Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been revisiting a piece of software that I had tried out a few years ago, but had gotten frustrated by and eventually put down, due to limitations that the program had at the time and my own time constraints.

Blender: Why on earth is there a monkey in my model?

The piece of software is called Blender, and it’s a completely free package with an amazing community of artists following who use it for everything from product design to feature-length films. I decided to give it another try whilst looking for a cheaper alternative to 3DS Max to work into my workflow in architecture.

Previously I had tried real-time visualisation tools such as TwinMotion, as it works on a Mac, and the connection between the software and Archicad is fairly straight forward with a one-button plugin for exporting the model. Again though, the program is expensive, and isn’t particularly user-friendly — you still have to create or apply photo-real textures after exporting, and without masses of tweaking, the overall look is slightly cartoonish.

Twinmotion’s link between Revit and Archicad models

ArchiCAD’s built-in renderer (Cinema 4D) is great, but for scenes where you need photo-realism, all the scene-fillers that really bring a rendering to life aren’t feasibly achievable in BIM. It’s just not worth modelling small details, plants and entourage and storing them in the architectural model, as it quickly slows down drawings and creates more to manage when changing the design in the future.

Scene fillers like this Ikea candle holder – important for nice renderings, not so great for large BIM projects

Thankfully ArchiCAD has the ability to export the model as a 3D Studio (.3ds) file and import it into Blender. From here, its easy to really focus in on an area to be presented, and then fill it with all the lovely details you want for rendering. You still have to create materials, but at least with the node editor, you can fine-tune these and play around with the properties.

This is a rendering that I recently completed at work for promotional uses:

A CG rendering of the exterior of a barn/holiday accommodation

Now, I’m only a beginner when it comes to UV mapping, modelling landscapes and artificial lighting but I’m really happy with the result and through my first month of learning the software, there have been a few aspects that stand out for me, solidifying blender as my go-to visualisation/organic modelling software.

1. Non-destructive modifiers

One important similarity between Blender and 3DS Max is that they both use modifiers to take simple models and apply amazing effects that can be reversed and easily tweaked by adjusting the original model. Things like adaptive subdivisions for smoothing without creating millions of points to adjust, and particle systems to scatter hundreds of object instances across a surface help to create organic, realistic environments. The grass in my rendering was created using a particle system, and allows me to tweak the strands and play around with the automated scattering to my heart’s content.

A simple cube with 2 ‘loop cuts’ (only 14 faces to modify) turns a simple base model into a smoothed cylinder

2. Excellent Community of Experts

One of the most important aspects of a piece of software when learning how to use it is how active the userbase is, and how easily you can get answers to your questions in forums. Because blender is freeware, it seems to have one of the largest followings in the world, and whilst the documentation on the Blender Wiki page is very good, you would be hard-pressed to find a question that hasn’t been answered in the very active forums.

CG critiquing sites such as ArtStation — although not solely used by Blender users — has so many people able to give you tips and feedback on projects, and really improve as an artist. (There are also weekly competitions and other fun stuff if you want to take part in events.)

If you’re a visual learner, like me, online tutorials by experts such as BlenderGuru on YouTube are fantastic (he’s a Blender user from New Zealand and his PBR materials store is excellent – check it out at poliigon.com – I bought a few of the textures used in my barn rendering from there). There’s no shortage of step-by-step projects showing the best ways to model, light and render projects.

3. Importing and Exporting Files to Graphisoft ArchiCAD

In the latest few editions of ArchiCAD there has been the function to import and export .3DS files, as well as the material mappings used in the program.

This is very handy, because if you’ve designated — for example — all the glazing to be displayed as a type of glass in archicad, all glass elements get exported as a single Blender object, allowing you to simply select and link the required material. Applying it as a whole. It even brings across a simple UV mapping on some textured exports.

4. Great Add-Ons

The number of official and community addons is staggering, two of my current favourites is the archipack set, which allows you to form walls and windows, as well as shelves and stairs really quickly. As well as the Add Sapling tree generator tool. You can also add more, if they’re not already included in the available list.

The handy Sapling:Add Tree plugin, making it easy to create organic site foliage

5. SCULPTING

As somebody who has never really used 3D modelling for anything other than architecture and interior design, the idea of being able to use Blender to sculpt using a mouse or pressure-sensitive Wacom table was intriguing.

I had a go, and it was surprising just how intuitive the process was! Once you get the hang of pushing, pulling and creating creases and lines, you can create characters and organic shapes really quickly. It’s like having a virtual ball of clay. I have heard that programs like MudBox are more specialised for this kind of thing, but honestly – looking at some of the more advanced sculptors online I think you can pretty much model anything in blender with enough time using this mode.

Summary

What do you think about Blender as a tool? Do you use it in an architectural/interior visualisation workflow? Let me know in the comments section below.