Portfolio - Computer Application [ARC 2723]

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE. BUILDING. DESIGN

Modern Architecture Studies in Southern Asia (MASSA) Research Unit

Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Architecture)

Project 1: Modelling of an Architectural Design

In this project, we are required to choose one building from books, magazines, websites or our Design Studio 2 Project to create a complete model by using 3DS Max or Rhinoceros or a combination of both. For me, I had chosen my Design Studio 2 Project which is a two-storey retreat house to produce a model by using Rhinoceros.

Firstly, I inserted the image of plan of the building in AutoCAD and traced it out.

Then, I imported it into Rhinoceros to make it into a 3D model.

Since this building is built up from the ground which is supported by few columns with different heights, so from the plans in Rhino, I need to make out the level distance from the ground in order to make a clear vision for the next steps.

I start to make out the building by following the sequence from the floor, columns and walls then roof. So, I made out the floor slabs by extruding them out from the plans.

 

From the left, it is where the kitchen and laundry will be and the middle part is an opening space. I extruded the columns and walls of these two parts up to a specific height then extruded the roofs.

The space from right is the entrance and living room. As the previous works, I made out the floor slab and extruded the wall up to a specific height.

 This building contains a lot of windows which allows more light to illuminate into it. So, I created few boxes with the different sizes of different windows then made them cut through the wall. After that, I typed 'boolean difference', so that the wall will create holes according to the sizes of the boxes.

 For the first floor which is the bedroom, as the previous steps, I created the floor slab, extruded the wall and roofs from the plan. Then, I created the windows by using the previous methods.

For the interior of the building, I created a staircase by extruding the risers and balusters from the plan to certain heights.



Glasses with thickness are inserted into the windows of the ground floor and first floor. The first floor is joined to the ground floor after finished adding the glass.

Beams are added under the roofs to bear the structure and also acts as weather proofing layers.

 Shed roof covering (aluminium) is added by drawing the outline of its shape then extruded it.

A perspective view of this building.

Colours are used to indicate its materials which are brown represents timber; grey represents metal (aluminium); sky blue represents glass.

I imported the works in rhino file into 3DS Max file as I chose to do the contour in 3DS Max.

FIVE RENDERINGS

Project 2a : Still Rendering with Materials, Lights, Camera Views with Site Context

For this project, we are required to add in materials, lights, cameras and site context for final rendering of our previous model. Site context may include landscaping, furniture, vehicles and human characters. This project, we have to create materials and use lights in 3DS Max for rendering.
 
Firstly, I started by putting materials in it. Before that, I searched the image of the materials that I needed and then inserted it into 3DS Max. For the floor slab of open space, I chosen concrete tiles as conrete tiles are strong and durable and able to withstand various climate.

For the external wall and interior floor wall, I chosen timber as material but both in different texture. The reason of choosing timber as material is because the site is in a rural area and the surrounding is full of plants and trees. So, the site context will make the building more adapt to the environment.

 For the roof beam and roof decking, I chosen plywood as material because plywood is freedom from shrinking, swelling and warping.

Now, I added the artificial lighting to the building itself to create the shadows and also used camera to capture some eye view.

I used the camera lens 15mm to capture this view.

After finished added the materials to the building, I downloaded some furniture and trees from internet and added them to the building to increase it appearance.

 After finished adding the surrounding trees and furniture, I added the skylight in it. However, I met a problem in it. Once I rendered it out, the couldn't show out the skylight behind and it just stayed in black colour. The following pictures are the results of after rendering.

Even though the skylight is added, but after render, the background still appear in black. In the end, I decided to use Photoshop to add the background for it. 

Bird's eye view

Bird's eye view

2 EYE LEVEL VIEW

Project 2b : Still Rendering with Materials, Lights, Camera Views with Site Context

For this project, we are required to render the interior of the building. As same as project 2a, we are required to add in materials, lights, cameras and site context for final rendering of our previous model. This project, we have to create materials and use lights for interior in 3DS Max for rendering.

In project 2a, I met a problem which is the daylight couldn't appear after rendered. So, in project 2b, I tried again and finally, I solved this problem. This problem occurred is because in the beginning, I changed the environment map to a blue sky, but in the end, I decided by not using a blue sky. So, I selected the background colour directly to black and didnt change the environment map to Mr Physical Sky. So, this is the reason why black colour occurred during rendering. 

After solving the skylight problem, I started inserting camera to the interior. The pictures above show the two camera views which are living room and bedroom.

After fixing my camera view, I started inserting some furniture and lamps which I downloaded from the 3D Archieve inside the building.

For the lighting, I used free light. Since the lamps have different shapes, I set the light emit shape according to the shape of lamps and also chose halogen warm for the light colour. 

 After setting up the lighting, I made a render to make sure the out come of light emit is in a cylinder shape.

For the bedroom, I found out an error. The picture hanged on the wall doesn't show the picture in it and also the carpet on the floor doesn't show the pattern in it.  Besides, the two pillows on the bed appear partially in transparent. 

So, in material editor, I inserted the images to it and then applied them to the picture and carpet.

The result will be like this after rendered. However, I couldn't solve the problem of that pillow as I did tried to change the material of it, but it still appeared in partially transparent. So, I decided to download another pillow to see how will it appear. Besides, I also found an error which is the lighting. The light emit shape of the lamp is not precise to the shape of the lamp. It is because the radius of the light emit shape is bigger than the radius of the lamp. So, it appeared in a whole ring of light.

 So, it adjusted the radius of the light emit shape to fit the shape of the lamp.

 The problem of the light emit is solved and it looks more natural now.

For the render, I set the FG Precision Preset to low and also the diffuse bounces to 1. 

2 EYE LEVEL VIEW

Project 3: A Maximum 90 seconds Animation of the Completed 3D Scene 

This is our final project. In this project, we are required to produce a maximum 90 seconds animation of the completed 3D scene using 3DS Max’s animation commands and tools. It also involves simple video editing work such as stitching video clips, background music & special effects editing, through the use of Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Adobe Premiere and After Affects.

Firstly, I decided to divide the video into 3 part. For the first part, I'm going to show the exterior of the building. So, I created a circle which would create a circular view of the building, then I inserted a free camera to it by using the path constraint. After that, I clicked into the 'walkthough assistant' under the animation and click on the 'follow path'. The reason of doing this is to make the camera run by following the circular path. After setting all the views and height that I wanted, I made a render to it.

After finishing rendered the three part of animations, I used Video Movie Maker to compile them together into one video. I also added a music to it. The below is my 80 seconds video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Rl3hnTcsk