3D modeling AC Add-On search

[Anonymous]

Pardon to folks who have seen this question on other forums. I have been trying get a better 3D modeling interface within AC to avoid the problems with I/E.

I'm not so concerned about blobby modeling, but rather being able to draw anything rectilinear, angular, and/or simple curviliear in 3D right in place. I am willing to invest lots of time mastering yet another free-form modeler if I can stay within AC and it has half the ease of use as SketchUp which for me, means easy maneuvering around in the 3d window(s).

Zoom GDL 2.1 is supposed to run within AC 8.1. Has anyone found Zoom to help with above described modeling within AC? Anyone happy using ArchiForma within AC? Any other software good for this? Any thoughts about this much appreciated.

[Djordje]

Herb wrote:
]Zoom GDL 2.1 is supposed to run within AC 8.1. Has anyone found Zoom to help with above described modeling within AC? Anyone happy using ArchiForma within AC? Any other software good for this? Any thoughts about this much appreciated.

There has been more than one thread on this topic.

ZoomGDL is AFAIK not going to be developed further or work within ArchiCAD, but you can use it standalone and save the GDL. ArchiForma is the best there is at present - but still cannot do NURBS and edit nodes of meshes.

For the time being, ArchiForma solves all of my problems. Which might not be the case with others ...

[LiHigh]

Herb wrote:
Pardon to folks who have seen this question on other forums. I have been trying get a better 3D modeling interface within AC to avoid the problems with I/E.

I'm not so concerned about blobby modeling, but rather being able to draw anything rectilinear, angular, and/or simple curviliear in 3D right in place. I am willing to invest lots of time mastering yet another free-form modeler if I can stay within AC and it has half the ease of use as SketchUp which for me, means easy maneuvering around in the 3d window(s).

Zoom GDL 2.1 is supposed to run within AC 8.1. Has anyone found Zoom to help with above described modeling within AC? Anyone happy using ArchiForma within AC? Any other software good for this? Any thoughts about this much appreciated.

Try Rhino Modeler! It's the next big thing for Archicad 10...

[Karl Ottenstein]

I agree with Djordje. If you need to work within AC itself, then ArchiForma (AF) is your best bet today for the needs that you describe.

AF cannot do NURBS because AC cannot do NURBS.

If you need NURBS/etc (which you said you didn't), then an external package such as Cinema 4D can be used, save the result as 3DS and import back into AC (import add-on for 3ds is in the 9 Goodies folder). Texture mapping comes in as well.

Any AF object can be rotated on any axis, and can be edited graphically with hotspots. Assemblies of AF objects can be saved via a special AF save feature that results in a material-parametric result.

Karl

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys. I have installed ArchiForma and with tank and flippers...I'm diving in. Also ordered GDL Cookbook 3.

Karl wrote "Assemblies of AF objects can be saved via a special AF save feature that results in a material-parametric result."

By this you mean ArchiForma is good as a graphical way to generate lean script for GDL objects with parameters?

Given the interest shown by so many other users for a robust free form modeler in AC, I wonder why Zoom has not been more successful. Is it because (not sure about this) the most powerful nurbs etc modeling still had to be done outside AC? ZoomGDL 2.1's undockable pallets seem to be a hassle when it runs standalone, not sure how it looks in AC 8.1 b/c I could not get it to run in my installation of AC 8.1. I wonder if this is an opportunity for another developer to take the temperature of all users and really solve robust 3D in ArchiCad.

Maybe ArchiForma is already completely developed as much as any modeler can be given constraints of AC.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Herb wrote:

Karl wrote "Assemblies of AF objects can be saved via a special AF save feature that results in a material-parametric result.

By this you mean ArchiForma is good as a graphical way to generate lean script for GDL objects with parameters?

Nope ... didn't say anything about lean scripts. 😉 Just that if you create a new object by building a variety of AC parts, if you give each part a name to identify it, then when you save a new object representing the collection of parts, AF 2.0 automatically generates the parameters to let you change the materials of the component parts. See the manual.

Also - beyond the manual - look at the three tutorials Fabrizio created at:
http://www.archiforma.com/FAQ.htm
Links are on the left side of the page.

The first tutorial shows the parameter creation business.

The Weathervanes tutorial shows building an assembly by building, rotating and cutting subcomponents.
http://www.archiforma.com/FAQ_3.htm
That was done in 8.1 or earlier and so I think an earlier version of AF too. Note the editable hotspots even then (triangle hotspots vs round). If your preferences are not set up in 9 to display editable hotspots in a different color than snapping ones, do that so that it will be very clear where you can dynamically reshape objects and profiles in 2D and 3D with AF.

Karl