Circle at top of driveway

[KathyK]

Our driveway has a circle (with grass and trees in it) at the top of it. I can draw it, but when I try to connect the last piece, it fills in the circle with gravel. But I don't want gravel in it. I want it to be grass and trees. How do I close the loop where the red circle is in the first screenshot, without getting it all filled in with gravel like in my second screenshot?

I've watched tutorial videos. I've read everything I can find in the help files and tutorials, and I don't see anything that answer's my question.

Edited December 30, 2021 by KathyK
Correct a mistake

[solver]

 

It helps to describe how you are doing things as frequently there are different tools that do similar things.

 

Like I'm using the _______ tool to draw a driveway that circles around a group of trees and then connects back to itself.

 

 

 

[KathyK]

Hi Eric!

 

I'm using the spline road tool in Home Designer Pro 2022 to draw a driveway that circles around a group of trees and then connects back to itself. I didn't think about specifying the tool (I can certainly see how that is important!) but I did remember (after I'd shut my computer down for the night) that I'd forgotten to specify which version (2022) of Home Designer Pro I was using. I've updated my signature with that information. 

 

Thanks for giving be better wording to explain what I'm trying to do. And -- Thank you for taking the time to record the video to explain how I could fix the problem.

Since I posted this question last night, I actually figured out a way to make it work, that might be helpful to someone else down the road.

 

I simply added a short segment between the end of my loop and the main part of the driveway (where the red circle was in the first screenshot last night). My new segment connected to both the main driveway and the end of my loop, and filled in the gap. Then I used the Object Eyedropper tool to copy the attributes from my main driveway to the little segment I'd just added. I set the width to the same as the driveway (6'), and held down the Ctrl key so that I could line the end of my new segment up with the end of my loop -- without the "help" of the snapping properties. (I know, I still need to smooth the driveway out, but at least this is a start.)

 

Thanks again for  your answer, and especially for the videos. (I'd thought about using the Driveway Area tool, but didn't think about making separate sections like you did. It looks like that method has the same problem I was experiencing with the spline road tool last night -- it fills the center in as soon as you close the loop.)

Kathy

 

P. S. Maybe in a future version it would be helpful to have a better way to do this? Certainly I'm not the only person using this software who needs to draw a loop road (or a sidewalk, or a parking / driveway area, for that matter) around landscaping, or a building, or something else, and they don't want it filled in when they close the loop.

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by KathyK
Correct typo; minor wording tweaks

[KathyK]

Hmm -- that doesn't appear to be the solution, after all. When I tried to adjust the shape of my little segment, so that its alignment better matched that of the rest of the loop, it merged with the loop segment . . . and promptly filled the entire loop in, just as it did earlier. Maybe I should report this as a bug?

 

Kathy

[Rookie65]

If the infilled area is it's own shape, try "transform/replicate" and raise it on the z axis a fraction of an inch and you can also resize it by a percentage to have what you want showing for driveway. You can also set the distance manually to fine tune it once it's resized smaller. Then make the material grass and see how that looks

[solver]

What I show in the video -- using the driveway tool and changing the lines to arcs to reshape does work. I know in the video it did close up, but if you are careful it does not.

 

I don't see this as a bug, but rather a limitation of the tool. 

 

Similar to what Keith suggested, Try something like a Garden Bed raised just a bit to create the grass in the center.