Hello modelling dieties: I would like to model the exterior of a building consisting of a bar attached to a laundromat. I plan to use it to illustrate a book cover for a series of short stories I've written. The building will be primarily brick, have a few windows, and a bit of signage. I have Amapi 6, Cinema 4D CE, and not-the-latest version of Wings. Of the three, which do you feel would be best to create a building? And please, meaning no disrespect, this is not a start-a-"mine-is-better-than-yours" post. I'm just a po' boy looking to make a building. Thanks to all for any help. garblesnix, from the writers forum p.s. I could post the story to better give you all a feeling for what I want, if that would help.

Any of the three would be more than enough to get the job done. Which program's interface suits you best? I'd go with that one.

Teyon is right. use the tool that is the most comfortable for your work habits. all 3 you name will do the job as well as any other. if you are going to be using one to render the scenes, it would probably be c4d, so it may be easier in the long run to make to building model in it. but that would be the only reason to recommend one over any other.

Thanks to both of you. And, at the risk of pushing it, are you aware of any tutorials dealing with building buildings? "building buildings"? A tad redundant, huh? How's 'bout tutes 'bout architecture? Yeah, that's better. Thanks.

The only one I've seen personally is for max. and it is a basic: use image as background, draw splines along lines for perimiter draw path spline loft. cut out windows and doors texture.

Personally, I would stay away from splines for modeling architecture. Simple primitives and a decent poly-modeler are more than enough to the challenge of building a high rise. Programs like FormZ are solid modeling programs, which are perfect for this kind of modeling, but there's a lot of overlapping polygons here... making for a dense and very inefficient mesh. My vote is to go with Cinema 4D. :o) Modeling a decent building is a lot of extruding and lofting simple geometry. Unless we're talking about modeling a Corinthian Capital the use of splines might be a bit of overkill. Still... at the end of the day, if splines get you the architecture you want, go for it. My suggestion about architectural modeling would be to get yourself a set of plans with dimensions on them, and start modeling what you see a little bit at a time. I've done a few buildings, so I can help from practical experience. It actually helps to model the same way you'd build a house or building. Start with the floor, model in the columns, put up the walls, get the roof up, throw in doors and windows... and you're done. :o) With buildings, same thing model your building footprint, extrude, slap on your columns and your exterior cladding, detail out your windows, clone them as required, build a rooftop and throw on a few details here and there... and you're done. :o) I hope that was helpful. Cheers! M

M:
Thanks for the input.
I'm not planning on creating anything as detailed as you described. This bar, in the stories I'm writing, is in Minnesota, so there won't be lots of fancy columns and such. It'd going to be a neighborhood bar with a laundomat attached. The entrance to the bar will be at the corner.

Brick, wood, windows, a nice door, some signs. Thats about it. Exterior only. Maybe an alley next to it for the bear (it's in the story).

Thanks again to all of you who gave advice.

garblesnix

Message edited on: 09/22/2005 14:35

"all 3 you name will do the job as well as any other."

Not sure if Amapi 6 allows non-procedural (i.e. bitmap image) texturing and detailed UV mapping, which would be important for this project.

pearce: Thanks for the input. I made an industrial shelving unit in Amapi 6 and, after tweaking it in UV Mapper Pro, was able to texture it, albeit not with as much detail as required from a building. I like Amapi 6 as a first choice because I took to the interface immediatley. It fit like a good pair of Cole Haan shoes. I'll play around and try to offer feedback as I learn things. Thanks again. g'snix

I'd stay with Cinema 4D, as if some day you'll get the 8.5 and later versions you'll be able to model buildings without bothering about any n-gons that quick windows/door cutting usually implies.

For me I use c4d ce+ there's tutorials on making buildings on there web site and I also use carrara 3 it has a great uv mapper built in.

Attached Link: http://www.sketchup.com/index.php?title=Download+Video+Tutorials

Dennis445: Which site do you mean? Thanks.

Dennis445 could you provide the link to that tutorial - can't find it anywhere on their site.

Thanks

Help! I want to learn how to do modeling, that is make clothing and such for Vic 3 etc, my problem is I have no idea what program to buy that would cater to the "newbie". Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks, Karen

I think you could try wings. A number of merchants use it and it is free. Go to Wings 3D.com. There are a lot of choices for programs that can do a lot of what you want. Try a few demos and see what you like. Wings and Blender are both free and have a fairly large community so you can ask questions. Silo and AC3D have pretty good support and are relativly low priced.

I secound sketchup. Its by far the fastest thing for architectural modeling. Also It probably will only take you a few hours to learn the program inside out as well.