CAD, BIM & 3D

Well, in Lego that is. If you make a funny (and successful) fan-movie about ArchiCAD, you can win a hammock chair (hangstoel?) and a box of classic architecture in Lego.

On the Autodesk Labs, you can download Project Vasari , a standalone energy simulation software, which can be integrated with Revit (reading: it is Windows-only - vasari.exe is a Windows executable and it produces Revit 2011 files). It can be used for design analysis. Autodesk ®  Project Vasari is an easy-to-use, expressive design tool for creating building concepts. Vasari goes further, with integrated analysis for energy and carbon, providing design insight where the most important design decisions are made. And, when it’s time to move the design to production, simply bring your Vasari design data into the Autodesk ®  Revit ® platform for BIM, ensuring clear execution of design intent. Project Vasari is focused on conceptual building design using both geometric and parametric modeling. It supports performance-based design via integrated energy modeling and analysis features. This new technology preview is now available as a free download and trial on Autodesk Labs. Th...

The Virtual Building Explorer (originally born as the Zermatt plugin) is an add-on to ArchiCAD to export the 3D Building Model into a realtime model to send to others, without requiring ArchiCAD. You can export the 3D Geometry into a standalone PC or Mac application and include a radiosity-like graphics style, which is not available in ArchiCAD itself. This software was recently updated to version 2 and from now on, educational users (students, teachers, schools) can use the software under the same conditions as the free educational version of ArchiCAD.

In line with some of my wishes on this blog , there is a nice plugin for Grasshopper to enable IFC export . Let me rephrase that, as I think it is quite significant . On the one hand, parametric and visual control over a design is increasingly being used in advanced design exploration. On the other hand, Building Information Modeling promises integrated management of information in a building project , beyond mere 3D geometry or drawing synchronization. And to be able to combine this into a single workflow is something big. This is indeed the beginning of exploring the full potential of IFC. Analysis tools focusing on getting the most out of IFC, while "parametricism" or generative/procedural/parametric/programmatic design can be used to embed design intentions and to enable design variations. Would this lead to architects creating series of designs? And to automatically connect them to both the full design documentation and design analysis? I do hope so. I assume t...

So what is the problem? When you make a model inside SketchUp, each face has a front and a back side. When you have the default material or no material applied, the front is beige and the back is light-blue. You should avoid to see any blue faces ever. While this doesn't present any problem inside SketchUp itself, it leads to seemingly missing faces in other software. E.g. when you export your SketchUp model into Artlantis, Cinema4D or Unity, they will ignore the back faces. How to solve it manually? Set the Face Style to "monochromatic", so colors and textures are hidden. Then you select any offensive blue face, right-click and reverse it. If there were materials applied, you have to switch them (front and back). How to solve it automatically? You can try a nice plugin for SketchUp to partially automate the reversed-faces problem you can easily get when using SketchUp. Info and download:  http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=30107  (free registration...

Instant Scripts are free scripts (with pro-versions available, moderately priced) for architectural modeling inside SketchUp, created by Vali Architects. Nice story too: after a long time working in AutoCAD and writing scripts in AutoLisp he currently has more fun in SketchUp, yet still tries to be productive. Instant Roof Instant Road Instant Site Grader Example of what you could create with the Instant Roof script:

BlendME (The Blender Modeling Environment) is an add-on for the Open Source Blender animation software, focusing on analysis software connectivity. You can use software such as Radiance or Energyplus from within Blender to perform daylight or energy analysis. The software is not available yet , but when it does it will be either commercial, either donation-ware. Some more info about BlendME on Blender3Darchitect  and on  BlenderNation . Daylight Analysis with Radiance : Energy Analysis with EnergyPlus :