Architectural Model Making Using A Laser Cutter

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kickice82003

Many things can be designed in three dimensions with the aid of 3D modeling software such as Google Sketchup, a free 3D modeling program utilized by architecture students e erywhere! "ith the aid of such programs, architecture students can design detailed buildings in three dimensions at full scale! Despite the ability of powerful rendering programs #such as $%&ay' which turn these irtual models into realistically rendered images, it is often desirable to ha e a physical model to show prospecti e clients or professors! (sing software such as )utodesk )uto*)D, these models can be brought into the physical world at any desired scale! +his instructable documents the creation of a physical model for a pro,ect - completed for architecture school! +he design was de eloped using traditional drawing media in the ery early stages, further designed in )uto*ad, and fully realized in 3D using Sketchup! .nce the design was completed, stylized renderings were created using $%&ay, a Sketchup plugin to gi e some realism to the design! /owe er, it was still a re0uirement to build a physical model! 1y measuring the dimensions of the irtual surfaces inside Sketchup and then drawing these surfaces in 2D using )uto*)D, - was able to create a physical ob,ect3model from a irtual one using a laser cutter! 4ach component of the model #each roof plane, e5terior walls, ground plane, columns, beams, etc!' is cut out and becomes like a 6puzzle piece!7 4ach puzzle piece is then assembled and glued to form the final model! +his is techni0ue used by many architects and architecture students to speed up the model making process! (sing a laser cutter, se eral hundred pieces of any shape can be cut at any scale in a matter of minutes!

- see this instructable as an introduction to how physical models can be made from 3D models that can benifit newer architecture students who may be unfamilar with or new to laser cutting, as well as the curious indi idual interested how us architecture types make models these days! +he degree of precision that can be achie ed is really 0uite remarkable! These images are of the Final h!sical Model 3"32# scale$ %imensions are a&&r'$ 28# Long ' (8# )ide ' *# high

+te& (

Note: This instructable assumes that an audience familiar with 3D Modeling using Google Sketchup and 2D drawing using Autodesk Auto AD! -t is not feasible to go into how this was actually modeled in 3D, as this is an entire series of instructables focusing on the use of a single program! Many tutorials can be found online! 8ust type in Google Sketchup +utorials and you9ll be on your way! -t is a ery easy program to learn! This instructa,le sim&l! documents the &rocess of turning the com&leted 3% model into a set of 2% dra)ings and the resulting &h!sical model$ +hese images are of the 3D model inside of Sketchup, as well as some rendered images created using $%&ay

and :hotoshop! )s nice as these irtual images may be, - still need a model for people to look at and hold in their hands! - always model and draw at F(;; S*);4! +hat is to say, when - model a wall that in reality would be <9 high if were e er to be made in real life, - draw the wall at <9 in the program! 4 en if the model is going to be at =3<> scale, where =3<> represents =9! +his way, when - ha e the drawings at full scale, - can then print3cut the model at any scale - want by changing the plot scale!

+te& 2Measuring Model +urfaces

.nce the 3D model is complete, 2D drawings need to be created of each surface in )uto*)D! 4ach component of the model that will be seen by the eye needs to be measured at full scale! 4ach roof plane, e5terior wall, ground plane, columns, beams, etc! becomes like a 6puzzle piece!7 4ach puzzle piece is then assembled and glued to form the final model!

"e need to make each puzzle piece! +o do so, the edges of each surface are measured using the tape measure tool or dimension tool in Sketchup! +hese images show how - measured one of the roof planes! -t has many sides3edges and so - thought it would be a good e5ample! -t is necessary to find the e5act lengths of each edge! +his way, the physical model will look e5actly like the 3D model and all the pieces will match up! )gain, - am using one of the roof &lanes as an e'am&le and ha-e colored the surface red for clarit!$ Depending on the piece you are measuring, you can change to a specific iew in the program! +his is the top iew since we can see the whole component! +he &iece )e are measuring is in ./%0 but the rest of the model can be seen as well! -n the final image of this set - hid the other model components for clarity!
Using the dimension tool !ou can 1uickl! determine the lengths of each &iece$

