3D Modeling Special Interest Group – January 2018

3D_model_jan_18

In this session, we discussed a bit about using textures versus making a 3D model, covered how turning the Callout tool into a symbol can add functionality to it, constructed a room with various moldings and panels, created a texture, and demonstrated aspects of using the Create Interior Elevation Viewport command, the Create Wall Projection and Create Wall Recess commands, and the Fit Walls to Objects command.

Topics covered:

  • 00:16    Someone sent in a photo of a roof with Spanish tiles, asking what the best way is to handle such a situation, so we started off the session by discussing whether it is always necessary to model everything in a project. The challenge is that modeling each tile on the roof would be very time consuming. In this roof example, it might be possible to use an extrude for the whole roof, apply a texture to the extrude, and get a look that is good enough for the client. My magic rule is that if you can texture it, it is quicker.
  • 02:20    Next, we discussed a method for always setting the Callout tool a specific distance from an object—you can make a symbol out of the Callout tool and incorporate a distance option into the symbol.
  • 05:34    We went on to model a wall with various molding and paneling features. There is a free Baseboard plug-in (A|F Design; www.andreafacchinello.it) that is very helpful for moldings. We had a series of forward and back wall panels, so we started by laying out our shapes along the wall. We extruded the shapes and sent the center panels backward. Next, we had the challenge of how the objects looked together in 2D—instead of looking down and seeing the lines of all the objects, we wanted to only have the lines at the cut plane elevation. The solution for this is to change the objects into an Auto Hybrid. With the objects as an Auto Hybrid, you can adjust the elevation of the cut plane.
  • 19:07    We showed the steps for making a texture. We named it Glossy Paint Attribute Color and changed to shader attributes—color, reflectivity, transparency, and bump—to what we wanted. We applied the new texture to the panels; with high-quality rendering, we could see the effect. The texture ended up being too glossy! So, we ended up lowering the texture’s reflectivity.
  • 29:13    Once you have a room in your model, you can use the Create Interior Elevation Viewport command to create elevations of the space. We went through all of the setting options. It is helpful to put the Interior Elevation marker on a class that you’ll be able to turn on or off for different drawings. This command, which can make all four room elevations at once, is useful for quickly determining the elevation settings one time, instead of four times. We added a toilet and a bathtub so that we could see how it looked to have fixtures in our interior elevations. If you add something, remember to turn on the fixtures class before you update the viewports. When you’re looking at the elevation markers in your model in Top/Plan view, double click on them and a box will open up where you can adjust the section markers and depth-perception markers. Someone wanted two wainscoting sections in the viewport to have different line weights. An easy way to accomplish this is to put a rectangle over the section that needs the lighter line weights and give the rectangle a transparency of 50% or 60%—a down and dirty method, but it really works! Varying line weights has not stopped being an important way of helping the client visualize the project.
  • 47:10    I find the Create Wall Projection and Create Wall Recess commands to be quite good, but sometimes they’re a bit fickle. We went through the steps for making a tapered wall projection. You need to taper the projection before using the command. The challenge is that the projection only goes to the center of any perpendicular wall, not all the way to the edge. We finished the session by using the Fit Walls to Objects command to make walls meet a lean-to roof instead of the main roof.

3D Modeling January 2018 am
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