Feature

From CAD User AEC Magazine  Vol 18 No 11 - NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005

Graphisoft delivers the first seamless integration of organic shape modeling within Virtual Building technology

The Gherkin, the new City Hall, London, and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles - many buildings are increasingly incorporating more natural shapes and forms in their overall design.Illustrative of one of the biggest visible trends in contemporary architecture today, organic building design allows architects to stretch the possibilities from new materials to push the boundaries of creativity.

Yet this is not restricted just to the world of big name designers turning out landmark buildings - in every form of architecture, designers are aspiring to create buildings that go beyond rectangular forms and incorporate freeform organic shapes.

A pioneer and leader in developing Virtual Building solutions, Graphisoft is the world's number one supplier of model-based software and services for the building industry. With over one million buildings around the World having been designed with its ArchiCAD software over the last 20+ years. Graphisoft has now extended the modelling capabilities to satisfy this growing appetite for freeform modelling.

Working in partnership with MAXON Computers GmbH, Graphisoft has developed a 3D modelling solution that seamlessly delivers on every architect’s wish for total creative freedom. Based on MAXON's flagship freeform modelling software Cinema 4D, this new software - MaxonForm - has all the modelling capabilities of Cinema 4D and runs on both Macintosh and Windows platforms.

Developed exclusively for ArchiCAD, MaxonForm is an additional, and deeply integrated, application that allows architects to create any free-form organic shapes for their virtual building model. Unique to the industry, this combination of a virtual building solution and a professional organic allows architects to push the boundaries of conventional design whilst retaining all the advantages of a building information model.

"The MaxonForm complement to ArchiCAD is extremely powerful, and provides amazing and total design flexibility, and best of all, this is delivered within the building's context rather than produced in isolation", comments Simon Gilbert, ArchiCAD Product Manager at Graphisoft. "The sculpted surfaces and features can evolve with the design in the exact way an architect would expect to work. We have integrated freeform modelling into the entire design process."

This introduction of freeform modelling to ArchiCAD comes at a time when architects are increasingly expected to produce emblematic designs. Whilst ArchiCAD's modelling, documentation and workflow robustness are already widely acknowledged, with MaxonForm organic flexibility now can be easily integrated into the model without having to give up the benefits of the Virtual Building, such as superb visualisation, automaticdocumentation, and accurate bills of quantity.

The development on such a proven and successful product as CINEMA 4D guarantees the right balance of power and ease of use. MaxonForm combines the speed and effectiveness of polygon modelling with the very powerful organic modelling and editing capabilities of HyperNURBS. With the one-click integration of ArchiCAD and MaxonForm, users are able to create or edit any organic shape, object or structure in their model; one click to create an organic object, one click to modify any object with organic editing tools. MaxonForm will also function as a graphical GDL editor, allowing "roundtrip-style" (ArchiCAD-MaxonForm -ArchiCAD) workflow for all architects.

"CINEMA 4D's ease-of-use and stability is much admired by our large community of global users. MAXON's work with Graphisoft assures the key architectural facets of our product can now freely inter-operate in the Virtual Building environment," comments Product Manager Marco Tillmann of MAXON Computer.

Cinema 4D is one of the most popular modelling and animation software products on the market today, with over 60,000 users worldwide - many of whom are also ArchiCAD users. With an established reputation for powerful and stable releases, it offers a fast polygon modeller with constant real-time feedback, and the strength of powerful organic modelling tools.

Cameron Martin, a Director at Hickton Madeley Architects, a leading design practice in Central England, has long been aware of the benefits of Cinema 4D. "As a practice, we had spent in excess of two years searching for software that would allow us the creative freedom to easily model complex organic shapes. For us Cinema 4D is that software tool."

Prior to using Cinema 4D, the team at Hickton Madeley found that the tools at their disposal were incapable of performing adequately to incorporate the complex shapes they wanted to create. Instead, they had to rely on hand-drawings, and exert a level of "professional guesstimation" in order to remain loyal to creative design and vision. The solution to this dilemma lay with Cinema 4D, whose animation package and user friendly interface made it the superior choice over and above similar packages.

Hickton Madeley's quest for the perfect organic modelling solution certainly paid off, having recently been appointed by Middlesborough College to design their new £37 million campus, forming one of the key elements of the Middlehaven Regeneration Zone. Their submission featured a complex building façade design that would have otherwise proven impossible to produce had it not been for Cinema 4D. From the final shortlist their winning design used stunning 3D visuals complete with fly-through that put them head and shoulders above the competition. Cinema 4D was without doubt a crucial element in their appointment to the project.

Cameron has already concluded that being able to exchange models between ArchiCAD and MaxonForm will dramatically improve productivity whilst also maintaining a high quality process from design to production documentation."The launch of MaxonForm will revolutionise the design process we would ordinarily go through," enthuses Cameron. "Organic shapes can now be modelled from within the familiar ArchiCAD environment then seamlessly transferred into MaxonForm, where you can sculpt the exact shape and surface flow dictated by your creative instincts. To say I am excited by what this solution has to offer is something of an understatement…the possibilities are limitless!"

Putting ArchiCAD at the forefront of virtual design, no other applications have been integrated to give freeform modelling capabilities in a true Virtual Building environment. Enabling natural architectural workflow, freeform modelling can be done within the context of a building and remain within that context throughout the whole design process. Elements can be shaped and then effortlessly edited and re-edited with the freedom of complete organic modelling.

An existing ArchiCAD user, Darren Kaye at London-based Gollifer Langston Architects has only recently been introduced to MaxonForm, and is already conscious of how it extends his capabilities to formulate, and examine, designs. "Every architect seeks ways to build sensual shapes," he observes, "and this addition to ArchiCAD is clearly a gateway to greater freeform geometries. The potential of organic modelling is clear to see." Already getting to grips with its application he continues, "The user interface is customised to look and feel familiar to ArchiCAD users and therefore is very easy to use - this is software that has been created by architects for architects."

The combination of ArchiCAD and MaxonForm is a powerful architectural solution tie-up in many ways:
• easy and powerful free form manipulation within building models
• a seamless, one-click integration between organic design and the building model
• the iterative design process is made simple
• easy to use software with a consistent user interface
• visual GDL editing - complex modelling without scripting or GDL writing
• design integrity and co-ordination retained within one virtual building model
• supports both Macintosh and Windows platforms

www.graphisoft.com/products/archicad/energize9/maxonform

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