Cityscape creation

[Anonymous]

Hi folks, im still new to ArchiCAD and still getting to grips with its clumsy interface so bear with me.....basically i want to create my own city and then generate fly-throughs - how would you go about this?
My laptop is quite high spec but struggles to view a single building once its 'painted and furnished' so the majority of the buildings will simply be hollow shells to avoid crashes.
Is it a case of creating the landscape mesh, creating buildings one by one (most tower blocks would be copied and slightly altered) then just pasting it all into one massive drawing? or should i split the city up into districts and just do fly throughs of those and stitch em all together in Premiere afterwards?....

[Anonymous]

Hello Vitalis

It does exist entire buildings as "ArchiCAD objects".

You can find them here :
1— ArchiCADO
2—Archi Media
3—Cate
4—CIA
5—Winhard


HTH

[Anonymous]

Useful links thankyou but im keen to learn the process by which Archicad veterans would tackle this project...

[Anonymous]

Vitalis-

I work for a development compnay creating a new town here in the US. I do exactly what you are asking to do. Here is how I do it.

Create each building w/ as much detail as you need. Soime of my buildings are quite detailed, othres not.

I create module files and place them in my drawing

Streets and sidewalks are walls set to desired thickness. Landscape is slabs/trees are trees.

I have my doubts if a laptop is powerful enough to generate a capable fly-through, or even a decent panorama, but I may be wrong.

You may find it easier to do "block" buildings w/ or w/out detailed roof elements. The complexity of the model can bog any computer down. My Mac G5 has taken everything I can throw at it so far.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Rip thats a great help...looks like my only option is to do the whole thing in wireframe then render it off on someone elses pc.

Module files are new to me - can you explain please?

Ahhhh the G5 - the thing dreams are made of...!

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

Maybe you could post a link to some similar fly-through --how large a city area you need, how much detail you need.

If you are after presentation-quality, ArchiCAD will be good and fast and smart for the modeling but I don't think it will be the right tool for the rendering (especially if you are talking fly-throughs, panoramas, etc., of a complex model). A rendering program such as Cinema 4D, or Artlantis 4.5 if you need fast results and can't invest the time in learning a complex program, will give you much better control, will look much better, and will generate much faster. You can pay Artlantis 4.5 several times with the man-hours you'll save in this specific project, assuming you can finish the project at all in ArchiCAD alone.

[Anonymous]

Well to be honest this is a personal project that i have wanted to get my teeth into for a long time but lacked time. I was hoping to get good enough with Archicad to put this together then use it as a portfolio thing that might lead to getting work in building illustration or game architecture.
I'd love to try Artlantis or Cinema but they dont come cheap when ive already invested in Archicad...hmmm..

[Bruce]

Modules are similar to X-Refs in AutoCAD (if you're familiar with it).

They are separate ArchiCAD models, or specifically created .mod files (save as from within ArchiCAD) that are then referenced back into the main model via File > Modules and X-Refs...

Hope this answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that Bruce, i have used xrefs in autocad so ill look in archicad help for more on that.

Can someone explain Artlantis for me please? is it an addon for archicad or stand alone s/w?
I looked at cinema 4d but it looks as complicated as 3dmax (which i have and couldnt find enuff time to learn) im keen to get work in achitectural illustration and game architecture but im hoping to take any route but max....

[david nicholson-cole]

At the ArchiCAD University Summer School 2005, we are welcoming Andreas KohlHaas who is an expert on City modelling with ArchiCAD and who has made that his business, GIS-Tec, based in Dortmund. He is working on a project with GOOGLE EARTH to put three D content into the Google Earth texture mapped models. He is speaking on this subject on the Thursday evening, and is also offering a workshop on the topic. ACUE 2005 is international, so you are welcome to attend from whichever country you live in.

VITALIS wrote:
Hi folks, im still new to ArchiCAD and still getting to grips with its clumsy interface so bear with me.....basically i want to create my own city and then generate fly-throughs - how would you go about this?
My laptop is quite high spec but struggles to view a single building once its 'painted and furnished' so the majority of the buildings will simply be hollow shells to avoid crashes.
Is it a case of creating the landscape mesh, creating buildings one by one (most tower blocks would be copied and slightly altered) then just pasting it all into one massive drawing? or should i split the city up into districts and just do fly throughs of those and stitch em all together in Premiere afterwards?....

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