MaxonForm: Organic Modeling for ArchiCAD

The AIA Technology in Architectural conference that was held in San Francisco in Oct 2003 was one of the first conferences where BIM (building information modeling), then a newly introduced concept, emerged into the collective consciousness of the AEC industry. Most of the presentations and discussions at this conference were focused on exploring BIM vis-à-vis traditional 2D CAD processes, and one of the key concerns that was expressed by several professionals was that of being straitjacketed by the form-making limitations of BIM solutions (see my synopsis of the conference in Cadence AEC News Tech #108). This is one limitation that all the major BIM applications still continue to have, as I have repeatedly pointed out in my reviews (see my reviews of Revit Building 8/8.1, ArchiCAD 9, and Bentley Architecture). The developers of these applications have acknowledged this limitation and have attempted to find solutions to it in different ways.

In the case of ArchiCAD, its developer, Graphisoft, has devised a two-pronged solution to the problem, both of which reflect the company's strong focus on interoperability. The first solution was introduced in July: an organic modeling software called MaxonForm that works as an add-on to ArchiCAD and integrates seamlessly with it. The second solution was recently announced: a SketchUp add-on that allows conceptual 3D models created in the highly popular SketchUp application to be automatically imported into ArchiCAD and further developed. We have already taken a good look at SketchUp recently, with the review of SketchUp 5 published in August, and a detailed report on the 3D Base Camp, SketchUp's first user conference, which was held last month. Let us take an indepth look at MaxonForm and see how it works.

Overview of MaxonForm

MaxonForm is the result of Graphisoft's tie-up with MAXON Computer GmbH, a Germany-based developer of 3D visualization applications best known for its flagship product, CINEMA 4D. Particularly popular in Europe, CINEMA 4D is used for high-end 3D modeling, rendering, and animation across a range of fields including architecture, product design, film, television, gaming advertising, and scientific simulations. It competes mainly with broad-based 3D applications such as 3dsMax and Maya as opposed to more architecture-focused 3D applications such as Autodesk VIZ and form·Z, which is why we don't hear that much about it in the mainstream AEC circles, especially in the US. But as shown in Figure 1, it is being effectively used by architects to create highly photorealistic, sophisticated renderings of their projects.

One of the main advantages of CINEMA 4D, when applied to creating architectural renderings, is its ability to directly import files from the leading BIM applications (in Europe)-ALLPLAN, ArchiCAD and VectorWorks. Not only does it import the model as required, it also maintains a link to the original BIM model so that any changes made to the BIM model are updated automatically in the rendering and visualization work being done in CINEMA 4D. It can also import common 3D file formats such as DXF, 3DS, and OBJ exported from other CAD and BIM applications. In addition, images and movies in PSD, TIFF, Targa, JPG, Quicktime, AVI and other popular formats can be imported as textures or modeling templates, or used for final output. The idea is that you continue to use your CAD or BIM application for modeling and then use CINEMA 4D for high-end visualization. But CINEMA 4D also includes modeling and design tools that you can use to accurately model organic and freeform surfaces, which can then be imported back in your CAD/BIM environment. This makes it possible to integrate extravagant forms into design projects which would have been very difficult to model otherwise.

CINEMA 4D is both Windows and Macintosh compatible, thus having the same cross-platform advantage as ArchiCAD and VectorWorks. It is available in the form of a core application featuring 3D modeling, rendering, and animation, and several modules that customize it for different fields. Thus, architects would use its Architectural Bundle which includes a material eXchange plugin that easily exchanges the simple colors of a CAD/BIM program for photorealistic materials; an Advanced Render module for creating photorealistic imagery, including a high-quality lighting feature that offers sun simulation and a selection of numerous types of light and shades, and fast radiosity rendering with adjustable depth-of-field and additional lens reflex effects; the Sketch and Toon module for creating non-photorealistic renderings that look like sketches and may be rendered just like a painted picture; extensive libraries of textures, plants, furniture, people and vehicles; and the ability to move the camera during animation to create professional looking movies, as well as the ability to animate light settings and objects such as people and cars.

Getting back to MaxonForm, it is simply a stripped-down version of CINEMA 4D that includes its powerful modeling capabilities, but no rendering or animation. It was licensed from MAXON Computer by Graphisoft and developed specifically for ArchiCAD in order to address the organic modeling limitation that has beleaguered ArchiCAD so far. Rather than building organic modeling capabilities within ArchiCAD, Graphisoft chose this integration approach because it did not want to re-invent the wheel. Also, CINEMA 4D was chosen as opposed to applications such as form·Z and Rhino (which are more well-known in the US), because of its greater global presence-it is used world-wide, is available in many languages, and is reputed for its power, stability, and ease-of-use.

Let us now see how this free-form integrated modeling actually works.

