topic apply curtain wall to 3d model in Collaboration with other software

apply curtain wall to 3d model

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:37:04 GMT

hi,

i've made an organic 3d model using Cinema4d. i wish to apply a curtain wall to the model. is this possible in archicad? i know this was possible in Revit in a fairly simple way and hope this is a possibility in archicad as well...

Re: apply curtain wall to 3d model

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:27:40 GMT

Maybe using Maxonform. It depend how "organic" your form is, and how accurate curtain model you want. I doubt though that complex curtain wall would possible in Revit too.

Re: apply curtain wall to 3d model

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:16:19 GMT

You cannot just "apply" a curtain wall to an organic model. I doubt if there is any CAD application which could do it!

In reality, if you want to make an accurate model, it would be a very slow and painstaking job!

How do you "know" it about Revit - you have heard it or you have tried it? If Revit could do such job I would start learning it tomorrow right away! 😉

The easiest way to make a fairy good model for presentational purpose would be by using the modelling application to add thickness to a space mesh - for example in Max it would be with "tessellate" or "renderable" command.

Re: apply curtain wall to 3d model

Bricklyne Clarence — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:44:29 GMT

kliment wrote:
.......
How do you "know" it about Revit - you have heard it or you have tried it? If Revit could do such job I would start learning it tomorrow right away! 😉
.......

I suspect that he's referring to Revit's 'Building maker' function that allows you to import freeform or non-Revit-native geometry and which then rationalizes the faces and edges of the said object into construction elements like walls, inclined walls, columns, curtian walls, floor slabs etc , etc. Kind of like what the Sketchup-to-ArchiCAD plugin allows one to do inasfar as importing Sketchup models and then choosing which faces get converted to what types of walls, slabs, roofs, inclined faces etc.

But it's obviously not that straightforward nor is it even that direct a process or function. Suffice it to say that it is limited by the level of complexity of the imported geometry.

The closest thing in AEC digital design and documentation, to what he's referring to, (that I can think of anyway) would be somewhere between Rhino, (now that version 4 has improved documentation capabilities) and Gehry Technologies' Digital Project; which is obviously out of the range of us mere mortals based on the fact that is essentially CATIA for architects.
CATIA comes closest to what would be able to import a freeform geometry of almost any level of complexity, and then proceed to rationalize the various components of that geometry , and even parametrize them. But there's a hell of a lot of scripting that has to go into it before you can get to that point. That's how the Bilbao's and the Walt Disney and anything Zaha-related gets modeled and digitally documented and eventually built. But like I said, Catia, and/or Digital project are way out of our leagues, so that's not really a feasible option.

But to answer the original question, ArchiCAD doesn't have an automated curtain wall command ala building-maker in Revit (which, as I said, is, in and of itself, also considerably limited), and your best bet would be, to either go the organic model-into Sketchup (via .3ds)- and then into ArchiCAD ( via .Skp/SKetchup plugin route) , or as someone else suggested, use the Maxonform route ( seeing as you're already on C4D).

But either way you'll still have some work to do, with regards to getting it become a curtain wall once in ArchiCAD.