From the course: Architectural Models: Digital File Prep with Rhino

Combining fabrication methods - Rhino Tutorial

From the course: Architectural Models: Digital File Prep with Rhino

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Combining fabrication methods

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- [Olivia] By this time, you should be familiar with some useful fabrication tools and techniques you can employ in your own model building process. Let's look at a few more examples of some models that use a variety of building techniques to make the best product possible. In this example, my company Model Space created our site out of high density foam with laser cut components, including the surrounding walls and water features. The trees were hand-built out of flocking and wire. You can find some off-the-shelf options for trees at your local craft store, but you can make a much better tree to a more accurate scale by building it yourself. I also laser-cut the main building out of frosted acrylic to get a more delicate look to contrast the dense foam of the site. Using these two fabrication tools together defines the different components of the model while still using a coherent color palette. In this example, we see a lobby interior with a base and structure laser-cut out of MDF, including the floor and structure. The furniture components are SLS 3D printed. I often use 3D printing to make custom furniture and props for models because there's so much possible customization versus just buying off-the-shelf products. There are also a ton of online resources for downloading free 3D printable models, and I've included some of those sites in this video. In this model, we constructed the building pieces out of laser-cut painted acrylic. Using the laser cutter allowed us to etch in details like the signage on the front and the window mullions. The front crystal entrance was SLA 3D printed out of clear resin. Printing this piece was a much faster fabrication option versus laser cutting the individual windows and then assembling them. Because of the accuracy of SLA printing, the final finish with some buffing was just as good as a laser-cut acrylic. And here we have the final physical constructed model you'll be designing digitally for the course. The primary fabrication methods we will reference are laser cutting and 3D printing. The model calls for laser cut walls, windows, and doors, along with 3D printed columns on the front porch. These fabrication methods will inform how we model our building components in a digital space.

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