how do you build 3d-geometry(archviz)

[Dschaga]

Since viz4 i try to work as often as possible with the AEC wall, window ,door and railing objects.
This Objects works very well with most urban "brick" designs and gives me the flexibility to change the positions or style of the windows with only few mouseclicks.
The only drawback is the performance when loading the max file and some "lost" holes in the wall.

[MikeeMax]

autocad--->purge---->layiso----->wblock
---->max---->spline---->sweep or extrude---->edit poly or ffd---->maps and mats
---->vray----> render---->get paid
(careful : last step may take longer than the others)

[max montana]

@duke2
bricscad is a good alternative to autocad lt. it has aprice of 315 Euro for the starting version, and you can uprade it to your needs.
http://www.bricscad.com/en_INTL/

@tricky always had problems (especially with more detailes gemeotry) when i used booleans. do you use the boolenas in max or autocad?

general question: what is your approuch if you model your whole geometry of a house in autocad?

[skogskalle]

I try to stay away from booleans as much as possible... (in max, dont do any modelling or anything else for that matter in autocad).
They are great if youre really short on time, but they always mess up the mesh, making it difficult to work with if you need to do some changes later on (and you know there will always be changes...) Since the boolean object has a bad topology (spelling?) it wont work that well with vray displacement either...

[tricky]

@tricky always had problems (especially with more detailes gemeotry) when i used booleans. do you use the boolenas in max or autocad?

general question: what is your approuch if you model your whole geometry of a house in autocad?

Only use booleans in autocad as max booleans have always been crap, awkward and unstable (in my opinion of course!).

1) Model all as solid objects in autocad, using blocks where appropriate.
2) File link into Max as early as possible: check units so that 1000mm in cad = 1m in Max
3) Begin texturing using real world texture mapping (where appropriate)
4) Continue modelling and refining in cad, updating the file link as necessary, using Max to set up views and therefore only model what is necessary
5) Complex stuff like curvey, soft furniture, plants, cars etc should be modelled in Max as it has better tools for this

[plastic_]

I use splines in max. Usually i redraw everything from scratch from a 2d dwg template (with snap), because re-using CAD lines always results in some mess.

I outline the elevation/facade views, then i use the rectagle tool in "add to shape" mode to create openings. then i convert it to mesh, create a second mesh for glass (minus the outline shape), inset this mesh for window borders, etc.

After all facades are done, i turn and align them over the ground floor plan. then I put different push and shell modifiers over everything.

Architects often think that i just extrude their 2d plans to the right height and level. That wont work.

If I extrude something, then single polylines only, with a shell modifier applied to them, after extrusion.

Extruding CAD shapes almost never works nicely, because there will be some duplicate line segment somewhere, messing everything up.

Even if it works, how should i put the windows into the extruded edges?

Booleans are evil, I only use booleans if i have a very good reason. Rectangular windows are _not_ a good reason to use booleans, unless you want like to torture yourself, or enjoy fighting with software.

Sometimes I re-use meshed autocad hedges for things like terrain, streets. Depends on how clean they are.