Just can't get good at building?

moo · May 2020

Hi everyone, I've had this account for a while now but only recently become a full member, so I hope this is the right place to post this!

Really just wanted some tips on building, as I just can't get my head around it. One of my biggest issues is with roofing- in TS2 I always just used auto-roofs and I find now when I build I always have some awkward jutting out bit that I can't get a nice roof on! Or, if I've done a bit of a diagonal wall, I can't roof that either. I also can't seem to pick good wall coverings for the outside of builds, I don't know how to judge what brick/panelling/etc to put where to mix it up. Window placement can be a bit of an issue too, as well as floorplans, but less so compared to the first two I mentioned. In general, I just need all the tips people are willing to give me with regard to building, I'll accept any advice haha!

I'm probably slightlyyy better at residential lots than community lots, but I really want to improve my community lot building skills as I have so many venues I want to make but I just can't build anything that looks nice

Thank you!

LionessInMN · May 2020

There are some awesome building tutorials out there for roofs and exterior paint/brick etc. I would suggest you start by watching some of those because they explain as they go. I have found that I have also improved by looking at other peoples builds and seeing how they do it. There are some masterful creators here. I am still stunned (in an amazed, impressed way) by some creations.

moo · May 2020

LionessInMN wrote: »

There are some awesome building tutorials out there for roofs and exterior paint/brick etc. I would suggest you start by watching some of those because they explain as they go. I have found that I have also improved by looking at other peoples builds and seeing how they do it. There are some masterful creators here. I am still stunned (in an amazed, impressed way) by some creations.

Thank you for the tips! I know, I get so envious of the beautiful creations especially for exotic locations and I really wish I could create stuff like that for myself, but I guess I need to start trying and not giving up!

Takissis · May 2020

LionessMN is absolutely right. There are tons of tutorials on building out there. For an absolute beginner, I recommend the Out of the Box Building by AdelaideBliss. It's short and very basic, but it's a good starting point.

Rosemow started a thread that is posted above full of tutorials also. You can find it Here.

When designing a new house, I start with looking at real life blueprints. You have to use them with a grain of salt because the proportions can tend to be a bit off. The general rule of thumb is 3 feet=1 square. I tend to round up, but be prepared to make smaller or larger to fit what you want to do. Also, for your roofing and exterior colors, look at pictures of real houses. Look at contrasting colors, accents, etc. Ask yourself questions like what do you like about this house and why. See if you can duplicate designs you like in Sims 4. Also, look at builders on the gallery and see what draws your eyes. What do you like and how did they do it? Never directly copy, but see if you can replicate styles, or pick things apart to figure out how it was done.

Learn the keys and cheats that will help you. They are listed all over the place, but for example, the Alt key is your friend. Used properly, you can move and place things where you want. Learn how to move items up and down, rotate freely, place freely, enlarge things or make them smaller.

With roofing, you can hit Shift while you adjust the eaves to change just that side. Also, roofs can stack if you have turned on move objects, so you can use them to cover areas more easily from different angles. And I think it's CTRL + SHIFT + C that will add the extra little markers on the roofs to change the shape. Hold down ALT when raising or lowering a roof pitch. This allows a smoother move and less snap to grid type of change of height (hard to explain that).

Test different swatches for different designs and colors. When looking at other's work, I'm always surprised to find things I didn't know existed because I never looked through the swatches completely. This goes for walls and floors too. Recently, I've used the sort tool (on the bottom left of your screen, to sort by colors. It's not the best feature, for example, if I know I want a blue wall, I can sort by blue and it will bring up all of the options that have blue in them. I have found a lot of stuff that I had missed before.

The absolute best advice I can give is to just keep trying. Build and build and build more. Every build I do, I learn something new. Also, sign up for an image hosting site, such as imjur and take screen shots. Post them here. People here love to see other's work and you can ask for feedback if you like. Join shell challenges. Most are for just fun and to showcase what you have done, but you can get some good feedback there.

Understand it's like any art. You will have to keep plugging at it to get truly good. Have fun with it though. Make designs that you enjoy. Give different techniques a try to find new ideas.