+te& 32% %ra)ing in AutoCA%

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@ow that a piece is measured, a 2D drawing of this piece needs to be created in )uto*)D! :roperly setting up the drawing file in *)D is essential! +he laser cutter - am using re0uires that linework be color coded! .ed lines dra)n in CA% tell the laser to cut through the chosen material and 2LU/ lines tell the laser to score the surface$ +he laser needs the drawing to be made using continuous solid lines$ Different laser cutters ma" not use these colors and the actual cutting process for a gi#en laser cutter ma" #ar" from mine! $ will document m" cutter and it is likel" that the cutter "ou ma" ha#e access to is similar! - make a 2D drawing of the measured piece in *)D by simply drawing lines on a 6cut layer7 or red colored layer!First though, these layers need to be set up! - create two layers, one is made red #cut layer' and the other is blue #score layer'! +he pictures are annotated to show the steps once in the la!er &ro&erties manager in *)D! +he roof plane that we measured needs to be drawn on the cut layer, since it will be cut out of my material! simply draw lines to match the roof piece from the 3D model!
.nce plotted to the laser cutter, the piece will be perfect at whate er scale - set the plotter #cutter' too! Aou can set the scale you want to cut at in the properties of the plotter as shown in the final image! Since the drawing was made at full scale, the plot scale can be made to whate er the user desires! Note: it is important to turn of %plot with plot st"les& and %plot ob'ect lineweights& or "our cut will be wrong!

+te& *Additional Model ieces

3ere !ou can see a screen shot of some of the other &ieces that ha-e ,een dra)n in 2%0 after 4 measured them in +ketchu&$ +he last image is of my 6base7! +his is a piece that - use as a template for where the walls, columns, etc! go! 1asically, the floor plan of the design in drawn in *)D in blue so it scores lightly into my material! - then use the floor plan as a layout for where the pieces go! Since - do this, - do not ha e to measure where each wall goes in the physical model, since it is all placed using the computer! +his sa es so much time! -n the 6base7 you can see the entire site for the model! Aou can also see some interior walls, the e5terior walls, the outline of the parking stripes in the parking lot #on the right side there' and also where the e5terior stairs will go!

+te& 5Making The h!sical Model

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+hese pictures pick up after the ground layers and e5terior walls ha e been glued into place and the interior floor has been laid down! +he white interior walls were not laser cut, but done by hand! +he images progress from the first le el to the second le el

of the building! (sing a small triangle to make sure pieces are aligned ertically helps ensure the walls will be straight and at BC degrees! 1y using super glue gel, which sets up 0uickly without running, one can 0uickly place se eral pieces a minute! -t takes some time to figure out where each piece goes if you don9t cut them in some kind of order! /owe er, if you get stuck you can look at your 3D model! +he last two images shows good the roof plane we measured!

+te& 6The Com&leted h!sical Model

These images are of the final0 com&lete &h!sical model! +he material used for the model is gray chipboard to which - applied a single coat of refined ;inseed .il! Aou9ll notice a black metallic looking component not in the original 3D model! +hose were cut by hand and are actually painted3te5tured basswood! )cetate was used fro the windows which were hand cut, and painted basswood was used for the mullions! +hose too were cut by hand!

+te& 7+ection Model

-n conclusion, - ha e included some pictures for your en,oyment of the section model - made for this design pro,ect! -t too is a physical model made with the laser cutter! -t is about =<> long 5 <> wide 5 D> high! +he material is white :$* Foam, called Sintra 1oard, bonded together using "eld%.n! - then spray the entire model with white satin paint! +his model doesn9t ha e any pictures of its construction, but it was made in the same way! - took the same 3D model and made some section planes! - then measured the resulting pieces and drew them in 2D, ,ust like the final completed model!

Add Comment 6 comments

Mar ==, 2C=2! =2ECC :Msitearm saysE

FGickice<2CC3H tweeted *heersI Site

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= Mar ==, 2C=2! =CEJD )M7la&&stuhl saysE

+his would also rock for making playfields for "arhammer%type gamesI ED
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Mar K, 2C=2! =CE=J )M8a,il saysE

@ice work, you can sa e a lot of time and trouble using the >Flight of ideas> plugin for sketch(p that e5ports faces to ector drawings, theres a instructable of the process here httpE33www!instructables!com3id3Sketch(p%-nkscape%and% :onoko%;aser%*utting3
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4 Mar K, 2C=2! =ECJ :M

kickice82003 #author' saysE

+hanks for the complimentI - ha e a lot of other models which are much better, but this is the only one where - ha e pictures of the construction process! .ne reason for going piece by piece is beacuase - am accounting for the physical material9s thickness! For e5ampleE -n some cases - do not need to measure the top of a beam or a face of a thick wall, since other faces when glued together will make up the thickness! - will defenitly check out that pluginI +hanks for the heads up!
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Mar K, 2C=2! =E4K :M8a,il saysE

"ell, one of the nice things about the plugin is that u select the faces to e5port so u can still take decide if u need to e5port it E'
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4 Mar K, 2C=2! 2E24 :M

kickice82003 #author' saysE

.h e en better! +hanksI