Modeling for Architecture

Modeling and rendering a kitchen for architecture

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Allan Brito April 12, 2010

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From all the possible environments and scenarios for architectural visualization, one of them represents a challenge for any artist, and it is the kitchen. Why the kitchen? Well, just think about it as an environment filled with furniture with small details for doors, sink and a lot more. If the kitchen must show a dinning table filled with plates and other objects, be sure to have trouble with materials and render setup, because it means lots of glass other reflective materials. By reading this you might even think that I hate to create kitchens, but it's exactly the opposite. I say it is a challenge, and it is also fun to try.

A good way to be prepared to create kitchen models is to watch how other artists manage to solve the problems of that scene. I just found a great tutorial by an artist called FelixEvgenievich showing how to start the modeling of a kitchen in Blender, and render the scene in YafaRay. The video is in timelapse format:

The video is a great demonstration of how to use a simple modeling technique to achieve an average level model in terms of complexity. The main modeling technique used by the author is box modeling, where a simple primitive shape like a cube or cylinder is deformed and transformed, until the desired shape of an object is achieved. It's a simple way to model, but could result in complex objects.

For the details, one of the most important, and not only for this example, is the use of bevels to add a chamfer cut to all borders of an object. This is a trick used to give more realism to 3d models.

By the end of the video we can watch the creation of a simple studio setup scene to render with YafaRay. The process is also simples, and deals mostly with the materials of the scene and setup of lights and render method for YafaRay. The final result is quite good, and could be that starting point of a complex scene, with more objects to represent a full kitchen.

How about you? Did you ever experience the modeling of a full kitchen? Share your experience in the comments!