they do not need to stay that way. By ‘splitting’ walls you in effect turn a single
wall into two separate walls.
To split a wall:
 right-click the wall show the wall’s context menu

 select Split Wall from the menu

Note: splitting walls is another action so you will also find it in the Actions section of the
Customise tab.

You will notice that splitting a wall adds a node halfway along the wall creating two wall
segments. Each segment can be selected separately and treated as an individual wall.
To reshape the room:
 select one of the wall segments

 drag the wall to reshape the room

In some instances walls are automatically split when you snap rooms together, you may have
noticed already. This occurs when a node from one room is snapped to a wall of another.

Before snapping the selected

wall consists of a single
segment

After snapping the selected wall is

split into two segments. These can
be edited separately.

Restrictions to Resizing and Reshaping Rooms

 You cannot resize a room such that the furniture within the room no longer fits.

Note: if you attempt to do this, the furniture will be hi-lit red to indicate the problem. You
may need to move, replace or delete the furniture to achieve the room size\shape you are
after. Furniture can be quickly removed from a room using the room action Clear Furniture
located in both the context menu and the Actions section of the Customise tab.

 No single room can cover an area larger than 40m2

 No single wall can be longer than 50m

 No wall can be shorter than 4.5cm

 No internal wall angle can be less than 5o

 No internal wall angle can be greater than 345o

Interior and Exterior Walls

Whether or not a wall is considered to be an interior wall or an exterior wall is quite important
in MVH. The nature of the wall impacts many things in MVH including the way lighting is
calculated for the rooms, the availability of doors and windows for the affected walls, and the
shape of the roof.
 A wall is considered to be exterior when it borders the home i.e. there is no room, only
the outdoors, on one side of the wall

 Outdoor rooms are rooms that have a gap in an exterior wall. This gap can be due to a
hidden wall, a half-height wall or the wall type (e.g. balustrade walls).

Note: doors and windows are not considered a gap in wall, even when they are open.

 A wall is also considered to be an exterior wall when it borders an outdoor room.

(WALL A) – a balustrade wall, making the room to the

left of it an outdoor space and it an external wall.
(WALL B) – has a deleted wall, making the room to the
left of it an outdoor space and it an external wall.
(WALL C) – features a half-height wall, making the
room to the left of it an outdoor space and it an external
wall.
(WALLS D & F) – both border an outdoor space
making them external walls.
(WALL E) – does not border an outdoor space and is
therefore the only interior wall

(WALL A) – is a full brick wall. It is an unbroken

external wall making the room to the left of in an
interior wall.
(WALLS B, C, D, & E) – are all interior walls
  Windows can only be placed on exterior walls

 Exterior doors can only be placed on exterior walls

 Interior doors can only be placed on interior walls

 all door and window placement restrictions may be overridden by holding down the
Ctrl key while placing or moving the door \ window

Deleting Walls (Open Plan Spaces)

Walls in MVH are never really deleted, instead they are hidden. Any wall can be hidden by:
 right click the wall to show the context menu

 select Hide Wall

OR

 click the wall to select it

 select Hide wall from the Actions section of the Customise tab

If you have Auto. place doors and

windows set in the MVH Preferences,
then the hiding of walls may sometimes
occur automatically. In this instance
MVH may remove walls that separate
one Hallway from another or a Hallway
from an Entry Foyer

Half-Height Walls
Whether or not a wall is a half-height
wall is considered to be a property of the wall. As such, once you have selected the wall you
can find the Half Height Wall setting in the Properties section of the Customise tab.
To set a wall as a half-height wall:
 select the wall

 browse the Properties section of the Customise tab

 select Half height wall

Once set, a new property, Wall height, is made available.

 enter a height for the half-height wall

Multi-Level Homes
MVH allows you to build multiple-level homes; five levels above ground and a single basement
level.
When you start a new home and begin to place rooms and objects, everything is placed onto
the Terrain, the ground level. When you add a new level to MVH it is as if you had made an
invisible copy of the terrain and laid it on top the existing rooms. You may then select the new
level and place an additional floorplan or start to add rooms without any concern for them
falling through to the level below, even
when there is nothing below to support
them, but objects other than rooms are a
little different.
Many objects do not care about home
levels; instead they are primarily
concerned with a surface such as the
terrain, the floor of a room, a bench-top,
the ceiling or a wall.
If you place a couch, it will simply drop
until it encounters a floor or, failing that,
the terrain.
When placing a ceiling fan you will notice
that it can only be placed on a ceiling, if you attempt to place it outside of a room with a
ceiling it will simply disappear.

Note: the ceiling height of a level is determined by the height of the walls of that level. This
height is maintained across all walls on a level, if you modify the height of a wall, then that
change is reflected in all (non-half-height) walls on that level.

The Level Controls in the Tool Bar indicate the level of the home that you are currently
working on and provide the tools to manage the various level of your home.
 Level Controls

Current Level

Open dropdown menu

Levels currently in the home,
click to select as active level.

Dropdown Level actions

Menu

Basement actions

Adding a Level
Levels are always added to the top of the home, you cannot insert a new level into the middle
of a home. To add a new level to your home you can either:
 Click the level control to open the dropdown menu

 Select Add a new top level

OR

 place a room on your existing top level

 move that room to level above (creating the new level in the process) via the rooms
context menu or the Actions section in the Customise tab

Adding a Basement
Basements are always added below the ground floor of the home. To add a basement level to
your home you can either:
 Click the level control to open the dropdown menu

 Select Add a basement

OR

 place a room on your ground level

 move that room to level below (creating the basement level in the process) via the
rooms context menu or the Actions section in the Customise tab

There is also a setting in the MVH Preferences that, when set, will automatically add a
Basement level to every new home you create. This preference may be set by:
 selecting the Options menu

 select Edit Preferences

 from the General tab select Include basement by default and click OK
Note: only a single basement level may be included in each home.

Removing a Level
Levels are always removed from the top of the home down; you cannot remove a level from
the middle of a home.

Note: prior to deleting the topmost level of your home you must delete all rooms on the level.

To remove the top level of your home:

 Click the level control to open the dropdown menu

 Select Remove the Topmost level

Removing a Basement
To remove the basement level of your home:
 Click the level control to open the dropdown menu

 Select Remove the basement

Note: prior to deleting the basement level of your home you must delete all rooms on that
level.

Moving Between Levels in the Home

While you can use the Level Controls to select a level on which to build

Stairs
Stairs are located within the Structural & Fixtures category and may be placed both inside and
outside the home. Stairs can be placed in any camera mode and can be used (you can walk up
\ down the stairs) in Walkthrough mode.
The default stairs can be modified to fit your needs with a range of settings in the Properties
section of the Customise tab.
Stairs in MVH auto-generate banisters, railings and landings and these can be modified as
required, again from the Customise tab.
The default Stairs in MVH are separated into categories based on the ceiling height of the
room that you will be placing the stairs in. These stairs also have a property, Auto Set Height
which, when set, will ensure that your stairs adjust to any changes in the ceiling height.

Camera Modes & Level Controls

If you have a multiple level home but are yet to place stairs, then you can use Camera modes
to move between home levels.
In either Plan mode or Isometric mode, the Level Controls are enabled and can be used to
select a level to focus upon; this is how you select a default level for new room placements.
Once a level has been selected. entering Walkthrough mode will place the user on the
selected level.
Void Floors
The most common form a void floor is the straight staircase stairwell, but void floors in MVH
can also be used to create particular bulkhead arrangements, and high ceilings in a specific
room.
The Void Floor property can be set on any upper level room with a floor that sits entirely over
one or more rooms (i.e. the room doesn’t stick out from the side of the home, has no
overhangs).
Like all
properties, Void
Floor can be set
from the
Properties
section of the
Customise tab.