How MaxonForm Works with ArchiCAD

MaxonForm ships as a separate application that costs $595, and has its own license number and registration process. It requires two separate installations to work correctly: first, the application itself, and second, the MaxonForm add-on for ArchiCAD 9. (MaxonForm does not work with older versions of ArchiCAD). Its system requirements are the same as those for ArchiCAD 9, so that aspect poses no problems to existing users.

The starting point for working with MaxonForm would always be from within ArchiCAD, using one of two commands that appear in the Tools menu after the MaxonForm installation. You can either choose to create a new object with MaxonForm or select one or more existing ArchiCAD elements to edit them using MaxonForm. The first option is available when working on the floor plan or in a 3D window, while the second option is available only while working in the 3D window. In both cases, ArchiCAD will launch MaxonForm, transferring the content of the 3D window to it. If you start from the floor plan, however, no elements are transferred. Figure 2-a shows the ArchiCAD project from which a wall element is being selected for modification in MaxonForm, while Figure 2-b shows how the wall and the associated door elements appear in MaxonForm. One important point to note is that if you select more than one element for editing, all of them will be replaced by a single GDL object after the editing has been completed in MaxonForm. We will revisit this issue later. (GDL stands for Geometric Description Language and is a technology originally developed by Graphisoft for representing parametric objects computationally.)

As shown in Figure 2-b, the elements that were selected in ArchiCAD appear listed under the Objects Manager palette in MaxonForm individually, and these can be freely edited. The rest of the ArchiCAD model is contained in an object group called "ArchiCAD environment" and is displayed in a semi-transparent mode in the graphics window to distinguish it from the elements brought in for editing. The purpose of bringing in the rest of the model is to provide the correct context for editing the selected elements. The individual elements in the "ArchiCAD environment" cannot be modified in MaxonForm. They can be deleted, but these changes will be lost when you return to ArchiCAD. Essentially, only those elements specifically selected for editing in ArchiCAD will be affected by modifications made in MaxonForm.

Here is an overview of the MaxonForm interface, as seen in Figure 2-b. The graphics window is where the main modeling and editing operations take place; it is referred to as the Editor Window, and allows multiple views of the scene to be opened, if required. Each Editor window comes with its own menu and controls for setting the camera, view, display type, zoom level, etc. The Objects Manager palette mentioned in the preceding paragraph contains all of the scene's objects. It allows various operations to be performed on objects such as setting up a hierarchy, assembling objects, and modifying various object attributes like name, visibility, etc. Located below the Objects Manager is the Attributes Manager, which is not only used to manage the attributes of each object, but also properties and settings of tools. A third palette, the Coordinates Manager, is located below Attributes Manager. It lets you place, rotate or scale your objects accurately by specifying the exact values in the given fields. All the main modeling and selection tools are located in the palette to the left of the Editor Window, while the top palette contains various transformation and Undo/Redo tools. The modeling tools include several primitives such as Cube, Cylinder, Cone, Sphere, etc.; complex objects and object modifiers such as creating and editing splines and other 2D shapes, NURBS surfaces, arrays, metaballs, Boolean objects, and various kinds of deformations; advanced tools designed to operate on objects with complex shapes; and editing modes for editing the model as required. Several of the commands are located in command groups, and the corresponding arrow keys allow access to the other commands in the group.

While a complete description of all the features and tools of MaxonForm is beyond the scope of this review, let us briefly see how to actually edit elements or create new ones in MaxonForm. Clicking on any of the object creation tools places an object of that type on the origin of the model. It also appears in the Objects Manager and becomes automatically selected, indicated by the red bounding box in the Editor Window and its name colored in red in the Objects Manager. Thus, it can be moved immediately to the desired location. You can also modify its different attributes located under the different tabs in the Attributes Manager (see Figure 3). Of particular relevance under the "Basic" tab is the Display Color, which should be selected, and the Use Color parameter, which should be set to "Always." These display colors can be translated to specific materials once the model is taken back to ArchiCAD, and should therefore be selected carefully. (Remember that MaxonForm has no rendering capabilities, so you cannot apply textures to objects in it.) The Attributes Manager also lets you specify the exact numeric parameters of the object, which are located under the "Object" tab. And the location, as mentioned earlier, can be fine-tuned in the Coordinates Manager.

You can take the simple primitives you create in MaxonForm or the objects selected for modification from ArchiCAD and transform them into complex organic forms in a variety of ways. Two of these are illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. For the first transformation shown in Figure 4, the Twist deformer was selected from the tool palette on the left. It then appears in the Objects Manager, and just as with newly created objects, it is automatically selected, so that its parameters can be modified in the Attributes Manager (see Figure 4-a). You can now apply this deformer to an object by dragging it within the Objects Manager and repositioning it so that it becomes a "child" of the object to be deformed (see Figure 4-b). This will deform the object according to the parameters of the Twist operation. You can continue to change these parameters in the Attributes Manager dialog, and since the deformer is now a child of the object, you will see the changes being interactively applied to the object.

