The Archimesh Add-on in Blender 2.9x

archimesh is an architectural design tool add-on for blender that generates an array of architectural objects this add-on must be enabled in preferences for it to become available in the 3d scene let's start by enabling it in the edit menu come down here to preferences alternatively press f4 for the file context menu and open preferences from here we can begin by opening the add-ons tab in the search box up top start typing arc two add-ons will appear the first called archimesh and the second archipack two great add-ons with different uses check out my archipack tutorial for an in-depth look at archipack this tutorial will deal with archimesh enable the add-on by putting a check mark in the box expand the add-on to find where it can be located this can be found in the 3d view from the add menu or on the sidebar in the create tab before we finish with preferences i usually like to make some changes to the interface it isn't important to make these changes but you may notice small differences so just be aware what they are let's come to the interface tab the first setting is just to increase the screen resolution this value increases the size of the text on the screen i find 1.3 works well and makes it much easier to read the text on screen and to follow along what's been done let's move on to the input tab i'd recommend using a tree button mouse when working in blender however if you don't have a three button mouse you can enable this option here it's called emulate three button mouse that way you can use the alt key in conjunction with the left mouse button check that on if you only have a two button mouse let's move on to the navigation tab here i'm going to enable orbit around selection this allows you orbit around the selected object or when in edit mode to orbit around any part of the selected object this allows you getting close to objects and work more precisely the second option i want to enable is zoom to mouse position this allows you to zoom into the position of the cursor on screen that's it for the settings we now need to click save preferences here this asterisk indicates that changes i've made have not yet been saved after i save this the first time blender will automatically save anytime i make changes that is once the save preferences checkbox is enabled in here now the next time you open blender these changes will have been saved and you won't have to update them again we can close this by clicking the x here back in the scene we can come to the add menu in mesh you will find the list of archimesh objects the add-on will have more settings here on the sidebar press n to open and close the sidebar open the create tab and the add-on will be available here archimesh provides a selection of parametric architectural elements that can be dropped into the scene these elements get added to the scene at the position of the 3d cursor the properties for these parametric objects can be updated at any stage however some objects such as cabinets stairs and roof objects only have initial properties and cannot be adjusted after you have created them let's look at adding a room in the scene i can select everything press x and delete all press shift plus s and place the cursor back to world origin now click room this gets added at the position of the 3d cursor standing upright and running along the x-axis this represents the first wall of the room and includes a baseboard the room properties are now available to modify in the room area of the sidebar the wall has measurement length of 1 meter and has a height of 2.4 meters the thickness of the wall is 0. this inverse checkbox will switch the direction of the wall faces let's increase the number of walls to four new walls get added at 90 degrees to the preceding wall each wall is numbered and their length can be adjusted in the length field here for the length of the first wall i can input 12 tab into the second field and input it input minus 12 in the third and -8 in the fourth we could input zero in the fourth wall and then use the close wall option here and that will close the room off increase the height to 4. we can also give the wall a thickness of 0.3 each wall has advanced options in wall 2 in the drop down we can control the wall visibility whether it has a baseboard or if the wall is hidden create a curved wall with the check mark and you can control the center resolution of this wall i can uncheck curve and in the peak field input 1.925 this continues the wall to a point and ready to take a roof we can repeat that in wall 4 and input 1.925 and match the wall on the opposite end the baseboard settings will add a baseboard to the wall with height and width properties the length is automatically associated with its connected wall the wall cover settings adds an exterior type cladding and options to control its placement individual cover height and thickness in this release this option seems to be a bit buggy each element is added with a default cycles material once this option is enabled here in the materials tab the material is listed each has a color assigned for viewport display down the bottom the color of that can be changed here the auto holes button relates to the room this button will automatically create a boolean operation to the wall when a door or window element has overlapped with that wall we can take a look at that in a moment there are also import and export options available that allow you to export your custom room properties stored in a dat file all room properties such as the height width the baseboard options are stored and you can easily import them into your next project to export select the wall you want to export press the export button and choose a location give it a file name and extension.dat to import your saved.dat file add a room to the scene select import navigate to where you stored the file select it and add into the scene the room you added will get updated from the properties data from inside the dat file the final room option on the archimesh add-on are below here room from draw in pencil tools creates a room using the grease pencil to demonstrate i'll go into a top artigraphic view press and hold d to activate the grease pencil press and hold the left mouse button and start drawing release the d key to finish drawing put a check mark in ceiling floor or closed walls to enable those options select room from draw and your greased pencil lines transform into actual mesh geometry that can be modified in the properties i can drag select everything here and press x to delete them let's use the column option from the add-on first we need to place the 3d cursor so the column gets added at the same z location as the wall i can select the wall and tab into edit mode select the bottom vertex press shift plus s and