3D Pictures & Sculptures - free ArchiCAD tutorial on YouTube

[Eric Bobrow]

Learn how to place 3D pictures, paintings and sculptures into your model in this 46 minute ArchiCAD video tutorial excerpted from my Best Practices Course.



ArchiCAD Tutorial | 3D Pictures and Sculptures

This question was sent in recently by Steve Nickel of Colorado, who had seen a post on Jared Banks blog Shoegnome featuring an art exhibition that used Graphisoft's powerful BIMx tool to allow website visitors to explore an art show. He asked me how to place artwork and sculptures in his models, and how to find image files he could use for this purpose.

In this ArchiCAD video tutorial, I show how to find and use the Picture 17 object in the standard ArchiCAD 17 library (there are versions for earlier ArchiCAD versions as well), exploring options such as changing the size, tilt angle and frame, including making it frameless. I demonstrate how to find image files through a Google search, and how to locate images that are legally licensed for reuse.

Then, through a series of steps, I develop the technical foundations for creating cutout images for simple portrayal of sculptures as well as simple human figures. We look at:

1) Photoshop masking to silhouette the foreground image from the background
2) creation of an "empty" totally transparent Surface / Material for use with the background
3) making a new Surface / Material from an image, and setting the texture origin
4) several different ways to make a polygon cutout shape in a vertical orientation

I hope you enjoy this ArchiCAD tutorial and find it useful. I look forward to your feedback - Please add your comments and questions on this LinkedIn discussion page and/or on the YouTube video page.

If you like this tutorial, you'll love the Best Practices Course, my comprehensive training resource for ArchiCAD users. The course includes dozens of hours of carefully planned and meticulously recorded video lessons (starting from the basics and going through advanced topics) teaching the best ways to use ArchiCAD for your projects. Course members also have access to my ArchiCAD Coaching Program, and can ask me questions and get my personal assistance.

For more info on the Best Practices Course, please visit http://www.acbestpractices.com.

Eric