The second modifier we will explore is HyperNURBS. When it is selected from the tool palette, it appears, just like the Twist deformer, in the Objects Manager, and its parameters such as the number of subdivisions and so on can be set in the Attributes Manager. To apply this modifier to an object, the object has to be repositioned in the Objects Manager so that it becomes a child of the HyperNURBS modifier. The object will now be subdivided according to the parameters of the HyperNURBS, as shown in Figure 5-a, where it is applied to a copy of the wall object. Next, the "Make Editable" tool from the tool palette needs to be applied to this object. Once this is done, the individual points, edges, and faces of the object can be moved, and if "soft selection" is enabled, as shown in Figure 5-b, the object can be smoothly reshaped. This process allows you to take a standard-shaped object and transform it into a freeform one, as shown in the example.

In a similar fashion, you can apply a wide variety of transformations and modifiers to reshape 3D forms as desired or create new 3D forms from 2D shapes. Any surface can be given a thickness by extruding it. Other capabilities include being able to create a null object which will be converted into a 3D hotspot in ArchiCAD, the ability to control the smoothing of an object's polygons at the edges, and the ability to optimize or reduce the number of polygons in an object before returning it to ArchiCAD so that it doesn't slow down future operations.

Once you have finished editing the selected elements in MaxonForm or creating new ones, you simply select the "Send back to ArchiCAD" command, located near the top left corner of the window, and you are returned to ArchiCAD. You will now be asked to set the materials for every MaxonForm object for which different display colors were set. After this task has been completed, the next step is to enter a name and location for the new GDL object. (Recall the point mentioned earlier that any selected elements would be replaced by one GDL object after editing.) Once the object has been saved, it will be automatically placed in ArchiCAD at the same location in the 3D window as it was in MaxonForm relative to the "ArchiCAD environment" (see Figure 6). If you started in ArchiCAD from the floor plan, the new object will become the default in the Object tool and it can be placed manually where required.

Analysis and Conclusions

Even without CINEMA 4D's rendering and animation capabilities, MaxonForm is a very powerful modeling tool that can be used to create organic forms as envisioned with a high degree of accuracy. Its one-step integration with ArchiCAD works seamlessly, making it a no-brainer for ArchiCAD users who want to create organic forms in their building projects (such as the one shown in Figure 7) and are already familiar with CINEMA 4D. And for the entire ArchiCAD community, it mitigates to a certain extent ArchiCAD's inability to do organic modeling, providing them with this capability without having to invest in the complete CINEMA 4D application. For those users still grappling with the choice of a BIM application, both MaxonForm and the new SketchUp add-on combine to make ArchiCAD a compelling option: you can start conceptualizing your design in SketchUp, move it to ArchiCAD once it has taken a more definitive form to develop the full building model, and use the MaxonForm add-on when you want to include any organic forms in the design. (It should be noted that SketchUp has no organic modeling tools, which is why an add-on like MaxonForm is needed.) Of course, it would be ideal to have all these capabilities in one application, but considering that no such application exists yet, a scenario where applications interoperate to provide all these capabilities is also definitely welcome.

Currently, the biggest limitation of MaxonForm is that the elements that are modified or created in it come back to ArchiCAD not as intelligent building objects, but only as geometric forms. So while their visual representation is accurate in all planar, 3D, and sectional views (see Figures 7-c and 7-d), they do not behave as building elements and cannot be included in schedules, quantity estimates, and so on. Thus a wall which has been modified in MaxonForm to give it a more freeform shape will lose its "wall" property when brought back into ArchiCAD, and doors and windows placed on it will no longer automatically cut it.

Also, MaxonForm is a complex application that will take time to master. For architectural users accustomed to applications such as SketchUp and form·Z where you apply any kind of transformation directly to an object, the process of creating separate modifiers and subsequently using them to modify objects by repositioning them as parents or children in the object hierarchy of the Objects Manager will seem non-intuitive and takes some time getting used to. It also doesn't help that the documentation accompanying MaxonForm is pretty limited at the moment, so users new to CINEMA 4D will have to rely mostly on their own exploration and experimentation to figure out how it works.

Going forward, Graphisoft can hopefully address these limitations by providing comprehensive documentation and interactive tutorials, and perhaps even by simplifying the application, considering that it will be used primarily to supplement the capabilities of ArchiCAD rather than as a full-fledged modeling application. Most critically, the objects modeled in MaxonForm need to be able to become building objects when taken back to ArchiCAD, otherwise it runs counter to the basic concept of BIM and won't gain widespread acceptance in the long run.

For now, however, it is great to have ArchiCAD break out of its organic modeling limitation by building a bridge to a powerful and well-established 3D visualization application. It serves to highlight an important point-that integration and interoperability are viable options, and we don't need to wait for that one magical application which can do it all.

About the Author

Lachmi Khemlani is founder and editor of AECbytes. She has a Ph.D. in Architecture from UC Berkeley, specializing in intelligent building modeling, and consults and writes on AEC technology. She can be reached at lachmi@aecbytes.com.

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