# Welcome to RoomBox

RoomBox is a SketchUp extension for quickly populating buildings with render-ready rooms.

* **First, make sure to read our** [**Getting Started**](/getting-started)**.**
* For general questions, please read the [FAQ](/faq).
* For details about the latest changes, please read the [Release Notes](/release-notes).
* For other questions to the community and the dev team, please visit the [Forums](https://forums.lindale.io/c/roombox/27).

{% embed url="<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnuLQM_-xLE>" %}


# Getting started

To create a new room in your model, click the "Library" icon of the RoomBox toolbar. This will open the room library that contains the rooms that you own as well as rooms available for purchase.

Place your cursor over a room and click the "Create new" button. This will activate the room creation tool in SketchUp.

{% hint style="success" %}
RoomBox offers room packs that you may purchase to expand your library.

However, **RoomBox also comes with a few free rooms** so that you can try it out.
{% endhint %}

Move the cursor in the model to see a preview of where the room can be placed. When hovering vertical surfaces like windows, the room will automatically snap and align with the surface.

Click to create the room.

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FH7GvAnpclTqgzEEeBGxr%2Fcreate_rooms2.gif?alt=media&amp;token=af246db3-d07c-4a39-915c-cf634732aeb0" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Creating a new room will open the room editor. In that window, you can edit the attributes of the room, such as its size and its contents.

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FV9sujlusteJ3ZHH0PlxA%2Fedit_room.gif?alt=media&amp;token=82725314-110e-46a0-9637-766c099c59c0" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="info" %}
This page described how to quickly create rooms in your model.

To learn more about RoomBox, please check out the other pages of the manual:

* [What is a room made of?](/manual/what-is-a-room-made-of)
* [How to create rooms?](/manual/creating-rooms)
* [How to select rooms?](/manual/selecting-rooms-through-walls)
* [How to edit rooms?](/manual/editing-rooms)
* [How to create custom rooms?](/manual/importing-custom-maps)
  {% endhint %}


# FAQ

{% content-ref url="/pages/Pwk7pDzXmKUQfszW3FYS" %}
[What are the software and hardware requirements to run RoomBox?](/faq/what-are-the-software-and-hardware-requirements-to-run-roombox)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/ZcEPTyewDOAVWqip4wvI" %}
[How to unlock the Pro version of RoomBox?](/faq/how-to-unlock-the-pro-version-of-roombox)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/pXjgPLvtjdAJLW7wzYKt" %}
[Can I use RoomBox with Lumion?](/faq/can-i-use-roombox-with-lumion)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/ADyTKKzI4FXkmc5muj4R" %}
[Can I use RoomBox with Twinmotion?](/faq/can-i-use-roombox-with-twinmotion)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/q4CsklJ9Tx6u7ET5NOlK" %}
[Can I use RoomBox with D5?](/faq/can-i-use-roombox-with-d5)
{% endcontent-ref %}


# What are the software and hardware requirements to run RoomBox?

**Software**

* Windows 10/11 64bits or Mac OSX 10.15+ (compatible with M1/M2 CPUs)
* Sketchup 2020+

**Recommended hardware**

* Quad-core 3+ Ghz processor
* 8+ GB RAM


# How to unlock the Pro version of RoomBox?

RoomBox comes in two versions:

* **RoomBox.** This basic version is free of charge. It will let you experiment with a few free rooms.
* **RoomBox Pro.** This full version adds the possibility to [import custom maps](/manual/importing-custom-maps) to create your own rooms.

**To unlock the Pro version of RoomBox, simply purchase any room pack.**

After that initial purchase, your RoomBox will switch to the Pro version forever.


# Can I use RoomBox with Lumion?

Absolutely!

RoomBox cannot directly create Lightmap materials for Lumion, but it's easy to set them up:

1. Select a room material, and set it as a ***Lightmap*** material
2. Click on the ***Choose Lightmap Texture*** icon button
3. Navigate to ***C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\RoomBoxForSketchup\downloads*** (or the download folder if you specified another one in the RoomBox settings)
4. Select the PNG map of the room. Choose the file ending with ***...\_converted.png***
5. Increase the ***Lightmap*** and ***Lightmap Multiply*** sliders to 1.0, or adjust to your liking
6. Repeat for the other room materials

{% embed url="<https://youtu.be/aPgEt5PGJcc>" %}


# Can I use RoomBox with Twinmotion?

Absolutely!

RoomBox cannot directly create glowing materials for Twinmotion, but it's easy to set them up:

1. Place the rooms in SketchUp using RoomBox
2. Import your SketchUp scene in Twinmotion
3. Select a room material
4. Go to ***Color > More***, click on ***Texture***, then ***Copy***
5. Go back and go to ***Settings***
6. Go to ***Glow***, set it to 1.0nit (or more if needed)
7. Then click ***More***, click ***Texture***, then ***Paste***
8. Repeat for the other room materials

{% embed url="<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlG1j670ziQ>" %}


# Can I use RoomBox with D5?

Absolutely!

