how knowledgable to you have to be?

[cakewalkr7]

If I want to do strictly arch viz, how much architectural and autocad knowledge do I need? I'm not sure how much I need to learn to be able to work competently in the field of arch renders? It's not that I don't want to learn, but it seems there's just soooo much to learn I want to make sure I start by focusing on the more relevent and important things. Thanks.

[Devin Johnston]

You need to know how to read drawings and generally understand architectural terminology. Learning the software is another big hurtle which can take years in it's self so if your starting from scratch you are going to have a lot of work in front of you. AutoCAD can be used to model but there are much easier and more efficient ways to do it now, it all depends on how accurate you need to be.

[3dway]

To be competetive you'll have to know autocad well enough to be able to use an architect's drawing files to model from. Not only does that take a knowledge of AutoCAD it will take a knowledge of how architects work. Without the experience you'd have from working with AutoCAD in an architects office, it will be very difficult to be competetive with someone who has.

 

I've worked in a couple of different architectural offices (i'm a technologist, not a visualizer) and each office has it's own way of working, from layering standards, to sheet/viewport layout, model/paper space, xrefs.... Those are just the primary obstacles to overcome. The office I'm in now draws all of the floors superimposed in model space. With all of the layers on it looks like a plate of colourful spagetti. If you weren't well versed in manipulating layers, it would be impossible to sort out one floor from the next.

 

Even if you don't model in AutoCAD you have to be competent enough with it to be able to havest information from an architects .dwg files; otherwise, in my mind, you'll be redoing work that you wouldn't otherwise have to do, and your AutoCAD savvy competition isn't doing.

[cakewalkr7]

Even if you don't model in AutoCAD you have to be competent enough with it to be able to havest information from an architects .dwg files; otherwise, in my mind, you'll be redoing work that you wouldn't otherwise have to do, and your AutoCAD savvy competition isn't doing.

 

Thanks. I'm modeling in max but figured I've read about the need to usually clean up architect drawings in autocad before working with them in max. Can anyone recommend a good book that introduces common terminology I would need to be familiar with? With a family to support, I can't afford to quit my job and take an entry level position at a firm to learn this stuff... so I have to try and learn it as best I can on my own time. Thanks.

[3DEXTRUDE]

Thanks. I'm modeling in max but figured I've read about the need to usually clean up architect drawings in autocad before working with them in max. Can anyone recommend a good book that introduces common terminology I would need to be familiar with? With a family to support, I can't afford to quit my job and take an entry level position at a firm to learn this stuff... so I have to try and learn it as best I can on my own time. Thanks.

 

 

Well, i am a newb when it comes to architectural work. I am working in the field now. I have a really experienced friend who has been doing this for about 5 years now. he never took any classes on cad. His using a program called VectorWorks in his office for cad stuff, and its easier than Cad....there are other much easier programs out there, that can import dwg files with layers. He gave me the best advice. " Don't waste your time learning cad" just use a program that supports dwg files with layers. Understand the symbols and its content... Be able to separate and DELETE stuff you dont need, i refer to that as " Getting rid of GARBAGE"

 

What you have to mostly learn is NOT CAD, but the terminology, and being able to take a dwg drawing and start getting rid of GARBAGE that really fills up the file. If you are not an architect, just a 3D artist. You don't need to know the jibbrish stuff that people say you have to learn in terms of CAD.

 

Like i stated above. You need to know how to read the dwg file and its content. Look at floorplans and see whats the little symbols mean...Its not the hardest thing, but it can be dunting at first.

 

As someone above mentioned, learning CAD could take years, nobody has time for that if you are a 3D artist and not an architect. Learn the terminology and use a program that supports layers when importing dwg files. Ones you delete the garbage, you can than import that into your favorite 3D application. 3ds max, strata, Maya..etc..

 

I am sure there are more experienced cad users here than me, but 3D artists really not concerned about learning another program that takes years. You shuld be more concerned about being able to take a cad file and setup your own workflow that does not take days to play around with a cad file, instead work on how you can build a 3D model from those files. Reduce time as much as you can to get your work done.

 

Thats is my 2 cents here...some cad users might not agree, but i came to a workflow where this really works for me..I don't think ill ever learn CAD..But i will know what to do when someone gives me a cad file. yes i am still learning about this mathod, but so far its working..

