Thinking of building a house.? ..Who isn't ?

We will make house plans, blueprints, renderings, animations with Graphisoft ArchiCad, (not Graphsoft Minicad). Includes drawings for the house and computer graphics...Free, just give us as built images. If you've got a good idea you'd like to see made into a house plan, let's explore it.

A sampling from plans done for a family in Florida: House plan, windows, doors, fixtures, interior walls, exterior walls, roof plan, 4 frame rendered elevation animation. Overall exterior dimensions, 79'x49'6". Approximately 2,000 square feet living area. Oversize garage.

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

A Buddycom member wrote:
"I am using Graphisoft ArchiCAD for the first time for renderings. Can you assist me in learning how to "cut" walls so that items behind a wall can be better seen? While it is important to show wall locations, on this particular project it is necessary to show the furnishings in the room as well. These renderings will be part of a marketing brochure the UC Davis campus will be sending out to prospective students. One other thought I had was to somehow make the walls "transparent" showing only lines, but I have not been successful at either solution. Thanks in advance if you can assist me!"

Method one: Wall or other object transparency can be altered in the material properties dialog boxes. Apply material transparency to the walls you want to be transparent before rendering. All objects and shadows will be visible through the wall. A color other than white generally gives better effects. Set lighting, draw animation path, and render.

Method two: This may be the easiest method for new ArchiCAD users. Create a layer in the layers dialog box for the roofs, floors, walls. or even objects you want to be invisible and give it a name. Click on those elements which you don't want to be visible and temporarily assign them to the layer for rendering. Then beside the layer name, unselect show. Set lighting, draw animation path, and render.

Method three: You could cut out sections of walls. Click on a wall to select it. Select window or door tool and click the spot on the wall where you wish to place an opening. When the dialog box appears, select one of theempty hole shapes such as round, arch, rectangle, etc., as your window or door type and enter it's dimensions in the dialog box. If you select any other window or door type than empty hole, you will get unnecessary casements, window panes, doors, and door jambs when you render. You will also probably want to assign the same color to both sides of the wall. Lighting effects and shadows will cause the perimeter of the opening to be slightly different from the wall surfaces so if you don't wish to see a sharply contrasting color for the perimeter of the opening you would assign the same or similar color as well to the interior of the wall. Set lighting, draw animation path, and render.

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The best thing you can do for your house and for your monthly bills. Interior heating and cooling energy requirements are large and significant. The energy requirements can be greatly reduced with insulation. The area in which almost every existing house can easily be improved with insulation is of course the space under roofs. You won't need to pay a contractor. You won't need special tools. The insulation is not expensive. To learn more click on the bold pink letters and go to http://www.owenscorning.com If it's glass, guess what jelly bean? You're talking Owens Corning.

Mike Stasse asks,
"Do you want to reduce your power bills?
Do you want to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions?"
Hmm. Interesting questions.

GREENhouse Design lays claim to conceiving Australia's most energy efficient homes.
Using state of the art Building Energy Rating Scheme software, BERS, Mike Stasse has designed homes very efficiently. Whilst the average Aussie brick veneer home usually rates at yearly heating and cooling needs of 2-3,000 MJ/m2
(MegaJoules are units of energy), the threshold for a 5 star rated dwelling is 60MJ/m2. GREENhouse design has concepts rated as low as 4 MJ/m 2, and consistently design to 25 MJ/m 2 or better. All their projects are 5 star rated, and each design is certified using BERS.
greenhousedesign.green.net.au/