Room Mode Analysis

Room modes are the resonant frequencies of a room, determined entirely by its geometry. At these frequencies, low-frequency standing waves build up and cause uneven bass response — common problems in recording studios, home cinemas, and any critical listening environment.

The Room Mode Analysis tool uses wave-based finite element simulation to calculate these resonance frequencies directly on your SketchUp model geometry. No material assignment is required.

How to run

The Room Detector builds a clean, watertight room for you: hover a floor to preview the space, click to capture it, then fine-tune the footprint, heights, and openings with on-screen handles. Because it produces sealed geometry, there’s no face-by-face selection and no repair step — pressing Enter builds the solid and runs the mode analysis straight away.

Workflow

1. Activate — click the Room Modes button in the SketchAcoustics toolbar.
2. Detect — hover over a floor to preview the room (an orange ghost), then click to capture it and start editing.
3. Edit — adjust the footprint, heights, and openings using the controls below.
4. Analyse — press Enter to build the room and run the analysis. Press Esc to cancel editing.

Footprint

• Move a corner — drag its handle. It snaps onto nearby model corners and vertical edges; hold ⌘ / Ctrl to place it freely.
• Add a corner — hover over a wall until a ghost node appears, then click to split it there.
• Delete a corner — ⌥ Alt-click it.

Heights — hold Shift

• One corner — drag a corner up or down to set just its floor or ceiling height, snapping onto existing model corners. You can press Shift mid-drag to switch a corner you’re already holding from plan to height.
• Whole edge — drag a wall edge to raise both of its ends together into a clean slope.
• Whole plane — drag the large centre grip to raise or lower the entire floor or ceiling; double-click it to level the plane flat.

Windows & recesses

• Add — double-click a wall to drop a window.
• Move / resize — drag the centre grip along the wall; the side, top, and bottom grips resize it.
• Depth — drag the back grip outward for a recess (adds space) or inward past the wall for a bump (carves space).
• Snap — edges snap flush to wall corners, the floor, and the ceiling. Hold ⌘ / Ctrl while dragging to disable snapping.
• Delete — ⌥ Alt-click the window.

Tips

• You don’t need to assign acoustic materials — room modes are purely geometry-dependent
• The 3D pressure overlay shows which areas of the room experience the highest pressure buildup at each mode frequency