New ArchiCAD video tutorial: How to Evenly Light Your 3D Model

I’ve just posted a new ArchiCAD video tutorial (excerpted from my Best Practices Course) where you’ll learn 3 easy settings to help you even out the lighting in the 3D window.

You’ll be able to navigate to any side of the model, or inside, and maintain even illumination.

ArchiCAD Tutorial | How to Evenly Light Your 3D Model

Photorenderings have more options including the ability to add light sources (either representing physical lamps or simply to focus light in specific areas or directions), but the 3D window is limited.

By clicking the More Sun… button in the View menu > 3D View Options > 3D Projection Settings, you may adjust the level of the Sunlight (directional) relative to Ambient light (non-directional).

A little trick I discovered is to set the sunlight value to 0, which eliminates directional light. ArchiCAD compensates for the lower light level and brightens the scene, while eliminating the directional bias.

Two other settings that are demonstrated in this ArchiCAD video tutorial relate to the Surfaces (before ArchiCAD 17 these were called “Materials”). You may adjust these in the Options menu > Element Attributes > Surfaces [Materials] dialog.

The Ambient Reflection controls how much light “bounces” off the surface. By raising this value, a surface will appear brighter. You may set this all the way up to 100% to lighten up the surface.

The Emission color is a special setting that is rarely used. Normally it is set to black, and these surfaces [materials] do not “emit” light. Double-click the black color chip next to this setting to lighten this to a dark or medium grey. This will give elements with this surface a bit of a “glow”, which is very useful for ceilings (which ordinarily are dark in the 3D window) and for other surfaces with darker texture graphics.

By the way, if you want to turn on or off shadows in the 3D window (a feature added to ArchiCAD around version 12), go to the View menu > 3D View Options > 3D Window Settings and use the Sun Shadows popup.

Please share your feedback, comments and questions on the YouTube video page. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up!

Eric

P.S. If you enjoyed this ArchiCAD video tutorial, you will love the Best Practices Course, a comprehensive training resource for ArchiCAD users. For more information or to sign up for the course, please visit http://www.acbestpractices.com.

Special LIVE Event Wed. Sept. 11 at 6 pm PDT – 3 ArchiCAD Experts Hangout and talk about ArchiCAD 17!

Join 3 Top ArchiCAD Experts tomorrow in a special event:
Free YouTube Hangout…the first time ever!

Tomorrow night I’ll be hosting a special live event, a free YouTube Hangout on Air with fellow ArchiCAD experts Jared Banks and Apollo Spiliotis.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS LIVE EVENT:
Wednesday September 11 at 6 pm PDT (U.S. Pacific Time)

This is groundbreaking in two different ways: it’s the first time I’m using Google’s Hangout on Air tool, and it’s also the first time that the three of us have had a chance to discuss ArchiCAD together. Plus, we’re going to talk about ArchiCAD 17, which changes a lot about how BIM works!

In a Hangout on Air, the event is livestreamed with webcams, so you’ll see us, each in our separate home offices. You’ll also be able to type in questions and comments in a chat box, so it’s going to be interactive, and a whole lot of fun!

ARCHICAD 17 – A GAME CHANGER!

ArchiCAD 17 introduces some ground-breaking technologies. How does this change the BIM software landscape?

ArchiCAD continues to increase in popularity as evidenced by social media. Followers, fans and views are growing at an impressive rate. Where is this going, and what does it say about the future prospects of Graphisoft and ArchiCAD?

For the first time ever, three of the top ArchiCAD experts in the world hang out together – join us for this special event!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS LIVE ONLINE EVENT:
Wednesday September 11 at 6 pm PDT (U.S. Pacific Time)

ABOUT THE PANEL

• Jared Banks, AIA is an architect and well-known ArchiCAD expert. He runs Shoegnome.com and writes constantly about ArchiCAD, BIM and the intersection between technology and architectural design. His ArchiCAD tutorial channel on YouTube is approaching the 100,000 view milestone.
• Apollo Spiliotis is an architect, veteran ArchiCAD user, information-sharing addict, and technology enthusiast based in New York City. He is also the creator of archiCADMonkey, a blog where he shares exciting news, tutorials and interviews of luminaries from the design & tech world.
• Eric Bobrow is an internationally recognized expert on ArchiCAD. His ArchiCAD Tutorials YouTube channel recently passed the 1 Million Views milestone, and his Best Practices Course and ArchiCAD Coaching Programs help 1,100+ users from 65 countries to use ArchiCAD more effectively.

This event will be recorded and posted on my YouTube Channel, but it’s definitely more fun when you watch it “live”. I hope you can join us!

Eric Bobrow

P.S. In case you didn’t notice, I posted my 41st ArchiCAD tutorial on my YouTube Channel last week, a 25 minute explanation and demonstration of how the new interface for ArchiCAD 17 differs from previous versions:

ArchiCAD Tutorial | ArchiCAD 17 New Interface

This video is excerpted from the Best Practices Course, so course members may view it within the members area along with LOTS of other training resources.

ArchiCAD 17’s New Interface – ArchiCAD tutorial video on my YouTube channel

I just created and posted a 25 minute video lesson that explains how the new ArchiCAD 17 interface differs from previous versions:

Some of the changes in ArchiCAD 17 have been confusing, as options have moved around. Some standard choices appear to be missing or greyed out, since they are shown only when other settings enable them. Check out this tutorial and you’ll understand how this works.

