Smart Layouts let you set up a room layout once and place it into many spaces. Snaptrude fits the layout to each target space, even when the rooms differ in size or shape. Use it on projects where one room type repeats many times, such as hotel guest rooms, apartment units or hospital wards. You can also use it to fit out spaces in a model imported from Revit before you export it again.

Before you start

A layout source can include exterior walls, interior walls, doors, windows and furniture. You can build it in Snaptrude or import it from Revit.
Draw or import the target spaces you want to fit out. They can be any shape: square, rectangular, irregular or curved.
Smart Layouts is available in Design Mode and BIM Mode. Importing from Revit needs a Pro, Organization or Enterprise plan.
To orient layouts automatically, give the circulation space next to the target spaces the label corridor.

Prepare a layout source

Smart Layouts doesn't use a separate layout library. The layout source is a set of elements on your canvas. You can define it in one of two ways:

Marquee selection: drag a selection box around the walls, doors, windows and furniture that make up the room. You don't need to group them first.
Group: group the walls, doors, windows and furniture that make up the room.

Place a Smart Layout

Select the target spaces you want to fit out. You can select several at once.
Click Smart Layouts on the vertical toolbar at the right edge of the canvas.
Specify the layout source: a group, or the elements you select with a marquee.
Snaptrude places the layout in each target space and fits it to that space.
Review each room and adjust it if needed. For details, see "Edit placed layouts" below.

Note: After placement, Snaptrude keeps the original space boundary as an underlay beneath the layout. The underlay is hidden by default, and a message tells you that you can unhide it. It's most useful when a layout contains only furniture and no walls, because the boundary shows where the room is.

How layouts adapt to each space

Exterior walls

Snaptrude maps each exterior wall of the layout to a wall of the target space, and each mapped wall keeps the layout's wall type. Walls get longer or shorter to fit the space. If the space has a different shape, Snaptrude splits walls or adds walls. Added walls use the type of the nearest original wall. Placed walls stay parametric.

Doors and windows

Doors and windows move with the wall they belong to. Each one stays the same distance from the nearest wall edge, and door swings don't change.

Interior walls

Interior walls are parametric. Each one anchors to the nearest exterior wall, so partitions adapt to each target space. This also means you can place and edit multi-room layouts.

Furniture

Furniture that sits against a wall, such as a bed headboard, wardrobe or desk, stays against that wall in the target space.
Furniture placed in the middle of the room moves to its nearest wall.
Ungrouped furniture moves on its own. Grouped furniture moves together, so a bed with its side tables keeps its arrangement.

Orientation from the corridor

If a target space is next to a space labelled corridor, Snaptrude rotates the layout so the wall with the door faces the corridor. You don't need to rotate it yourself.

Shared walls

When you place layouts in adjacent spaces, their shared boundary walls would overlap. Snaptrude merges them into one wall, so you don't get duplicate walls. This also works for layouts you placed earlier and for walls made with Sketch to BIM, which keeps the model clean for Revit export.

Edit placed layouts

Each placed layout is independent. You can move furniture, adjust walls, rotate elements or add objects in one room, and the other rooms won't change. You can use all the standard Snaptrude editing tools on placed layouts.

Note: If you edit a wall after placement, the furniture against it doesn't move with it. Move that furniture yourself.

Limitations

There's no layout library. A layout source exists only as elements on the canvas.
There's no master editing. Changes to one placed layout don't update the others or the source.
Slabs in a layout, including roof slabs and Floor Slabs, aren't supported.
You can't set a layout's orientation by hand. Automatic orientation depends on the corridor label.
Furniture doesn't follow a wall that you edit after placement.
If a target space has many more edges than the layout, walls may not map in the order you expect. Check irregular rooms after placement.

Sketch to BIM
Space Types
Parametric Walls
Importing Revit models

Smart Layouts