RoomBox cannot directly create emissive materials for D5, but it's very easy to set them up:

1. Place the rooms in SketchUp using RoomBox
2. Import your SketchUp scene in D5
3. Select a room material
4. Enable ***Emissive***
5. Adjust the ***Intensity*** depending on the camera exposure
6. Repeat for the other room materials

{% embed url="<https://youtu.be/iwtphPFTpt8>" %}


# Can I use RoomBox with Chaos Vantage?

Yes, but with some limitations: you need to disable sprites.

As of today, emissive material support in Vantage is limited. Transparency is not supported, so sprites are rendered mostly black. "Compensate EV" is not supported either.

Therefor, you need to follow these steps:

1. In the RoomBox editor, disable all the sprites
2. In the V-Ray material editor, edit the RoomBox emissive materials:
   1. Disable "Compensate EV"
   2. Increase the Intensity until you can correctly see the room in your render (the exact value depends on the lighting conditions in your scene

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FnglCwkw7Jk3mnj278WcS%2Fvantage.png?alt=media&amp;token=6b09c513-ceea-49fb-8f31-bbbcc1ce82f5" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>


# Can I use RoomBox with another rendering engine?

RoomBox is natively compatible with **V-Ray**, **Enscape**, and **Thea**. You don't have do to anything for these three rendering engines.

If you use **Lumion**, **Twinmotion**, or **D5**, check out these articles:

* [Lumion](/faq/can-i-use-roombox-with-lumion)
* [Twinmotion](/faq/can-i-use-roombox-with-twinmotion)
* [D5](/faq/can-i-use-roombox-with-d5)

If you want to use RoomBox with **any other rendering engine**:\
The specific steps will vary from engine to engine, but in general you need to convert the RoomBox materials (the materials applied to the room geometry) to "emissive", "self-illuminated", or similar


# Release Notes

## 1.1.1 (2023-04-09)

Features

* Added **support for SketchUp 2024**.

## 1.1.0 (2023-12-21)

Changes

* The library is now much more responsive.
* Added buttons to change the size of the thumbnails.

Bug fixes

* Fixed changing the resolution sometimes not working.
* Fixed the wrong file size being displayed in tooltips when a download is required when changing a setting.

## 1.0.0 (2022-12-05)

This is the official 1.0.0 release of RoomBox for SketchUp 🎉

## 1.0.0-beta7 (2022-12-02)

Changes

* Added an animation to the Custom maps tab to illustrate how it works.
* Show “X rooms selected” in the editor instead of all the room names when several rooms are selected.

Bugfixes

* Fixed alpha maps not working.
* Fixed some tooltips preventing from clicking buttons that they cover.

## 1.0.0-beta6 (2022-11-30)

Changes

* Added an icon to free/purchased rooms in the library to better distinguish them from rooms that are available for purchase.

Bugfixes

* Fixed the box selection not working accurately in some cases.
* Fixed an error that occurred when deleting rooms being currently selected.
* Fixed an error that occurred when loading custom maps with unicode characters in their name.
* Fixed an error that sometimes occurred when loading custom PNG maps.
* Fixed an error that occurred when opening a new model after using RoomBox.

## 1.0.0-beta5 (2022-11-25)

Features

* **It is now possible to create rooms anywhere**, even if the creation tool is not touching an existing surface.
* **Added an option to pick a separate resolution for the room shown in SketchUp’s viewport** (previously, a low-resolution version of the room map was always used). This is especially useful with renderers that do not support proxy maps, such as Enscape. However, please note that this increases the size of the model.
* **Added more information in the pack section**: price and room count.

Changes

* Changed the preview when creating rooms from a single purple rectangle showing the front window to a full box showing the future room’s volume.
* Changed the icons in the RoomBox toolbar.
* Thea: lower the lighting intensity to produce better-looking renders.

Bugfixes

* Fixed the “Assign to selection” command not copying the sprites’ enabled/disabled option, which could produce unexpected results depending on the selected room type.
* Fixed the room names not updating when assigning a different room type.
* Fixed the room order changing in the library in each session.
* Fixed packs sometimes being mixed up in the purchase interface.
* Fixed the “Delete” button for custom maps sometimes being invisible.
* Fixed the toolbar buttons being disabled when a window is already opened/a tool is already active. Now, they can also be clicked in that case, which focuses the window/goes back to the previous tool.
* Fixed the room editor not opening when selecting rooms.
* Fixed some rooms appearing blurry in the room editor’s thumbnail.
* Fixed the position of room sprites not updating in real-time when changing it from the editor.

