Constructing a building in 3D

# 1 19-07-2012 , 06:51 AM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

Ok, I have asked this before and said Google sketchup was the way to go to make a building in 3D. I dont mean just front faces etc...I mean the real deal. Wall thickness, floor thickness etc etc etc.

Now I have been using Maya (yes I know), but I was told to use it. NOW I am telling them it is NOT practical and I will be trying Sketchup again. I know the export from Sketchup is crap, but I think I can live with deleting tris against IMPOSSIBLE friggin edge loop add/delete/merge vert etc etc etc.

What is the program you would use to ACTUALLY create a true 3D representation of say a house....lets see what I can get out of you wonderful people....

Cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

Quote

# 2 19-07-2012 , 07:32 AM

The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009

Location: England

Posts: 4,472

I would use lightwave they have a simple cad plugin(called LWcad) for stuff like that..........dave

Link:https://www.wtools3d.com/pdf/lwcad2-1.pdf

Avatar Challenge Winner 2010

Last edited by daverave; 19-07-2012 at 07:38 AM.

Quote

# 3 19-07-2012 , 08:27 AM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

Yeh thought LW myself dave.....BTW Im still getting e-mails from you..LOL. I do like Sketchup though, so simple.

cheers bullet

EDIT: that looks damn impressive dave!

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

Last edited by bullet1968; 19-07-2012 at 08:30 AM.

Quote

# 4 19-07-2012 , 11:52 AM

Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2009

Location: Prague

Posts: 827

I'm not a viz expert but this one is a no brainer, we were just speaking about it the other day. Build in SketchUp and render in Maxwell which has a free trial and the full HD licence is only $95 dollars for SketchUp.

I don't know another renderer that competes at this price point, and if you're not using any animation or FX features you don't need Maya so it gives you a cheap legal solution which is good if not better.

https://www.maxwellrender.com/index.p...p/download_buy

They have a huge material library and they added a grass plugin to the latest version which looks cool if you want to do exteriors. You'll still need to learn light and using a camera though user added image

https://www.maxwellrender.com/gallery/videos/technical

Quote

# 5 19-07-2012 , 06:23 PM

Head of 3d Admedia
Join Date: May 2007

Location: nairobi , ken-ya

Posts: 1,340

maxwell takes too long to render. With maya its just a matter of getting an appropriate scale i usually use cm because my compositing program works well with it especially when exporting a camera

Quote

# 6 19-07-2012 , 10:30 PM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

Yeh I agree I think Sketchup is the way to go. As for the render thats not required, the game engine will do that. IMO Maya is just not made for things like buildings....its WAY too cumbersome and doing things 5 times over just to get walls in...is a pain. Yeh murambi I use cm then scale up to metres just before export to the engine.

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

Quote

# 7 19-07-2012 , 11:55 PM

The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007

Location: London

Posts: 2,381

For me I would say-
Revit
Autocad
Microstation
...Perhaps Rhino too.

Render in vRay, Maxwell, Mental Ray
user added image

Quote

# 8 20-07-2012 , 02:29 AM

Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2004

Location: Michigan, USA

Posts: 2,998

There is also 3ds max design which has (building information management) BIM and parametric building design and can share data with Revit.

But to be honest unless you are planning to actually build a physical building you are probably better off just going with sketchup. After all as long as you can move the resulting model back into Maya you could use whatever application makes your life the easiest!

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 20-07-2012 at 02:32 AM.

Quote

# 9 20-07-2012 , 04:03 AM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

Thanks dom and ctbram. Never heard of Revit LOL...I have ACAD but its painful...I steer clear of Microstation, didnt like it one bit, though Im sure it has improved a lot since I saw it with a couple if dinosaurs pulling it along.

No Rick these are strictly game assets, I think I will have a crack at Sketchup and see how it goes. I have tried it once before and it was just a matter of deleting tri's. ACAD did it too but I find ACAD cumbersome for some reason....well the version I have LOL.

Interesting though so far, the different programs that you guys have suggested!!!

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

Quote

# 10 20-07-2012 , 04:33 AM

Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2004

Location: Michigan, USA

Posts: 2,998

If cleaning the sketchup stuff becomes to much of a hassle go look at max design. pretty much the same tools as maya. produces the same kind of controlled quad geo and has stuff built in it for parametric building design.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Quote

# 11 20-07-2012 , 06:34 AM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

Thanks Rick, had a look at a Sketchup model and its onlt 2 tri's per face, which isnt too bad really.

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

Quote

# 12 20-07-2012 , 08:40 AM

The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007

Location: London

Posts: 2,381

i should also say that lots of architects i know use sketchup. My girlfriend is pretty good with it. She finds that lots of practices ask for Microstation over Autocad now. which i guess means its either better or cheaper. user added image

Did anyone ever see those 3D presentation panels? pretty cool.
Zebra Imaging Demo at Autodesk University 2009 - YouTube

Quote

# 13 20-07-2012 , 10:16 PM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

Wow dom that was bloody cool man!!!! That would be fantastic for mining infrastructure etc....wow!

Yes I think Sketchup is a hell of a lot easier than Maya will ever be. Its tools are so simple yet so effective, nowhere near as Mayas cumbersome quirks.

I remember Microstation YEARS ago, we started using it for our Surveying data but then crossed over to Civilcad (most people have never heard of it) as Ccad was an Aussie program. I still use Ccad at work but it has no 3D at all, apart from being able to view terrain and road models. This is now owned by Topcon. Just about everyone over here now are opting for a program called 12D...which apparently is very good for design but bloody expensive!

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

Quote