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Architectural Visualization Using AutoCAD® and

Autodesk ®

3ds Max Scott C. Rosenbloom, AAIA – Cooper, Robertson and Partners

DV304-1L The architectural industry requires 2D drawings to be constructed in very specific ways. Formany years, AutoCAD has allowed designers to be creative as well as accurate. To bring these flat drawingsinto the third dimension, Autodesk 3ds Max contains tools for importing and extruding AutoCAD drawings.Additionally, it allows for material creation as well as accurate interior and exterior lighting. In this session, we'lldiscuss and demonstrate how to use AutoCAD and 3ds Max together in an expanded toolset.

About the Speaker:Scott is the 3D Visualization and CAD Manager at Cooper, Robertson, and Partners -- an architecture andurban design firm in New York City. He has a background in architecture and computers, and has beenteaching architectural visualization using AutoCAD and 3ds Max at the Pratt Institute for more than threeyears. Scott has a Bachelor's degree in Professional Studies (Architecture) from the University at Buffalo, a

Bachelor of Architecture from the New York Institute of Technology and a Master’s degree in Computer Artfrom the School of Visual Arts.

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Architectural Visualization Using Autodesk® AutoCAD and 3ds Max®

Drawing Clean-up:

AutoCAD drawings can become quite complex and hard to work with if you’re just looking forspecific information. Before bringing it into 3DS MAX, it is a good idea to clean up the drawing bycopy/pasting just the part of the drawing your interested in, into a new file. Once there, you canerase out and/or redraw any parts you want.

1. Open the file called, “A-FP10.dwg”.

The first step of constructing our model will be to bring in the footprint of the room. Therefore, wemust copy/paste the footprint into a new file.

2. Zoom into the classroom.

I started using AutoCAD with version 12 for DOS when there were no icons. Throughout thissession while using AutoCAD, I’ll be giving you the typed commands which you will find are faster(I’ll also give you the aliases I have changed them to).

3. Type, “layfrz” (my alias = fz) which is the “layer freeze” command.4. Click to freeze the following:

a. dimensionsb. notesc. drafting symbolsd. column grid linese. hatches

The resulting drawing should looksimilar the figure 1.

Figure 1

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5. Type, “copyclip” for, “Copy to the clipboard” (alias = cc) and drag a window aroundthe entire classroom.

6. Hit the spacebar (the spacebar and enter key do the same thing).7. Start a new drawing by holding down the control key and tapping n for new . Choose

the file called “empty.dwt”.8. Type, “pasteclip” for, “Paste to the clipboard” and then for the insertion point, type

“0,0” and hit, “enter”.9. You will most likely need to zoom to extents (commands: z, e) to see what you’ve

pasted.

For this part of the process, all we need to do is bring in a clean footprint of the room, made up ofa single polyline, to align our elevations to.

10. Type, “layiso” for “Layer Isolate (“li” - redefined “li” from “list”) and click one of theyellow lines that represents the walls. All other lines will turn off.

It’s always a good idea to stay as organized as possible while working with a computer. To dothat, let’s create a new layer to draw on.

11. Type, “la” for “layer”.a. Click the, “new layer” icon (fig. 2).b. Name the new layer, “2D-footprint” and give it a red color.c. Make the new layer current and click, “OK”.

Figure 2 – New Layer Icon

12. Type, “pl” for “polyline” and, using your object snaps, draw a polyline around theinside of the classroom.

For this particular file, we don’t need any other lines except for the new footprint.

13. Type, “layuniso” for “layer-un-isolate”.a. Make the “0” layer current and freeze the, “footprint” layer.

14. Type, “e” for “erase” and erase all of the objects on the screen.a. Unfreeze the “footprint” layer.

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It’s a good idea to remove all traces of what you’ve brought in. To be sure we’ve done that, we’llrun the, “purge” command. Additionally, I like to run the, “audit” command which checks thedrawing for errors and if there are any, fixes them.

