forum.datacad.com

Just trying to determine what other 3D modelers use.
Say you were modeling a house or something of similar complexity.
Do you model all of the building or just the exterior?

The answer: It depends

On most of my projects, I use what I call the "eggshell" method only doing the outside of the house or building. No wall thickness. I also try to only model what is shown or affects the view.

Robert

Thanks Robert. I have probably being overdoing things.

Not necessarily as the end purpose of the model plays into the method I use. I do quite a bit of full exterior and interior models especially those being used for design development.

Robert

I use a hybrid of DCAD and Sketchup/Layout for design and construction documents. I've found it tedious to try to accurately model in only 3D, and insane to maintain too-much granulaity. The downfall of BIM I find.

I'll model the house as a shell, sometimes just as the form...sometimes with the detailing (doors, windows, trim), then document in Layout. But the floor plans and sections are drawn 2D in DCAD. If it's just a 3D shell, I used to export a dwg flat view from Sketchup into DCAD, but Layout sonetimes is more practical for a "live" model.

The farthest I'll currently go with Sketchup 3D model for a section is just a very schematic wall, floor and roof mass for a section-cut...just the nominal thicknesses and planes. If I need a kitchen or a bathroom in 3D for rendering or interior wall elevations it's a separate file/model.

There are "BIM-lite" add-ons for Sketchup that automate the management of the model between model-space and paperspace supposedly replacing the need for CAD software, but they're horriblely-expensive annual subscriptions and opaquely-proprietary.

Thanks Ted
I will try your method on the next project.