Most of all though, have fun and keep trying.

wendyology · May 2020

Keep going! In the time I've been building I think my skills have drastically improved.

Entering competitions can really push you to design something that's a bit out of your comfort zone and also help to connect with the community.

Download and look at builds - take all the roof pieces apart and see if you can put it back together again. It can be tedious to get the roofing pieces to fit nicely, but it's worth patience.

Also, google real world houses with a similar feel. It's useful to have reference.

moo · May 2020

Takissis wrote: »

LionessMN is absolutely right. There are tons of tutorials on building out there. For an absolute beginner, I recommend the Out of the Box Building by AdelaideBliss. It's short and very basic, but it's a good starting point.

Rosemow started a thread that is posted above full of tutorials also. You can find it Here.

When designing a new house, I start with looking at real life blueprints. You have to use them with a grain of salt because the proportions can tend to be a bit off. The general rule of thumb is 3 feet=1 square. I tend to round up, but be prepared to make smaller or larger to fit what you want to do. Also, for your roofing and exterior colors, look at pictures of real houses. Look at contrasting colors, accents, etc. Ask yourself questions like what do you like about this house and why. See if you can duplicate designs you like in Sims 4. Also, look at builders on the gallery and see what draws your eyes. What do you like and how did they do it? Never directly copy, but see if you can replicate styles, or pick things apart to figure out how it was done.

Learn the keys and cheats that will help you. They are listed all over the place, but for example, the Alt key is your friend. Used properly, you can move and place things where you want. Learn how to move items up and down, rotate freely, place freely, enlarge things or make them smaller.

With roofing, you can hit Shift while you adjust the eaves to change just that side. Also, roofs can stack if you have turned on move objects, so you can use them to cover areas more easily from different angles. And I think it's CTRL + SHIFT + C that will add the extra little markers on the roofs to change the shape. Hold down ALT when raising or lowering a roof pitch. This allows a smoother move and less snap to grid type of change of height (hard to explain that).

Test different swatches for different designs and colors. When looking at other's work, I'm always surprised to find things I didn't know existed because I never looked through the swatches completely. This goes for walls and floors too. Recently, I've used the sort tool (on the bottom left of your screen, to sort by colors. It's not the best feature, for example, if I know I want a blue wall, I can sort by blue and it will bring up all of the options that have blue in them. I have found a lot of stuff that I had missed before.

The absolute best advice I can give is to just keep trying. Build and build and build more. Every build I do, I learn something new. Also, sign up for an image hosting site, such as imjur and take screen shots. Post them here. People here love to see other's work and you can ask for feedback if you like. Join shell challenges. Most are for just fun and to showcase what you have done, but you can get some good feedback there.

Understand it's like any art. You will have to keep plugging at it to get truly good. Have fun with it though. Make designs that you enjoy. Give different techniques a try to find new ideas.

Most of all though, have fun and keep trying.

Wow thank you so much for going into so much detail! This was so helpful to read and I will definitely refer back to this and your resources too when I'm stuck with it! I better get building then

moo · May 2020

wendyology wrote: »

Keep going! In the time I've been building I think my skills have drastically improved.

Entering competitions can really push you to design something that's a bit out of your comfort zone and also help to connect with the community.

Download and look at builds - take all the roof pieces apart and see if you can put it back together again. It can be tedious to get the roofing pieces to fit nicely, but it's worth patience.

Also, google real world houses with a similar feel. It's useful to have reference.

Thank you for the tips! Definitely need to get practicing and put everyone's tips into practice

KaylaxCapers · May 2020

Building takes so much practice, even now after years of playing I still find certain builds difficult. I agree with all the advice given as above, and second the use of online pictures/floorplans to help you with your building. Although you won't be able to exactly match a picture of a building you like/floor plan, due to limitations in Sims4, it can give you a really good idea about how to design buildings and roof them - naturally over time and practice, you will find you won't need pictures anymore and will build freehand! I wish you all the luck and most importantly fun when getting creative

Enjoy @moo

moo · May 2020

KaylaxCapers wrote: »