15. Type, “pu” for “purge” and hit the spacebar (fig. 3).a. Be sure that the, “Purge nested items” option is checked.b. Click, “Purge All” then, “Yes to all”.c. When it finishes, click, “Close”.

Figure 4 – Audit

Figure 3 – Purge

16. To check the drawing for errors, type, “audit” (au) and hit the spacebar (fig. 4).a. Type, “y” and hit enter to tell AutoCAD to fix any errors that it finds.

Now we need to save the drawing in a new folder which I like to call, “Parts”. Within this folder,I’ve also created a sub-folder called, “ACAD”. I’ll do this because it’s possible I might create a,

“part” in MAX at some point and I’ll want to keep them separated.

17. Type, “qsave” (q) to save the file and call it, “footprint.dwg”.

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Now that we have our footprint, we need to prepare our elevations.

3. Open the file, “ A-EL10.dwg” (fig. 5).4. Zoom into the top-left elevation which is called, “Classroom 1009 East Elevation” (fig.

6).5. Make, “0” the current layer.

a. Once again, run the, “Layer Freeze” command (layfrz), and freeze all objectsthat will have no role in the model.

Figure 5 – A-EL10.dwg

Figure 6 – Classroom 1009 East Elevation

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Now we have three elevations. We must bring these elevations into MAX with each separateobject (which is based on material) on its own layer. To do this we’ll use the, “boundary”command (To make sure we’re all at the same point, open the file called, “frontWall-noBoundaries.dwg).

12. Zoom into the left elevation.13. Type, “la” to enter the, “Layer Manager”.14. Let’s create the following layers with the specified colors:

a. 2D-wall --> redb. 2D-door --> yellowc. 2D-trim --> greend. 2D-base --> cyane. 2D-cork --> bluef. 2D-doorFrame --> magenta

15. Make the, “2D-wall” layer current and click, “OK”.

It’s a good idea to become familiar with the, “boundary” command. It works similarly to, “hatch,”in that you pick an internal point. The difference is that it only creates the boundary and not thehatch.

16. Type, “bo” for, “boundary” and hit the spacebar (fig. 9).a. When the, “Boundary Creation” dialog box appears, click the, “Pick Points,”

button.b. Click the areas as indicated in the image in figure 10 to create boundaries for

all objects. Be sure to change layers for each boundary.

Figure 9 – Boundary Dialog Box

Figure 10

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In an effort to speed things along, I’ve finished creating the rest of the boundaries for you. Youwill notice within the new file that some additional layers have been created. The file, however, isnot completely finished. We still need to purge out the extraneous information and run an audit.

17. Open the file, “frontWallComplete.dwg”.18. Make the “0” layer current and freeze all of the newly created layers.19. Erase all of the imported lines and then unfreeze all layers.20. Type, “pu” for “purge” and hit the spacebar.

a. Be sure that the, “Purge nested items” option is checked.b. Click, “Purge All” then, “Yes to all”.c. When it finishes, click, “Close”.

21. To check the drawing for errors, type, “audit” (au) and hit the spacebar.a. Type, “y” and hit enter to tell AutoCAD to fix any errors that it finds.

22. Save the file and call it, “frontWall.dwg”.

So now we have some parts that we can import into 3DS MAX. Let’s switch over to 3DS MAX.

1. Let’s set our units. Click the, “Customize,” pull-down menu and then click, “UnitsSetup” (fig. 11).

Figure 11 - Customize Figure 12 – Units Setup

2. Click, “US Standard” and then choose, “Feet with fractional inches” and click, “OK”(fig. 12).

3. First we need to import our footprint. Click, “File” and “Import” (fig. 13).4. Next to where it says, “Files of Type” at the bottom of the dialog box, choose,

“AutoCAD Drawing (*.DWG, *.DXF)” (fig. 14 - Be sure not to choose, “LegacyAutoCAD”. This file type is used for drawings that come from older versions ofAutoCAD.)

