ARCHIMATIX PRO Node-based Parametric Modeling for Unity [Unity Awards Finalist]

Every now and then, after toiling the long day away on Archimatix beta, Robot Kyle wanders far off for some time to himself, away from it all. Sometimes he wanders until he gets that feeling that he's all alone in the universe...




This structure is a quick test of the new RadialRepeater2D (in the overhead structure) and the RadialRepeater )for the columns and struts) sharing the same RadialRepeaterTool. When you increase the radius of the RepeaterTool, or its sweep angle, both parts of the structure change accordingly.

 

More RadialRepeater2D!

 

Looks like Kyle is going Gothic with the new RadialRepeater2D...

 

the " one click prefab " button is awesome

 

Looks amazing, @sarum!

 

I am so blown away by that tower @sarum … and the polish of your full render. It's like a storybook illustration!

You forced me to stick some random trees in the middle of my nameless postmodern architectural thing
I came her to show off, then I see yours! hahaha

 

the little towers are very easy to make in Archimatix .. try one
just make sure to use the duplicate function a lot

cheap and fast trick to render trees in very shadowy areas : decrease the Shadow intensity of the Light

 

Oh WOW! Thank you, I wasn't even aware how much of the trees I was losing! Much better, thank you!

 

Looks great, @wetcircuit!

Today I am polishing the Save to Library workflow. Not very glamorous or earth shattering, but it is an important aspect of what they call "the AX experience" Hehe

 

Working on the PlanRepeater. When this node is done, all the Repeaters will be version 1.0 ready!

 

Still working on PlanRepeater. A key element is the automatic PlanSweep at the corners if you provide a Section Shape and an Inset value.

 

Hi Roryo, is this an open or closed bêta ? Would love to experiment that asset in vr with oculus rift for my game

 

This looks amazing!
Can we still apply for beta testing?

 

@corjn and @BlackRainbowFT, thanks for your interest in Archimatix! I think we have enough people for the current beta phase, but, if you are interested, I am hoping to be at release candidate by mid-August. It would be nice to have some fresh eyes to try it with the launch documentation in place.

 

@roryo: yes, I'd be interested! Feel free to send me a message when you're ready and and tell me which parts of your asset / documentation you want me to go through (maybe there are parts that you think might be harder to understand).

 

Thanks, @BlackRainbowFT - will do.

 

The reconfiguration of PlanRepeater is almost finished. This is the last major node before release!

PlanRepeater uses lengths of Shapes between break angles to distribute the objects it is repeating. The corners represented by breaking vertices can also extend Inset PlanSweeps that are generated automatically if a section Shape is provided.




The node graph shows how all the pieces have been made and linked in Archimatix, allowing for lots of flexibility while stamping out instances of this parametric model.

 

Here the BaySize parameter is being varied. The rectangular extrudes that define a window mullion are repeated in the openings between the Inset PlanSweeps.

 

Here the Inset parameter is being varied. As the Inset is decreased, the opening becomes larger and more mullions are added.

 

Since Archimatix is non-destructive, any point in the node graph can be edited. Here the SceneView Handles of the Plan Shape fed into the PlanRepeater are being altered. Notice how as the wall to the left gets longer, it fills in more Inset extrudes.

 

The PlanRepeater has been fed into a FloorRepeater. The height of the PlanSweep for the roof has been linked to the height of the FloorRepeater so you can drag the roof up and down to reconfigure the height of the building and the number of floors.

 

Not sure of exactly what it is, but I know it can be modeled in a matter of minutes in Unity with Archimatix...


Just about to finish PlanRepeater - the final node before v1.0 release!

 

The above is composed of only six Archimatix nodes:

 

Kyle, who has just returned from summer travels, says Archimatix is ready for its final push toward v1.0. To kick off the documentation efforts, Kyle is going to rebuild the Renaissance Villa, an early Archimatix example model, using the new PlanRepeater node. But first, he is sizing a typical arch for the villa...

 

Here is how the above arch can be manipulated in real time using the handles of the Molding01 and ArchShape shapes:

 

With PlanRepeater, you can makes lots of palatial villas right in the Unity editor!


Once you have the mode set up, you can stamp out lots of variations:


The arch that is being repeated with this parametric I-shaped plan is the one that Kyle was working on in the post above.

 

This is incredible! How have I not seen this yet. Would love to beta test this if you need more testers anytime soon.

 

Hi @thisnamesucks - thanks for your interest in Archimatix (AX)! We are set with beta testers for the moment, but I am hoping to get a couple of innocent bystanders in before launch to test learning AX with release documentation in place. I will circle back around then.

 

@ royo Archimatrix is like a fulfillement of one of my dreams
I've been following this thread for some time but I've one question, did you ever thought of organic modeling and randomization in Archimatrix? It is a lot different then what you have in the package so far, but it would be fabulous

Taking a simple example, what about a random mushroom (lets just ignore the textures for a moment).
Currently, I'm certain you could generate the stem and head and edit it manually, but what about a random tilt of the stem, a random direction of the head, random height, etc. Basically, can we randomize parameters of the nodes by specifying a range?
I'm imagining it to be similar to substances, if you've used them, with some parameters exposed which can be randomized without having to deal with the whole graph.

Then, how could you make the mushroom look more organic? A little noise deformation, 2D or even 3D would be cool as a start I guess. Do you have any plans for that?