## 1.0.0-beta4 (2022-11-03)

Changes

* The purchase interface now shows all the packs that contain the clicked room.
* A new button in the RoomBox toolbar explictly activates the room selection tool (previously, the tool was only activated automatically when clicking in the room editor).
* The room library window now shows in its title when the Pro version is unlocked.

Bugfixes

* Fixed the selection tool not showing the outlines of hovered rooms anymore.
* Fixed the selection tool “box selection” not working in some cases.
* Fixed the “Update available” overlay showing Feature/Changes/Bugfixes categories even if they contain no entries.
* Fixed rooms sometimes showing light bleeding artifacts at their corners when rendered.

## 1.0.0-beta3 (2022-10-21)

Changes

* Use clearer names for the groups and materials created by RoomBox.
* Display construction lines to materialize the boundaries of a room.
* Use the SketchUp model’s unit for the dimensions shown in the room library.

Bug fixes

* Fixed errors when loading files that are stored under paths with unicode characters.
* Fixed a crash occurring when loading a custom map with the PNG format.
* Fixed errors occurring when the download directory has been deleted.
* Fixed the layout of the room library being broken in older versions of SketchUp (there was no spacing between rooms).
* Fixed the library toolbar sometimes not responding after typing search terms.

## 1.0.0-beta2 (2022-10-11)

Changes

* Added the vendor’s name and room dimensions to each room that can be purchased from the library.
* Removed the geometry for disabled walls and sprites instead of only hiding it, which previously led to issues when working with SketchUp scenes.

Bug fixes

* Fixed the Library window not working in SketchUp 2020 and 2021.
* Fixed rooms not being correctly oriented when clicking on the backface of a surface.
* Fixed rooms not being correctly oriented when placed on some angled surfaces.
* Fixed the terms of use sometimes not appearing for users to accept them.

## 1.0.0-beta1 (2022-10-04)

This is the initial beta release.


# What is a room made of?

RoomBox helps you instill life into your models by making it quick & easy to create **rooms** to populate buildings.

But what is a *room* in RoomBox, really?

## Walls

The main component of a room is its **walls**. They are referred in RoomBox as *Left*, *Right*, *Back*, *Floor* and *Ceiling*.

With RoomBox, individual walls can be enabled or disabled to accomodate different settings, such as a room at a building's corner, or a patio without a ceiling.

## Sprites

A room also contains **sprites**. They usually represent people, furnitures or light appliances. A room can have up to 4 layers of sprites.

In practice, each sprite is a flat image. Stacked together, they give a feeling of depth that will make your buildings all the more believable.

Individual sprites can be enabled or disabled. They can also be moved inside of the room. This helps in achieving more variety when reusing the same rooms multiple times in a model.

## Rooms in a SketchUp model

Once created, a room lives in of your SketchUp model as a [group](https://help.sketchup.com/sv/sketchup/grouping-geometry) filled with the geometry of its walls and sprites.

You can manipulate a RoomBox room like any other SketchUp entity. Move it around. Resize it. Duplicate it if you like it a lot. Delete it if you don't like it anymore!

{% hint style="danger" %}
One limitation though: **what's inside the room's group should not be edited manually**.

RoomBox is responsible for generating the geometry of this group. In consequence, external changes will get overwritten.
{% endhint %}

## Under the hood: interior maps

RoomBox lets us quickly create rooms without burdening ourselves with the nitty-gritty details. If you are interested in creating your own rooms though, you will need to manipulate **interior maps**, which are the image files that RoomBox uses internally.

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FHprdJM33wclrnXwmvmn7%2FLindale_Bedroom_02_Night_3K.jpg?alt=media&amp;token=e2e327a5-3117-4fde-9206-b8653b7d4e1e" alt=""><figcaption><p>An interior map for a kid's bedroom.</p></figcaption></figure>

An interior map is a single image made of 9 cells. The 5 cells at the center contain the room's walls. The 4 cells at the corners contain the sprites. When loaded into RoomBox, there different cells are cut and folded to create the actual geometry in the SketchUp model.

For importing your own interior maps, see the documentation about [custom maps](/manual/importing-custom-maps).


# Creating rooms

To create new rooms, open up the RoomBox library and place your cursor over the desired room type.

Two actions will be available: "**Create new**" and "**Assign to selection**" (the latter only appears if one or several existing rooms are already selected in SketchUp).

### Create new

Click the "Create New" button to start the room creation tool in SketchUp. Then, click on a free spot or a vertical surface to create the room at the desired position.

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FH7GvAnpclTqgzEEeBGxr%2Fcreate_rooms2.gif?alt=media&amp;token=af246db3-d07c-4a39-915c-cf634732aeb0" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Assign to selection

It's also possible to change the type of a room after it has been created.

