AutoCAD Lesson 13-2           Reference Files - and their Use Pt 2

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Stand-Alone Users

All of this is very interesting, but how might it help you as a student - predominately working alone, and to very tight deadlines?
Reference files can be extremely useful in this environment for 3D modelling

Site and Proposal - Site

When presented with a design brief, my first response is always to model the surrounding site - the context in (or against) which my proposal must exist. This is not only useful for the finished renderings/images, but also forces me to understand precisely the topology in which my proposal must work. This is normally completed at the same time as the outline design phillosophy or enuii is established.

Having created a model of the site, including any objects/buildings that will be removed in my proposal, this will form the basis of any sight analysis drawings I create, and often will be rendered to illustrate such things as:

The point of these drawings is not to impress how clever I am on "the machine", but to understand the site, to give me time to consider my approach to it whilst still doing productive work towards the project and to get the best "value" out of the work I have done.

Site and Proposal - Proposal

Having modeled (and understood) the site, I next start move towards a proposal.

For me this always means testing a number of ideas in context. Very simple models are created in separate files, and the existing site attached as a reference file to each. Because the existing site remains as a separate file that is merely displayed in my proposal models the size of each of the proposals remains acceptably small.

Having decided on the final solution this model is then developed over a period of time as an individual file without the site attached. If site critical decisions need to be made the site file can be re-attached temporarily.

This process allows me to keep the proposal model as small and fast as possible, yet still be able to see it in its context.

Site and Proposal - The Presentation

As the proposal model is being developed a number of critical or important views of the whole site are created and saved (View - Save - Name), so that when plots or prints are required it is simply a matter of attaching the proposal model into the site model and plotting the pre-saved views. Viola competition winning schemes in a lunch time!

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This tutorial is the copyright of J. Attree South Bank University, London UK