AutoCAD: 3D Architectural Modeling

Course details

Take your drawings from 2D to 3D with AutoCAD. In this course, instructor Scott Onstott helps you build your AutoCAD 2019 skills, one video at a time, as he steps through how to construct a 3D model. Scott shows how to extrude 2D plans into solid objects, cut out wall openings and add doors and windows, build 3D staircases, and model a complex roof surface. He also demonstrates how to create a 3D tower and sculpt the surrounding landscape with NURBS surfaces. At the end of this course, you'll have modeled a complete 3D community center based on an archetypal midcentury design.

Learning objectives
Arranging elevations and sections around a plan
Rotating objects in 3D
Extruding walls, interior partitions, and headers
Building slabs
Modeling doors, windows, and stairs
Sculpting terrain
Creating a second floor
Building roof surfaces
Sculpting solids from regions and surfaces
Modeling a tower

Concepts

Introduction

Explore 3D architectural modeling in AutoCAD
What you should know

Clean Up 2D Drawings

Bring the project data together
Arrange elevations around the plan
Arrange sections adjacent to elevations
Delete layers, clean up, and purge

Model the Ground Floor

Set up property filters for 2D and 3D layers
Create closed polylines with boundaries
Navigate in 3D
Rotate objects in 3D
Realign elevations and sections in 3D
Extrude closed polyline walls
Build sills and headers
Extrude interior partitions
Extrude, presspull, and union headers
Model curved headers
Move the ceiling using a point filter
Build the slab on grade

Model Doors, Windows, and Stairs

Model doors with glazing
Copy doors around the model
Sketch window detail in place
Model a window
Copy window groups
Join and extrude stair profiles
Subobject manipulation
Model stairs from plans
Thicken stair object with Booleans
Build a handrail that follows a 3D path
Support the handrail

Model Terrain Surfaces

Shape a courtyard as a NURBS surface
Sculpt a sloping terrain
Trim a surface with other surfaces
Slice topographic contour lines
Loft a surface between contours

Model the Second Floor

Copy the ceiling to create a new floor
Extrude a walkway
Extrude the second floor walls
Fill in voids in slabs and walls
Remove unwanted volume from walls
Sketch roof plans in wireframe
Duplicate a wireframe for later reuse
Create door headers
Perform a Boolean subtraction

Complete the Second Floor and Roof

Build interior partitions
Cut window openings
Create custom windows
Cut standard openings in courtyard walls
Cut small openings in courtyard walls
Copy windows around the second floor
Build roof surfaces
Subtract the tower volume from the roof
Sculpt solids from regions and surfaces

Model the Tower

Build the tower walls
Cut the wraparound walls down
Construct the first wraparound roof
Fill in walls under the roof
Make a wraparound roof with 3D poly objects
Fill in missing wall volume
Extend walls to meet the roof
Cut notches for clerestory windows
Build clerestory windows
Model the tower walls
Shell the tower
Extrude the roof along a path

Conclusion

Next steps