 

cheerz..

[richmondlu]

When I started doing arch viz work i had very little experience in how to use cad. I went to school for animation and digital FX for games and movies. But after looking for jobs i saw that there was a need for a arch viz artist in my area (which equals lots of potential). So i put a couple things together that i free handed out of mags. And bam i got a job. at first i just used a 3 sided ruler and pencil drawings to make my models it was a high end cabinet company that didnt use cad still...old school! Then when i got my new job a couple years later i found out that using cad saved some time but you are basicly saving an hour which you end up useing to clean cad files. So i think if you know how to read measurements and have a little common sense on your sholders give it a try the only way to learn is to jump in to the shark pool.

[Vince Paske]

Software/being able to read blue-prints is important...but the real thing you have to learn (imo) is how to fill in the gaps often left open when you are given an assignment. How tall is a door (residential vs. commercial)? How thick is a HM frame? A an aluminum mullion vs glass set in a steel frame? Height of a door pull? Those are examples that have to become part of your common knowledge to do vis work.

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195019199/bookstorenow57-20

 

is a good read to get you going. Investing in a tape measure and developing a constant curiousity about the world is going to benefit you more than being an ace with auto-cad. So to answer your question, it isn't "how knowledgeable you have to be" - its more about how knowledgeable you want to become.

[3DEXTRUDE]

When I started doing arch viz work i had very little experience in how to use cad. I went to school for animation and digital FX for games and movies. But after looking for jobs i saw that there was a need for a arch viz artist in my area (which equals lots of potential). So i put a couple things together that i free handed out of mags. And bam i got a job. at first i just used a 3 sided ruler and pencil drawings to make my models it was a high end cabinet company that didnt use cad still...old school! Then when i got my new job a couple years later i found out that using cad saved some time but you are basicly saving an hour which you end up useing to clean cad files. So i think if you know how to read measurements and have a little common sense on your sholders give it a try the only way to learn is to jump in to the shark pool.

 

 

Same here...I got a 4 year degree in media arts and animation. So mostly i have been doing, modeling and rendering for different companies. I have not done much archviz stuff, but if you can understand the way architects work and have some good communication with them, than life gets easier...As the one above me has stated. Knowing your simple measurements for things like windows, doors, so that when you place an avarage 6ft guy in there, it will look proportionally correct. I see a lot of archiz guys on a lot of forums that has some really nice archviz renders, but when you double check their work, usually chairs, tables, and props look TOO BIG, or TOO SMALL and do not match up to the environment. So in my opinion its a good thing to know how things look and their measurements as someone has stated...

 

SKIP CAD, and learn these simple things that can lead you the way into this business..

 

cheerz..

[ericbarlow21]

I started off on my own with out knowing anything about autocad or architecture but knew some about 3d and 3d max so I began to figure things out for myself and was able to get work from architects who didnt want to pay a lot but also didnt expect a lot.

 

I worked my way up and learn a lot and got better and now I work at a big architecture firm in Phoenix and i still dont know anything about autocad... I just import everything into Max and make things looks pretty

[Keylitho]

Well in my opinion I feel that the arch know how is the most important part. I just sit around all day drawing 2d houses in Autocad but my life away from work is in 3d, so I look at 3d stuff all of the time and I seem to pick out faults all the time in houses that other people draw.

 

So if you try to get a job with an architect or something then they will probably have you do a test house to see what your made of, and if you draw it like you have never drawn a house before then they will know even if the general public (who will actually be seeing the house) doesn't know.

 

I hope that made sense.

 

~Erik

[lyca]

i would not worry that much about architectural knowledge, let the architects worry about this they are paid for this, and they don't realy like, if you try to do their job, just have a some culture to understand them, and don't be impress by the "talkitecture", because it's just a poetic view of what they do.

http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/a/architecture.html

 

if you can read a comic stip, you can read a plan, the only complecate things on a plan are the static stuff and those thing who are destinate to the builders and to the engeneers. As a viz artiste you just need to see where are theowalls, the opening and son on.

 

concentrate pn what matters for you, your material, your lights and be more a photographer than try to be an architect, the moto is understand them but don'be one of them :-)

my 2 cents