Viewer for 3dmodel

[bclarch]

I have been looking at some mechanical engineering AEC magazines we get delivered, and there is that 3D model printing - Rapid Prototyping, or laser sintering - you can get done now for mechanical parts etc.... dont know if it is possible or how much it would cost, and I dont know if it has been used for buildings at all yet??? But it is aimed at producing disposable real world 3D models very cheaply, it would be really good to get that type of thing done for a model of you buildings, imagine handing the client a 3D "print" of his building!!

There are a couple of threads on this forum about this issue. I forget what terms they used for the subject line but you could probably find them relatively easily by searching. The concept is indeed interesting but way too expensive at this date.

[andrewg]

Here's one site mentioned in an earlier thread...

http://wwwwww.lgmmodel.com/index.html

[beegee]

Heres a link to one of the threads on sterolithography.
And here's another

[Nic M.]

Thanks all for the sugestions
Had a look at the stereolitho's nice verrrrry nice
a lot of potential

[nick.carter]

I know of a company that has actually already begun to do some laser sintering models for architects. They've done several for architects all over the U.S. www.advatechmfg.com

[Steve_Stafford]

Just a note, this thread is just over three years old now so the fairly obvious answer today is DWF and the free viewer that will be native inside Internet Explorer 7 supposedly.

[CGM]

Just a note, this thread is just over three years old now so the fairly obvious answer today is DWF and the free viewer that will be native inside Internet Explorer 7 supposedly.

Yip Steve,
Personnally, I think it's always a bad idea to send the client the files, before he has paid the bill. ~Shrug~ Does RealDWG work with Revit?

[narlee]

I work with residential clients, many of whom are not computer savvy beyond the basics.

I started looking into this recently. I wasn't happy with the DWF Viewer route because a) the client has to download and learn it (though it's simple), b) the Revit tranfer loses the material "clarity", and c) though quite navigable, one cannot do an internal walkthru.

I then looked into Adobe's 3D software, which can publish to the free reader that most people already use. That software also doesn't keep any good material settings for 3D "active" viewing, and the navigation tools, though they include the internal walkthru, are absolutely atrocious. Hopefully their next version, due this spring, will be an improvement.

One thing I noticed, in regards to my desire for viewers to retain Revit's material "clarity" is that the material "clarity" seems to consume CPU power. I say that because, with both DWF viewer and Acrobat 3D, the "active" navigations are quite smooth, but mousing thru walkthrus within Revit can induce miniature time lags as the software is recalculating (I guess) the proper location of material surface patterns and so forth.

One thing I realized is that to keep the Revit material "clarity" with "active" navigation, requires the large files, which is a problem right there. You'ld have to send the file up to your FTP and have the client download the monster. Unfortunately, I don't think "zipping" Revit files helps.

One thing I'm planning to try is to load only the Revit.exe file onto a computer and see if it has enough of the program for a client to use as a viewer. It is "only" 30MB, not the 1/2GB of the whole darn program.

I agree that I wouldn't neccessarily be thrilled to have client's messing around too much with the files, but an "active" 3D viewing aspect gives them the best feel for their project, and a neat little novelty, too .

[narlee]

Also, I have Explorer 7, and went to Microsoft's website, but cannot find 3D CAD viewing cabability. I assume the CAD file would need to be converted to .U3D or something, which Revit cannot do without a third party software, like Acrobat 3D (or is there a cheaper alternative?).

[Chirag Mistry]

Well if he just wants to see the model, you can use 3D DWF. Export from revit directly, a free viewer is available on Autodesk website and has a lot of cool feature like the ability to cut a section etc.,

Hope this helps