choose cursor to select it now tab back to object mode in the view tab in 3d cursor move this forward along the x-axis that way when it gets added we can see the changes we make now on the add-on click column and add that into the scene the column properties become available down here on the bottom left of the screen the first option is to switch between circular or rectangle we can leave this set to circular here you can control the height width depth and radius i can increase the radius to 0.3 increase the height to 2.43 there are options here for top and bottom rectangle and circular and we can enable all of these increase the rectangle base to 0.8 top and bottom enable the top arc in the radial field reduce this to 0.95 so these reduce in size and match the width of the building in the thickness i can increase this to 0.24 put a check mark in create array of elements increase the x count to 4. that's it for these properties now these are initial options and only temporary if we click away and perform another task we can no longer edit these columns if you click away and lose the properties while editing you can press f9 and bring them back if later you want to make changes you can add another column and it will take on the properties of the last one created the first column is the parent object so let's rotate all these and position them press r z input 90 and enter press numpad 1 for front view open the item tab drag these back in the x location and align to the wall press numpad tree for side view and in the y location click and center these up on the wall now that these objects are permanent we can modify them select the arc object in the modifiers tab there are two modifiers on this object the first is a mirror and the second an array hover on the first and press control plus a to apply and repeat that for the second now back in the scene press z and switch to wireframe shading tab into edit mode in the snap menu we can switch to vertex drag select the top row of vertices press g z press and hold the ctrl key to activate snap and snap up to the top of the wall drag select the left side of vertices press g y press and hold ctrl and snap to the end point drag select the opposite side and repeat select the center vertices and drag these up in the z and snap to the height select this corner vertex we can use this as a pivot point press shift plus s and choose cursor 2 selected drag the top set of vertices on the left press the period key and switch to the 3d cursor press r and rotate these around to match up with the slope of the wall press the shift key to get finer increments and left click to confirm select the vertex on the opposite side and put the cursor 2 selected drag select the right side vertices rotate these up also and match the slope press numpad 1 and zoom in here i can drag select these vertices on the back here press g x and snap back to the front of the wall now tab back to object mode let's add a door to the front wall select the wall and tab into edit mode select the front two vertices on the bottom press shift plus s and put the cursor 2 selected now tab back to object mode let's click door on the add-on this gets added at the position of the 3d cursor the properties relating to this appear on the add-on first we can input 90 into rotation there are properties to adjust the door width height and frame size in the drop down change the model from one of the presets the handle type can also be changed here let's increase the frame width to 1.7 tab into the frame height and input 2.5 input 0.4 for the frame thickness and 0.2 for the frame size press z and switch back to solid shading the door unit is made up of seven separate objects the door consists of the frame the door panel and the inside and outside handle the door panel is constrained to the white rotation as we can see here in the transform panel the padlock icon indicates what axes are locked that way when you press r the door will only rotate on the unlocked axis clicking the padlock will unlock or lock that axis this is to protect against accidental movement or rotation and misalignment for the door the next piece of the door is the control hole object this is the first cube shaped object displayed as wire this is used to subtract the cube shape from whatever the door gets inserted into this results in an opening being created and we can take a look at that in a moment this second cube shape displayed as wire is used to subtract the baseboard if the wall has one enabled the next object is the empty plane axis object this is named door underscore group the door frame and control hole objects are parented to the empty object press g with the empty selected and the door unit will follow along this makes it easy to manage and keep together we can see the relationship in the object properties tab here and in the relationship tab if i select the door frame in the parent field the door group is listed if i select the door panel the door frame is listed as the parent the handles are parented to the door panel select the empty and drag this so the door center is on the wall this will get it ready to create the subtraction select the wall now and in the create tab click auto holds this will add a boolean modifier to the wall and uses the control hole object to subtract the cube shape in the modifiers tab beneath the solidify modifier is the boolean modifier this has the operation set to difference and the control hole object set as the object this modifier is forming the hole in the wall based on these settings this position can be adjusted and the modifier will adjust to suit the next object on the add-on are two window styles the rail and panel first press the period key and switch back to the medium point let's now add the rail window similar to the door the window unit consists of multiple objects all parented to the empty select the empty and drag this across on the y axis and left click drag this back on the x and position drag it up in the z and position it here in the wall select the wall now on the add-on click auto holds and create the subtraction select the frame of the window for the properties to become available here we have similar properties to the door to adjust the height width enable this blind to create an external blind this can then be extended up or down using this value here let's add a panel window the properties for this window become available below in the drop down select one of the panel styles available the windows style allows for a maximum of eight horizontal sections and five vertical each section can be adjusted to the required dimension the top of the window can be inclined arched flat or triangle allowing for a multitude of shapes to fit any design the panel window also has an option for a sill with adjustable dimensions the