Testing townhouses against apartments, or a 6-storey scheme against an 8-storey one, is how you find the option that pencils. Use scenarios to hold each design option in one project, switch between them in a click, and compare their yields side by side.
Scenarios hold options. Drawing layers hold parts.
Use a scenario for each design option. Use drawing layers to organize the parts of your design, like each building or project area.
A geometry can belong to several scenarios, so options can share the same podium or site works.
Geometries that every option shares stay in the Base Model, which is always visible.
A geometry lives on only one drawing layer.
Learn more about the difference between scenarios and drawing layers.
Set up a scenario for each option
Draw the parts every option shares, like the site boundary or existing buildings, in the Base Model.
Create a scenario for each option, and give it a clear name like "Option A Townhouses".
Click the pencil on a scenario's row in the Scenario Palette to make it active. The active scenario has a green pencil.
Draw the option. New geometries go on the active scenario.
Activate the next scenario and draw the next option.
To add geometries you already drew to an option, assign geometry to scenarios.
Switch between options
Double-click a scenario in the Scenario Palette to show only that option. Every other scenario turns off. Double-click the Base Model to turn off every scenario.
Click a scenario's eye to show or hide it without changing the others. Several scenarios can be visible at once.
Layer visibility wins over scenario visibility. If a scenario is visible and its geometries sit on a hidden drawing layer, they stay hidden.
Compare options in Urban
Urban counts only visible scenarios and the Base Model.
To compare options side by side, turn on the scenarios you want to compare and group Urban by Scenario. Each visible scenario gets its own row, in its scenario color, and shared geometries show as Base Model.
To read one option on its own, double-click its scenario to show only that option.
Save a scene for each design option
Save a scene for each design option so you can jump straight back to it while you test options or walk a client through them. A scene saves the camera angle, the visibility of every layer, the active layer, the visible scenarios, the 2D, 2.5D, or 3D view, the sun position, and a small preview image. Learn exactly what a scene saves.
Double-click the design option's scenario in the Scenario Palette to show only that option.
Turn on the layers you want, and pan, zoom, tilt, and rotate the map to the camera angle you want.
Click the plus icon in the Scenes panel header. Its tooltip reads Capture the current map as a new scene. If the panel has no scenes yet, click Capture scene instead.
Double-click the new scene's name, type a name for the design option, like "Option A Townhouses", and press
Enter.Repeat for each design option.
Switch, compare, and present options with scenes
Click a design option's scene in the Scenes panel to switch to that option. Giraffe shows the scenarios saved with the scene, reapplies its layer visibility and sun position, and flies the camera to the saved angle. Learn more about how to navigate to a scene.
To compare options, click one option's scene and then another's. Save every option's scene from the same camera angle so the framing stays the same as you switch.
To present options to a client, click through the scenes in order. Drag scenes into the order you want to present them, or group them into folders.
Update a scene after a design option changes
When a design option changes, show that option, then right-click its scene in the Scenes panel and choose Update. Giraffe recaptures the camera position, layers, visible scenarios, and preview image into the same scene. Learn more about how to edit a scene.
Organize each option with drawing layers
Inside an option, keep each building or area on its own drawing layer. Then you can lock a finished building or hide one area while you work on another, in every option at once.