AUGIWorld Magazine September/October 2007

Architectural Desktop ADT and SketchUp Team for Presentations With the proliferation of architectural software programs today, there are many solutions available for quickly bringing together a presentation for clients. I have always been an advocate of diverse software expertise. In the past it was because no single software program provided all the components needed to accomplish a task quickly and efficiently. Now, literacy in multiple design software gives me the flexibility to truly pick the right tool for the job. This article describes how Architectural Desktop (now called AutoCAD® Architecture) and Google SketchUp can be used together to create a threedimensional presentation of their design for clients. Why this particular combination? I find that the drawing features of Architectural Desktop and the viewing and material features of Figure 1 SketchUp are fairly intuitive. With very little knowledge, you can create a pretty sophisticated design presentation in a short period of time. To be most efficient, I recommend setting up your Architectural Desktop and SketchUp preferences and templates prior to modeling. Since, I believe, the most difficult part of this process is in the setup, I’ll spend the most time there. play properties of the Standard style for each ADT object used (see Figure 2). The Style Manager dialog can be found under the Format menu. • For window, door, curtain wall, and door/window assembly objects with multiple components (frame, mullion, infill), each component needs to be on a distinctive layer. This can also be accomplished by editing the display properties for the object. • In order for you to have multiple types of walls or other ADT objects, you must use style-based objects (i.e., objects that are not on the Standard style). Make sure styleoverrides are also using the desired layering standards so that objects will automatically be assigned the desired layer (see Figure 3). Creating the initial model in ADT Template and drawing preferences setup Another recommendation is to model the easiest objects in ADT. ADT makes it so easy to quickly draw walls, windows, doors, openings, floors, and roofs. If the objects require additional complex editing, sometimes it’s best to start the object in ADT and then make the complex edits in SketchUp. In addition, SketchUp has a great furniture and accessory collection, so leave out those items while in ADT. Because SketchUp does not understand ADT objects, using layers becomes the easiest means to control the geometry of your model in SketchUp. In SketchUp, layers will be Figure 2 used not only to help geometry visibility control while finishing the model, but also • To verify Architectural Desktop’s prito facilitate quick materials assignments. mary automatic layering system, modify I find that using a layering system that is the layer keys (see Figure 1). The comboth color and material-based and object mand can be found in the Format menu type-based is the most helpful. A few exunder Layer Management. (Tip: Always amples are as follows: wall-brick, wall-gypduplicate any ADT style before editing gray, wall-gyp-vermouth, and window-woodso that the original remains unchanged.) white. The specificity is a necessity if you are Make sure you then set the layer key using layering for your material assignments. style to current using Drawing Setup ADT has multiple ways to manipulate (the AecDwgSetup command). layers. I recommend verifying each to • To verify Architectural Desktop’s display make sure the layers are set properly. property layering structure, edit the dis- Once the initial model is complete, it is ready to be exported. The steps are as follows: 1. (ADT Project Navigator users only.) For those of you using ADT’s Project Navigator, create a new view drawing for your 3D views. Open the new View drawing. 2. Change the drawing screen to one of the three-dimensional view directions. 3. Export the drawing using the File>Export to AutoCAD>2000 format. The 2000 and 2004 .dwg formats are the most successful when importing to SketchUp. 4. Open the exported file and purge out any unused layers. w w w. A U G I . c o m Exporting the model from ADT 12 http://www.AUGI.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AUGIWorld Magazine September/October 2007

Contents The CAD Manager Feature: A Good First Impression ADT and SketchUp Team for Presentations Accessing Values: Now or Later Finding the 3D in Map 3D: Surface Visualization Rocks & Rock Walls Autodesk University 2007 Preview The Missing Link On the Back Page

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