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[Arch] starting point for modeling the first floorplan

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2022 9:12 pm
by luwol03
Hello,

I was pointed to this forum on https://discord.com/channels/8708774110 ... 6423650334.

I‘m searching for a architectural planning software which is free or has a cheap one time payment. I’m using FreeCAD since a few weeks for 3d printing models and I was interested if the arch wb can fit my requirements.

requirements:
- walls (not only rectangular rooms, also some with angles)
- multiple layers for
- electrical wires, bus wires, ...
- lamps, outlets, distrubution cabinets, junction boxes, ...
- Furniture planning
- 3d view of the house
- electrical wires should be able to habe not only in 2D, also 3d for better planing
- would be cool to also plan the garden

Im currently looking for a starting point how this wb is working. I only found some very old videos on yt which I think are very outdated.

I would also like to add, that I don’t want to design a new house, just a new style of of the house, it’s for a old house which needs a core refurbishment. All existing walls will be leaved like that, but the electronical wires and bus wires needs to be documented very precisely.

I hope someone can steer me into the right direction.

I have one question, is it possible to have it like the part design wb where I first draw a 2d draft and then make it 3d? Would be cool if the walls could be attached to a 2d plan.

luwol03

Re: [Arch] starting point for modeling the first floorplan

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 12:18 am
by chrisb
Moved to Arch forum.

Re: [Arch] starting point for modeling the first floorplan

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 3:47 am
by thomas-neemann
luwol03 wrote: Sat Jul 02, 2022 9:12 pm ...
here is a recent example


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ALqIoJFXA0

phpBB [video]


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Re: [Arch] starting point for modeling the first floorplan

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 10:13 am
by luwol03
Thank you for your quick reply, but first of all I'm searching for a starting point to model my house. One step after each other. I would be happy with either German or English resources.

Re: [Arch] starting point for modeling the first floorplan

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 10:24 am
by thomas-neemann
luwol03 wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 10:13 am ...

I would do it this way


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKMfJ-DOZVM

phpBB [video]

Re: [Arch] starting point for modeling the first floorplan

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:50 pm
by paullee
This is the classic Arch Tutorial by the Arch/BIM/Draft and FreeCAD founder Yorik, Arch_tutorial

Search YouTube, there are a number of video there, e.g. by Regis. There are a number of examples posted in the FreeCAD forum, as well as in the OSArch community.

Good luck :)


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Re: [Arch] starting point for modeling the first floorplan

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 4:32 pm
by luwol03
Thank you for your input.

As more as I read/watch about that topic, I think freeCAD has huge limitations for arch by design.
- I cannot draw a 2d floor plan and attach walls to it
- if I place a door and remove it I have an unexplainable hole in my walls

Re: [Arch] starting point for modeling the first floorplan

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 4:43 pm
by thomas-neemann
luwol03 wrote: Mon Jul 04, 2022 4:32 pm Thank you for your input.

As more as I read/watch about that topic, I think freeCAD has huge limitations for arch by design.
- I cannot draw a 2d floor plan and attach walls to it
- if I place a door and remove it I have an unexplainable hole in my walls
no, "everything" is possible. the more you work with it, the better it gets. freecad rocks

Re: [Arch] starting point for modeling the first floorplan

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 8:30 pm
by hko
Hi,
luwol03 wrote: Mon Jul 04, 2022 4:32 pm - I cannot draw a 2d floor plan and attach walls to it
Depends on what you mean by that. You can draw lines, polylines, rectangles, circles etc (draft wb elements that are included in arch wb toolbar) on a plane and later use those as "bases" for 3D walls. That's how I create all my walls. You can also create walls from 2d sketches (in sense of sketcher workbench sketches) but I don't do that.

It won't really be a floor plan because it won't include (2d representations of) doors etc., walls don't have thickness (well, they could have, but I wouldn't do it that way) and so on. The idea is to create a 3D model and then 2D floor plans, if you need them, from that 3D model. The initial 2D "skeleton" is mainly just "support geometry" for the 3D model, possibly for things other than walls as well.

luwol03 wrote: Mon Jul 04, 2022 4:32 pm - if I place a door and remove it I have an unexplainable hole in my walls
You may need to recompute the wall ("Recompute object" in the context menu of the wall object in the model tree view). I noticed I need to do that if I use "Undo" to undo door addition. However, if I deleted the door directly instead, I didn't need to recompute the wall.

I hope you are using the latest version.

For what it's worth, I'm using / learning FreeCAD for a sort of similar purpose as your case. That is, I'm modeling an existing old house that will get some changes and renovations. According to your initial post you have pretty high goals and all that will be a lot of work. Of course, it depends on how detailed you want/need to be. Good luck.

Re: [Arch] starting point for modeling the first floorplan

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:28 pm
by luwol03
Hello,

thank you for your replies, I really appreciate that volunteering work around FreeCAD.

Yes, im using the latest 0.20 (downloaded two weeks ago).

I think I put a wrong use case thought to freecad and 3D modeling a house. FreeCAD Arch is meant to create your house in 3D, not to create 2D floor plans and add walls to that 2D plan in a linked way. I will try FreeCAD for the second time with this new informations and will comment again.