Anyway, I just like the concept of not only having models to edit directly, but also a single object (not a graph) with some exposed parameters which could possibly be randomized, just like substances
Organic modeling is very hard, but considering how elegantly you resolved the problems of hard surface modeling I'm convinced you'd find simple way. Just like to hear your opionion! But nevertheless, this asset is already absolutely amazing

 

Hi @Seneral. Thanks for your interest in Archimatix (AX) and questions about the system's current abilities and future plans for randomization and organic forms.

In the 1.0 release (shooting for late September) we have Jitter nodes that can be attached to all the repeaters. For example, Jitter nodes were used in the old dock and the nano-swarm models posted earlier in this thread. The Jitter nodes use a Perlin scale parameter that can be modified to generate more supple randomizations such as those found in the beach fence and molar landscape examples.

For randomization of the meshes themselves, we will await the development of the Mesh Deformer class of nodes which, while not difficult to implement, are not slated for the first release (something's gotta give on the drive to v1.0! ). In any case, a quick proof of concept of random mesh deformation has been posted. One of the key to AX additions will be strategies for mesh subdivision to allow for varying levels of deformation.These Deformers will include random vertex displacement within a specified geometric volume, taper, twist, etc. While a parametric system cannot claim to compete with pure sculptural, topological tools such as ZBrush for organic form generation, with randomization there is much potential for "organisizing" logical forms.

I am glad you asked the question since it is an important one and located squarely in the post-v1.0 roadmap of AX!

 

Super cool, thank you. Yeah, please first finish off 1.0 release But I'm eager to see how you'll be able to do it.
Just one more random though For perlin deformations, you certainly don't want it on every face equally, what about some masking features (if you need)? Masks that could be created at a level of basic objects and would keep these masks while it's getting arranged. Then some mask generators, for example 'Select by Normal', to only apply on all up-facing faces for example. And then of course an ability to mix these masks, mask mask generators, etc.
Anyway, eagerly awaiting 1.0 as it stands right now

 

Now that PlanRepeater is done, Robot Kyle is pondering a video tutorial on using PlanRepeater to make railings...

 

A quick test of realtime shape merging with PlanRepeater:

 

Here is a similar test with a railing. The small square clips the Plan shape leaving a hole in the downstream Meshers that use the Plan such as the PlanRpeater and the PlanSweep:





Here's the node graph for the parametric platform with railing:

 

Just finished fine-tuning the workflow for lightmapping in Archimatix... and creating the manual page for it too!



You can see it live here: http://www.archimatix.com/manual/lightmapping-with-archimatix

 

Hey Roryo, I would love to participate to the RC

A bit about me :

I'm a video game art student, I'm starting this year my MA Game Design at Copenhagen, so i'm half a pro.

I mostly make VR games, and I would love to use your asset on my main game "Hologram Away", that i'm developping for the Oculus Rift (and maybe HTV and PSVR)

I am using probuilder for now, and when it's more complicated, detailed, i'm using maya. But i think Archimatix would be a lot easier for my purpose, knowing that Hologram Away takes place in a futurustic abandoned planet, with temples and huges architectures.

There's some screens of the project on corjn.com (my website) if you want to see.

Thanks

Jonathan

 

Hi @corjn - thanks again for you interest! Your work looks great! We are getting closer to RC. We'll get started with docs/RC testing in a couple of weeks. I will contact you as soon as we get started. I just tried to start a Conversation with you here, but it looks like your forum prefs are not allowing it.

 

Wow, this looks incredible. You might put me out of a job if you keep this up.

 

Thanks, @EvilGremlin! And just what sort of job might Archimatix be putting in jeopardy?!

 

Somebody has to build everything the old fashioned way... for now at least. When will this be done? I want to play.

 

All the release 1.0 features are done. The next few weeks are for polish and documentation. We hopefully are looking at a late September release

 

That's weird, i don't see how change that, anyway you can contact me on my mail adress : jonathan.coryn@ensapc.fr, or I can start a conversation with you on the unity site, maybe it's more simple.

Otherwise, can't wait to test Archimatix

 

Working on some parametric library items to ship with the first release of Archimatix. The goal for these items is that users can stamp out versions of them without needing to go to the node graph window. An example is this Arts & Crafts chair (which still needs a back)..





Of course, for heartier souls, they can go beyond modifying the parameters, open the node graph and start tinkering with the logic. Here is the node graph for this chair:

 

When modeling with Archimatix, you quickly come to realize that nothing is set in stone!








This entire model, and its into relations (purple connectors) and parametric relations between parts (red connectors) is made with relatively few Archimatix nodes.

 

Just polished the SceneView handles for the Extrude node...

 

Trying out ShapeMerging with the new Extrude Handles...

 

Working with the new Extrude Handles while fed into a LinearRepeater:

 

Robot Kyle is a little disappointed that these things are not as bouncy as they look...

 

Wow, this looks amazing! Any idea when it will be released? If you are still looking for testers I'd be more then happy to help out

 

Hi @cmart, thanks! There will be a new round of beta/RC testing in a couple of weeks from now (although those couple weeks have been going on for a few weeks now! ). In this next phase, I'm hoping that we can get a sense of how easy or difficult it is for someone new to wade in with the still-to-be-finished docs. As the early beta group washed up on the shiny shores of Archimatix, I'm afraid they encountered more of an undocumented alpha (poor souls). But I'm eternally grateful to them, since they help it improve by leaps and bounds - and some have survived to tell the tale!