Hello, welcome to this video guide! Let's see all the features you need
to design 3D projects with ArchiCAD 20!
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To design 3D architectural projects, such as houses or buildings,
ArchiCAD is one of the best software products, offering you several
different templates, all listed inside the Design section of the Toolbox.
To download a simple free house template, check out the link in the
video description below.
In this video, we will see the very basic features useful to create
3D projects all inside the Design section. But consider that you may
need more practice and experience to make more complex designs.
The Wall tool is used to drop walls on your project. Fix two points on
your workspace, and the wall will appear as a 2D rectangle. This happens
if you use the default 2D point of view, called Ground Floor, as you can
see on the tabs above. This is the standard preview also used to draw
2D projects and floor plans. If you switch to other views above, you can
see that the object dropped is a 3D object, showing extrusion and a
defined height.
Basically, you have three main 3D previews: the Elevations, the Stories
and the free 3D points of view.
The Elevations are used to check your 3D project from several directions
starting from the Ground. By default, you have four of them, indicating
North, East, South and West directions. You can check each of them by
right-clicking and going to Open Elevation in New Tab.
You can also create new custom Elevations. Select an existing Elevation,
and use CTRL+C to copy, and then CTRL+V to paste. Then click and drag
to create a new Elevation. After that, move, stretch or rotate it as
you do with 2D objects.
The structure of the blue Elevation object describes the characteristics
of the related Elevation view: the blue arrow represents the direction
to preview your project; the segment length the extension of the
Elevation preview. In fact, the objects that are not within this segment
won't be shown in the preview.
You also have the Stories. The most important one is the Ground Floor
view, used to check your project from up to down, and used to design in
2D. When you open any Elevation view, you can check all the existing
Stories, each laying at different height levels, just like the different
Floors of a building.
Differently from the Elevations, the Stories are very useful to draw
objects that must lay on a fixed height level. For example, if you draw
a wall on the Ground Floor story, this will lay on the ground. But, if
you draw it on Story 1, the object will lay on that height level, above
the ground itself.
To edit Stories, just right-click on one and go to Edit Story Levels.
Then, click and drag to move the Story, checking the Story Level value
in the dialog box. You can also move multiple Stories if you need. When
you click on OK, the height level will be updated, and so will all the
objects that lay on such Story.
All the different views are listed inside the Navigator palette, that
you can open by clicking on the small icon in the top right corner.
You can check both the Story and the Elevation views, just double-click
on one to open it. You can also rename or create new views by
right-clicking on one. Right-click on a Story and go to Story Settings..
to check and adjust all the Stories and their respective height.
Besides Elevations and Stories, you can also check your project in a
full and custom 3D preview. By default, you have a 3D tab above, which
shows a 3D preview. If you don't see it, you can open one by
double-clicking on General Perspective or General Axonometry inside the
Navigator palette.
More below, you have all the visualization tools, used to personalize
your point of view. Use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out; use the
Orbit tool to rotate in 3D. Use the Escape key to finish with this tool.
For a more direct experience, you can enable the Explore mode. This
allows you to check your project completely, as described in the dialog
box. Use the Escape key to exit.
Let's now see all the main tools used to build a 3D project!
The tools inside the Design section are used to draw the main important
structures of a building, such as walls, doors or roofs, by using
ready-made templates available in ArchiCAD. For example, if you enable
the Wall or the Column tool, you will drop a wall or a column on your
workspace, by using a template that you can choose from the down arrow
inside the Main section of the Info Box, and customize by clicking on
the Default Settings button. Then, through Geometry Method, you can
change the way to drop the object, and through the Structure section
you can change the object appearance.
ArchiCAD is also quite smart: walls do merge if they are dropped close
enough.
Differently from 2D objects, you have to be careful on where 3D objects
lay. While drawing, the 3D objects in progress always lay on the blue
grid on your workspace, while using a 3D preview. By default, this is
linked to the Ground Floor, but, if you click on its symbol, you can
choose a different height by using Snap to Story..., or choose a
custom height level by using Offset. All new objects will lay on the new
base just set.
Then you have the Door and the Window tools, used to drop a template of
a door or a window on an existing wall. As seen before, use the Info Box
above to change the template and its settings such as its size. In
particular, use the Still or Header Height section to regulate at which
height the door or window must lay. Click on the right black arrow to
change the base of the door or window, choosing a Wall base or top, or
even a Story by going to Relink Anchor Story.... You can also add an
offset from the base chosen by typing more below.
Once the door or window is dropped, you can decide the way and how
to open it, by clicking on the pink rhombus.
To cover walls, you have to use the Roof tool. Differently from other
templates, in the Main section you choose just the pattern to show off.
In fact, the Roof shape is not determined by a template, but by the shape
of the walls it lays on.
When you enable the Roof tool, adjust the settings in the Info Box.
Under Geometry Method, select Single-plane to drop a plain roof, or
Multi-plane to drop a more complex one. ArchiCAD is smart, and selects
the right blue grid depending on the height of the wall. Under
Construction Method, choose how to draw the roof.
For more complex templates, like stairs, chairs and beds, use the Stair
Tool and the Object Tool. Choose the template by clicking on the Default
Settings button and personalize it as you like. As seen for walls and
columns, use the blue grid to set the base these objects must lay on.
In ArchiCAD you can also draw 2D objects in a 3D environment, by using
the Morph Tool. In fact, if you use the 2D tools in the Document section,
you will draw lines and polygons, but these are not made for a 3D
environment composed by Elevations, Stories and 3D previews.
When enabling the Morph tool, you can draw lines and polygons that are
shown in a 3D preview. This works just like the Polyline tool, by fixing
points and segments. When you create a closed path, the object is
automatically filled by using the Structure options in the Info Box.
Let's see all the drawing and the editing tools inside a 3D environment.
As long as you work with 3D objects by using an Elevation or a Story
view, you can edit and manage them just like 2D objects, with the same
keypoints, editing tools and guidelines. But, when you switch to a 3D
environment you will have extra tools and features available.
Respect to a 2D environment, you have three main axes: X and Y are used
to represent length and width, whereas the Z axis is used for the height.
You also have the keypoints: checkmarks for vertices, star triangles
for points on edges, and a rhombus icon for a point taken on a face.
Also in a 3D environment you have the editing tools inside the dialog
box that appears when you click on nodes, paths or faces. You can use
the Drag, Rotate, Mirror and Multiply, Offset, Fillet/Chamfer tools just
like 2D objects. But you have other editing tools.
For example, if you have a polygon, you can transform it into a 3D
object by adding extrusion on it with the Tube tool. This creates a 3D
conductor by taking the polygon as a section, and stops when you click on
the latest point fixed, when your pointer becomes a black pencil.
If you click on a point, you can use Box Stretch to stretch the 3D
object by editing its 3D contour.
If you click on a vertex, you can apply a 3D Fillet/Chamfer tool on it;
or use the pencil icon to enable the Morph tool again.
If you click on an edge, you can apply a 3D Fillet/Chamfer tool on that
single edge only.
If you click on a face, you can use Bulge to distort a face by fixing
a radius and its intensity.
If you click on a wall vertex, you can use Stretch height to change its
height, or Modify angle to add angle respect to the main Z axis.
Of course you can use the advanced editing tools inside the Standard bar
also on 3D objects.
You can also personalize objects coming from a template. Just right-click
on the object and go to Convert Selection to Morph.
If you want to start drawing without using any template, enable the Mesh
tool, and click and drag to create a box. From this simple polygon,
you can start designing by modifying it with the editing tools seen.
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