robdonn Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Hi all. I've had a look around to find another thread on this issue and have not been able to find one. If I've missed it, I would be delighted if you responded simply with a link to it so that I don't waste your time. --- I'm working on a project at the moment in college where I am creating an interactive model of the campus for a total immersion virtual reality unit. The Estates & Facilities office have provided me with AutoCAD 14 drawings of the buildings and I was wondering if there is a way of converting these to 3D models without redrawing everything. Through my college I have AutoCAD 2010 and 3DS Max 2010 available to me for this project. Google seems to only give me ways of getting 2D cross-sections of existing 3D models and its infuriating. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, even if its just pointing me in the right direction. Thank you. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Many 3D drawings have had their start in 2D. It won't be an easy task but it is doable. You say the drawings were done with AutoCAD 14 right? Not that it really matters. I'm just curious as to why they were never brought into and saved in a newer release of AutoCAD. Assuming the walls were created with lines you could use the PressPull command to give them height. Openings for doors and windows can be constructed in a couple of ways. PressPull is one option. The other option would be to construct a solid of the same dimensions as your opening and use the Subtract command to subtract it from your wall. You'll have to become familiar with manipulating the UCS too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arjun_samar Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 hello Rob, Welcome to cadtutor. About your question that is there any way in converting 2D cad drawings into 3D without re-drawing the entire autocad 2D plans, before we give some inputs on how first we got to know do you know how to model? in autocad or in 3ds max? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 No Easy Button solution. You have an enormous task ahead of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 A simple 10x12 room, one doorway, one window opening, done using the PressPull command. Visual style is 2Dwireframe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 I guess my 1st question is how deep with you go into 3D with these units? Just exterior for "walking" around? What VR engine will you be using? I mean you can make a simple exterior campus walk-around with SketchUp. You can also go full out with something like the Unity engine, link. I would like to hear more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdonn Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 Many 3D drawings have had their start in 2D. It won't be an easy task but it is doable. You say the drawings were done with AutoCAD 14 right? Not that it really matters. I'm just curious as to why they were never brought into and saved in a newer release of AutoCAD. As far as I know the files were just on record from when the buildings were constructed back in the 90s. Assuming the walls were created with lines you could use the PressPull command to give them height. Openings for doors and windows can be constructed in a couple of ways. PressPull is one option. The other option would be to construct a solid of the same dimensions as your opening and use the Subtract command to subtract it from your wall. You'll have to become familiar with manipulating the UCS too. Cool, thanks. I'll do some exploring with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdonn Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 hello Rob, Welcome to cadtutor. About your question that is there any way in converting 2D cad drawings into 3D without re-drawing the entire autocad 2D plans, before we give some inputs on how first we got to know do you know how to model? in autocad or in 3ds max? I have some experience modeling in 3DS Max, basic polygon and spline manipulation (beveling, tapering, etc..). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdonn Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 No Easy Button solution. You have an enormous task ahead of you. I pretty much figured as much. I'm not looking for a one-click solution (although it would be great!). I'm just trying to find something more than starting from scratch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdonn Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 I guess my 1st question is how deep with you go into 3D with these units? Just exterior for "walking" around? What VR engine will you be using? I mean you can make a simple exterior campus walk-around with SketchUp. You can also go full out with something like the Unity engine, link. I would like to hear more. The intent is to get physically accurate exteriors and interiors. Photo-realism is the ideal goal using baked textures but thats a long way down the road. This would give me the advantage of being able to cheat on the finer details but the overall structure needs to be as accurate as possible. The unit runs on a Vizard system. My college had a CAVE built about 2 years ago but have done little to no work with it. I've loaded a SketchUp version of the college into it but its low resolution, poor texturing, no interiors and horribly inaccurate exteriors. I'm also hoping to use this model in film projects as it is an art college and is home to Ireland's National Film School. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Well that looks like a neat system. Looks like .obj or .3ds will be your import options and with that I would stick with 3D Max for modeling. If you have access to SketchUp pro I would use this for modeling and then export to Max for textures. While that looks pretty good I think the imges from the Crysis game engine or the UT3 engine look better. Good luck The intent is to get physically accurate exteriors and interiors. Photo-realism is the ideal goal using baked textures but thats a long way down the road. This would give me the advantage of being able to cheat on the finer details but the overall structure needs to be as accurate as possible. The unit runs on a Vizard system. My college had a CAVE built about 2 years ago but have done little to no work with it. I've loaded a SketchUp version of the college into it but its low resolution, poor texturing, no interiors and horribly inaccurate exteriors. I'm also hoping to use this model in film projects as it is an art college and is home to Ireland's National Film School. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arjun_samar Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Then the answer to your question is to do it from 0 to 100 since you already know how to model in cad/max, my advice is use the cad file (2d drawings) as your reference when modelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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