Wishes
Post your wishes about Graphisoft products: Archicad, BIMx, BIMcloud, and DDScad.

Sketch Render Elevations

Anonymous
Not applicable
I am looking for a way to create elevations that look similar to hand sketched drawings from within ArchiCAD. If possible I would like to also be able to add colors to these elevations. For the colors my preference would be to have the colors look like colored pencil or watercolor washes. As many of my interior finishes and detailing are based on these drawings it is important that I be able to easily update and distribute them. Besides that I find that my clients find it easier to understand and get excited about a hand drawing (or at least something that looks like it) versus a computer, hard line drawing.

I searched the archiCAD Talk forum but only found older posts with complex work arounds and a sugestion to look at ArchiSketchy. I'm not real interested in the complex workaround. I am trying to move away from complex computer operations so we can focus more on architecture. ArchiSketchy looks OK but I wanted to ask if it 2D sketches are possible right from within ArchiCAD 11. It makes sense to me that there should be some native way to do this right from within ArchiCAD. Please let me know if there is a native way to create elevations that look hand drawin right from within ArchiCAD 11.

It is pretty quick for me just to hand draw and color interior elevations by tracing over the elevations generated in ArchiCAD. The problem is distributing those drawings to my clients and the trades people who are bidding on and doing the work. The colored scan images are pretty big files whether I send them to my clients and the contractors as PDFs or as placed images in my ArchiCAD drawing set. This is why I would like to know if there would be an easy way for to create these hand drawn looking elevations right in ArchiCAD. I'm thinking that generating the drawings in ArchiCAD would be faster to create and update as well as be a smaller file that is easier to distrubute and update than a hand drawn set of elevations.

I would be interested in hearing what solutions and ideas are out there.

Thank you,
John
30 REPLIES 30
Erich
Contributor
You should look at the Sketch Render Engine (View>Photorendering Mode>Sketch). It can do at least some of what you are looking for and you can always refine the results in Photoshop or something similar.
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Erich

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Anonymous
Not applicable
Thanks Erich,
I'm looking for a way to apply the sketch render to a 2D view such as an interior elevation. Thank you for you thought.
Mahalo,
John
Thomas Holm
Booster
johncassel wrote:
Thanks Erich,
I'm looking for a way to apply the sketch render to a 2D view such as an interior elevation. Thank you for you thought.
Mahalo,
John
Easy. As you say it can all be done within Archicad, without add-ons.
Make a 3D Cut as you like it. Then apply the sketch render.
If you want a room panorama, combine renderings from each direction on a layout.
AC4.1-AC26SWE; MacOS13.5.1; MP5,1+MBP16,1
Anonymous
Not applicable
Mahalo Thomas,
I will try your suggestion.

Do you have a suggestion on how one could add sketch lines that are not generated by the model.
If so--what about hatching too?
Any way to get color into the act?

I'm asking these question because I would really like to use ArchiCAD as a design development tool. I design in light, color and textures. Without these capability to generate quick shaded color development sketches ArchiCAD is not as good a tool it could be for design.

How could we get Graphisoft to develope these features. I know that it can be done as other design software packages have these capabilities.

Thank you,
John
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
johncassel wrote:
Do you have a suggestion on how one could add sketch lines that are not generated by the model.
If so--what about hatching too?
Any way to get color into the act?
Hi John,

Not sure if this belongs in the Wishes section... will let Laszlo decide and move it...

No, you cannot generate any sketch lines without geometry.
Yes, the sketch engine lets you turn on hatching (globally though).
You can only select colored lines - not any colored fills. To get colored fills, you would overlay your sketch on top of a rendered image in a photo editor and reduce the opacity to let the color show through.

In general, what you seem to be asking for is what Piranesi is for though, so you may want to take a look at it unless you are determined to accomplish all within ArchiCAD.

Aloha,
Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Anonymous
Not applicable
Aloha Karl,
Thank you for the concise, well informed answer. I appreceate it.

I've looked at Piranesi before but it seemed to me like more of a Final version renderer. I'll look at again. Have you compared it to ArchiSketchy?

