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Is Cinema4D the proper tool to learn how to model/design my future house?


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I have some experience with Cinema4D over the years (animation only, no modeling), but I've been really struggling with figuring out a way to explain what I want in my future house in a few years to people and I think I want to properly learn how to model my house top to bottom. Is there a place for Cinema4D in this journey, or is there better purpose built tools out there I should look into? 

 

Thanks

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As a conceptual tool and communicate your ideas to an architect, sure: not a problem. But the actual drawings will have to be done and finished in a CAD tool and by someone understanding the structural limits, building components, and the building laws.

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Yes I think I would echo what everyone else has said. Cinema is very capable of producing beautiful renders that allow you to visualise a space, and the things in it, but if it's actual communicable plans you need, with precise measurements and distances for everything Cinema doesn't have many tools to help you do that quickly, so whilst that sort of accuracy is possible in C4D, it won't be particularly quick or easy without some helpers, and you would have to be very careful at every stage of the way to make sure your precision wasn't compromised by almost every modelling move you make !

 

Having said that there have been a number of tools over the years to help with this. House Builder (originally by Nitro 4D) or something very like it was in the content libraries for Cinema around R19, but not sure when it disappeared - it doesn't seem to be in latest versions. Nitroman still sells 'Room Builder' which looks very similar, but I think that only works in R21 up, so may not apply to you.

 

CBR

 

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Among architects, Sketchup is still a common tool. It’s easy for sketching in 3d but detailed enough if you learn a bit more. C4d is more powerful in every aspect, of course (and Sketchup lacks a decent renderer), but for sharing quick ideas Sketchup is very handy. 

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I dont really see the need to use Blender, Cinema 4D has all the tools you need, including a vast library in the content browser of assets for your project. You have appliances, doors, windows, bath, bedroom, home decor assets, shelvings, stairs, vases, kitchen accesories, etc.

 

If you want to use blender/ eevee for render, you can export everything as fbx, or just import everything in Unreal Engine.

 

edit.. with unreal you can do a FPS walk through your house which would be way cooler than a prerendered video. Unless of course you want to model everything by yourself, in that case, Cinema 4D is not my preferred modeling weapon of choice, and learning Blender for modeling will be a plus.

 

edit 2.... just to add, modeling walls and windows is the easiest part, so doing 10% faster in other DCC doesn't mean anything. But everything in the content browser to fill the empty rooms is pure gold.

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edit 3.. On attribute manager, go to mode / modeling / enable quantize if you want precision to help on architectural modeling.

 

edit 4. if you truly want realism, forget eevee, render some stills with arnold / redshift if you have it. Eevee works like a game engine, it requires some setup to properly do reflections. Arnold / Redshift works out of the box.  Cycles is painfully slow, and Blender beta cycles will crash every half hour.

 

Now, Im back to work. Cheers.

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I would strongly recommend LWCAD for C4D.  It started out as modeling plugin for Lightwave with CAD capability and has since been ported to C4D.  Watch this video here and then decide if it can support your house design needs.

 

Now, it has neat features for laying out floors, inserting windows and doors, adding floors and putting on roofs (tiles and all) but it is NOT an architectural program.  It will not generate blueprints but it will help you figure out what you want in your layout.  For example, it has no architectural symbols for toilets, outlets, kitchen appliances, vents, etc. Nor will it enforce building codes or even common sense building guidelines like minimum spacing between outlets, etc. (for example, did you know that there is a good design rule in kitchen design that the total round trip distance between the sink, the oven and the refrigerator should not exceed 20 feet or fatigue will set in).  There are books for all that which are pretty easy to follow.

 

Over 20 years ago, I designed our house using a 2D program called EasyCAD.  It is still out there.  I actually used it to generate actual blueprints and structural cross sections (staircases, foundation details, roof trusses), etc.  I will admit it was a lot of fun especially as my wife was sitting next to me and we could discuss all the details.  I even gave it to a builder who reviewed and certified the prints and we purchased a lot.  We then sold our house, put our stuff in storage and the three of us (my wife and 4 year old daughter) moved into my fathers two bedroom apartment.  We slept on a sleep sofa and my daughter slept on a mattress next to us.
Oh, and my wife was pregnant with my youngest daughter at the time. 

 

So we did all that....and then the builder turned out to be a crook. 

 

We fired him immediately and got all our money back (a pretty amazing story all-in-all about how everything turned out).  

 

Morale of the story:  The builder is more important than the house plans.

 

Dave

Sorry...but I simply do not have enough faith to be an atheist.

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One other house design tip:  find out what are the standard lengths of the most common building materials:  sheathing, lumber, etc.

 

For example, in America all plywood and dry wall comes in 4 ft x 8 ft sizes.  All lumber (2x4's, 2x12's, etc) come in increments of 2 foot lengths (6 ft, 8ft, 12 ft).  So if you design a 27 ft by 37 ft home, you are buying material for a 28 ft by 40 ft home but they are just cutting the excess and throwing it away.  I designed my home in even 4ft increments and the builder actually commented that he doesn't need to cut a thing.  Yeah...they may need to add a few feet to the foundation but that means nothing compared to all the other costs.  In this example, you are actually picking up another 121 square feet of living space for almost free.

 

Dave

Sorry...but I simply do not have enough faith to be an atheist.

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11 hours ago, luchifer said:

 

edit 3.. On attribute manager, go to mode / modeling / enable quantize if you want precision to help on architectural modeling.

 

edit 4. if you truly want realism, forget eevee, render some stills with arnold / redshift if you have it. Eevee works like a game engine, it requires some setup to properly do reflections. Arnold / Redshift works out of the box.  Cycles is painfully slow, and Blender beta cycles will crash every half hour.

 

Now, Im back to work. Cheers.

Eevee is to have a good ilumination and material feedback in almost real time,  for super quality there is also Cycles.

 

IES lights are available for Cycles  but not for for Eevee.

 

Plus Arnold, Redshift need to be paid , unless OP already have them he is stuck with legacy and slow C4D render. 

 

for example:

 

 

To model i would use the free version  of  Archipak addon that cames with Blender. Need to be activated in preferences>addon

 

 

After the wall building like show here in the library there are windows, doors and other stuff  like stairs etc and can be put in their places and with boolean button it automatically opens a hole the the wall. So there is no need either to model the hole and the windows and doors.

 

 

 

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