Building takes so much practice, even now after years of playing I still find certain builds difficult. I agree with all the advice given as above, and second the use of online pictures/floorplans to help you with your building. Although you won't be able to exactly match a picture of a building you like/floor plan, due to limitations in Sims4, it can give you a really good idea about how to design buildings and roof them - naturally over time and practice, you will find you won't need pictures anymore and will build freehand! I wish you all the luck and most importantly fun when getting creative Enjoy @moo

Thank you! I'm thinking of making a separate save where I redo most of the worlds (probably not Windenburg as it is so big and tudor is a tricky style imo) but just bit by bit amongst normal gameplay in another save, I will build up all the worlds in my own 'save file' of sorts to get practice

Ayeffen · May 2020

Hi @moo - don't despair, we all start somewhere and I suppose any kind of design comes more naturally to some. I can't add much to what's already been said - I'm my opinion the best way is exploration but also it's sometimes worth downloading lots you are impressed by and looking at how they've been achieved from a building perspective and have a go at doing this yourself.

The video tutorials are also good maybe if you're looking to achieve something quite specific in function/form.

I used to find images of buildings or houses online that I liked the look of and tried to re-create them as best possible. When you have to fully explore the features in order to achieve a particular look it can give you a better idea of what's possible when you're creating other lots.

Furnishing to make a space appear more realistic, cluttered and lived-in is also a big factor I think and takes AGES but can be really rewarding at the end.

moo · May 2020

Ayeffen wrote: »

Hi @moo - don't despair, we all start somewhere and I suppose any kind of design comes more naturally to some. I can't add much to what's already been said - I'm my opinion the best way is exploration but also it's sometimes worth downloading lots you are impressed by and looking at how they've been achieved from a building perspective and have a go at doing this yourself.

The video tutorials are also good maybe if you're looking to achieve something quite specific in function/form.

I used to find images of buildings or houses online that I liked the look of and tried to re-create them as best possible. When you have to fully explore the features in order to achieve a particular look it can give you a better idea of what's possible when you're creating other lots.

Furnishing to make a space appear more realistic, cluttered and lived-in is also a big factor I think and takes AGES but can be really rewarding at the end.

Thank you so much, I've started putting these tips into practice. I attempted a library before I created this thread, and then I made a vet clinic with cottage-feel exterior, and my favourite I finished last night was a wedding chapel where I really used the tips of taking inspiration from pictures online. I also built the chapel partly from the inside out to get a better idea of spacing- I always find I make builds too big otherwise! Thank you so much again

moo · May 2020

Takissis wrote: »

LionessMN is absolutely right. There are tons of tutorials on building out there. For an absolute beginner, I recommend the Out of the Box Building by AdelaideBliss. It's short and very basic, but it's a good starting point.

Rosemow started a thread that is posted above full of tutorials also. You can find it Here.

When designing a new house, I start with looking at real life blueprints. You have to use them with a grain of salt because the proportions can tend to be a bit off. The general rule of thumb is 3 feet=1 square. I tend to round up, but be prepared to make smaller or larger to fit what you want to do. Also, for your roofing and exterior colors, look at pictures of real houses. Look at contrasting colors, accents, etc. Ask yourself questions like what do you like about this house and why. See if you can duplicate designs you like in Sims 4. Also, look at builders on the gallery and see what draws your eyes. What do you like and how did they do it? Never directly copy, but see if you can replicate styles, or pick things apart to figure out how it was done.

Learn the keys and cheats that will help you. They are listed all over the place, but for example, the Alt key is your friend. Used properly, you can move and place things where you want. Learn how to move items up and down, rotate freely, place freely, enlarge things or make them smaller.

With roofing, you can hit Shift while you adjust the eaves to change just that side. Also, roofs can stack if you have turned on move objects, so you can use them to cover areas more easily from different angles. And I think it's CTRL + SHIFT + C that will add the extra little markers on the roofs to change the shape. Hold down ALT when raising or lowering a roof pitch. This allows a smoother move and less snap to grid type of change of height (hard to explain that).

Test different swatches for different designs and colors. When looking at other's work, I'm always surprised to find things I didn't know existed because I never looked through the swatches completely. This goes for walls and floors too. Recently, I've used the sort tool (on the bottom left of your screen, to sort by colors. It's not the best feature, for example, if I know I want a blue wall, I can sort by blue and it will bring up all of the options that have blue in them. I have found a lot of stuff that I had missed before.

