3D print architecture model

STEP 2: Identify and remove unnecessary elements such as furniture, trees, etc.

EXPORT FILE

STEP 1: Export the simplified drawing from Rhino as DWG

STEP 2: Import into Rhino

STEP 4: Start extruding and trimming until you get the outer shell.

STEP 5: Export as STL STEP 6: Mesh Analysis/Correction STEP 7: Import to PreForm

Note: If the model will be printed in several parts, split it before exporting as STL

THICKNESS WITH RHINO

Instead of parametrically controlling the thickness of components directly in the BIM file, you can also use the BoxEdit component in Rhino.

This allows you to simultaneously scale a number of elements with respect to their center lines. BoxEdit is ideal for models that need to be scaled parallel to three Cartesian axes. Non-uniform scaling is a little trickier.

For non-rectilinear geometries, we suggest converting the part to a mesh and then using the Weaverbird thicken command, which simply offsets any non-standard mesh geometry outward by a given distance. Alternatively, it is possible to "split" complex parts into surfaces and then offset them instead of importing volumes from Revit.

SELECTING SMALL GEOMETRIES WITH RHINO

Another valuable Rhino feature is the SelSmall command, which allows you to select all elements in the Stage that are smaller than a custom bounding box. You can then select those objects and use

BoxEdit for individual scaling or just remove them. This is useful when you are dealing with a file that does not have a well organized layer system.

Although performing a logical connection on all geometries is ideal, often the problem can be solved with simple overlapping geometries. PreForm will interpret them as one closed geometry in most cases, but be sure to check printability with the "slicer" tool in the right pane in PreForm

. CONTINUOUS / LOGICAL JOINT GEOMETRY

Note : PreForm is Formlabs free software that prepares your 3D model for printing in Form 2. Once the part is set up, you can save it as a FORM file for future use in preform.

COMPUTATION WORKFLOW

Although it is a less common workflow, computational design is slowly being introduced into mainstream architectural workflows. Software such as Grasshopper and Dynamo are used to create parametrically generated geometries that are often so complex that they can only be created with 3D printing.

Since geometries are already easy to manipulate, it's usually best to create a separate component that allows you to easily control the basic dimensions of all thin objects. In this case, it's a simple matter of trial and error; running the exported geometries with a print test (PreForm,

MeshMixer) and resizing until you arrive at a printable file.

Model Diagnosis

All workflows described below share a potential "generic diagnosis". This is an optional (but often necessary) step to ensure that the model is fully printable. Free programs such as Autodesk's MeshMixer and Netfabb are tools that allow you to repair, smooth, cavity, and split 3D print files.

MESH FIX

Formlabs PreForm software uses Netfabb's built-in mesh fix, so NetFabb and MeshMixer must be used for custom fixes or to preview problem spots in print. Materialize Magics is a great proprietary tool that covers the entire preprint workflow for a wide variety of printer types. The mesh patching software part is most important to the Form 2 print workflow and can save you a decent amount of preparation time. Netfabb has a beautiful built-in model cutter that allows you to effectively split and restore large files along any Cartesian plane.

SPLITTING THE MODEL

You can also split the model in NetFabb, which splits and fixes the split parts into printable volumes. In Rhino, you will need to close open volumes. Be sure to leave a tolerance of ~0.25mm between adjacent parts, this will allow them to be inserted without friction.

For more information on tolerances, see our white paper.

PREFORM SLICER

Architectural models are very detailed and it is often difficult to isolate each print issue. A combination of the above practices and mesh repair software is usually used for almost all problems, but it's always wise to use the PreForm Slicer tool to make sure there are no thin unsupported areas and enclosed volumes (such as rooms with no doors, elevator shafts, and parking spaces) .

“Building and architecture structures are not meant to be 3D printed, they are meant to be built. This creates problems of scale and complex geometry. By combining Netfabb's powerful mesh repair tools with the precision of the Form 2, you can prototype and visualize designs faster and in more detail, benefiting more for your business and speeding up your project's design review process. ”

Matt Lemay. Lead Enterprise Solutions Provider, Autodesk Customer Service

Post-Processing

Joining

The modeling strategy section of this booklet covers some ways of splitting and aligning parts together, but glue is always needed for a secure connection. Architectural parts are bonded in two main ways:

CYANOACRYLATE

Cyanoacrylate (CA or Super Glue) creates a fast, strong enough bond, ideal for small to medium sized parts. CA does not bond dirty surfaces well, so be sure to thoroughly clean the part before applying adhesive to the surface of the model.

POLYMER

For smaller prints, you can use liquid resin as a binder. Dispense a small amount of resin into the tray from a bottle or cartridge, use a dropper or syringe to lift it up, and place it on the surface of the part to be bonded.

Join parts and wipe off any excess resin that may be spilling around the edges. To cure the resin and bond the parts, use a 5 mW laser pen at 405 nm and aim it at the bonding area around the parts.

