how to model arches in curved plans

[chow choppe]

Hi

 

we have been using acad to model 3ds but now we are trying to learn it the 3dsmax way

Facing a problem modelling a building and its details because the plan is in curve form and also the elevation has arches. Arches have mouldings also. So its kind of difficult to understand how to model that. i am attaching the plans and elevations of the buildings. the building is simple with just arches in the verandahs but how to model those arches accurately in a curved wall is our problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

also i attached an image to show the details we will have to model in the building

 

Please tell us how to model these. we have the cad files with us . But they have filled everything with hatches so they have become very heavy to navigate

 

thanks

[foxlee]

This is one of the most difficult ones i have seen. Normally one would be able to do it in sections and use the plan to radial offset or array, but the elevations vary. I would normally do a section of a cylinder and then shapemerge an arch spline onto that, convert to poly and delete unwanted faces then add shell modifier for thickness. After this you would collapse to editable poly again ,select bottom faces and extrude down, bevel etc. for the moulding. Then you would copy rotate all your segments of verandah arches using the supplied radius

none of this would be super accurate though.

It would be very complicated to build as well.

[chow choppe]

u added to my worries

i thought it was easy for experts :-(

[MasterZap]

Stupid idea but... why not model the whole building straight, and when done, apply the "Bend" modifier to the whole thing

 

/Z

[chow choppe]

the elavtions are the projected elevations of the curve and doesnt depict the true length of the wall

So how can we places arches accurately in that

how do we know that what distance apart arches should be placed so that when we bend the wall the arches come at exact locations and are accurate in size

 

Thnks

[MasterZap]

the elavtions are the projected elevations of the curve and doesnt depict the true length of the wall

So how can we places arches accurately in that

how do we know that what distance apart arches should be placed so that when we bend the wall the arches come at exact locations and are accurate in size

 

Thnks

 

Surely you can deduce from the top view the proper location of the arches? Those "eleveations" look suspiciously inaccurate to me any way, as if they were hand-drawn, pretty much.

 

Remember max modelling is non-destructive; you can make a boolean of a hole in a wall, then apply bend, then go down in the stack and move around a component of the boolean operation to line up, say, an arch over it's counterpart in the plan view. (Have the "show end result" thing checked in on the modifier panel)

 

/Z

[chow choppe]

can i go back after making boolean operation

i doubt it

[MasterZap]

can i go back after making boolean operation

i doubt it

 

Of course you can:

 

Make a box

Make a sphere

Move sphere so it intersect box somehow

Select the box

Create new object, "Compound Object" -> "ProBoolean"

Click the "Start Picking" and pick the sphere

 

You should now have a "box with sphere shaped hole in it"

 

Go to Modify panel

Expand the ProBoolean ("+" in modifier stack)

Select "Operands"

Now further down in the modify panel you'll see "Box" and "Sphere"

Select "Sphere" there

 

Notice how the gizmo moves to sphere center?

 

Select "Move" tool. Move the sphere. You will see your "spherical shaped hole" move (if you have "show end result" turned on)

 

 

You can cut out all the arches you need, then bend the whole thing. (Tip: Tell ProBoolean NOT to remove edges ("Advanced Options" rollout), or your boolean object won't "bend" well)

 

/Z

[chow choppe]

oh

i forgot about pro boolean.

thanks

So looks like there is not other more accurate method to model this?

the first method will involve a lot of calculations i guess

 

thanks

[ice_9]

any architectural modeling tools maybe? ADT, ArchiCAD, Revit, cinema4d...

[ishpalsingh]

i would make a arc in plan on outer side of the wall

then refine it to add points on the depicting the width of the window

then extrude it

convert it to poly

then connect edges to get the cill lvl of windows for upper arches i would make a arch in front view then use shape merge to add the curve

then u can use extrude polygons to make rest of the things

then u can use shell modifier to add thickness to wall

i hope it will help

[Mechadus]

Id probably try and use spline modeling to get the rough shape of the arch in place based off the elevations and the plans, then a combination of the extrude, and edit poly modifiers to snap it into place and make sure it fits correctly.

 

-Nick

[chow choppe]

i would make a arc in plan on outer side of the wall

then refine it to add points on the depicting the width of the window

then extrude it

convert it to poly

then connect edges to get the cill lvl of windows for upper arches i would make a arch in front view then use shape merge to add the curve

then u can use extrude polygons to make rest of the things

then u can use shell modifier to add thickness to wall

i hope it will help

 

ishpal i hope array will also be used after that after making the centre most arch

[xeunox]

Here is a tutorial i made, i just hope u have 3dsmax 2008.

[chow choppe]

thanks xeunox for the lovely effort

i really appreciate the fact that u took time to make a tutorial

But the tutorial is for a arch whic is in a straight wall

my wall is curved in plan?

can u make one with a series of arches in a curved wall

 

thanks

[nilariver@gmail.com]

Instead of going for boolean why can't you define cross section at some cruial points and use cross section and surface command. The same issue was infront of us both in plan and elevation displace column position we did it in this way. Just try it?

[bjornkn]

I don't use Max, but in both SketchUp and LightWave this shouldbepretty straight forward? In LW I would use Rail Extrude to make the mouldings.

I had to wait for somenew plans here, and spent half an hour in SketchUp doing some tests, as on the attached image.

I made components of each segment, 6 degrees "slices", and used an arch and booleans to cut the outer face. Then I made a profile and used FollowMe to extrude it along that curve.

Surely there must be some similar tools in Max?

[Mechadus]

I did some tests over the weekend to try and figure something out. The most accurate way I could find to model the curved arches was bu using spline cages and patches, but it was a real time consuming pain using that method. The easiest, and fastest way I could find was to poly model the arches... I used the Bridge tool (in edit poly) and bridged the polygons on my columns to form a flat, straight beam, then I turned up the subdivs for the bridge, and just moved edges and vertices's to fit my plan.. After the first couple I did, I mad the process down so it only took a couple seconds to do one. The drawback is that since this method uses polygons, rather than splines, the quality of the result is dependent on how many subdivs you use for the arch, and of course the more polys your moving around, the longer it takes.

 

-Nick

[Zdravko Barisic]

A week ago, a had a fancy curved bridge to model, I spent a half a day, finding a good solution to make it accurate, than I realised, that the only way to do it accurate is NURBS modeling, so I gave up, started it up with one simple box, made few elements for booleans and that took me about 30-45mins to complete.

So do it easier way, boolean, than add a edit poly mod, to make the splines for windows frames, glass as shell mod...

Good luck!