Book Image

Unity for Architectural Visualization

By : Stefan Boeykens
Book Image

Unity for Architectural Visualization

By: Stefan Boeykens

Overview of this book

Architects have always relied on drawings, renderings, and sometimes even movies to present their design concepts to clients, contractors, and other stakeholders. The accessibility of current game engines provides new and exciting possibilities to turn any design into an interactive model that anyone can experience at their own pace. "Unity for Architectural Visualization" explains how you can create compelling, real-time models from your 3D architectural project. Filled with practical tips and in-depth information, this book explains every step in the process, starting from the very basics up to custom scripts that will get you up to the next level. This book begins with a general overview of the Unity workflow for architectural models. You will start with a simple project that lets you walk around in your design using basic Unity tools and methods. You will then learn how to easily get convincing lightning effects on your scene. You will then set up a basic navigation system in your project, and not only this; you will also cover some tips and tricks to take navigation to the next level. You will quickly learn how to fine-tune the shaders and how to set up materials that are a bit more advanced. Even when you finish Unity for Architectural Visualization, this book will make scripting easier with reusable examples of scripts that can be applied in most projects. After reading this book, you will be comfortable enough to tackle new projects and develop your own.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Unity for Architectural Visualization
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Loading up a CAD model


Whatever the program or workflow you use, you need to save a 3D model in a format Unity recognizes. You either save the model directly inside the Assets folder from within your modeling software Save As… or Export… dialog, but you can also drag the file onto the Unity project window. The end result is the same.

Can you show me, please?

We will illustrate this using Graphisoft ArchiCAD and Maxon CINEMA 4D. The workflow when using Autodesk Revit or AutoCAD in combination with 3ds Max is similar.

Since you cannot export from ArchiCAD to the recommended FBX or Collada formats directly, you need conversion software. While many modeling systems, including ArchiCAD, support exporting to 3DS (old 3D Studio for DOS format, before 3ds Max was created) or OBJ (old Alias Wavefront format, before Maya was released), these formats present certain limitations and make the update process cumbersome.

In the particular combination of ArchiCAD and CINEMA 4D, it is advised to use the Exchange...