Doors
and
Windows
Doors and Windows are part of MVH’s Structural and Fitting category of the catalogue. Unlike
many items the furnishing category, doors and windows cannot be placed wherever you like;
they require a wall. Because of this doors and windows do not spend much time attached to
your cursor once you select them in the catalogue, instead the ‘jump’ to the wall nearest your
mouse cursor. As you move your mouse cursor around the workspace you will notice that the
door (or window) follows the mouse as best it can but tends to stay attached to wall whenever
possible.
There are two main points to consider when choosing doors and windows to place in your
MVH home and they:
 is the wall they are going on internal or external wall

 will they fit on the wall

Internal and External Walls

The Doors category is split into two main sub-categories:
 Internal Doors

 External Doors

Internal doors can only be placed on internal walls and external doors can only be placed on
external walls. Since internal and external walls can sometimes be a little tricky to distinguish
in MVH each type of door will only snap to the correct type of wall, making it much easier to
place the item.
For further details on internal and external walls, see the Interior and Exterior Walls section.
Ceiling Height
The height of the ceiling is uniform across all rooms on a particular level of the home (but can
vary between levels) and can restrict the selection of doors and windows that can be placed on
the walls of that level.
Ceiling height is a room Property so it can be accessed by:
 click a room to select it

 browse the Properties section of the Customise tab for Level Ceiling Height

As this property is shared amongst all rooms on a level, setting this value for any one room will
set the value for all rooms on that level of the home. Once set, any rooms added to this level
are automatically adjusted to have the same ceiling height.

Note: interior \ exterior door and window placement restrictions may be overridden by
holding down the Ctrl key while placing or moving the door \ window.

Doors

Placing a Door
To place a door:
 select Structural and Fixtures > Doors & Windows > Doors in the catalogue

Note: if you cannot see the Structural and Fixtures category, then reset the catalogue using
the button above the catalogue.

 browse the categories and click the door of your choice

The door is loaded into the workspace and attached to the nearest, valid wall (for the selected
door type) to your mouse cursor.
 move the mouse to relocate the door as required

 click to place the door

If the door is placed correctly, the door has snapped to the wall and has cut a hole in the wall
creating the doorway for you to walk through. If the door has been placed but the wall has not
been cut and no doorway has been created, then the door is not snapped to the wall.
  Click the door and move the mouse to have the door snap to the wall.

If the door refuses to snap to the wall it is because the wall is not a valid location for the door,
due to at least one of the following reasons:
 The door is too tall for the level ceiling height. Select another door or adjust the ceiling
height

 The door is too wide to be placed on the selected wall. Select another door or adjust
the length of the target wall.

 You are attempting to place either an internal door on an external wall or an external
door on an internal wall. Select the correct door type for the target wall.

Note: interior \ exterior door placement restrictions may be overridden by holding down the
Ctrl key while placing or moving the door. In this way, exterior doors can be placed on
interior walls and vice-versa.

Moving a Door
 click the door to select it

 drag the door with the mouse

The door will not stay attached to the mouse cursor as will most objects; instead it will travel
around the walls of the home staying as close to the mouse cursor as it can.
 release the mouse button to place the door

Replacing a Door
Once placed, doors can be easily and quickly switched for an alternate door. This is especially
useful if you have Auto. place doors and windows active.
 select the door

 select the Alternatives tab in the right panel

  browse the categories and click a replacement door to select it

The replacement door is automatically placed into the scene in the same location as the
original door.

A Door’s Opening Direction

As in the real world, doors in MVH can be set to open inwards or outwards and be hinged on
either the left or right side.
To alter the direction in which the door opens:
 click the door to select it

 hit the Enter key on your keyboard

Customising a Door
Doors are an integral aspect of your home and come in a great many varieties and once placed
you will find that doors, having a number of component and material slots, can be quite
heavily customised.
Like all objects in MVH, customisation can be done by modifying the Properties of the object
as well as the contents of the various Component and Material slots. These settings are all
available from the Customise tab once the object has been selected.
You can use the Wrench and Paintbrush tools to apply select changes to other doors.

Windows

Placing a Window
To place a Window:
 select Structural and Fixtures > Doors & Windows > Windows in the catalogue

Note: if you cannot see the Structural and Fixtures category, then reset the catalogue using
the button above the catalogue.

 browse the categories and click the window of your choice

The window is loaded into the workspace and attached to the nearest, valid wall to your
mouse cursor.
 move the mouse to relocate the window as required

 click to place the window

If the window is placed correctly, the window has snapped to the wall and has cut a hole in the
wall allowing you to see in\out the window. If the window has been placed but the wall has
not been cut, then the window is not snapped to the wall.
  Click the
window and
move the
mouse to have
the window
snap to the
wall.

If the window refuses

to snap to the wall it is
because the wall is not
a valid location for the
window, due to at least
one of the following reasons:

 The window is too tall for the level ceiling height. Select another window or adjust the
ceiling height

 The window is too wide to be placed on the selected wall. Select another window or
adjust the length of the target wall.

 You are attempting to place window on an internal wall. Select an appropriate wall or
hold down the Ctrl key to override the placement restriction.

Note: some window placement restrictions may be overridden by holding down the Ctrl key
while placing or moving the door. In this way, exterior doors can be placed on interior walls
and vice-versa.

Moving a Window
 click the window to select it

 drag the window with the mouse

The window will not stay attached to the mouse cursor as will most objects; instead it will
travel around the walls of the home staying as close to the mouse cursor as it can.
 release the mouse button to place the window

Replacing a Window
Once placed, window can be easily and quickly switched for an alternate window. This is
especially useful if you have Auto. place doors and windows active.
 select the window

 select the Alternatives tab in the right panel

 browse the categories and click a replacement window to select it

The replacement window is automatically placed into the scene in the same location as the
original window.

Customising a window
The placement, shape, size and style of windows contribute greatly to the overall feel of a
home and your MVH Homes are no different.
The Windows category contains a very wide variety of windows and these may be fitted with
binds, curtains
Like all objects in MVH, customisation can be done by modifying the Properties of the object
as well as the contents of the various Component and Material slots. These settings are all
available from the Customise tab once the object has been selected.
You can use the Wrench and Paintbrush tools to apply select changes to other windows.

Stairs
Stairs can be placed both inside and outside your Home and are used to link and move
between the various levels in your home.
Balusters, newels and railings are automatically generated for your stairs, and as you modify
the size, shape and layout of a staircase, theses components adjust to suit your changes.
Once a staircase has been placed in a room, the staircase then treated as contents of the
room:
 copying the room copies the staircase as well

 deleting the room deletes the staircase

If the staircase links room on different levels the staircase is considered contents of the room
at the base of the stairs; no changes to rooms on the levels above will affect the position or
layout of the stairs, but may affect the layout of the upper landing.
Stairs are separated into categories to suit various standard ceiling heights. Once a staircase
has been placed within a room, modifying the ceiling height for that level of the room will
modify the staircase to suit

Furnishings and Electrical

Most rooms in MVH contain default furnishings to instantly give you a sense of scale, to
provide instance recognition of the type or purpose of the room and because it looks nicer
than the empty shell of a home.
These default furnishings can be temporarily hidden or permanently removed at any time.

Hide Furniture
There are a couple of options to hide furniture; ‘ghosted’ or hidden.
 ghosted furniture is shown as a transparent white outline allowing you to concentrate
on other aspects of home building while still being aware of the location of furniture

 hidden furniture is not removed, but is made invisible

The options to hide furniture can be found in the Show \ Hide dialog:
 select Options > Show\Hide …

The three options relating to furniture are:

Furniture
 Show furnishings

Ghost furnishing – furniture outlines are visible but details are

hidden
Hide furnishings

These settings are applied to the entire home.