5. Navigate to the location where you saved the, “footprint.dwg” file and double-click it.

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Figure 13 - Import Figure 14 – Files of Type Figure 15 – Options

6. Under, “Derive AutoCAD Primitives By,” set it to, “Layer, Blocks as Node Hierarchy.”7. Place a check next to “weld” and set the “weld threshold value” to 1/8”.8. Switch over to the, “Layers” tab (fig. 16).9. Choose the, “Select from list” option.

10. Click the, “None,” button” and then click, “footprint” and click, “OK”.

Figure 16 – Layer Tab Figure 17 – Elevation Needs to be rotated

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The footprint has now been imported, but more importantly, it has been imported at the samephysical coordinates. Now let’s import the elevations.

11. Click, “File” and “Import”.12. Double-click, “frontWall.dwg”. The import dialog box will appear and will be on the,

“Layer” tab. Simply click, “OK”.

Notice that when the lines are brought in, you can see them within the top view, just like thefootprint (fig. 17). We’ll have to rotate the up.

1. Click the “Select By Name” icon (fig. 18) and the dialog box (fig. 19) will appear.Click, “Cancel.”

Figure 18 – Select By Name

Figure 20 – Layer Manager Icon

Figure 21 – Layer Manager Figure 19 – Select by name dialog box

2. Click the, “Layer Manager” icon (fig. 20) and it will open (fig. 21).

3. To make objects easier to select later, re-open the “select by Name” dialog box andselect all of the objects you just imported. Then, click, “Select”.4. Click the, “Group” pulldown menu (fig. 22) and then click, “Group”. Name it,

“frontWall” (fig. 23).5. Let’s take a look at this in the perspective viewport. Right-click in it to make it

current and then push “alt+w” on your keyboard to maximize it.6. We’ll need to rotate the objects twice. I like to use the angle snap but, by default, it’s

set to 5 degrees. Click the angle snap icon (fig. 24) and then right-click it.

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Figure 24 – Angle Snap

Figure 23 – Name the group

Figure 21 – Group Pulldown

Figure 25 – Grid and Snap settings

7. Next to where it says, “angle,” type “45” (fig. 25). Hit “enter” and then close the

dialog box.

8. Switch to “select and rotate” by using the keyboard shortcut, “E”.

9. Rotate -90 degrees around the Z axis (fig. 26) and then -90 degrees around the Y

axis.

10. Now let’s use object snaps to move the wall into position. Click the, “Snaps Toggle”

(fig. 27) and then right-click the icon.

Figure 27 – Snaps toggle

Figure 26 – Rotate around the Z axis Figure 28 – Snaps Tab

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11. Turn off the, “grid points” icon and turn on the, “Endpoint” icon (fig. 28). Click the“X”.

12. Switch to “select and move” by using the keyboard shortcut, “W”.13. To be sure we don’t accidentally move the wrong object, push the space bar to lock

the selection (fig. 29).14. Move the wall into position (fig. 30). Push the spacebar again to unlock the

selection and “S” to turn off the snaps.

Figure 29 – Lock Selection

Figure 31 – Open a Group Figure 30

15. Now it’s time to extrude our objects. With the, “frontWall” group still selected click the“Group” pulldown menu. Then click, “Open” (fig. 31).

16. Click the, “Layer:wall” object (use the, “Select by name,” list if necessary).

17. Switch to the, “Modify” tab (fig. 32). Open the, “Modifier” list and choose, “extrude”

(fig. 33).

18. The extrusion is going to be backward so the value next to, “Amount” (fig. 34) has to

be negative. Insert a value of, -6”.

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Figure 32 – Modify Tab Figure 33 – Extrude Modifier Figure 34 – Amount

It’s usually a good idea to have adjacent objects not be perfectly in line with each other. Smalledges can capture light and will give your scenes more definition.

