ArchiCD for 3dsmax 6 Reviewed

ArchiCD for 3dsmax 6 Reviewed

By Jeff Mottle (jmottle@cgarchitect.com)

I recently had the opportunity to review a new video tutorial CD for the architectural visualization industry made by a relatively new company to our field – 3dquakers.com.

The CD, entitled ArchiCD for 3dsmax 6, is described as an intermediate level video training CD covering the areas of modeling and rendering.

The CD is available by download only and includes 24 individual lessons covering some of the more common tasks that you might encounter in developing an architectural model and rendering. The download is comprised of 25 separate files, totaling 471MB. Each file is a self-contained Macromedia projector file that includes an interface to interact with the video as well as access all of the other individual tutorials. The videos are locked to your hardware with a software license key that you must obtained after you first launch the product.

The video quality is excellent and is narrated by Charbel Koueik who has 12 years experience in the computer graphics and 3D animation field.

ArchiCD Interface

The full list of tutorials are covered below. I have included a rating of each video tutorial as it relates to their actual difficulty level and amount of experience required as well as their applicability to a production workflow in the industry and my overall impression.

Actual level of difficulty (1 -10) 1: Beginner (little to no experience with 3dsmax or its features), 5: Intermediate (Solid grasp of most features in 3ds max, but little practical experience), 10: Expert (Solid understanding of 3dsmax, its features and application)

Applicability to an industry workflow (1 – 10) 1: Very little (While it provides a look at features and/or workflows, it would likely never be used by a CG professional in this industry) 5: Somewhat applicable (Someone in the architectural visualization industry might use this workflow or set of features illustrated), 10: Very Applicable (A solid tutorial dealing with a concept of feature that will definitely be used in an industry workflow.

Overall Impression (1 – 10): 1: Poor (Is not well covered and lacks the use of proper concepts for this industry, 5: Good (Is a decent tutorial, and covers content that may help some people) 10: Excellent (Is an excellent tutorial that shows a solid workflow and/or unique concept that is both applicable and well presented.)

Video 1 - This video explains the new AEC primitives in 3DS MAX6 and demonstrates their effective use.  Duration 3:35

Difficulty: 2
Applicability: 6
Overall Rating: 3

Note: While it shows the new AEC primitives there is nothing here that could not be learned from a quick glance of the manual.

Video 2 - This video explains the detailed creation of precise floor plans in MAX or how to get one from AutoCAD. Duration 10:53

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 7
Overall Rating: 5

Note: There is a good tutorial and workflow here showing the base creation of walls, but the core concept of tracing a raster image is not very applicable to the real world nor is the coverage of the actual import of a DWG file very thorough.

Video 3 - This video explains the effective creation of walls and door openings.
Duration 10:56

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 8
Overall Rating: 8

Video 4 - This video explains the process of fitting doors inside the door openings.
Duration 8:15

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 8
Overall Rating: 8

Video 5 - This video explains the process of creating window openings and fitting windows inside them. Duration 8:26

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 8
Overall Rating: 8

Video 6 - This video explains the creation of balconies and adding handrails. Duration 9:46

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 8
Overall Rating: 9

Video 7 - This video explains the intricate process of creating ceiling cornice.
Duration 5:33

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 8
Overall Rating: 8

Video 8 - This video explains the process of   creating wall cornice and shows how to edit them to allow for door openings. Duration 4:19

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 8
Overall Rating: 8

Video 9 - This video explains how to create a full building from the story that was created in previous videos.  Duration 2:16

Difficulty: 3
Applicability: 5
Overall Rating: 3

Video 10 - This video explains the process of creating a chair using lines and polygonal geometry. Duration 9:51

Difficulty: 6
Applicability: 9
Overall Rating: 9

Video 11 - This video explains the process of creating a stylized chair using splines and editable polys. Duration 13:13

Difficulty: 6
Applicability: 9
Overall Rating: 9

Video 12 - This video explains the process of creating a lamp using the lathe modifier. Duration 11:32

Difficulty: 4
Applicability: 5
Overall Rating: 6

Video 13 - This video explains the process of creating a stylized table and its accessories. Duration 12:24

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 6
Overall Rating: 7

Video 14 - This video explains the process of creating a detailed classical table.
Duration 25:49

Difficulty: 6
Applicability: 7
Overall Rating: 9

Video 15 - This video explains the process of  creating custom-designed straight stairs. Duration 16:02

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 8
Overall Rating: 8

Video 16 - This video explains the process of creating custom-designed spiral stairs.
Duration 11:10

Difficulty: 6
Applicability: 8
Overall Rating: 8

Video 17 - This video explains the process of creating realistic-looking glass using the raytrace and the new architectural materials in MAX6.  Duration 9:23

Difficulty: 4
Applicability: 5
Overall Rating: 4

Note: The creation of architectural glass if created with basic max materials can be a very complex task. This tutorial does not properly cover one of the most important tutorials on the CD. The material is applied to a wine glass when it should have been put in an architectural context.

Video 18 - This video explains the process of creating floor tiles with precise dimensions. Duration 10:42

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 9
Overall Rating: 9

Video 19 - This video explains the process of creating wood materials and shows the proper way of projecting the maps over the geometry. Duration 6:46

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 7
Overall Rating: 7

Video 20 - This video explains the process of creating a painting using the Loft  compound object.  Duration 12:32

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 7
Overall Rating: 7

Video 21 - This video explains the process of   creating a full 360 degree sky environment with animatable clouds.  Duration 8:09

Difficulty: 6
Applicability: 9
Overall Rating: 10

Video 22 - This video explains the process of  creating a lighting post and apply realistic glow effects.  Duration 14:07

Difficulty: 6
Applicability: 6
Overall Rating: 6

Video 23 - This video explains the process of creating a chimney with animatable fire and lighting effects.   Duration 25:42

Difficulty: 6
Applicability: 6
Overall Rating: 6

Video 24 - This video explains the process of applying photorealistic lighting to light up an interior scene. Duration 12:22

Difficulty: 5
Applicability: 9
Overall Rating: 9

Note: This tutorial only covers traditional lighting and does not explain the more frequently used global illumination lighting.

Conclusion

Overall Ratings:

Difficulty: 5.3
Applicability: 7.3
Overall Rating: 7.25

The interface could be improved from a usability standpoint, as there is currently no way to move the player window to a 2nd monitor or around the screen for that matter. The addition of a timeline indicator and a playback scrub control would have also been a welcomed addition. Currently you are only offered the ability to move forward or backward by 2 second increments or pause/stop the playback. I also noticed an issue with the audio dropping out if the focus was taken away from the playback window. I am told that this was the first release done by the company and that the subsequent releases have had all of the above issued addressed and that this current release is slated to also be updated with no estimated timeline.

In general the CD is geared towards the user who knows about most of the key features in 3dsmax, but does not have the experience or ability to apply the concepts in a production workflow. While there were a few tutorials that were not very applicable and could have been much better covered, overall I think this would be a decent addition to the novice 3dsmax user looking to make their way into the world of architectural modeling. I say modeling because there is too little coverage here of rendering to be useful in a production workflow. There is a solid workflow shown in many of the tutorials that should be able to give an inexperienced user the boost they need to move their skills to the next level.

For more information about this release you can read more or purchase at: http://3dquakers.com/ The ArchiCD retails for $50.00 US

If you would like to post comments or questions about this review, please visit our forum