Newbie looking for some direction

[Lebjos]

Hi I am an architecture student at the illinois institute of technology, and in my first year got thrown into the 3d modeling mix in a few projects. Im very good with cad but have just started with 3dmax. I did a couple of renderings that should be attached.... very basic beginner stuff of course. What im wondering however is where I can go to learn more kind of on my own. I have got the 3dmax 7 bible, but am wondering where I could go to produce more drawings such as this ( http://www.arch.uiuc.edu/portfolio/students/competitions/epgsdaSP05/ I am referring to Colin Warnecke's Virtual Education Student Union, the 4th image) ... Thank you very much for helping out! Anything is appreciated.

 

The renderings are just of my model under the summer and winter solstices. For a first shot at 3dmax they didn't turn out too bad. thanks again.

[Lebjos]

Should I repost this in a different forum? Not sure if I am in the right place.

 

thanks

[mbr]

Not sure if I was looking the right images, but the ones I saw were extremely basic. You should be able to do that in a day or so, depending on the modeling.

 

I'd look on the web (Ted Boardman's book and tutorials, as well as sites like http://www.evermotion.org).

 

Good luck

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

the majority of the work posted here is along the lines of the photoreal variety. we have had discussions recently about incorporating more renderings involving study techniques or NPR techniques that do not use the hand style. i use these styles frequently. they are often the best way to study early phases of a project. they are ambiguous, and just imply ideas, and of course, they look cool. which is undeniably a factor, whether people will actually admit it or not.

 

so, explain exactly what you are interested in. are interested in making your rendering have an ambiguous, futuristic, avant garde technique that takes advantage of what computer graphics actually are? ...are you interested in improving modeling techniques? ...are you interested in recreating physical models in the computer? ...do you want to learn to produce photoreal renderings?

 

i am guessing it is somewhere in the middle. and it should be. while in architecture school, you should never spend you time creating photoreal images. photoreal images are what developers, and lay people need to understand a project.

 

you should spend the majority of your time, developing the design concept. developing the idea. developing the theory.

 

i am guessing you might get a better response posting these images in a forum that deals with the theory of architecture, but i do encourage you to post a couple here, and just tell people what you are looking for them to critique. tell people why you decided to render it like this, and ask them whether they think it works or not. you never know what kind of response you will get.

[Lebjos]

I am very interested in the photoreal as more of a hobby as opposed to what I would do for a study model.. Yes those renderings were very basic, they only took a couple of hours, they weren't supposed to be anything special.

 

What I am interested in I guess is something like what the thumbnail is attached.... A more detailed model, but not photoreal, but still complex to communicate an idea. However I suppose I have to get to that point before I can more effectively start moving towards photoreal.

 

The photo is from a University of Illinois at Urbana Champagn competition done by Colin Warnecke. Its a nice render, more than I can do at this point : ).... Thanks for the help and direction! Its much appreciated.

[chuck]

if you are comfortable with cad (3D?) then use that...there are a lot of pros that still prefer to model in autocad...

 

if you just want to model in max, pull in the floor plans and start there, the snaps work pretty well.

 

i'd focus on getting better at modeling first, then textures and lighting.

 

the detail on the last model is nice (atleast it has a lot going on), but i personally wouldn't call it a good render, and not because it isn't photoreal.

it lacks character.

 

 

chuck

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

I am very interested in the photoreal as more of a hobby as opposed to what I would do for a study model.. Yes those renderings were very basic, they only took a couple of hours, they weren't supposed to be anything special.

 

What I am interested in I guess is something like what the thumbnail is attached.... A more detailed model, but not photoreal, but still complex to communicate an idea. However I suppose I have to get to that point before I can more effectively start moving towards photoreal.

 

The photo is from a University of Illinois at Urbana Champagn competition done by Colin Warnecke. Its a nice render, more than I can do at this point : ).... Thanks for the help and direction! Its much appreciated.

 

you need hands on experience to build models well. ..and it always help to have an interesting design.

 

challenge yourself to slowly build more models. don't focus on doors and windows, but the walls, floor slabs, and structure. you don't want to become locked down in small details, otherwise the model will take forever to build.

 

look at the model you posted, it looks interesting, but yet he barely focused on correctly making the angled pieces meet up with the spine structure of the design.

 

when i first started building models, i took an approach similar to what you first posted. by that i mean that i tried replicate what a scale model would look like in the computer. do that. on a scale study model, you will glue pieces of chip, bass, balsa, plastic, or whatever you can get your hands on quickly to study the space. you are not worried about whether the door meets code or any of that crap. you just want to make sure your theory is carried out through your design.

 

the reason i am thinking you are taking a similar approach is that you used a wood texture on your wall. just like you might use a piece of wood in a scale model. i used to use textures of chipboard all the time when i was building my virtual scale models. i would not worry about the textures right now. you can use generic pieces. only use textures if it is a really special material, or you need to map movie screens or posters.

 

also...

 

one of my old professors used to have a theory of lines. any design could be made more interesting by simply adding more lines. it doesn't even matter what the hell the lines are for, just as long as they are there.

 

choose an app and work with it. become comfortable with it.

[Lebjos]

Thank you very much, that was a tremendous help. Ive been consuming 3ds as much as possible and just looked into a new program (sketchup) as well. I will be sure to stop back periodically when I have new stuff and my skills begin to progress.... Im sure ill have plenty of problems so ill be back more often than not. Thank you again this seems to be a very strong community dedicated to the subject. Thanks!