Unity for Architectural Visualization book released

[stefan]

Packt Publishing just released my book on Unity for Architectural Visualization. AFAIK, it's the first of its kind and there are several examples using ArchiCAD and CINEMA 4D included.

www.packtpub.com/unity-for-architectural-visualization/book

You can download a free sample chapter, which will get you started:
www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/9781783559060_Chapter-02_0.pdf

[Anonymous]

COOL! Just downloaded my copy. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Stefan,

Ordered my copy!!! Can't wait to see it. I've been using Unity for a few months now, and have actually had a handful of paying jobs for it.

The nice thing about the Unity presentation is that it creates an independent program file that will run on pretty much any computer. No need to 'screen' what the client or consultant will be using to view it. As long as it's a reasonably capable machine, it'll run the presentation without any external inputs / requirements.

It's capable of some slick effects, too... We did one house with a camera animated 'fly in', that gave you an overall exterior view of the building and site, then took you up the driveway and to the porte cochere, from whence you were released to 'walk around' on your own. Clients were delighted with the result, and it helped us defend (and retain) some aspects of the design that the clients were resisting because they couldn't quite comprehend them.

Very curious to see your techniques.

Thanks for this work; I'm certain it will be a valuable resource. This is like Christmas!

[Anonymous]

Just ordered the paper back version from Amazon.
Since this is the first time I've heard of Unity, I'm curious...
I'm sure I'll eventually figure it out, but seems like Unity is a cross between
or compilation of say, Bimx and Artlantis?

[Anonymous]

Lec,

Yeah.. That's pretty much it. The best part is that the Unity software is... wait for it... FREE! It's a game engine, and the developers want to encourage people to adopt it's ecosystem. It's very easy to use. I tried Unity and Unreal... Unity was much easier to adapt to for an AC BIM Monkey.

There's a Pro version, but the only things I really wish I had from it are the live heliodon and live shadows. You can get shadows in the free version, but you need to map them, which incurs a little processing time. For houses, it's not a big deal.

I'm sure Stefan is going to have a wealth of helpful tips. I'm glad somebody else was playing with it all this time since we discussed it here a few months back.

[Srinivas]

Dave,
Thanks for your inputs, any chance we can see your works with Unity, like your construction documents that you have on your website.
Thank you,
Srinivas

[Anonymous]

Srinivas,

Actually, yes.. The examples I posted a while back are still on my server. Here they are:

For PC - http://www.dmsdesign.us/planrm/CHIOU_2011-08-17.zip
For MAC - http://www.dmsdesign.us/planrm/CHIOU_2011-08-17_MAC.zip

Just unzip to a folder, click the executable and you're in cyber architecture land.

This is the first one I tried. I've gotten a little better, now.. and a lot faster. Once you've got your sea-legs, you can put together presentations like these in about a day. It's updatable, too.. For me, the work flow is a lot like it would be in Artlantis; Model in AC, then do textures, materials and entourage in Unity.

All the cool kids are doin' it, man!

[Srinivas]

Dave,
Thank you so much!
Srinivas

[stefan]

Dave wrote:
There's a Pro version, but the only things I really wish I had from it are the live heliodon and live shadows. You can get shadows in the free version, but you need to map them, which incurs a little processing time. For houses, it's not a big deal.

Since 4.2 the free version has realtime hard shadows for Directional Lights (Sun). There are some nice features in Pro that appeal to architects, though: full screen image effects, real-time shadows for other light types, soft shadows and bounced lighting in baking.

I see Unity mostly as an open alternative to BIMx.

With BIMx, you get good results, a well though-out navigation scheme and good device support. It is easy to do from ArchiCAD and works well. But there is no way you can extend or change it.

With Unity, it'll take time and effort, for sure. But the sky is the limit. You can add moving characters, create animated opening doors, add a floating logo, implement custom info panels, link to online data, link to a Kinect or Wii-remote, request data from a database.
However, this comes at a cost: time and effort!

This book can only handle so much, so don't expect all these nitty-gritty technical detail to be there. But it should at least get you started on the things that matter most in the beginning.

And since it focuses on Architecture, it can skip a lot of the stuff that other books go into.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the actual book 😉

[Anonymous]

Stefan - thanks for the info! Time to go upgrade.

I should check in there at Unity's site more often. Live shadows from the sun light would pretty much put me in heaven.

Since the demo shown here, I've gotten better at doing interior lighting... Although it will be good to see how you've handled that aspect in your book.

Agree... It's 'open source' format makes it a winner.