Clear Furniture
Clear Furniture is a room action that will delete all furniture and all non-structural fixtures
from the selected room\rooms. This action can be undone via the Undo command (available in
the Edit menu and the Toolbar) but once MVH has been closed, this action cannot be undone
on any subsequent load of the home.

Note: clear furniture will not delete structural fixtures such as doors, windows and serveries.

Clear Furniture is a room action so it is available from the Context Menu (right-click the room)
and from the Actions section of the Customise tab.
You can select multiple rooms by holding the Shift key while clicking rooms to select them
and them clear the furniture from all selected rooms with a single action.

Note: individual items of furniture can be removed by selecting them and hitting Delete on
your keyboard.

Placing Furniture
Furniture items are located in the Furniture & Electrical category of the MVH Catalogue. This
category is a root (top-level) category so it can be accessed quickly from anywhere in the
catalogue by clicking the reset catalogue button .
 click the Furniture & Electrical category to view the category contents

The items are grouped into various categories to allow you to quickly locate the type of
furniture you are looking for.
 browse the categories and click an item

The item is then attached to the mouse cursor. If MVH needs to download any files for the
item then the item is displayed as a crate until the download is complete. The download
progress is displayed in the Download Progress Bar in the lower right of the MVH window.
Once the item is attached to the mouse you can move the mouse to drag the item around the
workspace.
If rooms have already been placed in the workspace you may notice that the item will snap to
the walls of the rooms.
 hold Ctrl while moving the mouse to override this ‘snapping’ behaviour

Some objects, such as paintings and mirrors, are placed on walls, these objects will snap to the
nearest wall as you move the item around the workspace.
Some objects, such as vases, free standing televisions and table lamps, can be placed on most
horizontal surfaces. These surfaces include tables, dressers, bench-tops and the floor.
While you are attempting to place an object, the object may sometimes be shown as ‘ghosted’
 to indicate that the object cannot be placed in that location.

Some objects can

be placed on walls
Some objects can be placed
on horizontal surfaces, such
as shelves and benches

Removing Furniture
Previously placed furniture may be removed by any of the following:
 selecting the item and hitting the Delete key on your keyboard

 right-clicking the object to access the Context Menu and selecting Delete object

 selecting the item and choosing Delete Object from the Actions section of the
Customise tab

 selecting the item and choosing Edit > Delete

 selecting the item and hitting Ctrl+X on your keyboard (this method will place the
object in your MVH clipboard and you can ‘paste’ the object back into the scene if you
like)

Note: furniture can be temporarily hidden as well as permanently removed from the
workspace. To hide furniture select Options > Show \ Hide … See the section titled Hide
Furniture for more details.

Customising Furniture
Most furniture items have editable Component and \ or Material slots. These slots contain a
default component or material which you can edit to customise the item to suit your needs.
Components are layout or structural changes to the item. Bathroom cabinets may have
alternative drawer \ cupboard layouts and a kitchen cabinet may have a range of sink and tap
layouts as well as various door
handles.
Object Name
Materials refer to the surface type
and colour; polished brass, carpet,
decorative tiles and paints are all
materials.
Slot Type To view an item’s editable slots:
Slot Name  click the item to select it

 select the Customise tab

Slot Contents
  Scroll down to the Component or Material section

Each slot has a name to identify it and details the current contents of that slot.
 select a slot

The bottom half of the Customise tab now shows selection of categories containing
alternatives for that slot
 click to browse the categories and select an alternative to apply

The item is immediately updated with your selection.

 click Back to Customise to return to the slots view

Replacing Furniture with the Alternatives tab

The majority of the rooms available in the MVH Catalogue are generic rooms furnished with
generic furniture and electrical items. You may want to replace these generic items with real
items available from local businesses.
You may want to model your own home and populate it with the real contents of your home,
or see how your furniture fits into a home designed by a local builder.
Sometimes customising an item isn’t enough and you will want to replace the item with
another.
The easiest and quickest way to do all of these tasks is via the Alternatives tab.
The Alternatives tab contains a selection of alternatives for any selected object in your home,
saving you having to browse the catalogue or search for a specific item type.
Selecting an item from the Alternatives tab automatically places removes the current item
and inserts your selected alternative in workspace in place of the previous item; this saves you
having to manually delete the current item and then select and place the alternative.

To Replace an Item
 click the item to select it

 select the Alternatives tab

 browse the categories presented and click an alternative

The alternative is automatically placed into the scene in the same location as the original item.

Rotating Items
Furniture and Electrical items, like all other MVH objects have a rotation handle which is visible
when the object is selected.
 click the item to select it

 click and drag the rotation handle to rotate the item

 release the mouse button to stop rotating the item

This will rotate the item in 5° increments, finer adjustments can be made by holding the Ctrl
key while rotating.
Items can also be flipped in 90° increments by using the < and > keys on your keyboard to
rotate anti-clockwise and clockwise respectively.
The item will not rotate if the new orientation would cause it to overlap another item or
intersect a wall.

Cut, Copy and Paste Items

The basic editing tools of Cut, Copy and Paste can be applied to Furniture and Electrical items
in just the same manner that they are applied to other objects in your MVH Home.
These tools are considered to be Actions in MVH, so in addition to being available from the
Edit menu in the Menu Bar they can also be found:
 in the context menu (right-click an item to view it’s context menu)

 in the Actions section of the Customise tab (available after the item has been selected)

Cut an item
When you cut an item, it is removed from the workspace but a copy of the item is held in the
‘clipboard’. The item can be returned to the workspace via the Paste action.
The Cut action is available from any of the following:
 right-clicking the object to access the Context Menu and selecting Cut

 selecting the item and choosing Cut from the Actions section of the Customise tab

 selecting the item and choosing Edit > Cut

 selecting the item and hitting Ctrl+X on your keyboard (this method will place the
object in your MVH clipboard and you can ‘paste’ the object back into the scene if you
like)

Copy an item
When you copy an item, a copy of the item is held in the clipboard and can be returned to the
workspace via the Paste action.
The Cpoy action is available from any of the following:
 right-clicking the object to access the Context Menu and selecting Copy

 selecting the item and choosing Copy from the Actions section of the Customise tab

 selecting the item and choosing Edit > Copy

 selecting the item and hitting Ctrl+C on your keyboard (this method will place the
object in your MVH clipboard and you can ‘paste’ the object back into the scene if you
like)

Paste an item
The Paste action copies the contents of the clipboard and attaches this to the mouse cursor,
ready to be placed into the workspace.
If the clipboard contains an item, then the room is attached to the mouse cursor, ready for
placement. The normal rules and restrictions regarding the placement of rooms applies.
The Paste action is available from any of the following:
 right-clicking the object to access the Context Menu and selecting Paste

 selecting the item and choosing Paste from the Actions section of the Customise tab
  selecting the item and choosing Edit > Paste

 selecting the item and hitting Ctrl+V on your keyboard (this method will place the
object in your MVH clipboard and you can ‘paste’ the object back into the scene if you
like)

Decorating with MVH Materials

Rooms, Fixtures and Furnishings are all objects which can be placed within the workspace of
MVH. These objects come into the scene with a default set of features (MVH Components) and
surfaces (MVH Materials) which can be modified from the Customise tab.
The surfaces of any object can also be modified by selecting Materials from the catalogue and
applying these materials to the surface and in this way you can quickly experiment with paints,
carpets or laminate bench-tops.
The Materials section of the catalogue covers a very wide range of assets including Paints,
Tiles, Wallpaper, Bricks, Cladding and Renders, Carpets, Concretes, Pavers and Timber
Flooring, Ceramics, Glass, Laminates, Metals, Stone, Clay and Fibreglass, Fabrics, Leathers and
Suedes. And for the outdoor areas we have Soils, Aggregates, Grasses and Mulch.
The MVH Materials section covers alternatives for every surface in your home from your
driveway and garden-beds to your roof and everything in between.
Materials are applied in the same manner regardless of the material you are applying or the
surface you are applying it to.

