Are you looking to design a realistic garage driveway or a staircase down to your basement in your 3D house planning? In this step-by-step video tutorial, we show you how to implement these elements professionally using the cadvilla software. You’ll learn how to place garage doors and stairs, draw retaining walls, and precisely cut out the terrain using subtraction solids. Finally, you can add the finishing touches to the driveway by applying suitable paving textures.

Please note that some of the shown functions (like extrude solids and subtraction solids) are only included in the cadvilla professional and cadvilla professional plus versions.

Note: The zoom functions demonstrated in the video are only valid up to version 5. In newer versions, you can zoom simply by scrolling the mouse wheel. For further details, please refer to our post on zooming in the 2D and 3D view.

1. Inserting the garage door, door, and stair departure

In our example, we are creating the garage entrance on the Layer “1. Basement“.

[00:21] Short introduction to the shown functions

• Deselect the grid and line width to be able to catch points and orient yourself better.

[01:34] Position the door to the garage

• Select Building > Door > Door > Free positioning.
• Before placing it in the 2D view, press the right mouse button and select Properties.
• Open the point Selection. Under Interior doors, choose the type Door white with a double-click.
• Check the dimensions (e.g. width 0.75 m, height 2.00 m) and confirm with OK.
• Up to V9: Press the key combination CTRL + W to change the reference point of the door to the lower right corner.
• Up to V9: Make a right-click and select Constructional support > Point with distance from. Click on the outer corner of the wall. Enter 0.10 (for 10 cm) as the distance and confirm with OK.
• From V10: Position the door with a left mouse click at the desired position. Afterwards, select the door and change a dimension shown on the dimension line by clicking the ± symbol to define the exact position of the door.

[03:41] Insert garage door

• Go again to Building > Door > Door > Free positioning.
• Open the Properties in the 2D-view (right mouse button). Under Selection in the folder Garage / Industrial doors, choose the Roller shutter door 3.5m,2.5m.
• Change the width to 3.30 m and the height to 2.70 m. Confirm with OK.
• Up to V9: Change the reference point again with CTRL + W.
• Up to V9: Use the function Point with distance from again (shortcut A). Click on the corner of the wall, enter 0.10 as the distance and confirm with OK.
• From V10: Position the garage door with a left mouse click at the desired position. Afterwards, select the sectional door and change a dimension shown on the dimension line by clicking the ± symbol for the exact position.

[06:14] Adjust the 2D display of the garage door

• In the 2D view, the door often protrudes beyond the wall. Select the door and open the Properties (right mouse button).
• Go to Top view. Under Display type, choose the Wire frame point and click OK.

2. Create side walls and stairs

[07:54] Set guidelines for the side walls of the garage descent

• Switch back to the 2D view.
• Press the shortcut P for the function Numeric parallel guideline (parallel guideline with distance).
• Click on the left vertical wall and enter the distance 0.00. Repeat this for the right vertical wall.
• Click on the lower horizontal exterior wall. Enter 7.00 (for 7 meters) as distance and press Enter.

[09:32] Draw side walls of the entrance

• Select Building > Walls > External wall > Between two points.
• Open the Properties (right mouse button). Set the Thickness to 0.15 m.
• Under Layer construction > Standard Masonry > 2D Display, you can change the Monochrome Fill color to a Grey. Confirm three times with OK.
• Click on the intersection of the guidelines. Press CTRL + W to correctly align the reference point of the wall. Then click on the upper corner of the basement wall to finish the wall. Repeat this for the second side.

[11:37] Enter and adjust stairs

• Select Stair construction > Straight stair.
• Click on the start point at the guideline. Change the reference point with CTRL + W, so that the stair lies directly on the inside of the side retaining wall of the garage entrance. Click on the inner corner of the wall to the garage entrance as the end point.
• The straight stair dialog opens automatically. Click on the 3D symbol for the preview.
• To remove the handrails, click on the left on Handrail - Left and remove the checkmark at Create handrail. Repeat this for Handrail - Right. Confirm with OK.

3. Create extrude solid for the terrain cutout

We now need an extrude solid to cut away the terrain in the area of the driveway.

[13:44] Create a section view

• Select View > New Section View.
• Click on the lower left and then the upper right corner of the entrance. The section view opens in a new window.

[15:13] Select the “Environment” layer for the terrain cutout

• The solid for the terrain cutout must be on the correct layer. Hold down the CTRL key and click on the Environment layer in the Projects window (on the right).

[16:34] Draw an extrude solid for the garage descent

• Select Construction > Extrude solids > Insert with polygon.
• Click on the corner points of the entrance in the section view to trace the shape.
• Before completing, press the right mouse button and select Properties.
• Under the point Height/Depth, enter the exact width of your garage entrance (e.g. 5.20 m). Confirm with OK.
• Press the right mouse button and select Complete.

4. Convert extrude solid into a subtraction solid

[18:22] Convert to subtraction solid

• Select the recently drawn extrude solid in the section view or 3D view.
• Press the right mouse button and select Convert to subtraction solid. The terrain is now cut out.

[19:00] Hide subtraction solid in 3D

• The red cutting solid is distracting in the 3D-View. Right-click there and select Visibilities.
• Open the 3D Objects area. Remove the checkmark at 3D subtraction solids and confirm with OK.

[19:28] Correct the layer properties of the subtraction solid

• If the solid is on the wrong layer, it might cut out the wrong terrain.
• Select the subtraction solid (e.g., in the section view). Make a right-click and select Properties.
• In the properties, open Intersection with construction elements (Object selection).
• Choose the option on selected layers and mark the Environment layer.
• Open the point Select type.
• Deselect all types except for the Terrain type (Select ⇾ None ⇾ Terrain).
• Confirm with OK. Close the section view afterwards and, if necessary, delete the section symbol.

4. Texturize the garage descent

[22:56] Apply paving stones

• Switch to the 3D View.
• Open the Catalog panel on the right side of the screen.
• Navigate to Textures > Exterior > Pavement.
• Choose a suitable texture. Simply drag and drop it with the left mouse button pressed onto the floor surface of your garage entrance.
• Finally, press the ESC key to end the function.