Here are some frequently asked questions (faq) regarding the AutoDalle Paving Planner.
How to save a terrace
The save of a terrace is possible after having started and completed a layout plan. To save the result, first enter the name of your choice in the “terrace name” area, and then click on the save button. A green check mark will appear to indicate that your work has been saved. You can find all your saved terraces in the “Terrace name” drop-down list.
The result gives long lines of joints and does not seem to me random enough
When using AutoDalle, always keep in mind that the software does exactly what you could do yourself using grid paper and drawing the tiles with a pencil. The final random rendering is directly linked to the dimensions of the tiles you want to use. If you do the test on paper, with a small dozen of tiles you will see that you will get the same result as the software. On the other hand, manually carrying out the work which consists of covering an area of several tens of square meters, bypassing areas without paving, consuming all sizes of tiles fairly, is absolutely impossible to do without a computer.
It is important to understand that the overall view from above does not represent the final rendering of your pavement as you will see it when finished. To have a realistic overview, it is necessary to generate a 3D visualization which approximates a vision at man height as shown in the image below.
How to use correctly AutoDalle ?
Normal use of the software consists of these 9 steps:
- Define the total dimensions of your work area, to enter in the length and width of the terrace.
- Choose (or create) the paving model to use to cover your patio.
- Impose a positive joint thickness if the theoretical value (calculated from the dimensions of the slabs) is zero.
- If necessary, add excluded areas to define the exact outline of your future paving.
- Start the process.
- Save the layout.
- Manually modify the “rough” layout using the manual modification function by applying inversions and rotations to small groups of slabs.
- Save as many layouts as you want.
- Perform a 3D preview to get a good final rendering of your future terrace.
- Print the paving report when you are satisfied.
NB: To avoid repeating the first 4 steps, it is always possible to restart the process from an already saved terrace. The result obtained can be saved with a new name.
I have tiles of all different sizes, can I use AutoDalle ?
AutoDalle is designed to work with “Opus Roman” paving, that is to say paving composed of a series of slabs of coordinated dimensions and designed to go together. If you have slabs without any consistency of dimensions, AutoDalle will not be useful for you. Moreover, if you try to place your tiles “by hand”, drawing on a sheet of paper, you will quickly realize that it is absolutely impossible to obtain a regular layout with constant thickness of seal.