Applying Materials (Paints, Carpets, Tiles etc)

The Materials category is a root (top-level) category so it can be accessed quickly from
anywhere in the catalogue by clicking the reset catalogue button .
 click the Materials category to view the category contents

The materials are grouped into various sub- categories to allow you to quickly locate the type
of material you are looking for.
 browse the categories and click an item to select it
 The cursor will change to a Paintbrush to indicate that a Material has been selected and the
material is now attached to the paintbrush.
 click any surface within the MVH workspace to apply the selected material to that
surface

If you apply the material to a surface and

Download instead of the material being applied to the
required surface you see something like the image to
the left, then MVH needs to download a file
or two for the material. Once the download
is complete (just a few seconds) the material
is automatically applied to the previously
selected surface.

Download Note: the download progress is displayed in

complete the Download Progress Bar in the lower right
of the MVH window.

The selected material will stay attached to the paintbrush until you select another material
from the catalogue or until you select another tool from the Toolbar.
 to switch back to the selection tool from the Paintbrush, select the Selection Tool

icon in the Toolbar

Applying Materials to Linked Surfaces

Holding the Shift key on your keyboard while clicking a surface will apply the material to
that surface and all ‘linked’ surfaces.
In this way you can paint every wall in the house or carpet every room with a single click. This
can be used to apply marble bench-tops to all kitchen benches or a laminate to all bathroom
cupboards.
The Roof
MVH automatically creates a roof for your home. The roof is always visible when in the
Walkthrough camera mode but may be hidden when in the Plan or Isometric camera modes.

To Show \ Hide the Roof

 click the Show \ Hide Roof icon on the Toolbar

Note: the roof cannot be hidden when in Walkthrough camera mode

Rooms without Roofs

Not all rooms have a roof by default, Patios and Courtyards for example, but any MVH Room
can be set to have (or not have) a roof.
 click the floor of a room to select the room

 select the Customise tab

 scroll to the Properties section and locate the

Room has a Roof setting

 tick the checkbox to assign a roof to the room,

un-tick to set the room to have no roof

Rooms without roofs are considered outdoor rooms and all the characteristics of outdoor
rooms with respect to lighting, lightmapping, valid doors and windows apply to all rooms
without roofs.

The Roof-line
The shape of the roofline is determined by a couple of factors:
 the layout of the rooms

 the roof specific properties of the wall below each roof segment

Layout of the Rooms

The placement and shape of the rooms that make up your
home provide the basic guide for your roof. The roof is
generated from the line of all external walls of rooms that
have the room Property of Room has Roof checked.
This outline of your home is used to generate the basic
roofline but can be modified by the wall properties of these
external walls of your home.

Roof Specific Wall Properties

External walls of rooms which have roofs have additional
properties which define the shape of the roof that will be generated from that wall-line.
 select Walkthrough or Isometric camera mode and move the camera to outside the
 home where you can see the roof
 click one of the external walls to select it
 select the Customise tab and browse to the
Properties section
 locate the Roof Type property and use the dropdown
list to view the available roof types

Note: if you are not familiar with roof types then try them out
to see the effect it has on you roofline.

Each roof type will enable certain roof properties such as pitch
and slope which can be modified to further customise your roof line.

Tiles, Shingles or Sheeting?

The roof, like almost all surfaces in MVH, can be ‘painted’ with a material to change its’ look.
This can be done by either applying a selected material from the catalogue or via the
Customise tab.

Changing the roof material via the catalogue

 from the catalogue select Materials > Roofing

 browse the categories and click a material to select it

The cursor will change to

the Paintbrush tool; the
material is attached to the
paintbrush and is ready to
be applied to the roof.
 click the roof to
apply the selected
material

Changing the roof

material via the
Customise tab
 select the roof

 select the Customise tab

 scroll to the Materials section of the Customise tab

 select the Roof slot

The lower section of the Customise tab will change to present categories containing
alternative materials.
 browse the categories

 select an alternative material; it will be applied to the roof automatically

 select Back to Customise

Outdoors
While a great deal of attention has been given to home design and construction, indoor
furnishings and decoration, MVH also applies the same level of detail, and simplicity of
customisation, to the outdoor aspects of your home.
The MVH Catalogue contains a specific Outdoor category at the root (top-most) level of the
catalogue that contains all your outdoor need; everything from outdoor furnishings, garden
features and plants through to fences, garden paths and carports.

Note: all root (top-most) level categories can be accessed from anywhere in the catalogue by
simply clicking the Reset Catalogue icon .

Time of Day
The time of day in which your MVH Home exists can be altered and the light quality and
intensity specific to your location, at that time of day, is accurately represented by MVH. With
this level of detail you can view an accurate representation of the how light\dark a particular
room may be to help select appropriate wall and floor colours.

There are two methods of controlling the time of day within MVH:
 Simple Lighting

 Advanced Lighting

To determine if you are using simple or advanced lighting:

 click the Home Properties icon in the Toolbar

 scroll down the Properties section of the Customise tab until you locate the Simple
Lighting property

If Simple Lighting is checked then you are using MVH’s simple lighting controls, if un-checked,
you are using the advanced lighting.

Simple Lighting and the Time of Day

This setting is available when using Simple Lighting
 select a sun position to set the time of day

It may take a second or two before the new lighting is calculated and applied to the
workspace.
Note: altering the time of day will invalidate any lightmapping causing it to restart. Remember,
for lightmapping: Build -> Furnish -> set Time -> adjust lights -> Lightmap -> adjust Materials

Advanced Lighting and Time of Day

When using the Advanced Time of Day settings a number of properties become available:
 Time

 Timezone

 Daylight Savings adjustment

 Date

Edit these settings to achieve a precise representation of the light quality for you home design
at your specified location.

Note: to achieve accurate lighting you should always place a Northmarker and then rotate it
to ensure that you have the desired aspect for your home design.

Location
The location of your home can greatly affect the quality and quantity of daylight that the home
receives. For many building projects in MVH this level of detail is not required but if you are
remodelling an existing home and wish to have an accurate preview of the light available and
the impact this light has on colours within the home, then we suggest that you set the
Location property to closest available option.

To set the Location of your Home

 click the Home Properties icon in the Toolbar

 scroll down the Properties section of the Customise tab until you locate the Location
property
  use the drop-down to select the closest location to you home

Terrain Options
The Terrain in MVH is considered a Material Slot of the home, allowing you to change the
material used to display the terrain.

To Change the Terrain

 click the Home Properties icon in the Toolbar

 scroll down the Materials section of the Customise tab

 click to select the Terrain slot

The lower section of the Customise tab will change to show the available
categories contain the alternative materials for the Terrain.
 browse the categories and select an alternative material; it
will be applied to the terrain automatically

Show \ Hide the Terrain Grid

The default material used to display the terrain shows a
1m x 1m grid (adjusted to 1y x 1y when using imperial
measurements). To show or hide this grid:
 select Options > Show \ Hide …

This will display the Visibility Options sub-menu.

 click the Show \ Hide Grid icon to alter the visibility of the grid

Other terrain materials may display a grid for measurement and placement references when
building, but only the default terrain material has a grid that can be hidden at any time.

Show \ Hide the Terrain

By default, all new homes have the Terrain set to visible, but this option can be changed if
desired. An example of when you may wish to hide the terrain is when you replace the default
Panorama with a custom panorama and this new panorama contains an image to be used as
the ground.

Note: for more information on changing the Panorama see the section titled Panoramas.