frame and inner frame can be assigned a different material from the drop down each window will have material slots added and a material added to each slot the glass part of the window for example has a glass material assigned to these faces select the empty and press numpad tree for side view switch to wireframe now drag the window across in the y axis and center this up on the two columns select the frame now in the rotation field input 270 and rotate this to face forward we can now make some modifications to the window reduce the horizontal count to 1 so this only has one panel increase the width to 104 down the bottom here increase the height to 254. change the top to be arc from the drop down menu here increase the difference to form the full round select the empty and drag this up drag select all of this and press shift plus d and drag across and line up on the opposite side position that there and left click switch back to solid view and select the wall on the add-on click auto holds the next object are cabinets in the view menu i can move the 3d cursor back along the x-axis so these get added inside the building switch back to the create tab i can click cabinets and add one in the initial cabinet properties become available below here these are temporary and will disappear once you click away select the type to be floor or wall from the drop down menu here you have settings to control the cabinet dimensions control the number of cabinets then change these cabinet sizes rotation position and select the door or drawer for each one these options allow for a wide range of customization to the cabinets just remember once you click away from the cabinet these properties are no longer available to modify let's reposition the 3d cursor now let's come back to the archimesh add-on and here we can add a shelf much like the cabinet object shelves have similar properties these properties are only available for the initial creation the shelf object has an array modifier available each shelf unit created with the array modifier can be individually modified for a different style and dimension next we have the stairs object let's select the building and tab in here select the front two vertices on the bottom of the building press shift plus s and put the cursor to selected tab back to object mode now and on the add-on click to add a stairs we can make a couple of modifications to this the model we can leave as rectangle increase the number of steps to 5. change the width to 8. increase the depth to 0.36 check on variable width and input 4.3 for the value that way the side tread width will match close to the front we can rotate this press r z input 90 and enter press numpad 1 for front view drag this forward along the x axis now snap this back to the front of the column i can rotate around now that this has been created let's modify it in edit mode switch to wireframe shading drag select all the side vertices on the edges of this side step we can select only what we need to extrude back to finish forming the steps press 2 for edge selection now starting with the bottom step select all the back edges of each step all along here this top edge is now the active edge in the snap menu switch to active here that way we can snap the active edge of an object to any position press e x and snap to the wall press c and deselect the top edges now snap the next active object into the wall repeat that down along and snap each step into the wall and finish off this area the active parts setting can be really useful in situations like this now drag select all the end vertices make the top vertex active press g y and snap to the outside corner of the wall select it all and snap down in the z to the base of the column we can tab back and switch back to solid shading let's look at adding a roof to the building first select the wall and tab into edit mode select the vertex at the back press shift plus s and put the cursor to select it now i can tab back to object mode in the view menu let's update the position of the 3d cursor so the roof overhangs after it gets created i can adjust this to negative 0.5 in the x negative 0.4 in the y and 3.9 in the z now switch back to the create tab click roof to create it in the properties there are different styles to choose from i can input 79 in the x 11 in the y increase the roof slope to whatever suits in my case that is 25.8 press numpad tree and take a look at the slope adjust that if necessary press g and move this into position select the wall now and tab into edit mode select the front vertex press shift plus s and put the cursor at selected tab back now and select the roof right click and set the origin to be at the 3d cursor that will allow us mirror this roof to the opposite side press shift plus d to duplicate and right click press control plus m for the mirror command input y for the axis and press enter to confirm in the item tab adjust the x rotation to align to the wall of the building we can cap this off with a ridge tile make sure the cursor is up top add another roof change the model number to 2 reduce the x to 1 and increase the y to 35. increase the tile thickness to 0.120 input 0 for the slope press r z input 90 and enter zoom in and move this center of the roof press numpad 1 and move this to be center along the x-axis in the props section of the archimesh tab you'll find the remaining objects these include books lamps venetian blinds roller curtains and japanese curtains this element gets added to the scene as a row of 20 books up to a maximum of 100 use the dimension properties to control the size of the books this element has a very useful feature that helps randomize your bookshelf change the randomness sliders of the x y and z and rotation to get a more realistic looking array of books on your shelf the lamp settings let you choose from four individual designs or get creative and design your own with loads of controls over every segment of the lamp the properties allow full control of the lamp shade with or without pleats the venetian blind allow you easily control the dimensions or adjust the angle to open or close the blind the roller curtains have similar properties allowing you adjust the width and length it is extended the japanese curtain properties let you adjust the dimensions number of rails and panels and the position of each finally we have the display hints these will display the dimensions the name of an archmesh element the properties let you adjust the size color and placement of the text if you change the size of a wall for example the dimensions will update dynamically that was a look at the archimesh add-on for blender and i hope you enjoyed it

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Length: 24min 38sec (1478 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 17 2020