a real project & the time it took

[digitalcarbon]

hello all, attached is a drawing set for a 2115 sqft home. about 90% was modeled in 3d. some items are were not addressed in details due to a time limit i had on this drawing set.

the 3d model allowed me to make very quick changes at the end of the project & keep everything clean & up to date. years ago i did all my drawings as 2d projection drawings. having tasted the power of 3d it is unlikely i will ever go back. i do not think it is a wast of time to model as much as one can in 3d.

the advantage of VW is that a person can ease into 3d (took me 5 years) & the architect that i did most of my work for did not really notice that i was doing more and more 3d (he was all against it at first) now he wants it all 3d.

(note the electrical outlets in the interior elevations)

(the file needed to be split up into 2 pdfs due to size)

Edited June 4, 2013 by digitalmechanics

[Bob Holtzmann]

Nice work there, DM, and very thorough. I noticed your images in the Window Schedule were not showing properly, as black boxes. I had that problem too, with the image elevation of my Door Schedule, so instead of exporting the PDF, I used the Mac print dialog, and printed to PDF. The images in the schedule then showed up fine.

[digitalcarbon]

huh....they showed up in the original pdf for the permit set.

i thought i did a batch export on both?

why did it happen?

[Christiaan]

Nice set of drawings. How come you do the foundation/floor like that (with all that fill and a slab)? Instead of, say, a suspended timber floor on piles?

Edited June 5, 2013 by Christiaan

[Christiaan]

Oh I see it's all blockwork inside too. Thought it was timber frame.

[digitalcarbon]

this is what i had to start with. while it appears all worked out. the wall system was different thickness so i had to shuffle spaces etc.

[digitalcarbon]

comments on 2d projection drawing system

drawing in 2d & 3d compared

[VincentCuclair]

Great work M! One tip though, if you add a heliodon and/or white HDRI background the 3D images will show up much clearer, they seem rather dull in color.....

Edited June 5, 2013 by Vincent C

[digitalcarbon]

ok thanks, 3d photo rendering is not my strong suit

[Dieter @ DWorks]

hello all, attached is a drawing set for a 2115 sqft home. about 90% was modeled in 3d.

Nice work!

the 3d model allowed me to make very quick changes at the end of the project & keep everything clean & up to date. years ago i did all my drawings as 2d projection drawings. having tasted the power of 3d it is unlikely i will ever go back. i do not think it is a wast of time to model as much as one can in 3d.

3D is better, but it needs to be learned and you need to have a better intellect in the sense that you need to know how a building is really build and that you can represent the things in your head. This is where a lot struggle. Also, the initial first drawings will take the same time, 2D or 3D, but it's after that that you get the time saving.

the advantage of VW is that a person can ease into 3d (took me 5 years) & the architect that i did most of my work for did not really notice that i was doing more and more 3d (he was all against it at first) now he wants it all 3d.

This is very true, you can go into 3D step by step. I now draw that far that from the first sketch, I get even the interior views for the client, and this in the same time I have Always done before. It's just that you need to build a good library and use some custom plug-ins, because those are invaluable! Architects are mostly against 3D because they are afraid it will take more time, and more time means more money spend, and more money spend means less for them.......

BIM/3D/4D is the future and we all need to embrace it.

[digitalcarbon]

DWorks...your are correct it was very scary to do any 3d because you are really programing, in this case building a model, and hoping that you can get out of it the time you put into the model.. what i have come to find out is 2d is like 1:1 what you get is what you draw but 3d is more like 1:10. i spent 2 hours making special electrical symbols to show up in plan and elevations but that translated into showing up in all my elevations with out me having to draw a thing. now im using the same symbols in my next project. free drawing!!

[Dieter @ DWorks]

i spent 2 hours making special electrical symbols to show up in plan and elevations but that translated into showing up in all my elevations with out me having to draw a thing. now im using the same symbols in my next project. free drawing!!

If you spent some extra time on each project for creating good librarie components, at some point, you have a 99% complete one so that you can create a whole project somewhat out-of-the box really fast! I do 8 to 16 hours for a first predesign wich include 3D interior views and several section cuts.

[Christiaan]

Okay, I'm going to offer a counterposition to the back-slapping.

Apart from the many problems of medium-to-large projects with multiple team-members, including the likes of crashing because its run out of memory and Cloud Services being unable to render our elevations, there's the sticky issue of making design changes once you've painstakingly modelled something manually.

A recent medium-sized project I modelled had a complex roof involving barrel vaults, dormers and mansards. With nothing in VW to automate this process I had to resort to free-form modelling. The problem is the enormous overhead when it comes to changing the design, which can often happen very late in the Design and Build process. In 2D this was a cinch; 10 minutes changing the elevations, 30 minutes changing a section.

In VW 3D I would have to remodel all the framing, internal finishes, external finishes, etc. and then wait while it re-renders, then make more adjustments after spotting issues with the render, or make the same changes again because it crashed, etc. When you're at the stage that they're on site ready to build something the next day and they need some updated drawings because they've spotted a problem, this is not the process you want to be stuck with.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to go back to VW 2D. I'm just saying the productivity gains are not currently there for most of the projects we work on.

[digitalcarbon]

Christiaan, i understand what your are saying... but a complicated roof system changed in 40 min would give give me the feeling that i over looked something.

thats just me.

also if you noticed the 2115 drawing i submitted i did not model the truss system, i just did the bottom cord and top framing and left them hollow because of time constraints.

if vw could work like solid edge that would be great. i asked them if anyone was using their product for architecture and they did not recommend it.

[digitalcarbon]

Christiaan, how do other programs stack up to "a complex roof involving barrel vaults, dormers and mansards"

it would be great if we could submit parts of our projects (like your example) to different vendors and have them make a video showing how their program handles what we send them. vs them picking easy stuff that they know they can handle.

[bc]

it would be great if we could submit parts of our projects (like your example) to different vendors and have them make a video showing how their program handles what we send them. vs them picking easy stuff that they know they can handle.

Once again, a most excellent idea.