Project 2_Creating a 3D rendered model for a Residential Building in AutoCad

INTRODUCTION: The main objective of this project is to understand about to create a plan in 2D ,then convert it into 3D using.

AutoCAD 3D applying materials and rendering: AutoCAD is primerily used for generating 2D sketches.While it is possible to create 3D objects,AutoCAD is built around a flat ,sketch based interface.There is a wide range of pre-defined 3D objects in AutoCAD .

These objects are cylinders,spheres and wadges and many more.But then users use 2D objects and modify them using the 3D commands accordingly .so AutoCAD 3D command like Extrude,sweep,revolve,and union are used by the users.

Also ,the user must know the importance of the viewport feature if they are working on 3D models.The viewport command allows the user to split the drawing area into different windows to project multiple views of the model.These include the top ,front, left/right views of the object.This feature works great for the user and helps them to observe the model from different aspects.Some 2D and 3D tools which was used while working on this project is as follows;

2D Tools:

1. line
2. contruction lines
3. polygon
4. Rectangle
5. circle
6. Erase
7. Copy
8. Trim
9. Layers
10. Mirror
11. Offset
12. Extend
13. Array
14. Move
15. Rotate
16. Dimension
17. Text
18. Fillet

3D Tools:

1. Revolve
2. Extrude
3. Sweep
4. Union
5. Subtract
6. Intersect

RENDERING:

Rendering is the process of creating a raster image based on the 3D objects in a Scene.A renderer  is used to calculate the appearance of thje materials attached to the objects in a scence  and how lighting and shadows are calculated based on the lights placed in scene.Environmental and exposure settings of the renderer can be adjusted to control the final rendered image.

APPLYING MATERIALS: 

1. Click Visualize tab Materials panel Materials Browser.Find 
2. Select the objectswhich you want to assign the material.
3. In the materials Browser,right-click the material to assign and choose Assign to selection .The material is assined to the objects.

Applying a material using the tool palettes:

1. Click View tab palettes panel Tool palettes.Find
2. On the Tool palettes window,Click a tab to set the tool palette current .
3. Drag a material tool from the tool palette into the object.

Applying a material by layer

Click Visualize tab materials panel (expanded)Attach by layer.Find

1. In the material attachment Options dialog box,drag a material from the materials list into a layer in the layers list.The material is assigned to all objects on the layer whose material propoty is set to Bylayer .(Bylayer is the default for the material property when you create an object.)

To remove applied materials

1. Click Visualize tab materials panel (expended)Remove materials.
2. Select on object whose material you want to remove.The material is removed from the object and replaced by the Bylayer material.

etc

OBJECTIVE:  

The main objective of this project is to review and refresh almost of the tools which will be used by a professional engineer while drafting a 3D drawing .This will start from the initial drafting in 2D using lines and rectangles to rendering in3D.The entire project can be completed in 14 steps and are as follows.

1. To draw the plan using AutoCAD 2D.
2. To project walls to convert the plan from AutoCAD 2D to AutoCAD 3D.
3. To design the staircase.
4. Design and placing of 3D doors,swinging louver,sliding window,normal window and glass grill.
5. Adding lights and colouring of walls
6. Adding chajja and 3D mirriring of the flat.
7. Adding lift and roof.
8. Designing and placement of staircase rails.
9. Adding mumty,parapet wall and copying floors
10. Rendering.

PROCEDURE:

step 1: To draw the plan using AutoCAD 2D.

Type 'UN' and press enter

Under Drawing Units,select Architectural (feet and inches)

Now the lower limit is set to 0',0' and upper limit to 100',100'

Type Z enter to zoom and A enter to all.

Default layers for materials like walls,windows,grills,steps and stairs,dimensions and text was made and was assigned with a colour.

Using line ,rectangle,construction lines the plan layout of a single residential building was prepared as shown.

Doors and Windows was provided at places necessary as shown in plan.

By providing a suitable style all the required texts was also made 

Using the DIMLIM command the dimensioning was completed.

The staircase and steps,common corridor was made next.

