Work flow for ADT & Max users?

[hieu]

 

I mean that I need to know the familliar procedures that architects usually do when co-ordinate ADT and MAX to work on his project. The question may be very huge to answer but I think it is interesting to talk about. We can exchange ideas and discuss the difficulties we meet while illustrating our own projects.

 

For instance,

 

Could you tell me your way to model in ADT? Which should be done in ADT is faster and more precisely? Which should be done in Max or Viz environment? Any tips to share?

 

And then, your way to convert it into max, using links function, import or merge....? Which system variable we should consider to have a good and lightest model in max? Which difficulty we will face with our model in max environment? (such as problem with smoothness of curve or round shapes, problem with normal of wall elements, windows sub-object material for frame and glass...)

 

And your way to render it, using which solution (vray, radiosity, scanline). According to you, which is the most efficient way interm of time and economy?

 

In final words, I have to say sorry to all of u for my questions. I think that it already exits in our community or many people have put time and energy to write tutorials about it but I can't not have enough time to read all threads in this forum to find my interest thread or tutorials because I am have very little time to finish my project.

Moreover, this thread may become a collection of links about tutorials, tips or advices relating to "WORK FLOW OF AN ARCHITECT TO MODEL HIS PROJECT USING both ADT and MAX-VIZ program" is a good GOAL to drive to.

 

Thanks to all!

[STRAT]

personally i model things up in faces in acad, then 3DS them over to viz/max/c4d

 

and if i need to make changes i just re-import the effected layer.

 

this is probably not the fastest quickest method for most peeps, but it's what i do fastest and best. try things out for urself until ur happy with a method thats suits how you work

[William Alexander]

There are wide and varied workflows. I learned the basic adt entity display set ups for materials inported to Viz from an autodesk training of adt. This is the key 'autodesk' connection to the max platform for AEC objects like walls and windows. Entity display colors=multi-sub / material ID colors in max, layers can also be set up for different imports. These "connections" also then correspond to elements and componets of viz blocks (in viz for example).

 

Generally I use a mixture of solids and the AEC type content, quite a bit of millwork and routed profiles with my work. Now for buildings with many windows and many walls striaght out face modeling, like Strat, is best. The AEC content generates a whole pile of unneeded and un-seen faces, that can kill the displays and render times. The good part, if you have the ADT models created for the construction documents, is you just use your snaps and face model right over the existing geometry, on layers for materials.

 

I prefer linking directly to a dwg file in viz4, now if I only had the subscription for max6! Then reloading just specific layers or creating new layers for changes. For solids with curved surfaces that the acis display function is to large, reload those layers with a better accuracy.

 

Then go through the geometry clean what is not needed, weld verticies as needed and create geometry that is modeled best on the Max platform. The materials and render....

 

I have been working on a series of tutorials that address some of these issues and will in the future dive into the import export specifically. It is a very large topic to cover the whole range of potential concepts and yet like Strats approach the individual methods are really quite simple. Here is the link if you'd be interested

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/news/newsfeed.asp?nid=1851

 

WDA

 

p.s. OUCH:mad: , 40 years old- that hurts, when did are years of wisdom (hehehe lol) get listed in our profiles?

[hieu]

Yes, I think by using Strat way to model we will have the lightest model to render in max environment. Can u explain a little bit about your way to model by using face method?

 

Moreover, I think it is the solution for small project or interior design. For exterior design or big project we will have to use useful tools of ADT(such as wall tool, window tool or opening tool....) to create the model to reduce time modeling and increase the precision of the model.

 

When I use those tools to model the design, the problem I have to face with is the redundacy of the unneeded faces. It increases the rendering time so much that slow down my progress. I don't want to model fully in max platform because we are working in group so I can make usefull of using the 2D drawing from others, and because most of our project always have a lot of adjustments.

 

Fews of my question is:

Is there any way to turn the bottom and the top faces of a ADTwall off by using some variable? (I don't mean to explode the wall and del those face because I want my wall adjustable later)

 

Is there any way to turn the inner face of a wall (or a model in general) off to reduce file size? (I mean that I want to have outward faces of an exterior perspective only in max environment)

 

-----------

If my broken english make you confusing, don't hesitate to tell me my mistakes