The absolute best advice I can give is to just keep trying. Build and build and build more. Every build I do, I learn something new. Also, sign up for an image hosting site, such as imjur and take screen shots. Post them here. People here love to see other's work and you can ask for feedback if you like. Join shell challenges. Most are for just fun and to showcase what you have done, but you can get some good feedback there.

Understand it's like any art. You will have to keep plugging at it to get truly good. Have fun with it though. Make designs that you enjoy. Give different techniques a try to find new ideas.

Most of all though, have fun and keep trying.

I just thought I would reply again and say I have managed a couple of builds since you posted this, if anyone did want to check them out my name on the gallery is 2000_mollymoo

the only one out of the three that I really like is my wedding chapel, but I'm pretty proud of it

gogojelly · May 2020

Hey @moo ,

I am also a long time simmer, but recent full member. I totally know how you feel! I feel like when I try to make my own designs everything just looks boxy and I was so confused when I couldnt find the autoroof button lol.

So lately I've been finding inspiration through pictures and youtube speedbuilds. It just helps so much - cause honestly, I don't know what the heck kind of specific features a Victorian house would have off the top of my head. So yeah, youtube/photos, I start from there as a base and then I can kind of make it my own from there.

Also if there are things that are unclear on how to do -GOOGLE. I just google everything lol. I recently googled some roofing tutorials that were super helpful!!

Anyway - good luck with your building goals!

moo · May 2020

gogojelly wrote: »

Hey @moo ,

I am also a long time simmer, but recent full member. I totally know how you feel! I feel like when I try to make my own designs everything just looks boxy and I was so confused when I couldnt find the autoroof button lol.

So lately I've been finding inspiration through pictures and youtube speedbuilds. It just helps so much - cause honestly, I don't know what the heck kind of specific features a Victorian house would have off the top of my head. So yeah, youtube/photos, I start from there as a base and then I can kind of make it my own from there.

Also if there are things that are unclear on how to do -GOOGLE. I just google everything lol. I recently googled some roofing tutorials that were super helpful!!

Anyway - good luck with your building goals!

Aww thanks for this! Really nice to know I'm not the only one! Glad you've been having success with building recently!

luckyheather · May 2020

I have been building since sims came out and I still learn things, I use google images often to start me off with just the front of a home then go from there. I also admire others work, sometimes download a build to look at how they achieved something I like the look of. Feel free to look at mine I have done a lot of community lots and homes in many styles, I like to try different things so im not repeating myself or get bored myself Lol. My Thread is here https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/936731/luckyheathers-creations/p1?new=1 There is a lot but do have a peek if you want I do add screenshots of everything I upload. Have Fun learning as it Never ends!
Stay safe and well

simgame · May 2020

I would suggest you start recreating houses from google cause that way you really start to learn using all of the sims 4 build features and you also start to see what looks good and what doesn't. This is what I did in the beginning and I have improved a lot since my first builds. I would also suggest that if you don't have quite the experience yet, you stay away from diagonal walls for a bit since the roofing on them is indeed a handful. You can always find me on the gallery under simooon2002 where I have recently picked up uploading builds again so feel free to ask me any questions there if you have any!:)

moo · May 2020

luckyheather wrote: »

I have been building since sims came out and I still learn things, I use google images often to start me off with just the front of a home then go from there. I also admire others work, sometimes download a build to look at how they achieved something I like the look of. Feel free to look at mine I have done a lot of community lots and homes in many styles, I like to try different things so im not repeating myself or get bored myself Lol. My Thread is here https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/936731/luckyheathers-creations/p1?new=1 There is a lot but do have a peek if you want I do add screenshots of everything I upload. Have Fun learning as it Never ends!
Stay safe and well

Thank you for the tips! I had a look at your builds and I really like them, you're right there is so much variety you've done a bit of everything! I'm currently attempting my fourth community lot, which is my biggest one yet- a spa. It's been quite hard and I have had to work on it over a few days a few hours at a time! But it's in a style to match Oasis Springs

thank you again and you stay safe too!!