19. Select the object called, “Layer:cork” and apply an “extrude” modifier to it.20. Enter a value of, 1”.

Figure 35 – frontWallComplete.max Figure 36 – frontWallCompleteAngledWall.max

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At this point, we’ve done as much as we can with the elevations and it’s time to work in plan.First, let’s build the floor.

1. Switch back over to “A-FP10.dwg”.2. Type, “copyclip” (cc) and hit the spacebar.3. Drag a window around the walls of the classroom and hit enter.4. Start a new file and paste in the clipboard contents (fig. 41).

We need to eliminate everything from this drawing except for the floors lines (which happen to besteps), column circles and walls.

5. Type, “layfrz” for “layer freeze” and click:

a. the wallsb. the floorsc. the columns

6. Use the “Erase” command to erase all of the remaining objects and then unfreeze thelayers you just froze.

We’re going to use the “polyline” command to create a closed shape for the first floor step. We’ll then use

the “boundary” command to create closed shapes for the remaining floor steps and columns. Just as the

hatch command requires a closed area, so does the boundary command.

7. Create two new layers:

d. 2D-floorSteps --> rede. 2D-columns --> yellow

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Figure 41 - copy/pasted walls


8. Make the “2D-columns” layer current and type, “bo” for boundary, followed by thespacebar.

9. Click, “pick points” and then click within each of the column.10. Make the, “2D-floorSteps” layer current.11. Start the, “polyline,” command and, using the, “line,” and, “arc,” options, draw a polyline

around the first step (be sure to use “c” for “close” to close the polyline).12. Repeat the, “boundary,” command process to create the remaining 3 steps.13. Now we have to clean up the drawing. Make the, “0” layer current and turn off the, “2D-

floorSteps” and “2D-columns” layers.14. Erase everything that remains and then run the, “purge” and “audit” commands.15. Save the file and call it, “floor.dwg”.16. Within 3DS MAX, click the, “File” pulldown menu and click, “Import”.17. Choose the new, “floor.dwg” file you just created.

Since we continually copy and pasted our objects within AutoCAD at the origin (0,0), the floorsteps and columns have already been positioned correctly. Now we need to extrude the floorobject.

1. Select the object, “layer:2D-floorSteps” and right-click.

2. Expand, “Convert to” and choose, “convert to editable poly” (fig. 42).

Figure 42 – Convert to editable poly

You’ll notice that it turns red indicating that it now has a surface (fig. 43).

3. With the “layer:2D-floorSteps” object still selected, right click, and, to the top-left,click, “polygon” (fig. 44).

4. Since the first step is just the floor, there’s no need to extrude it at all. Click thesecond step to select it.

5. On the modify panel, click the settings button next to “extrude” (fig. 45). When thedialog box appears, enter a value of, 6” and click, “Apply” (fig. 46).

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6. Select the step behind the one we just extruded and enter a value of 12”. Click,“Apply.” Then, extrude the next step, 18” and the step after that, 24”. Click, “OK”.

7. Return to the top level of the object by right-clicking and then clicking, “top level” (fig.

47).


Figure 43 – Editable Poly Figure 44 – Polygon

Figure 46 – Extrude Settings Dialog Box

Figure 47 – Top Level Figure 45 – Extrude

Although we did create shapes for the columns, curved objects should always be created fromscratch within 3DS MAX because they’re more controlable.

1. Select the column shapes and, holding down, “alt” on your keyboard, tap, “Q” toisolate the current selection. A yellow button will appear indicating that you’re inisolation mode.

2. Apply an, “extrude,” modifier and set the amount to 10’-1 ¾”.

The cap of the column is slightly complicated, so we’ll create it once, attach it to the cylinders we just created and then clone that finished column around the room. Since a very specific shape forthe column cap has been designed, we’re going to create half the shape in AutoCAD and thenrevolve (or lathe) it in MAX.

