The free hand drawing usually is the most used feature to draw a customized project, as it allows you to draw any shape you need. You can start this command in several ways:
- by clicking the Create Room button in the Ribbon (in the HOME section - Projects group, disabled if a project is already opened)
- by clicking the shortcut Ctrl+N, that can be used also if a project is already opened
- by selecting the command File->New->Manual Drawing
It is possible to select one of the 5 most common shapes (and then adapt the room’s dimensions with the proper new controls) or choose to manually draw the layout. To make this process faster, you can also double click on the image of the needed shape. Once created the room, the application will automatically open the furnishings section in the Components window, as to start inserting doors and windows. If you prefer to hide this new window, you can create a dedicated key in the WindowsTM registry, called “NewProjectMask”, and set its value to “0”; in this way you keep on working the same way you were used in your Venus (or older) program. Consider, indeed, that new options variables may be missing in the old mask, as it is not more updated.
With this new mask the extended project’s data will not be available; they can be set in any moment with one of the following controls:
- Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+D
- Click right mouse button on Layout -> Properties
- Select Properties on the Ribbon “Tools” section
In case you decided to draw the layout free hand, the Application will let you placing the corners of the room: you can click the left mouse button 
in any position in order to start with the origin of the room. Then move the mouse to the next corner’s location, and click again in order to create the wall. Do it again and again ‘till the first corner you created. The Application will recognize that the room is complete, and will close it for you.
If you made any mistake with any of the corners you created, you can roll back by clicking the right mouse button 
, and selecting the command Undo point; this choice will let you delete the last corner, so that you can fix it again.
Drawing corners with the left mouse button is a very quick way to draw corners, thanks to the snap to the grid of the desktop, but sometimes it is not as accurate as you need. For this reason, if the walls of the rooms are orthogonal (all horizontal and vertical) you can use a trick in order to get as fast as accurate: once specified the first corner thanks to the left mouse button (as any point you choose for the first corner is correct), press the O keyboard button to switch to orthogonal mode. Once you click the O button, you can see that despite the position of the mouse, the wall you’re going to draw will always be vertical or horizontal. In this mode, you can specify the direction you want to the wall to be designed into, and start typing the length of the wall (consider the unit measure you currently have selected, which is visible at the right-bottom corner of the status bar of the application). Click the Enter button when the you finish typing, and you will see that the wall is there in the layout. Proceed by moving the mouse in a different direction, then type again Enter to confirm. For the last wall, you can still click the first corner of the room with the left mouse button, or even right click with the mouse and select Close.
This article is valid for DomuS3D® 2017 and later versions