moo · May 2020

simgame wrote: »

I would suggest you start recreating houses from google cause that way you really start to learn using all of the sims 4 build features and you also start to see what looks good and what doesn't. This is what I did in the beginning and I have improved a lot since my first builds. I would also suggest that if you don't have quite the experience yet, you stay away from diagonal walls for a bit since the roofing on them is indeed a handful. You can always find me on the gallery under simooon2002 where I have recently picked up uploading builds again so feel free to ask me any questions there if you have any!:)

Ah thank you for the advice, especially regarding the diagonal walls! I will try to avoid them for the time being! Your builds are insane! I'd love to be able to build like that

I'll be sure to ask if I ever need any more advice

Netzspannung · May 2020

There is a lot of good advice here and I am not a builder at all, but I can confirm that with practice there is so much room to improve. Pictures of houses and floorplans are a great place to start, as already mentioned. But also try to let your ideas and sparks of creativity take you places. For example, I once decided to make a house based on the floorplan of an apartment we once lived in. I loved the results so much in turned out ot be one of my favourite builds. Or just the other day I wanted to make a tradional looking greenhouse with the windows that came with CL. So I just went into the game, chose a rather big lot in Oasis Springs and made the greenhouse. Then I added some perfect plants, which I had saved to my gallery. And then I thought, ok, what am I going to do with this? So I started building a park around it and I really liked how it turned out with the barbecue area, playground equipement and landscaping. When I was all done I switched to one of the families in that save and the stay-at-home dad took his toddler to the park. And when I saw all the other Sims populating that park, playing on the swings, sitting down to play chess and the kids on the monkey bars ... it just made me happy. My park is not perfect and there are much better builders out there, but I made it and it works. It gave me a much better feeling than if I had downloaded a lot. Sorry for the long unhelpful post, but I am just trying to say, keep at it, it's a very rewarding experience once you figured out how to make builds you enjoy in your game.

moo · May 2020

Netzspannung wrote: »

There is a lot of good advice here and I am not a builder at all, but I can confirm that with practice there is so much room to improve. Pictures of houses and floorplans are a great place to start, as already mentioned. But also try to let your ideas and sparks of creativity take you places. For example, I once decided to make a house based on the floorplan of an apartment we once lived in. I loved the results so much in turned out ot be one of my favourite builds. Or just the other day I wanted to make a tradional looking greenhouse with the windows that came with CL. So I just went into the game, chose a rather big lot in Oasis Springs and made the greenhouse. Then I added some perfect plants, which I had saved to my gallery. And then I thought, ok, what am I going to do with this? So I started building a park around it and I really liked how it turned out with the barbecue area, playground equipement and landscaping. When I was all done I switched to one of the families in that save and the stay-at-home dad took his toddler to the park. And when I saw all the other Sims populating that park, playing on the swings, sitting down to play chess and the kids on the monkey bars ... it just made me happy. My park is not perfect and there are much better builders out there, but I made it and it works. It gave me a much better feeling than if I had downloaded a lot. Sorry for the long unhelpful post, but I am just trying to say, keep at it, it's a very rewarding experience once you figured out how to make builds you enjoy in your game.

Thank you so much for this!! I love the idea of that park you made, it's so cute that it just kept growing as you added ideas to it and ended up being a really happy place in your game! I think I do get what you mean about the feeling you get when it's your own build. The builds that ship with the game can sometimes be a bit empty, especially once you have added packs, or they are mainly the same and missing new types of lots. I love gallery builds, but often I just feel like I can't connect with homes or community lots I haven't built myself, because I can't figure out floorplans of houses I haven't built, or a community lot off the gallery will look stunning but not include a particular idea I had. I can't fully put it into words really, but I think I kinda get what you mean!

Camkat · May 2020

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

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

moo · May 2020

Camkat wrote: »

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

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

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

gothiclolitapl · May 2020

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

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

moo · May 2020

gothiclolitapl wrote: »

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

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

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

lsnishi · May 2020

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

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

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

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

moo · May 2020

lsnishi wrote: »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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