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1. Return to the drawing called, “A-EL10.dwg” in AutoCAD and zoom in to one of thetops of a column.


2. Using the, “copyclip” and “pasteclip” commands, copy the column cap into a newdrawing (fig. 48).

3. Since we plan to revolve the shape, we only need half of it drawn. Trim away theright side of the column cap.

4. Create a new layer called, “2D-columnCap” (blue).5. Isolate the layer, “A-Elev-Medm”.6. Move the lines onto the, “2D-columnCap,” layer.7. Turn on all layers, purge the drawing to clean it up audit it, and then save the file

calling it, “columnCap.dwg”.8. Import the “columnCap.dwg” file into MAX. Since the lines that make up this shape

are close together, we want to deselect the, “weld” option (fig 49) to avoid parts of theshape from being joined together.

9. Once imported, you’ll find that it needs to be rotated up. Rotate the drawing 90degrees around the X axis.

10. With the columnCap object selected, go to the, “Modify” tab and apply the modifiercalled, “lathe” (similar to revolve) (fig. 50).

Figure 48 – Column Cap Shape

Figure 50 – Incorrectly Lathed Shape Figure 49 – AutoCAD DWG/DXF Import Options

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The newly created object does not look correct. The reason for this is that lathe works byrevolving a 2D shape around that shapes pivot point. When brought into MAX, the pivot point ofthe columnCap shape was at its center. We have to move it to an inner endpoint and then re-apply the lathe modifer.

11. Hold down, “control” on your keyboard and push “Z” to undo the application of thelathe modifier.

12. Switch to the, “Hierarchy” tab and click, “Affect Pivot Only” (fig. 51).13. Click the, “Select and move” icon and move the pivot off to the side. Then, be sure

that only the “endpoint” snap is active and move the pivot, snapping it to one of theendpoints (fig. 52).

14. Click the, “Affect pivot only” icon again to deselect it.15. Re-apply the, “lathe” modifier. Increase the value of the segments to, “25” to smooth

the edges.16. Now we need to align the column cap to the top of each column. Since the column

object has four columns within it, we need to separate them. Select the column,right-click, and expand, “Convert to.” Then, select, “Convert to editable poly.”

17. Right-click and, within the top-left quadrant, select, “Element.”18. On the Command Panel, click, “Detach,” and name it, “column01”.19. Repeat this process for 2 of the 3 remaining columns naming them, “column02,” and,

“column03.”20. Right-click and click, “Top Level.”21. Rename the selected object, “column04.”22. Re-select the first column and switch to the, “Heirarchy,” tab.23. Click, “Affect Pivot Only,” followed by, “Center to object.” Then, click, “Affect Pivot

Only,” again.

24. Repeat this process for the remaining columns.25. Select the columnCap object, click the “Align” icon (fig. 53) and then click one of the

columns.26. The align dialog box will appear (fig. 54). This alignment will need to be done in two

steps. First, under “Align Position,” turn “X position” and “Y position” on and deselect,“Z position”.

27. Under both, “current object” and “target object,” select, “pivot point”.

Figure 52 – Moved Pivot Point

Figure 53 – Align Icon Figure 54 – Align Dialog Box

Figure 51 – Affect Pivot Only on Hierarchy Tab

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28. Now select ONLY, “Z Position” and for, “Current object” (which is the column cap)choose, “Minimum” (fig. 55).

29. For, “Target Object” select, “Maximum” and click, “OK”.30. Hold down the shift key and move the column cap in any direction to clone it (using

the “instance” option - fig. 56).31. Next to, “Number of Copies,” enter “3” and click, “OK”.32. Repeat steps 26 through 30 for the other columns.

Figure 55 - Align Dialog Box Figure 56 - Instance Option

Open the file called, “classroomFinal.max”. Within this file you’ll see the completed classroommodel (fig. 57).

Figure 57 – classroomFinal.max

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