To show or hide the terrain:

 select Options > Show \ Hide …

This will display the Visibility Options sub-menu.

 click the Show \ Hide Terrain icon to alter the visibility of the terrain
Panoramas
The MVH Panorama refers to the scenery that surrounds the workspace; anything on the
horizon, the skyline, the sky itself and in some cases the ground.
Like everything else in MVH the Panorama can be customised to suit your needs, in this way
you can achieve a very high level of accuracy to a real world location; if you are modelling a
home in a know location, then you can have the view out a window in MVH accurately
represent the real world equivalent.
The MVH Panorama is considered a Component of the MVH Home and Panorama settings can
be accessed from the Customise tab after selecting the Home.

Changing Panoramas

 select the Home Properties icon from the Toolbar

 scroll down to the Components section of the Customise tab

 click the Panorama slot to select it

The lower section of the Customise tab will change to show the categories which contain
alternative Panoramas for you to choose from.
 browse the categories and click an alternative Panorama to select it

The new Panorama is automatically applied.

 Click Back to Customise

Custom Panoramas
MVH also allows you to create your own panorama from images of your own. With this
method you can achieve any look for the scenery, skyline and sky.

 select the Home Properties icon from the Toolbar

  scroll down to the Components section of the Customise tab

 click the Panorama slot to select it

The lower section of the Customise tab will change to show the categories which contain
alternative Panoramas.
 select Custom Panorama Backgrounds

The options presented are alternative configurations for a custom panorama. These are cube,
cylinder and sphere; each requiring a different layout of images to create the panorama that
will wrap around your MVH Home.

Custom Cube map background

This configuration takes 6 images, one for each side of the cube. To create a custom cube map
panorama:
 select Custom Cube map background

You previous panorama is removed and the default cube map is loaded. Now you can modify
the default cube map with your own source images, creating your custom panorama.
 select Back to customise

You will notice that there are now 6 Material slots, one of each side of the cube
 select one of the material slots

 select User Image

 browse to the location of the image you wish to use, select it and click Open

The selected image is applied to the panorama.

 repeat this process for the remaining material slots

 scroll up to the Properties section of the Customise tab

There are a range of properties relating to your custom panorama which can be edited for fine
tweaking. These settings cover details such as the distance from the centre of the workspace
to the panorama and the position and colour of the sun. These last two groups of settings, the
Sun colour and Sun position can be used to precisely align the lighting with that in the
panorama images
Custom Cylindrical map background
This configuration takes 3 images, a 3600 panoramic image for cylinder tube and a circular
section for each end (top and bottom). To create a custom cylinder map panorama:
 select Custom Cylindrical map background

You previous panorama is removed and the default cylindrical map is loaded. Now you can
modify the default map with your own source images, creating your custom panorama.
 select Back to customise

You will notice that there are now 3 Material slots, one of each required image
 select one of the material slots

 select User Image

 browse to the location of the image you wish to use, select it and click Open

The selected image is applied to the panorama.

 repeat this process for the remaining material slots

 scroll up to the Properties section of the Customise tab

There are a range of properties relating to your custom panorama which can be edited for fine
tweaking. These settings cover details such as the distance from the centre of the workspace
to the panorama and the position and colour of the sun. These last two groups of settings, the
Sun colour and Sun position can be used to precisely align the lighting with that in the
panorama images

Custom Spherical map background

This configuration a single 2:1 aspect image to create a custom panorama:
 select Custom Spherical map background

You previous panorama is removed and the default spherical map is loaded. Now you can
modify the default cube map with your own source images, creating your custom panorama.
 select Back to customise

 select the material slot

 select User Image

 browse to the location of the image you wish to use, select it and click Open

The selected image is applied to the panorama.

 scroll up to the Properties section of the Customise tab

There are a range of properties relating to your custom panorama which can be edited for fine
tweaking. These settings cover details such as the distance from the centre of the workspace
to the panorama and the position and colour of the sun. These last two groups of settings, the
Sun colour and Sun position can be used to precisely align the lighting with that in the
panorama images
Fences
Fences are an integral part of most homes; consequently MVH provides a wide range of
fencing options for your MVH Home building projects.
Fences in MVH are modular and each fence segment can be ‘snapped’ to another to quickly
and easily construct a fence-line.
MVH fences, like most other objects, can be modified through the Customise tab and have a
range of different materials applied to change the look of the fence.

To Build a Fence
 from within the catalogue select Outdoors > Privacy & Shade > Fences, Gates and
Screens

OR

 enter Fences into the Search tab

 browse the Fence categories and

select a fence panel to place into the
scene

The fence panel\post is attached to the

cursor and is ready to place into the
workspace.
 drag the panel\post to the desired location and click to place

Note: if you drag a panel or post adjacent to an existing panel or post, it will snap to the
previously placed object.

 repeat to place more panels, dragging each panel adjacent to the last to allow the
panels to ‘snap’ to one another

 use fence posts to mark the corners

Note: all four sides of a fence post will allow a single fence panel to snap.

Moving a Fence
A fence that is made of many ‘snapped’ panels and posts can be selected and moved as a
single object.
 click a fence panel or post to select it

 click the selected panel \ post again to select it and all snapped fence components

 drag the selected fence to the desired

location and release the mouse button

Note: you can also select an entire group of

snapped objects by holding down the Shift key
on your keyboard while clicking one member of the
snapped group.
Paths & Driveways
Paths and Driveways are made up of segments that can be snapped together to form a path,
like laying segments of railway track, some are straight, some curved and some capped.
Once segments are snapped you can move and edit the segments as a single component.

To Build a Path or Driveway

 from within the catalogue select Outdoors > Paths & Driveways

 browse the categories and select a path segment to place into the scene

The path segment is attached to the cursor and is ready to place into the workspace.
 drag the path segment to the desired location and click to place the segment

Note: if you drag a segment adjacent to an existing segment it will snap to the previously
placed segment.

 repeat to place more segments, dragging each adjacent to the last to allow them to
‘snap’ to one another

Moving a Path or Driveway

A path that is made of many
‘snapped’ segments can be
selected and moved as a single
object.
 click a path segment to
select it

 click the selected

segment again to select it
and all snapped
segments

 drag the selected path to

the desired location and release the mouse button

Note: you can also select an entire group of snapped objects by holding down the Shift key
on your keyboard while clicking one member of the snapped group.

Pools, Spas & Saunas

Pools are a common backyard feature in some regions and MVH has a great range of both
above and in-ground pools to choose from. Like all objects in MVH, our pools can be modified
to suit your needs from the Customise tab.

Placing a Pool, Spa or Sauna

 from within the catalogue select Outdoors > Pools, Spas & Saunas

 browse the categories and select a pool to place into the scene

The pool is then attached to the mouse cursor. If MVH needs to download any files for the
pool, then the room is displayed
The pool is shown as a
as a crate until the download is
crate while
complete. The download progress
downloading
is displayed in the Download
Progress Bar in the lower right of
the MVH window.
 once the pool is attached
to the mouse you can
move the mouse to drag
the pool around the Pool is shown once
workspace download complete

 click to place the pool

Restrictions on placing Pools

In-ground Pools are unlike most other items in MVH in that they cut the terrain. Due to this
property of in-ground pools there are certain restrictions concerning where you can place one
of these pools.
In-ground Pools:
 can only be placed on the ground level of the home, never on an upper level or the
basement level

 cannot be placed inside a room

 cannot be placed above a room on the Basement level of the Home

Customising a Pool
The Customise tab contains the various editable Properties of the pool, as well as the editable
Component and Material slots.
Some pools have editable dimension of length, width and depth, others have set dimensions.
All pools in the MVH catalogue have editable material slots for changing:
 the coping surrounding the pool

 the surface of the pool shell; various popular and commercially available fibreglass
materials can be applied

 the water; MVH offers a few water textures including some animated water textures

To customise the pool:

 click to select the pool

 select the Customise tab

 scroll to the Properties section and\or the Material section

 modify Properties as required

To change the contents of a Material slot:

 click the slot to select it

The lower section of the Customise tab will change to show a list of categories which contain
alternative materials for the selected slot.
 browse the categories and click to select an alternative material

The selected material is automatically applied.

 click Back to Customise when done

Gardens
MVH has a wide range of garden furniture, water features and plants ranging in size from
ground covers and greases to mature trees. In addition there are a range of pavers, stones,
gravels, mulches, pots and flower beds. Everything you need to design, preview and
experiment with your garden and
outdoor space ideas.
Just as you would outside of MVH, we
suggest that you plan out your MVH
garden and then lay down your garden
beds, water features and paths prior
to actually doing your planting.
Many plants in MVH can be placed in
the garden beds, flower beds, pots and
planters available, but once a shrub
has been planted you cannot slide a
garden bed underneath; so leave your
planting until last.
When planting in MVH start with your
hedges and mature trees and work
your way down in size.

