Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

Shell or Morph

Anonymous
Not applicable
Hi there.

When would you use the Shell tool over the Morph tool and vice versa?

I hope that question isn't too open ended.

Thanks
5 REPLIES 5
Anonymous
Not applicable
The shell tool is more constrained than the morph. If the constraints serve your purpose they will make the process faster.
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
The surfaces created by the Shell Tool can be multiple-skinned composites...
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Anonymous
Not applicable
From the help manual it looks like shells are like the roof tool in that you can place sky lights in them and you can trim elements to shell like you can trim elements to roof.
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
Also, the Shell is usually used to create a structure with a constant thickness.
The Morph Tool is usually used to create a solid body. Creating structures with a constant thickness is more cumbersome with the Morph Tool.

Also, the geometry of the Shell is limited. The geometry capabilities of the Morph Tool is parctically unlimited, so for some complex geometries the Morph Tool may be the only option.

You could show a few examples of what you are trying to model and it would be easier for us to advise which would be better for the particular tasks.
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Anonymous
Not applicable
Thanks all. Your comments have helped clarify the difference.

Laszlo - I didn't have a particular outcome in mind when posting the question but was looking at both tools and thought it would be good to get some thoughts from the field on their application. Thanks for asking.

Cheers