This video is useful for both experienced users (who are upgrading or migrating to ArchiCAD 17) and new users (who may be watching tutorial videos created earlier, and find that their controls look different than what they are seeing onscreen).

ONE MILLION VIEWS FOR MY ARCHICAD TUTORIAL VIDEOS

I’m pleased and proud to announce that my ArchiCAD Tutorials channel on YouTube recently hit one million views and now has more than 5,600 subscribers.

ArchiCAD Tutorials by Eric Bobrow – YouTube Channel

These numbers attest to the vibrancy of the ArchiCAD community, and how much people are hungry to learn and master ArchiCAD. In fact, when I looked at the report from YouTube on where people are located, over 200 countries were listed!

I will continue to produce more free video tutorials to help ArchiCAD users worldwide.

These tutorials are selected from my comprehensive training resource for ArchiCAD: the Best Practices Course. If you want to really master ArchiCAD and take full advantage of its awesome power and speed, I encourage you to check out the course at http://www.acbestpractices.com.

MASTERTEMPLATE 17 NOW AVAILABLE

The latest version of our Office Standard for ArchiCAD is now available. For more information, see this announcement:

http://www.bobrow.com/mastertemplate-for-archicad-17/

Please click the Like or Tweet buttons to spread the word about my tutorial videos and MasterTemplate.

I  look forward to reading your comments and feedback here and on the YouTube video page.

New ArchiCAD Tutorial Video on AC17 Building Materials

ArchiCAD 17 is very powerful, but it can be confusing when you first try to work with the new interface and the new Building Materials introduced in this version.

To help you out, I just created a new 32 minute video tutorial.

This video will quickly teach you the most important things you need to know about the new Building Materials to enable you to get the best results:

ArchiCAD Tutorial | How to Use AC17 New Building Materials for Clean Sections and Detailed 3D Models

Graphisoft has convincing demonstrations that show how the sections clean up “automatically”.

However, if you assume this cleanup is going to happen when you model in the same way you always have, you may be disappointed.

There are some special tricks and settings that make this work the way it’s intended.

Watch this video to learn how to get control over this powerful set of tools.

SPECIAL INVITATION TO WATCH ONE OF MY BEST ARCHICAD COACHING CALLS

In my ArchiCAD Coaching Program (part of the Best Practices Course) we have 3 live webinar sessions each month in which I answer member questions about how to use ArchiCAD effectively. Members may even send in project files for me to review, or open up and troubleshoot during the call.

During these calls, questions can run the gamut from the basics to very intricate modeling or documentation challenges. It’s always fun to see what comes up. Often we start on what seems like a simple question, then explore that topic deeper as follow-up questions are typed into the chat box by other members who have related challenges or experiences to share.

One call each month focuses on a specific topic (rather than being wide open), such as Detail Drawings, Renderings and Presentations, Interactive Schedules, Renovations and Remodels, etc.

I’d like to share with you the recording of last week’s two hour ArchiCAD Coaching Call on Introduction to ArchiCAD 17 New Features:

http://www.acbestpractices.com/archicad-training-coaching-call-july-10-2013/

This was a particularly interesting session, with some members calling it one of the best Coaching Calls ever. If you’re starting to use ArchiCAD 17, you can’t afford to miss out on the information I went over during this session.

Normally these calls are only available to members of my Best Practices Course, however I have decided to open this up to all the ArchiCAD users on my email list as a special gift.

NOTE: I can only keep this video open for a short time, so be sure to watch it this coming week.

Wow! My ArchiCAD Tutorials have over 800,000 Views!

Last year at this time I celebrated with a press release, jubilant that my ArchiCAD video tutorials were reaching such a large audience: 200,000 views and 1,000 subscribers.

I had no idea how quickly this would grow.

In the past year, views and subscribers for my ArchiCAD Tutorials channel on YouTube have quadrupled.

I’ve continued to develop new material, and have now posted over 13 hours of free ArchiCAD training in 39 videos.

As a result, as of today, my ArchiCAD tutorials channel has 800,264 views and 3,944 subscribers from 213 countries!

Thank you to all of the ArchiCAD users around the world. You continue to motivate me with your comments and appreciation.

Thank you to Graphisoft for creating such a powerful and magical product that can be used to design and document buildings of virtually all sizes and styles. I’m still in love with this software!

I am excited to continue creating these free tutorials, as well as developing my Best Practices Course.

If You Like My Free ArchiCAD Tutorials…

If you like my free stuff, you’ll love my comprehensive ArchiCAD training – the Best Practices Course – with 97 carefully organized video lessons totaling over 47 hours at this point, and more on the way. Best Practices includes the ArchiCAD basic training QuickStart Course, which is also available separately.

PLUS when you enroll in the Best Practices Course, you also join my ArchiCAD Coaching Program which offers three live webinar Q&A sessions each month. Ask me anything you like about ArchiCAD and I’ll do my best to answer! There are over 85 coaching sessions meticulously indexed and available for viewing in the course member area – over 150 hours – more than enough to keep you busy for a very long time – or to answer virtually every question you might have.

What Should I Focus My Next ArchiCAD Tutorial On?

I am dedicated to helping ArchiCAD users and look forward to working with YOU to help you get the most out of this powerful tool!

I’m planning my next video tutorials for the YouTube channel and would love to get your input. What questions do you have? What would you like me to focus on next time?

Post a comment here and let me know.