ALIGN VIEW

[Anonymous]

Can anyone simplify the ALIGN VIEW commands so I can match up my rendering with a photo. I tried Using the photo as a background to match up the rendering but my processor is to slow to run it and it lags. Any help would be greatly appreciated (other than the archi cad in program help and the terrible reference guide).

Thank you

[Dwight]

I sympathise!!!

In theory, this tool does work no matter how frustrating your experience with it might be.

The distortions of lenses and the crookedness of composition detract from alignment accuracy. Even Archicad's documents suggest it will need tweaking....

To practice, make a model with some simple faces, render it and then use THAT SAME MODEL as the basis for an additional component. See attached for a practice example - it is from my upcoming Artlantis exercise.... here, the glowing box is inserted into the background image.

With everything computer generated, you eliminate the primary cause of failure. Otherwise, it is simply a matter of methodically transferring the datapoint locales.

[Karl Ottenstein]

See these older threads, too:

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=110747

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=24835

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=30006

Basically, if the photo is too distorted, you will not succeed in getting an alignment in ArchiCAD. Do the best you can do with the alignment tool, then render against a solid background that is easily masked in Photoshop and complete the montage in Photoshop, distorting the rendering and/or background until they blend satisfactorily. Some initial photo distortion removal may be necessary to get even close in ArchiCAD.

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Thanks alot for the great advice guys.

[Anonymous]

Heres the end result, one of the big problems I had aligning the rendering was the project had two structures sitting on one lot so It was near impossible to try and match up the perspective of the distance between the two structures of the project and then between the two structures next to the project. So i just rendered each structure seperatly and place them in photoshop. A little distortion but the visual is there for the client. Thanks again for your help!

[Anonymous]

Here it is.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Nicely aligned, and I like the use of grayscale to improve the blending.

At the posted size, it's great. If the client result is bigger, you might want to adjust some of your Lightworks settings. I notice that the real shadows are very soft, but the model ones are hard. Use the 'Real Sun' with more angles, and perhaps boost the ambient relative to the sun. Might need or want an 'undersun' to illuminate the soffits. Search for Dwight's various posts if you do not own his LW in AC book.

For blending a row like that into a photo with adjacent buildings, you kind of need to have had the surveyor mark the corners of the existing buildings and you or he/she measure a particular wall height. Then model that portion of those buildings, perhaps even just with columns, and use that for the alignment. Then hide the layer those alignment objects were on before the final render. Idea for the future - obviously you've nailed it here. 😉

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Karl,
Wow I didn't even realize that you had posted some suggestions untill now 3/4/2009. Thanks for the advice on future projects, everyone has their tricks and pointers that we all benefit from in some way or another and I'm just a baby when it comes to Archicad and this forum definately helps with the education aspect of the program. SO THANKS AGAIN KARL!

-greener