Using the mirror command ,the plan prepared was mirrored to obtain the ground floor of residential flat as shown.

The  residential flat has the same plan throughout 4 floors.

As plan layout is same throughout the entire designing will be carried out in the single residential building than the entire floor.

In order to do that a copy of the single residential flat was made and all the works was carried on it.

STEP 2:To project walls to convert the plan from AutoCAD 2D to AutoCAD 3D

Now in settings select 3D modeling and visual style control to 2D wireframe to move to AutoCAD 3D.

A copy of the residential flat was made to work with.

View use is south west isometric view.

Turn off all layers except the wall layer.

Select the entire drawing and type J to join the entire drawing.

Now click on extrude command in the home tab and press enter,move mouse in upward direction and specify height as 9'6" and press enter .Now the 3D wall is formed.

Door cut-outs:

Using the REC command draw a rectangle connecting the top of all door openings.

After drawing all the rectangles select the extrude command in the home tab and press enter ,move mouse in downward direction and specify height as 2'6" and press enter .Now the door cut outs of 7' is formed.

Also it means that the lintel beam will be at a height of 7' from the plinth level.

Now using the union option in solid editing panel select the complete drawing to union all elements in the drawing.

Window cut-outs

Now turn off the wall layer and turn on the window layer.

using the the rec command rectangle was drawn across all the window portion at the plinth level.

select all the rectangles just formed and move rectangle upwards by 7'.

All the main windows was extruded by 4' and the small toilet windows was extruded by 2' downword.

Using the subtract option in solid editing panel window rectangles was subtracted from the wall and thus the window cut- outs was made.

Floor Level:

 Using the polyline draw lines connecting the outer wall of the building at the top.

Now using the move command ,move the polyline made downwords of the plinth level.

Using the extrude command extrude the polyline by 2' hence forming the floor.

Common corridor and plinth

Form the 2D plan created ,using the polyline draw lines connecting the stair case,common corridor and lift room.

Then with copy command copy the polyline and place it in 3D plan using the end points selected.

Now extrude the polyline downwards by 2' to obtain the common corridor.

Also draw polylines at the plinth level throughout and using offset command offset it outward by 6".

Join all the polylines just created using the joint command and then extrude the polyline by 2' upwards to created the plinth.

Step 3: To design the staircase

STAIRCASE

In the layer panel turn on the staircase layer.

Now using the press pull option in home tab press pull each step by 6"(6",12",18" etc.) that is in every successive the extrusion height will be increased by 6".

Using the union option in solid editing panel union all the steps to become a single unit.

Using the press pull command in the soild editing panel press pull the bottom portion of staircase by drawing a line using the line command as required .It has to be done 3 times to remove all the below portions and to complete the loop.

Using the move command the staircase was selected the moved to the exact position in the 3D drawing Using the end points.

Now with 3Dmirror command mirror the step with respect to a plane parallel to YZ plane that is we have specify the planes by clicking on 3 points and step will be formed it at the other end of the corridor.

STEPS:

Turn off staircase layer and turn on the steps layer.

Rectangle was made first as per the 2D dimension and then the 3 steps was extruded by height of 6",12",18".

Use union command to join the steps.

Using the move command the steps was selected abnd moved to the exact position in the 3D drawing using the end points.

Now with 3dmirror command mirror the steps with respect to a plane parallel to YZ plane that is we have to specify the planes and step  will be formed it at the other end of the corridor.

STEP 4: Designing and placing of 3D doors,swinging louver,sliding window,normal window and glass grill.

The 3D doors,swinging louver,sliding window and glass grill was designed using the tools polyline,sweep,extrude,union,3drotate,subtract command etc.

  

Applying materials:

On the visualize tab click on material library and apply suitable materials for 3D doors,swinging louver,sliding window and glass grill as shown.

We can apply materials by just dragging the materials from the library to the object which is to be materialized.

 All of the materials was copied upto the number of times it was required ,using the 3D rotate command it was rotate to the required direction and then they all are placed at their respective positions at shown.