Note: when placing more than one copy of particular plant be sure to use the rotation handle
to rote the plant to avoid them appearing as clones of each other. This will achieve a more
realistic, organic appearance.

All the objects that you will need to create a fabulous garden are located in the Outdoor
category of the MVH Catalogue. This category contains a great many items ranging from water
tanks, garden sheds, swimming pools and shade sails, through fencing garden paths and water
features, from 10cm exotic grasses to 14m Jacaranda trees; everything you need to plan your
next garden renovation.
Make your Home look its’ best
MVH is by far the best looking home design and decoration package on the market and this
fact is something that we take great pride in. There are a few factors which contribute to the
appearance of your MVH Home, these are:
 lighting within the home

 lighting outside the home; the position of the Sun

 the lightmapping process

 the display settings that MVH is using

Lighting
The lighting within your MVH Home and in the garden will greatly impact the appearance of
your home, especially when lightmapping.
By default, MVH Rooms are placed into the scene with their ceiling lights, wall lights and lamps
switched on.
Having all your lights on during the middle of the day can make some rooms, particularly
bathrooms featuring reflective light-coloured tiles, somewhat bright. Likewise an over-head
light plus two bedside lamps can make a bedroom appear a little washed out.
Early morning and later afternoon sun slanting through the windows can make a room look so
much better simply due the warm glows and sharp shadows that it provides.
Prior to lightmapping think about:
 which lights in your home to turn off

 what time of day to use

Lightmapping
To make the most out of MVH’s high quality models and detailed textures, you need to light
map your home. Lightmapping refers to a process in which MVH takes into account all the
existing light sources (lamps, light fittings and the Sun) and calculates this light bouncing off
objects and those objects casting shadows.
The more complex the scene, the more objects and lights involved the longer this process will
take. Standard desktop computers that you could buy today will lightmap the interior of the
fully furnished tutorial home in about 15 minutes. The same tutorial home with the furniture
removed takes about 5 minutes.
Since lightmapping can take time to accomplish, MVH also has a Dynamic Lighting System
which works within a couple of seconds. Place a table, wait a couple of seconds and the table
casts a shadow. Turn on a lamp, wait a couple of seconds and the lighting and shadows within
the room are recalculated. The quality of the lighting and shadows presented by the dynamic
lighting system are not as high as those of the lightmapping process but dynamic lighting takes
effect instantly.
Dynamic Lighting \ Shadow effects are removed from a room once lightmapping is complete
for that room.
What difference does lighting make?
 No dynamic lighting or lightmapping Dynamic Lighting

Lightmapped to Low Lightmapped to High

Lightmapping Settings
MVH can be configured to begin lightmapping automatically a room whenever you have the
Home loaded, but are not currently building or furnishing.
To adjust this setting:
 select the Options menu in the Toolbar

 select Edit Preferences

 within the General tab locate the setting Auto calculate lighting while building

When this setting is checked MVH will lightmap your home when your actions aren’t affecting
lightmaps.

When to Lightmap
Simply put, this is after you place all rooms, fixtures and furnishings but before you customise
materials.
The lightmapping process calculates how light bounces off the objects in your home and the
position of the shadows subsequently cast by those objects. Some actions that you can make
in MVH will affect these calculations and can make any existing lightmaps invalid. When this
occurs MVH deletes the lightmap; this cannot be restored through the undo process, the
lightmapping process must be run again.
Since the lightmapping process can take some time you should consider when to begin
lightmapping.

Actions that will invalidate lightmaps are:

 turn an existing light on or off

 move and existing light

 change the time of day \ position of the Sun

 add an object to the workspace

 delete an object from the workspace

 move an object within the workspace

From this list it is obvious that it is best to start lightmapping after you have finished building
your MVH Home.

Actions that do not invalidate lightmaps:

 changing MVH Materials (painting, laying carpet, changing tiles etc)

 interacting with an object other than a light (opening or closing doors, turning on fans,
opening windows or closing curtains etc)

The quality and quantity of light affects how we perceive colour and MVH’s lightmapping
process produces the very accurate lighting, so you may wish to lightmap before
experimenting with MVH Materials.

To Start Lightmapping
You can begin lightmapping your home at any time by clicking the Start button in the
Lightmapping Progress bar.

To Clear Lightmaps
You can clear any existing lightmaps from your home by clicking the Clear button in the
Lightmapping Progress bar. This button becomes active once lightmapping has begun.

Display Settings
MVH’s Display Settings have a major impact on the visual quality of everything that you build
within MVH. By default MVH uses fairly low settings to ensure that all users can run MVH
reasonably well, even users on older, low end computers or Laptop\Notebook computers.
 To get the most out of MVH’s high quality visuals you will need to adjust the Display Settings
and this is quite easily done.

MVH’s Display Settings can be found by:

 selecting the Options menu

 selecting Edit Preferences

 selecting the Display tab

Screen Size
Screen Size refers to the amount of the screen that MVH uses,
by default this is 1024x768 pixels. Clicking the drop-down menu
of this setting will display a list of the screen size settings that
your computer is able to use with MVH.
The higher you set this value the larger the workspace you have
to use when building and if you customarily maximise the MVH
window to occupy the entire screen then we strongly
recommend that you set this value as high as your system
allows.

To adjust the screen size:

 click the dropdown to open the list of available screen sizes

 click to select a screen size from the list

Image Settings
Image Settings has the greatest impact upon the visual quality that will be used in MVH. The
options available here are:
 High Performance

 Medium

 High Quality

 Custom

By default this is set to High Performance to provide access to MVH to the widest range of
user possible. To improve the visual quality of MVH, change this setting to Medium or High
Quality.
The Custom setting exposes all the Image Quality settings that are rolled up into Image

High Performance High Quality

Settings. If you are an experienced computer user feel free to browse through these settings
and adjust as you see fit.

Optimisation
Most modern computers do not benefit greatly from this setting, but older computers may. If
you are using MVH on a newer desktop computer, then we recommend that you turn this
setting off (set to Do not optimize).
MVH’s optimization engine automatically adjusts the image settings depending on the
contents of the workspace. The setting options allow you to optimize MVHs display settings
for Performance (by reducing visual quality), Quality (may degrade performance) or a Balance
between the two.
When the optimization engine is active you may see objects appear in or disappear from the
workspace. You may also see distant areas of your home shown as a featureless blue surface,
this is the optimization process removing certain elements from the scene to ensure that you
do not experience any slow-down in performance while using MVH.
Tips and Tricks
Editing with the Eyedropper Tool

The Eyedropper tool can be used on any object or surface in MVH to select the contents
of a Material or Component featured on that object.
The selected slot contents may then be applied to other surfaces and objects.

 click the Eyedropper icon in the toolbar

A list of component and material slots are now presented in the Info tab
 click one of the slot to select it

The Info tab now shows information regarding the selected component or material. If you
selected a component, then cursor has changed to a spanner \ wrench and if you selected a
material then the cursor has changed to a paintbrush.

