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.

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Unity for Architectural Visualization
Stefan Boeykens
Sep, 2013 | 144 pages
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Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Unity for Architectural Visualization
Unity for Architectural Visualization
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
An Integrated Unity Workflow
An Integrated Unity Workflow
Assets and the Unity workflow
CAD or 3D modeling software
Building Information Modeling (BIM) Software
Updating the scene when changes occur
Summary
2
Quick Walk Around Your Design
Quick Walk Around Your Design
Setting up an (almost) empty Unity project
Loading up a CAD model
Meshes and materials, or Shaders
Adding sun light
Adding navigation using a first person controller
Minding the gap
Summary
3
Let There be Light!
Let There be Light!
Basic light sources
Shadows
Lightmapping
Pre-rendered models
Summary
4
Promenade Architecturale
Promenade Architecturale
First Person versus Third Person Controller
Loading a custom third person character
Adding a live minimap
Displaying basic text/information on the screen
Summary
5
Models and Environment
Models and Environment
Loading 3D Warehouse models
Setting up a basic landscape
Creating a custom Skybox
Optimizing scenes and models
Summary
6
Shaders and Textures
Shaders and Textures
Adjusting basic textured materials
Using advanced textured materials
Using procedural materials
Learning further material techniques
Summary
7
Full Control with Scripting
Full Control with Scripting
Scripting crash course
Triggering doors and elevators
Basic heads-up-display with a custom GUI
Switching between cameras
Switching between materials
Further interactions
Some additional Asset Store tips
Summary
Index
Index

About the Author

Stefan Boeykens is an architect-engineer from Leuven, Belgium. After graduation, he was involved in architectural practice for about 4 years, before returning in 2007 to KU Leuven for his PhD on the integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the design process. He worked on a variety of research and education projects, ranging from CAD and BIM, to metadata for architectural archives and cost simulations. His main research interests are BIM 3D modeling, and visualization, digital historical reconstruction, parametric design, programming, and interoperability between a variety of software tools, with a special focus on open BIM.

He is quite literate with software in general, with extensive expertise on ArchiCAD, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Rhinoceros, Excel, Solibri, Processing, CINEMA 4D, Ableton Live, Photoshop, Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Artlantis, and Unity. He likes cross-platform approaches, even more since switching to OS X. Hard disks are always too small for him.

Stefan Boeykens is currently employed by the Department of Architecture at the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at KU Leuven, Belgium. As a teacher, he is responsible for the Architectural Computing courses and teaches students how to use AutoCAD, SketchUp, ArchiCAD, Solibri, CINEMA 4D, Rhinoceros, Grasshopper, and Unity.

He is the author of the CAD-3D.blogspot.com blog, which discusses CAD, 3D, and BIM, with a particular interest in free and educational software for architects and interoperability.

Under the name of stefkeB he is active online in various platforms and networks.

He is also a schooled guitar player, both classical and electric, with a keen interest in musical composition in a variety of styles, including progressive rock, pop, metal, electronic experiments, and purely acoustic songs, in English and Dutch, but often also instrumental. As stefkeB, he records everything at home, using Ableton Live mainly. Some of his music can be heard on Soundcloud and Bandcamp. All his compositions are available under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-NC-SA), by choice.

Unity for architectural visualization is his first actual book, but he has written countless software tutorials; recorded an extensive set of video-tutorials, freely available on Youtube; and has written several academic publications that have been presented on conferences worldwide.

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