CAD v Modeling
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Thanks for the link.
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Linea
I had a look at sti spirit, and it looks interesting. Can't seem to find out a cost for it though - I suspect it is expensive, as things usually are when they won't tell you how much it costs!David
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I agree. In addition there was not much information to evaluate the capability of the program to create, and maintain production drawings. I also did not notice any "User Programming Language".
Too bad for me that I am too lazy, and busy to request, and evaluate a trial of the program.
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David, Honolulu
I have never managed to find out the price for definate, I read on a forum that it is 900 euros. If you email STI they will send you a demo. The demo looked good actually, slightly unusual interface for a CAD program, but from the time I had with the demo I think it could be a good choice. Spirit did used to get mentioned alot on the old forum, so some people here probably use it and can tell you more.
There used to be some tutorials on Youtube too, but the only one I can find now is in spanish. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-ACbHP16HC4
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@honoluludesktop said:
Modeling, and visualization only account for a portion of the schematic design process. This phase represents about 10-15% of the effort that goes into the Architect's effort to build a building. If 3D could replace 2D drawings in construction documents, it would have been done a long time ago. Architects have the ability to draw in 3D (perspective and axonometric views) without computers, and are not in love with the effort it takes to ornithologically project a building's views.
Although i agree that current architectural practice is based on 2D drawings as construction information, I'm starting to feel that 3D information is/will take a bigger share of graphic communication with contractors.
I am doing a very small scale job right now, and am pretty much using Sketchup as the primary package. That is to say that I have decided to build every element (floor slab, screed, hardcore, stud, cladding joist, roof deck, roof membrane) in Sketchup. I then take dimensioned elevations and sections directly from it and put it into LayOut. I export sections from Sketchup into Vectorworks to create the plan, and draw details. I use Sketchup's orthogonal views, and by turning different layers on/off I can show the structure, foundations, and cladding separately. All this is made very easy, and if I change the model, then all the drawings are updated to register the change.
I also think builders appreciate 3D information, since it is so easy to read. I think 3D information is far better at communicating an overview of the phases of project, 2D information is only necessary for details and plans, perhaps.
I guess what I am saying is that 3D drawings have the potential to become the primary communication medium, though I can never say that 2D doesn't have its place. I am relatively young, and still discovering how to do architecture, and I am being pulled to 3D more and more in the production of construction information.
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TommyK, no argument from me. Where 3D proves to be an efficient way to communicate, I have no doubt that it will be quickly assimilated into the overall process. Within the constraints of my system, your plan to draw every stud is ambitious and admirable.
A light note about progress: In my mid 20s I once drafted on my own time, first in pencil, then traced over freehand in ink, a residential 3 sheet set of plans. My boss thought I was nuts. At that time, residential contractors were working craftsmen, capable of building by themselves, everything wood in the dwelling from framing to cabinets, and doors. In the beginning of my practice, I was lucky to build two houses with fellows like this before their kind retired from the industry. Between the Architect, and these craftsmen existed the knowledge of what was expected. One of the old timers in the days of my youth told me that when he started, his library of manufactured products fit in a paper box, a file folder in height and width by 24 inches deep.
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Yeah, also think builders appreciate 3D information, since it is so easy to read. I think 3D information is far better at communicating an overview of the phases of project....
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3d information. I don't think so. Not for building. Very good for complex connections but even those would probably require an interactive model or multiple views, where an orthographic view is easy for a builder to navigate.
I like to include isometric cutaways for some standard waterproofing details, but I wouldn't want to draw all custom details like that. Sometimes it's good for the concept. I showed a steel connection to an engineer with a SU image, and he "got it" right off, whereas he wasn't quite reading it from our plans before that. But he then made orthographic construction drawings for the builder.
On the other hand, I met a builder who draws his own 3d detailed framing models before building. Interesting.
Now if you're talking at the level of Gehry. You CAN"T build it without a 3d model and a computer. That's fascinating, where they build physical models and then digitize them.
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@dcauldwell said:
Linea
I had a look at sti spirit, and it looks interesting. Can't seem to find out a cost for it though - I suspect it is expensive, as things usually are when they won't tell you how much it costs!David
Take a look here : http://www.procadsys.co.nz/
The dealer, Matt Cockroft, is very knowledgeable and has created a lot of tutorials on Spirit, and should be able to give you pricing. Last I heard it ain't cheap (compared to SU Pro), but it's also a lot less expensive than - say - ArchiCad.Alan
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@dcauldwell said:
I am currently trying to develop a workflow link from SU to CAD drawings for architectural work (small scale stuff - houses).
So far I have worked out that the plans and sections can be exported from SU with a thickness applied to the section cut, thus eliminating the need for linetype adjustment later. I am currently using CAD to add dims and some shading to the SU import. That just leaves the actual detailed drawings and as I import these as 'standard' details (to be adjusted per project) this is quite simple.
With discipline in the creation of SU model, so far this is working quite well.David
Your response got me thinking, because one of the major issues of exporting a section cut aligned view from Sketchup are alle the single lines you end up with in the drafting program. Then I thought about Archicad and I think there is a nearly automatic solution for this problem:
Since version 11 Archicad has intoduced a feature called "linework consolidation", that lets you transform all the 2d lines you get from a cad in single polilines. It allows you to transfer all of these lines on a single layer of your choice, change the colour of those lines and so on. This comes from the need to create more polished drafting from an autocad import, but now it occurred to me it would work nicely with a dwg file coming from SU as well. Will havo to try it out!
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