STEP 6: Adding lights and colouring of walls

Wall colouring:

Click on colour face tool in the solid editing panel to apply colours to each room faces as shown.

Select the faces carefully and after selecting faces press enter and select the colour of our choice and click ok.

Keep repeating this process untill completion.

Using the materials library in visualization tab the flooring was also applied.

Also the plinth level was also assigned to stone materials.

Adding lights:

In order to apply lights a diagonal line was drawn in each room using the line command.

In visualization tab select the create light option ,turn off the default lighting and then place the lights at the center of diagonal,click on intensity factor click on 20 and click enter twice.

 Repeat this process and do it for other rooms as wall.

Now select all the diagonal lines created and delete them.

Select all the lights created and move them downwards by 2'.

 

 STEP 7:Adding chajja and 3D mirroring of the flat.

The chajja sunshade was made next using the polyline and have to make sure to turn on the dynamic UCS.

The sunshade was made by extruding the lines drawn using polyliness by 18'

 Mirroring of the flat:

Now with 3Dmirror command mirror the flat with respect to a plane parallel to yz plane that is we have to specify the planes by clicking on 3 points and the flat will be formed it at the other end.

 Now using the union command join two plinth.

Repeat the union command and join the walls as well.

The two flat are to be mirrored again the finish the floor.

Now with 3dmirrore command mirror the flat with respect to a plane parallel to YZ plane that is we have to specify the planes by clicking on 3 points and the flat will be formed it at the other end.

 

 Thus the four flats are now created as shown.

The staircase portion was not selected while mirroring,as I decided to provede a lift room there.

 STEP 8: Adding lift room and roof 

LIFTROOM:

Lift was made next using the rectangle,extrusion,union,slice and materials was applied browser in the visualization tab.

Lighting was also applied as done above.

 ROOFING

In 2d wireframe draw a polyline across the plinth .

using the move command move it upwards by 9'6".

Using the extrude tool extrude it upwards by 6".

Staircase and lift projection upwards: 

 Now draw a rectangle along the outer boundary of staircase room and lift room.

Select the rectangles and extrude it upwards by any height.

Using the subtract tool subtract the lift room and staircase  room from the roof to make space for them.

STEP 8: Designing and placement of staircase rails

The railing of stair case was drawn next.

Copy the stair from the building to outside so that we can work on it.

Click on cylinder in the modify panel and create a cylinder of radius 1" and height as 2'6".

Copy this cylinder and place it on each steps as shown.

Using the polyline draw a line such that it connects all the cylinders just made at the centre and at the top portion.

A circle of radius 5" was drawn.

Using tbe sweep tool,the circle was selected and applied it to the polyline created.

Now using the copy tool copy the polyline by 6",12" and 18" and place it 3 times at the distances mentioned.

Now materials was applied from the materials library in visualization tab.

The handrail and steps was assigned with materials of our choice.

 The handrails was then moven and placed in the correct position as shown.

 

 STEP 13: Adding mumty,parapet wall and copying floors

In the 2D wireframe visualization with front view select the complete building,deselect the lifts from top to bottom till the plinth level and copy and place it at a distance of 10' in upward direction.

 Now isolate the roof of the 1st floor 

After that guard wall was built on both sides of corridor in the 1st floor using polyline,etrude and turning on dynamic UCS.

 Now unhide the roof as shown.

Select the roof and copy it to a height of about 20' from 1st floor.

 Select the complete first floor now and copy it and place at 10' and 20' from top.

After that the mumty was created at the top using the rectangle,offset,extrude,subtract,and move commands.

 The door cut -out was made and a door  was place at the top.

Now using a polyline a line was drawn across the roof completely and offset it by 6" to the inwards and again by 3"

Now detele the outer polyline.Now using the extrude command extrude it by 2'6" upwards to make the parapet wall.

 STEP 14:Rendering

Rendering at eagle's eye was done here.The camera at placed at necessary places around the whole building at some height.

Gross site work was applied at floor from materials library in visualization tab.

Rendering was done and the resultant images from different camera position is as shown.

Results:

Rendered and final image of the building at eagle eye.