Note: the following example uses a selected component and the wrench tool, the same
process applies to a selected material and the paintbrush tool.

As you move the wrench around the workspace objects that contain a component slot that the
selected component can go in are high-lighted green.
 click one of these high-lighted objects to apply the selected component to that object

This is a quick method to apply changes to similar object throughout your home.

Blinds selected; a material and a

component slot are shown Select the blind component

When the wrench is over another Click to apply the blind component to
window it is high-lighted the window
Why won’t my door make a doorway?
Sometimes when you attempt to place a door, the door seems to not want to snap to the wall
and when you place the door you can see that it hasn’t cut a doorway to walk through.
If the door refuses to snap to the wall it is because the wall is not a valid location for the door,
due to at least one of the following reasons:
 The door is too tall for the level ceiling height. Select another door or adjust the ceiling
height

 The door is too wide to be placed on the selected wall. Select another door or adjust
the length of the target wall.

 You are attempting to place either an internal door on an external wall or an external
door on an internal wall. Select the correct door type for the target wall.

Note: interior \ exterior door placement restrictions may be overridden by holding down the
Ctrl key while placing or moving the door. In this way, exterior doors can be placed on
interior walls and vice-versa.

 a wall is considered to be exterior when it borders the home i.e. there is no room, only
the outdoors, on one side of the wall

 a wall is also considered to be an exterior wall when it borders an outdoor room

 outdoor rooms are rooms that have a gap in an exterior wall. This gap can be due to a
hidden wall, a half-height wall or the wall type (e.g. balustrade walls).

(WALL A) – a balustrade wall, making the room to the

left of it an outdoor space and it an external wall.
(WALL B) – has a deleted wall, making the room to the
left of it an outdoor space and it an external wall.
(WALL C) – features a half-height wall, making the
room to the left of it an outdoor space and it an external
wall.
(WALLS D & F) – both border an outdoor space
making them external walls.
(WALL E) – does not border an outdoor space and is
therefore the only interior wall

(WALL A) – is a full brick wall. It is an unbroken

external wall making the room to the left of in an
interior wall.
(WALLS B, C, D, & E) – are all interior walls
Painting

An Important Note about Colour

Sometimes, you may notice the colour in the search panel looks different when painted on a
wall in the 3D home – occasionally by a large amount. MyVirtualHome accurately represents
colours in the scene so why is the colour different?

The colour previews you see in the left search panel represent the colour you would see on a
paint swatch from a hardware store. When painted on a large surface under different lighting
conditions, such as incandescent, fluorescent or daylight, colours appear to change. This is due
to the painted surface colour being affected by the colour of the illuminating light.
MyVirtualHome accurately simulates this phenomenon.

When working with paint colours, be aware of the effect. Also take note that most lights in
MyVirtualHome default to using 60W incandescent light bulbs which produce a very yellow
light. The wattage and type of bulb a light fitting uses can be changed in the Components
section of the light fitting’s Info Panel. Try this and watch the effect on your wall colours.

 from the catalogue, click the Materials category to view the category contents

Note: if you cannot see the Materials category, then click the reset catalogue button .

 select Walls

 select Paints

 browse the categories and click a paint to select it

The cursor will change to a Paintbrush to indicate that a Material has been selected and the
material is now attached to the paintbrush.
 click the surface that you want to paint

The selected paint will stay attached to the paintbrush until you select another paint or object
from the catalogue or until you select another tool from the Toolbar.
 to switch back to the selection tool from the Paintbrush, select the Selection Tool

icon in the Toolbar

Painting all the walls at once

Once you have the paint selected and the cursor has changed to the paintbrush, you can hold
the Shift key on your keyboard while clicking a wall to apply the paint to that wall and all
‘linked’ walls.
Technical Issues
If you have an issue that is not covered by our Video Tutorials then please don't hesitate to
contact us via email.

We do our best to respond to all support emails within 24 hours and you can contact us by
emailing support@myvirtualhome.zendesk.com

Email is our preferred method of contact for support purposes because we often need to
forward your email to other people within our organisation for follow up.
Appendices
1. Menus
The Menus in MVH are similar to almost all other software applications; they can be opened
by clicking the menu name and each hold a number of different options.
Menus in MVH are grouped together in the Menu bar.

File Menu
The File Menu contains your basic MVH functions of starting a new home, loading an existing
home and saving homes.
Function Shortcut Use
New Home Ctrl+N Clear the workspace and begin a new home
Load Home Ctrl+O Load a locally saved home
Load from Load a home that was previously saved to the
HomeShare MVH HomeShare Server
Load Floorplan Load an image to use as a floorplan
Save Ctrl+S Save the current home
Save Home as Ctrl+Shift+S Save the current home under a new name
Save to HomeShare Save the current home to the MVH HomeShare
Server
Print Home Ctrl+P Send an image of the current workspace to the
printer
Exit Close MVH

Edit Menu
The Edit Menu contains basic editing options for your MVH Home.
Function Shortcut Use
Undo Ctrl+Z MVH records your last 20 changes in the MVH
History.
Move back 1 step in the history
Redo Ctrl+Y MVH records your last 20 changes in the MVH
History.
Move forward 1 step in the MVH history
Delete Delete Remove the selected object
Cut Ctrl+X Remove the selected object and save it to the
MVH clipboard
Copy Ctrl+C Create a copy of the selected object and attach it
to the cursor
Paste Ctrl+V Attach the contents of the MVH clipboard to the
cursor
Lock\Unlock Open the Editing Locks sub-menu

Editing Locks Sub-menu

The Editing Sub-menu provides options for ‘locking’ specific aspects of your Home, preventing
that aspect from being editing unless the respective lock is de-activated first.
Locked Unlocked Function
Floorplan – after resizing a floorplan you can lock it to prevent
accidental dragging
Walls – after placing all rooms you can lock the position of walls to
prevent accidental resizing \ reshaping.

Note: walls are always locked when you are in the Walkthrough
camera mode

Fixtures – fixtures such as doors, windows and wall cabinets may

be locked to prevent accidental edits
Furniture – can be locked to prevent accidental edits. This is
especially useful when lightmapping as moving furniture resets
lightmaps.
Materials – such as paints, carpets, wallpaper and wood finishes do
not affect lightmaps but can be locked to prevent accidental edits.
Clicking an icon will toggle the lock on and off.
Homes which are saved to the MVH HomeShare server can be saved with selected editing
locks active to prevent modification of copyrighted material.

Measurements Menu

Function Use
Place Northmarker Places a Northmarker which is useful for setting the aspect of your
home
Measure Changes the cursor to the Ruler tool which can be used for making and
placing measurements within the workspace
Protractor Changes the cursor to the Protractor tool which can be used for making
and placing angle measurements within the workspace
Both the Measure and Protractor tools replace the standard cursor with the respective tool. To
de-select the tool and return to the standard 'selection' cursor you need to click on the

selection tool in the tool bar.