To do so, select one or multiple existing rooms in SketchUp and then click the "Assign to Selection" button.

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FoIz0GHIaQxMYTwwujWml%2Fassign_rooms.gif?alt=media&amp;token=6d4e33e4-ed52-425d-9489-204fe9d24984" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="info" %}
If multiple rooms are selected, they will all be assigned the new room type.
{% endhint %}


# Selecting rooms through walls

Rooms will usually be placed behind walls or windows, which often makes them impractical to pick using SketchUp's traditional selection tool.

To make your lives easier, RoomBox offers a selection tool to easily pick rooms that are not directly clickable.

To activate the selection tool, click the selection icon in RoomBox's toolbar. Then, you can pick individual rooms by clicking on them.

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FHvh1EFmhok1NSPZULgPO%2Fselect_rooms2.gif?alt=media&amp;token=52ab6b40-b792-4c68-9c9b-482b02822e22" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="info" %}
Keep the Ctrl key pressed to select multiple rooms.
{% endhint %}

You can also pick a bunch of different rooms by clicking and dragging the cursor to draw a selection box.

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FS5XDarq5vmLuI4jsEoaE%2Fselect_rooms3.gif?alt=media&amp;token=fc70a55b-04eb-4d60-871b-24778d23a1d7" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>


# Editing rooms

You can change the attributes of a room with the Room Editor. Whenever a room of your model is selected, its data will appear in that window.

{% hint style="info" %}
When multiple rooms are selected, changes will apply to all of them.
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FV9sujlusteJ3ZHH0PlxA%2Fedit_room.gif?alt=media&amp;token=82725314-110e-46a0-9637-766c099c59c0" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Room type

This is the room currently assigned to your selection.

If the room comes from the RoomBox library, variants might be available. Use the "Lighting" list to pick those variants.

{% hint style="info" %}
Clicking the room's thumbnail will open up the library so that you can browse all the available rooms.
{% endhint %}

## Resolutions

Rooms are available in both low and high resolution.

The *Viewport / Enscape* option lets you pick a resolution for the room shown in SketchUp viewport, as well as in Enscape renders since it directly uses the materials stored in the model.

The *V-Ray / Thea* option lets you pick a different resolution for renders with those engines.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Because using a high-resolution map will produce heavy SketchUp files, we recommend to use a low-resolution map in the viewport and a high-resolution map for rendering.
{% endhint %}

### Dimensions

This is where you can edit the size of the room as well as its offset from the window.

The *Width*, *Height* and *Depth* attributes control the dimensions of the room's walls.

{% hint style="info" %}
It's also possible to change the size of a room by directly manipulating the room's group with [SketchUp's Scale tool](https://help.sketchup.com/en/sketchup/scaling-your-model-or-parts-your-model).
{% endhint %}

The *Window offset* attribute controls the distance between the window on which the room was placed and the actual geometry. This is useful to add a bit of depth depending on the thickness of the window or the recess of the facade.

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FVUSpCwhO143RIiO8THPC%2Fresize_room2.gif?alt=media&amp;token=470396d1-a83f-4f98-aa8d-358bb7ae748a" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Sprites

Each sprite can be toggled on or off using a checkbox. Sprites can also be moved along the room.

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2FnvCifSfoescEtSpqYXhy%2Fsprites.gif?alt=media&amp;token=45ef987c-ee9a-451e-8dda-63978b841dd9" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="info" %}
If a room is backed by an [interior map](/manual/what-is-a-room-made-of#under-the-hood-interior-maps) that has some empty sprite cells, RoomBox will detect it and hide the empty sprites in the user interface.
{% endhint %}

### Walls

Each wall can be individually toggled on or off. This is particularly useful to create special configurations, like rooms at a building's corner or patios without ceilings.


# Importing custom maps

{% hint style="info" %}
Custom maps are a feature of RoomBox **Pro**.

To unlock RoomBox Pro, you may [purchase any room pack](/faq/how-to-unlock-the-pro-version-of-roombox).
{% endhint %}

You can create your own room, or modify an existing one, by editing its [interior map](/manual/what-is-a-room-made-of#under-the-hood-interior-maps) in an image editor and then importing it into RoomBox as a custom map.

To import a custom map, go to the "Custom maps" tab in the library. Here, you can manage your collection of custom rooms and reuse them across sessions.

<figure><img src="https://3653410689-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FTJk45mTdqtDHNmLp7dc6%2Fuploads%2F2ev0Ycob6yFwX7yTmwDF%2Fimport_custom_map.gif?alt=media&amp;token=c25086c4-df51-45bb-ad34-c6a181238df4" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>