A matter of inches.

[pmanahan]

I work in the aerospace industry and we use decimal inches in 3Dmax and it works wonderfully, all our drawings and info matches all the time. Is there a standard unit setup in architecture? Are all the furniture, cars and misc. models you can buy at a certain unit setup?

 

pmanahan

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

not quite sure what you mean. in the US, everyhting architecture is in the English system besides gov't buildings, they are Metric. Outside the US, I think everything is Metric. But, more to the point, everything is modeled in reference to real scale. If a building is 30' tall, then you model it as being 30' tall in the computer. Most apps include a conversion between English and Metric, and back. The only real problem you run into is that some apps use inches as base units, and some use feet. This is resolved by using prests when inporting, or simply scaling by 12 or 1/12, depending on what is needed.

 

I imagine that you model in real size also. So you type in 3.5 meaninf 3 and a half inches. It is really the same thing. You can set most apps to work with both.

 

You don't need the same level of accuracy in Architecture that you need in aerospace. I think most firms round anything under 1/4". A contracter on a job site is just going to make things fit for the most part. The loads are reasonably predictable, and it just needs to be anchored into place, and stand. The buildings won't be flying, so I guess you can say close counts in horshoes, hand granades, and (in most cases) constructing drawings. And definetly in arch viz models.

[Ernest Burden III]

Is there a standard unit setup in architecture? Are all the furniture, cars and misc. models you can buy at a certain unit setup?

 

Most definately not.

 

American architectural CAD files are typically in 'architectural' units, meaning foot/inch/fraction yet when you save a file it is seen as being in inches. Blame that on Autocad. Autocad, MAX, C4D and many other programs do not use real-world units. You can model in feet, miles, parsecs or nanometers or cubits. Its just units, you can call 'em whatever you please, just don't change unit types mid-project or you will have to scale your data.

 

Not all apps work that way. I have been spoiled to have gone over 15 years in real units, but am now having to face the unitless furure. I am used to jumping in between unit types to work with whatever I am compfortable with that moment.

 

So when you get files from someone else you must know the units they worked in. Most common are inches (fraction or dec.) mm and cm Usually you can tell if you got it right when you import the model. Is the car 1.6m wide or 16m or 16mm? Maybe it is 16 feet long. Checking known lengths will tell. You will need to re-import or re-scale if its off.

 

It really isn't that much trouble, its just silly to not work in real units.

[mbr]

I'd say only about 50% of the models I get are the correct scale for me to use. I have no idea why, but after battling the scale, and figuring out which multiple of 10 to divide/multiply by, they always end up correct.

[Brian Cassil]

You can model in feet, miles, parsecs or nanometers or cubits. Its just units, you can call 'em whatever you please

 

True, unless you are working with radiosity in which case it makes a big difference because of the light falloff values. A 100 watt light bulb will light a table that is 4' below it just fine, but not a table that is 4 miles below it.

 

In max there are two different units to pay attention to. The display units and the system units. Why they are separate is a mystery to me and an even greater mystery is why anyone would ever want them to be different. Display is just that, it's what is displayed in your rollouts and menus and such. System is what Max uses internally to calculate measurments.

 

 

I'd say only about 50% of the models I get are the correct scale for me to use.

 

Wow, I'd say your doing pretty good then because it seems more like 5% for me. In fact, just this morning I had to break out a dusty copy of Architectural Graphic Standards to verify how tall a barstool is supposed to be because the one I imported from e-interiors was about 8' tall.