This method creates a chemical bond, just as if the part had been printed on your SLA 3D printer, but only applies to small bonding surfaces because a low power laser pen cannot penetrate the model deep enough to create a strong bond .

FINISHING

Parts printed on Form 2, especially matte standard resins, have a smooth surface as soon as they exit the printer. However, visible areas with supports almost always require sanding. In addition, you can prime and paint parts in any desired color.

GRINDING

Sanding will help you remove the support marks and any remaining inaccuracies from your model. Start by carefully dry sanding the surface of the part using ~150 grit sandpaper to remove large support marks and smooth out the edges of the joint. Once the surface of the part is smooth, wet sand with 320mm sandpaper to remove any remaining layer lines. Move the sandpaper randomly to avoid grain formation.

In most cases these two steps will create a fairly even finish, but you can continue to increase the grit size of the sanding paper by a factor of 2 and wet sand the entire piece until the surface is smooth enough.

Once you have finished sanding your model, wash the model in soapy water to remove any dust or debris and dry thoroughly before proceeding to the last step.

The architectural models are very detailed and it is quite difficult to access certain areas with only sandpaper. You can use different sizes of nail files to get to problem areas of the model.

PRIMER AND PAINTING

Priming is required before parts are painted to ensure the paint adheres to the surface. Priming can also make it easier to find areas that require additional finishing. A quick spray of primer over the model makes the support marks very visible, so you can instantly identify areas that need additional sanding.

General plastic primer gray matt shows details very well. Apply it to surfaces in several thin layers for best results. Continue sanding in critical areas, reapply a light coat of primer and repeat this process until the entire part is smooth. Most spray paints work best in warm, slightly damp conditions with no airflow, but always check the specific paint or data sheet for manufacturer's recommendations.

“Models are becoming rarer in a field where photorealistic renderings and virtual reality technology are advancing, but physical models allow architects to test spatial qualities in ways that digital models cannot. If we weren't using a 3D printer, we would be forced to spend more time visualizing designs through renderings and drawings. Being able to get a physical model of a complex design straight from a 3D CAD model gives us several impressive looks in less time.”

Paul Choi

3D Printing in architectural mocking

Content

• • Parametric architecture
  • City infrastructure
  • Presentation of projects
  • Private architecture
  • Experimental design

To date, the design of architectural objects has completely moved to a digital format. All architects are familiar with design software products and all these programs create three-dimensional models for maximum visualization of the created objects.

In this regard, the question that quite often arises among potential users of 3D printers, namely, where to get a 3D model, is completely irrelevant for architects. All the objects that they create are a priori in the form of 3D models. If we are talking about existing buildings, then 3D scanners for large objects can come to the rescue, with which you can create a 3D model of even huge objects.

So, it immediately becomes clear that architects have no problems with what can be printed.

It remains only to understand why architects need 3D printing?

I suggest going from smallest to largest. Let's look at some interesting cases:

1) Visualization of objects before their sale

When buying real estate or planning housing, the client faces a difficult task - to visualize how the house or apartment will look like after construction and completion of all work.

Nat Ellis, Head of Architectural 3D Visualization at JB Architecture, uses a 3D printer to print prototypes of his future buildings.

According to him, after the introduction of the printer into the workflow, it became much easier to build communications with customers and achieve the desired result. The client receives his project in miniature with a detailed interior, even with arranged furniture, from a toaster to a refrigerator. For clients, this is like a game, they can participate themselves - make a different arrangement, try several options. In such orders, the risk of project order rejection is much lower.

2) 3D digital modeling

When creating large architectural objects, a 3D physical model is indispensable; such a model can significantly speed up interaction, primarily with a customer who is not used to analyzing digital models and perceives the future object on a physical layout much more fully. In fact, the physical model is the only way to quickly and clearly communicate the proposed project to the customer.

R. Parthasarathy, the creator of India's first architectural 3D printing service bureau iKix, has been solving the main problem of architects for 20 years - helping to accelerate the promotion of the product to the market. By experience, he found out that the 2 most important problems in this area are poor mutual understanding with the customer and insufficient development of the project at the initial stage. For these purposes, and need a physical layout.

Making layouts by hand is very time consuming and costly. In fact, each such layout becomes a separate creative project, and not a tool for optimizing work. And most often it is done at the final stage of creating a project for presentation to a client.

Parthasarathy says that with a printer, the project is ready in 6-10 days, while a hand-made layout takes more than a month. In addition, you can simultaneously print several layouts for the customer, general contractor, authorities, etc.

As for mutual understanding, printed layouts help to avoid unpleasant situations. Parthasarati spoke about the project, in which the customer was satisfied with the drawing of the residential complex. But looking at the 3D layout, he was confused by the too close location of the buildings. The problem was solved by adding a swimming pool and a fitness room.

Parametric architecture

Separately, it is worth mentioning the parametric architecture, in which, due to the complex shapes of objects, it is not possible to implement a three-dimensional physical layout by anything other than 3D printing.