At this point I do think that this thread would be more appropriate in the ArchiCAD wish list.

I think that it should be something that ArchiCAD may want to seriously consider. In architecture school one of the criticisms that ArchiCAD gets it that as a design tool it limits the design process. This is not just a problem with ArchiCAD alone but I think that Graphisoft can rise up to the challenge.

Now that I am trying to use ArchiCAD in my design business I feel that this is a real concern. I think that with a basic 2D color sketch feature ArchiCAD could open up a design methodology that it currently blocks.

I was recently consulting on a project being designed by a young Mexican architect. His process was to create hand drawn sketches in his notebook and on paper. Next, either he or his staff would use SketchUp to create either 2D or 3D colored, shaded sketches (using some great hand drawn looking sketch lines and color washes) that could be easily transmitted to his clients here on Maui. By working in SketchUp he could create files that were easy to transmit and easy to modify. Once the clients approved the design he had his staff create working drawings in AutoCAD.

If I were to replicate this process using ArchiCAD it relegates ArchiCAD to the role of a very expensive drafting tool. I think that Graphisoft can do better now that the bar has been raised.

2D sketch rendering right within ArchiCAD is on my wish list and I think that it could happen. It was not too long ago that some of us were wishing for trace layers that work in elevation and section.

Many thanks,
John
Thomas Holm
Booster
Karl,

thanks for filling in. I was out of town this weekend.
johncassel wrote:
2D sketch rendering right within ArchiCAD is on my wish list and I think that it could happen. It was not too long ago that some of us were wishing for trace layers that work in elevation and section.
As described before, 2D sketch rendering (of elevations and such) is there within Archicad already. You'll just have to explore the possibilities some more. You can easily combine Archicad's sketch rendering with any color rendering, done within or outside Archicad, using any photo editor, which you are likely to need anyway if you design using light and color as you describe.

Piranesi is an excellent way to streamline the process, and will pay for itself in a short time if you want this kind of renderings often. But what you do in Piranesi can technically also be done in Photoshop or any photo editor, if you are willing to spend hours and days to achieve that result.

Archisketchy is a way to get an Internal Engine rendering look hand-drawn, by simply replacing the ordinarly straight lines with "squiggly" line types. It will not replace the more advanced Sketch rendering modes.

Archicad is a very advanced program for modeling and designing buildings with intelligent parts, containing lots of information and a streamlined workflow for documentation for informed desicions and construction.

If all you want is a drafting package, you'll probably be better off with Sketchup. You'll have to study and learn the more advanced capabilities of Archicad to utilize them properly.
AC4.1-AC26SWE; MacOS13.5.1; MP5,1+MBP16,1
Anonymous
Not applicable
Thomas wrote:

As described before, 2D sketch rendering (of elevations and such) is there within Archicad already. You'll just have to explore the possibilities some more. You can easily combine Archicad's sketch rendering with any color rendering, done within or outside Archicad, using any photo editor, which you are likely to need anyway if you design using light and color as you describe.
.
Aloha Thomas,
I am now confused. Are you saying that ArchiCAD can sketch render 2D lines and add color to the sketch rendering?
If so, would you please walk me through the steps. I've looked in the ArchiCAD documentation and I do not see a way to do this.
Mahalo,
John
Anonymous
Not applicable
Hi John,

Have a look through this thread for some tips for combining sketch and colour renders -

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=18981
I'm thinking that generating the drawings in ArchiCAD would be faster to create and update as well as be a smaller file that is easier to distrubute and update than a hand drawn set of elevations.
When combining a sketch and a render, you will probably find the file size of the pdf produced will still be similar to using a scan of a hand drawing as they will both be images made of lots of pixels, rather than a vector-based drawing produced from actual lines.

To get the smallest file size you will have to find a compromise between using the highest image compression you can get away with, whilst still keeping a decent quality. I prefer to use the amyuni pdf printer that came with AC10 for raster (pixel) based images as it allows you to specify the jpg compression quality used. The built-in pdf doesn't have this option, resulting in a larger file size. I suspect that something like Adobe Acrobat will give you even more options for tweaking the files to reduce size.

Hope that helps.