individual bricks are 3D and editable?

[shokan]

Hi, I'm looking for an architectural CAD software that produces mortar and bricks geometry that can be easily edited to design decorative brick details from the Victorian era. There are endless brick design variations, so an ability to manipulate the individual bricks in any way desired in 3D space is the software requirement.

 

Is there a program out there that is good for this?

 

Thanks.

[davistalexander]

ERM...autocad.. use the box command.

davis

[shokan]

ERM...autocad.. use the box command.

davis

Is there a tool in AutoCAD for repeating a brick box along the lines of the building's footprint? (note, actually a brick with a thin layer of mortar on one end and for the top or bottom brick face so mortar fills all the spaces between brick courses)

[jinsley]

why don't you look at revit and building some families that would suit your needs?

[shokan]

why don't you look at revit and building some families that would suit your needs?

 

Here's a watercolour of a simple Victorian facade. Looking for an ability to build with brick and mortar course by course and create the designs one by one with each course. There are far more elaborate designs than this one.

[jinsley]

have you tried photoshop and created diffuse, specular, displacement, etc. maps? combined with uvw mapping, that might work for something really complex.

[shokan]

have you tried photoshop and created diffuse, specular, displacement, etc. maps? combined with uvw mapping, that might work for something really complex.

 

Because I wouldn't know how to recreate something like this pattern, for one.

[jinsley]

10 mins of photoshop... a diffuse map, bump and displacement. It might be worth spending some time with photoshop and test out different ways to create maps.

 

I don't know if it is good enough... at a distance it looks fine to me, I don't know how detailed your renders need to be. I could spend an hour on it and do much, much more.

 

You could try many things:

 

1. model everything - maybe parametric?

 

2. map everything. as in the image I provided below...

 

3. model what you have to and map the rest. This is probably the best option if you need alot of detail.

 

I don't know if there is going to be one option that provides you with everything you need.

[jinsley]

here are the maps if you want to see how I did it.

 

You could elaborate on them, and with a little practice create almost anything you needed as long as the displacement is on the z axis from the object.