This style is a kind of mix of architecture and mathematics, as a result of which special, unlike building structures, are obtained. Here, a huge number of components lend themselves to analysis, which then line up in a well-defined algorithm.

One of the brightest representatives of this trend is the legendary Zaha (Zahirela) Hadid, who was one of the first to use 3D visualizations and computer graphics.

The architectural agency Zaha Hadid is still engaged in research in the field of 3D printing and digital design.

Projects in parametric architecture are usually implemented as plugins for existing programs, or as a combination of Rhinoceros+Grasshopper programs. This is the development of the American organization McNeel & Associates, which is loved by architects for its original interface with a script in the background, which simplifies the work.

Urban infrastructure

3D printing helps not only in the design of houses and residential complexes. In urban infrastructure, when building roads, bridges, public buildings, landscapes, etc., they even help win tenders.

Scandinavian consulting company Ramboll Group's uses color 3D printing. Volumetric layouts made in color with texture and landscape turn out to be 3 times cheaper than physical layouts, which are created in the traditional way, and require almost no effort, you just need to set the correct scale.

Any architect who owns programs developed by Autodesk or other graphic applications, special slicer programs cut the model into many parts. Next, the printer's extruder builds the model layer by layer.

These opportunities distinguish the company from competitors and help win tenders. A coastal landscape in San Diego was printed in just half a day, it would have taken several weeks to create it by hand.

Project presentations

Another successful example of using 3D printing for presentations is Robin Lockhart of OBM International. There was a problem - too long coordination of design projects. The integration of the 3D printer into the workflow helped a lot with the construction of the new headquarters. A layout of workplaces was printed with the possibility of creating different configurations. Design components were placed in different places and this helped to make the right decision.

Starting an architectural career

For aspiring architects, a 3D printer is a very important and valuable tool to gain experience and avoid costly mistakes.

Also, an important point is that you can quickly make changes both to important elements of the project and to individual decorative details. In addition, in large architectural firms, dozens of people can work on one project, and it is much easier to establish more effective interaction between them if they have a common physical object for analysis.

Experimental design

If we are talking about abstract, difficult to implement projects, the construction of which is not planned (at least in the near future). These can be objects for a Ph.D. thesis, for master's work, research. Most often, they mean complex sponge or honeycomb structures that cannot be built at the moment, but in the future, when innovative, advanced materials become available, they can be realized. In such experiments, for the most part, a 3D model of the object is printed.

3) Restoration of damaged architectural monuments using pre-made 3D models

It is very difficult to restore an architectural monument that has been damaged during a fire, flood or for other reasons. It takes years, and sometimes even decades of painstaking work of restorers, architects and artists. Therefore, in China, for example, there is a program of widespread 3D scanning of cultural heritage sites so that they can be recreated in case of complete or partial loss.

An ancient city in Thailand has been digitized, which will provide archaeologists and historians with important information about object in the future.

Also, with the help of scanned historical objects, digital mapping is implemented to create virtual architectural monuments.

For example, this was done with the ancient Chinese caves, which are under the protection of UNESCO. Carbon dioxide from a large number of visitors destroys ancient frescoes and sculptures. And by creating virtual caves, people will be able to visit them at any time and avoid harming the relics.

To create such virtual spaces, photographs, video recordings, 3D scanning, as well as panoramic roaming technology for digital protection of the cave are used.

In addition to creating virtual reality to reduce the flow of visitors to the cave, Chinese developers also want to use AR glasses in the project. Perhaps in the coming years, this technology will be widespread, as well as audio guides in museums.

Subsequently, with the help of 3D printing, it will be possible to restore the damaged object much faster.

Which equipment should architects choose?

What equipment is best suited for the production of architectural prototyping? The answer may seem paradoxical - any.

Every existing 3D printer can be used for these tasks. All 3D printing technologies can become useful. Photopolymer 3D printers such as the Phrozen Transform are ideal for creating small, detailed models, with a large printable area and a 4K matrix that allows you to print miniatures with maximum detail.

Larger camera 3D printers such as the Raise3D Pro2 Plus are great for mockups.

For example, in the well-known architectural workshop "Atrium" the Raise3D printer is used for architectural layout, creating prototypes of buildings according to their projects.

Before the 3D printer, drawings printed on a regular printer were used in the office, but this did not give such visibility as a 3D layout. The workshop was prompted to purchase a 3D printer by a large-scale project of the Neskuchny Home&Spa residential complex on Leninsky Prospekt. A 3D model helps the customer to form the correct idea of ​​the object, demonstrate the details, and quickly make changes.

To create color detailed layouts, plaster printers, such as the 3D Systems ProJet 660, are used, with their help you can get a full-color model that will not require post-processing and painting.

Large-chamber SLA 3D printers (such as the Formlabs 3L) can quickly create large objects for scale models.

Printers using SLS technology are able to create layouts of complex shapes that are not available to printers using other technologies.

Scanners include models such as the Shining Pro 2X Plus for small objects…

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