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architectural specifications

nelpiper

Hi. I am very interested on architectural visualization and I have been doing some unofficial work using 3DS MAX and Vray. My background is computer science mutimedia. Is there any website that has specifications for doors, windows, walls, etc? Dimensions of length, width, hight? Thanks.

 
Jun 13, 07 5:36 am

you can kind of make up what you want, nelpiper. while a lot of manufacturers have their own standard sizes, most can also make up custom sizes.

if you know what you want (for residential, for example: pella, marvin, anderson) you can just go to that manufacturer's site to see what their standards are. they might even have downloadable cad files that you can use.

for commercial windows, typically you won't be using a standard size at all; it'll be made up out of stock pieces and you can make what you want. check out vistawall, wausau, kawneer for examples.

same rules apply for doors for the most part.

for walls, you're on your own. the possibilities are endless.

you should fully expect to get flamed, by the way. you're asking a bunch of people who resist standard ways of doing things - designers - to tell you how to get free access to standards that you can copy. probably so that you/your clients can do an end run around using our profession at all. not likely to be a friendly crowd....

Jun 13, 07 7:51 am  · 
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Philarch

Although I'm not usually the kind of person to do so, let me be the first to flame you (in a kind manner).

Generally, people in the architectural visualizations field have experience in the architectural field prior to going straight to graphic visualization. This is beneficial to clients because then you know what you are doing whether they be architects, owners, etc. Secondly, BIM software are making architects document their buildings in 3D. Since more architects will have 3D models of their buildings, more renderings will be done in-house meaning you'll have less work as BIM catches on more and more. This is also efficient because the architect can change a small detail here and there and render again with the modified model. If this was done by an independent contractor that has no prior knowledge of architecture, there would be a lot of inefficient time use in communication and would mean the architect would have to modify the model himself anyway. And all you'll be doing is processing the model with a nice computer with lighting, materials, environment & entourage - which is also rather becoming increasingly easy for architects.

I kindly urge you to take a broader and more diversified look at the visualization field. You might find that limiting yourself to the architectural visualization field would limit your career. I'm not even going to touch the "standard" specifications that you mention.

Jun 13, 07 12:00 pm  · 
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f*ck you and your standards...

Jun 13, 07 12:04 pm  · 
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nelpiper

Thanks for the answers. I checked the websites and they are good. I just wonder the last comment...

Jun 13, 07 6:51 pm  · 
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sorry bad day. Much of what architects are urged to use as standards are controlled by manufacturers who believe that making something even a 1/2" different is instead custom and requires a significant cost increase. It pisses me off because much of these things are easy to do, especially when changes are width-wise - anyhow. as I said bad day

Jun 13, 07 10:38 pm  · 
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