About SolidBuilder

SolidBuilder is one of the world's leading residential construction systems. It is a massive SilverScreen application package that is marketed by Digital Canal Corporation, a developer of construction software tools. The four major features and components of SolidBuilder are:

3D Framing
Material and Labor Estimation
2D Plans from the 3D Design
Visualization

SolidBuilder is a comprehensive system that builds:

Floors
Walls
Complex roofs
Footers
Sheathing
Stem walls
Slabs
Girders and posts
Interior design

As mentioned above, SolidBuilder is a very large software system. For a full overview. we suggest that you view the SolidBuilder pages at Digital Canal.

How SilverScreen is Used

SilverScreen lies behind virtually every SolidBuilder operation.

Solid Modeling: SilverScreen provides solid modeling for the framing of floors, walls, and roofs.  Every framing member in the house is a solid. This includes studs, rafters, joists, posts and beams. Cut lists are generated by measuring the solids in the house. The framing is done using the SilverScreen commands for solid intersection, difference and trim.

Large Drawings: SilverScreen is capable of managing drawings that contain thousands of solids and geometric shapes. A large SolidBuilder design can contain 10,000 drawing entities. SilverScreen is able to load, display, render these drawings quickly. SolidBuilder designs are efficiently stored in the SilverScreen drawing files. These files are small relative to comparable files in other CAD systems.

Hierarchical Drawing Structure: The SilverScreen hierarchical database lends itself naturally to structured data and design organization. SolidBuilder uses the drawing hierarchy to organize the geometry and data of the house design. A wall block contains the members of the wall. It also contains material information and framing specifications for the wall. Ceilings, floors and roofs are similarly organized so that the data and geometry are stored in the same location within the hierarchy.

Annotation: Dimensioning and detailing is handled through SilverScreen's architectural annotation system. This allows for baseline and stack detailing, angle detailing, notes and bubbles. The detailing is fully three-dimensional and is organized in annotation blocks which can readily be made visible or invisible.

Model Libraries: SolidBuilder uses SilverScreen's model libraries for interior design. Cabinets and appliances for the kitchen and bathroom are selected from libraries containing several thousand models.

Rendering: SilverScreen provides the rendering that is used to visualize the house. This includes external renderings and internal walk-throughs of the house.

Printing: Printing, both 2D and 3D, both rendered and wireframe, are handled through SilverScreen's print management. Of particular importance is the ability to print rendered images and to print to scale.