Options Menu

Function Use
Edit Preferences Opens the MVH Preferences sub-menu
Show / Hide Opens the Visibility sub-menu
Calibrate Monitor Runs the monitor calibration sequence to assist in the accurate
representation of colours in MVH.
Note: material colours, such as paints, may not present an
 accurate colour until the surface has been lightmapped.
Changing materials does not affect lightmaps so they may be
changed safely at any time.
Show / Hide Camera Tools Toggles the visibility of the onscreen camera controls

Edit Preferences Sub-menu

MyVirtualHome provides a series of options and preferences that alter the way the software
operates and/or assist in achieving optimal performance or quality. The default settings are
fine in most instances, for most users. For those of you that like to tinker with, and fine tune,
your applications, the full list of available settings are presented below .
Function Use
General Tab
AutoSave Home Set the regularity (in minutes) with which a backup of your
home is automatically saved
Measurement Set the default measurement system to be used
Sound Volume Volume setting for sounds within MVH
Auto-place doors & Set to automatically place doors and windows in your home as
windows you build.
Doors and windows can be added\modified\removed manually
at any time.
Include basement by Set to automatically create a basement level in every new home
default you create.
Basement levels can always be added \ removed from the MVH
Home Level Controls
Invert Mouse Set to invert the Y-axis on the mouse when viewing your home
in the walkthrough camera mode. (i.e. pull back to look up)
Use colour radiosity When set, light that is reflected from a surface incorporates a
certain amount of colour from that surface
Space key cycles through You can place static cameras throughout your home to
camera snapshots showcase features or as markers for a recorded fly-through
movie.
When set, this control remaps the keyboard Space Bar from
“change camera mode” to “cycle through static camera
positions”
Capture video in web You can place static cameras throughout your home to
format showcase features or as markers for a recorded fly-through
movie.
When set, this control ensures that fly-through movies are
recorded at a lower resolution suitable for upload to YouTube.
Always print directly to Set to have MVH choose your default printer and simply print
windows default printer rather than presenting the standard Windows Print dialog box
Maximising the window Set to have MVH utilize the entire screen (including the
uses full-screen mode taskbar) when the MVH window is maximised.
Viewport Tab
User's height The height of the camera above the ground when in the
walkthrough camera mode.
Breathing camera Set to have the camera to subtly raise and lower as you look
around the scene when viewing your home in the walkthrough
camera mode. This is intended to mimic the movement of the
body as it breathes and add realism to the scene.
Head wave Set to have the camera to subtly bounce as you move when in
the walkthrough camera mode. This is intended to mimic the
movement of the body as it walks and adds realism to the scene.
Use orthographic plan Set to use a „top-down‟ perspective whilst in the Plan view
camera* mode; the camera will maintain a perpendicular aspect to the
ground at all times. Disabling this feature will change the view
so that the angle of perspective increases the further the room is
from the centre of the screen.
Display Tab
Screen size Set the screen resolution to use when running MVH. Higher
Resolutions provide a larger workspace and a sharper image but
may adversely impact performance on some systems.
Rendering API* The rendering API is essentially instructions that your computer
uses to display images on your screen. The two rendering APIs
supports are OpenGL and DirectX9. MVH defaults to DirectX
where possible and using OpenGL may cause some of the high-
end graphical features to be unavailable.
Image settings This setting manages a number of individual image quality
settings
 High Performance – uses the lowest graphical settings
to achieve the best performance from your computer.
If MVH seems to be running slowly, switching to High
Performance may solve the problem.

 Medium - a balance between performance and quality.

 High Quality – higher visual detail but MVH may run

slowly.

 Custom - Set individual aspects of MVH's visual

settings. See below for details on these settings.

Optimize for This setting attempts to dynamically adjust image quality

settings as you use MVH in order to maintain performance.
 Speed – adjust image quality to maintain high
performance

 Balance – adjust image quality to maintain a balance

between image quality and performance

 Quality – adjust image quality to maintain image

quality

 Do not optimize – do not dynamically adjust image

settings (recommended)

Sync to vertical retrace Computer monitors refresh themselves somewhere between 60

and 100 times per second. The video card runs as fast as it is
 able but does not necessarily match the refresh rate of the
monitor and this may result in an effect called „tearing‟ where
the content of the top of the screen briefly does not match the
bottom.
The Sync to vertical retrace option prevents this „tearing‟ effect
by forcing the video card to synchronise its output with the
monitor.
Image settings: Custom - enables the following settings
Enable real-time When set this will enable accurate reflections from all reflective
reflections horizontal surfaces. These reflections significantly contribute to
the realism of the scene but can impact performance.
Enable dynamic cubemap When set this will enable accurate reflections from all reflective
reflections vertical surfaces. These reflections significantly contribute to
the realism of the scene but can impact performance.
Enable dynamic shadows When set, this provides (low quality) accurate shadows to all
indoor objects in the scene. These shadows are removed once
that area of the scene has been lightmapped (which provides
high quality shadows)
Dynamic sun shadow When set, this provides (low quality) accurate shadows to all
outdoor objects in the scene. These shadows are removed once
that area of the scene has been lightmapped (which provides
high quality shadows)
Enable Screen Space Ambient occlusion attempts to approximate the way light
Ambient Occlusion radiates in real life, especially off what are normally considered
non-reflective surfaces.
When set, this control will improve the visual quality of the
scene but can impact performance.
Material detail Determines the quality of the lighting in the scene. The higher it
is set, the better the lighting quality. This setting can impact
performance.
Texture quality Sets the level of detail for textures on all objects in the scene.
Low will give you the best performance while High will give
you the most detail.
Geometry quality Sets the level of detail for object models in the scene. Low will
give you the best performance while High will give you the
most detail.
Anti-Aliasing* This controls how smooth edges are in the scene. The higher the
anti-aliasing, the smoother all straight lines will be, though this
can reduce performance.
Max anisotropy This increases the texture quality and is used on all objects in
the scene, including the rooms themselves. Low will give you
the best performance while High will give you the most detail.
(*) Changing options marked with an asterisk (*) requires that MVH be restarted prior to the
change taking effect.

Visibility Options Sub-menu

The Visibility Options sub-menu allows you to show or hide various features and labels within
MVH. Mouse over the icons to see the name of the control and click the icon to toggle the
visibility of that feature \ label.
Terrain
Floors – it is recommended that you hide floors when aligning rooms
on a floorplan. With floors hidden you can see the floorplan
underneath allowing you to align the rooms to the plan more
accurately.
Floorplans – once the rooms have been laid out you may want to hide
the floorplan for appearances sake or to more easily lay down the
outdoor elements.
Grid – the 1m x 1m terrain grid (1yd x 1yd when using imperial
measurements) can assist you in laying down rooms when not using a
floorplan.
Ground – you may wish to hide the default ground when using a
Custom Panorama which uses a image\photo to replace the ground
Walls
Show all walls

Ghost near walls – this option is useful in Isometric camera mode to

produce a cut-away effect allowing you to more easily view the room
interiors as you move around the home.
Hide walls - ghosts all walls, allowing you to see through your entire
home.
Furniture
Show furnishings

Ghost furnishing – furniture outlines are visible but details are

hidden
Hide furnishings

Labels
Room Labels Default room labels are visible in both Plan and Isometric camera
modes. Rooms labels may be modified from the Properties section of
the Customise tab.
Object Labels Object labels may be added from the Properties section of the
Customise tab. Object labels are visible in both Plan and Isometric
camera modes.
User Measurements Measurements that you place are visible in both Plan and Isometric
camera modes.
2. Keyboard Shortcuts

Camera Controls

Rotating the Camera

Action Keyboard Alternative
Plan Mode
Rotate clockwise D
Rotate Anti-clockwise A
Isometric Mode
Rotate Left A
Rotate Right D
Tilt Up W
Tilt Down S
Walkthrough Mode
Rotate left ←
Rotate right →

Moving the Camera

Action Keyboard Alternative
Plan and Isometric Modes
Move left ← or A
Move right → or D
Move forwards ↑ or W (Plan mode only)
Move backwards ↓ or S (Plan mode only)
Note: holding down the right mouse button and using the mouse will allow you to move the
workspace in relation to the camera while in the Plan or Isometric camera mode.
Walkthrough Mode
Move left A
Move right D
Move forwards W or ↑
Move backwards S or ↓
Note: remember that holding down the right mouse button and using the mouse will allow
you to point the camera in any direction while in the Walkthrough camera mode.