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The Easy Part: Mesh to Morph

This will make it easier to select


exact lines and points.

Setting up the Mesh

Tim Wang 2014

Open a new instance of ArchiCAD using the default template.


Turn True Line Weight off (View > On-Screen View Options > True Line Weight).

Select the Mesh tool from the Toolbox and open its settings (Ctrl + T).
Change the Structure to Top Surface only, and change the top surface to Paint-01.
Press OK.

In the empty space between the four Elevation markers, create a 10006000 grid
Mesh using the Regular Sloped geometry method

The Mesh should have three


10002000 sections. This is only
a quarter of the final canopy.

In the Regular Sloped Mesh dialog box, set the Vertical Divisions to 2 and the
Horizontal Divisions to 4. Press OK.

Creating Mesh ridgelines Using the Polyline tool (Polygonal geometry method), draw a Polyline that
zigzags across the grid.

Select the Mesh. With the Mesh tool selected from the Toolbox, hover over the
Polyline and hold the spacebar while clicking on it. Press OK when the New Mesh
Points dialog box appears.

Drag the Mesh (Ctrl + D) to the side or delete the Polyline to confirm that the
zigzagging ridgelines were successfully added to the Mesh. If there is a segment
missing, draw that segment with the Polyline tool and add it to the Mesh using
the method above.
Elevating Mesh nodes

Tim Wang 2014

Select the Mesh and click on point 1.


In the Pet Palette, choose the Elevate Mesh Point... option.
1

Sheet Index
Layout ID

Layout Name

102

Ground Floor Plan

101
103

Remark

Site Plan

Ground Floor Foundations

104

Ground Floor Framing Plan

105

In the Mesh Point Height dialog box, type 1000 for the Height.
Elevate point 2 using the same process.

Ground Floor Plumbing Plan

106

Ground Floor Lighting/RCP

107

Roof Plan

301

Elevations

Go to the 3D Window (F3 or F5) to check that the Mesh has two peaks like the
figure below:

Converting the Mesh to


a Morph

#Architect Company

SHEET

GSEducationalVersion

Tim Wang 2014

SHEET TITLE: Sheet Index


REVISION #:

ISSUED:

PROJECT #:

14/03/2014
#Pln

Select only the Mesh and right-click in some empty space. In the menu, click
Convert Selection to Morph(s) and press OK when the dialog box appears.

Generic Perspective

#Client Name

#Project Name

#Site Address1
#Site City

#Architect Full Address

PHONE: #Architect Phone Number


FAX: #Architect Fax
#Architect E-mail
#Architect Web

The Hard Part: Making Waves


Setting up construction
lines

Go back to Plan view by double-clicking 1. Ground Floor in the Project Map or


pressing F2.
Select the Polyline tool (Rectangular geometry method), and in some empty space
away from the Morph, draw a 10001000 square.

Drag (Ctrl + Shift + D) or mirror (Ctrl + Shift + M) a copy of the square right
next to it. Draw a 45 straight line across the middle of the two squares using the
Polyline tool (Polygonal geometry method), using midpoints as nodes.

Switch to the Arc/Circle tool, and set the Arc/Circle geometry method to
Tangential (click on the icon and hold, then choose the right option).

Click on points 1, 2, 3 in sequence. When the Eyeball cursor appears, click inside
the circle. Construct a circle on the opposite side using the same method.

Drawing the wave


guidelines

Tim Wang 2014

1 2
Switch back to the Polyline tool, change the pen to number 20 (red) and make
sure the Polygonal geometry method is active.
Click on point 1, and in the Pet Palette choose Arc with defined tangent. Click
anywhere along the horizontal line (point 2) to set the tangent, then click on point
3, where the mouse cursor should change to an intersection symbol. In the Pet
Palette, choose the Straight segment option, then click on point 4, which is also
an intersection. In the Pet Palette, choose the Arc tangential to previous segment
option, then double-click on point 5 to complete the Polyline.
5
4
3
1

Tim Wang 2014

Select and drag the red Polyline (Ctrl + D) away from the circles and squares.
Select the red Polyline and mirror a copy of it (Ctrl + Shift + M).

Adding additional
guidelines

Select the two Polylines, and notice the two nodes in the middle of the curves.

These two horizontal lines Deselect everything. Draw lines 1 and 2 using the Polyline tool (Polygonal
will make it easy to find
geometry method). You are connecting the nodes you saw before (dont
the middle nodes when the mistakenly use the midpoint nodes marked x).
Polylines are deselected.

1
2

Select all of the red Polylines and copy them to your clipboard (Ctrl + C).
Contouring the Morph
edges

Tim Wang 2014

Go to the E-02 East Elevation in the Project Map.


Ctrl + V to paste the red guidelines into the center of the current view (press Paste
when the dialog box appears).

The guidelines will be surrounded by a temporary bounding box that allows you
to position the pasted elements before placing them properly.

Click on point 1 and then point 2 to align the guidelines with the Morph
elevation, then click in some empty space or press Enter to place the guidelines.

Select the Morph. Looking at the left side of the wave guidelines, click anywhere
(or point 1) on the diagonal ridge. In the Pet Palette, choose the Insert New Node
option, then click on point 2 (the lower junction between the red guidelines).
Click on point 3 (the righthand line segment connected to the newly created
node), then click on point 4.

Tim Wang 2014

4
3

Repeat on the right side of the wave guidelines.

2 1

4
3

Look back at the leftmost curve. Click on point 1 (the line connecting a and b),
and in the Pet Palette choose the Curve Edge option. Click anywhere (or point 2)
on the curved guideline. Click on point 3 (the line connecting c and d), make sure
the Curve Edge option is still active in the Pet Palette, then click on point 4.

1
a

Repeat on the right side.

Here the Morph will be


compressed into half the
original length. Each
section of the original grid
is now 10001000 and the
elevated points are 1000
high.

Tim Wang 2014

In the 3D Window (F3 or F5), select the Morph. Click once on any edge, face, or
node, and in the Pet Palette, choose the Box Stretch option. A 3D bounding box
will appear around the Morph. Click on point 1 (the bottom corner of the box),
then hover over point 2 (the node along the same horizontal edge). The cursor
icon should be a filled pencil, and the Distance field in the Tracker should read
2000. If so, type 3000, press Enter, then click anywhere outside the bounding box
to complete the command.

Go to the E-01 North Elevation in the Project Map. Select the Morph, and curve
the diagonal ridge using the Curve Edges option in the Pet Palette (click on point
1, hover your mouse below the line, type 1000 for the Arc Radius, press Enter).
1

Do the same for the diagonal ridge in the E-02 East Elevation.

Making the full Morph

Sheet Index
Layout ID

Layout Name

102

Ground Floor Plan

101
103

Remark

Site Plan

Ground Floor Foundations

104

Ground Floor Framing Plan

105

Ground Floor Plumbing Plan

Select the four Morphs and


107 right-click
Roof Plan in an empty space. In the menu, go to
301
Elevations
Boolean Operations and click
Union
to merge the four into one.
Go to the 3D Window (F3 or F5) and check that your Morph resembles the figure
below.
106

#Architect Comp

Tim Wang 2014

Go back to the 1. Ground Floor in the Project Map (or press F2).
Mirror a copy (Ctrl + Shift + M) of the Morph along the left edge, then select both
Morphs and mirror a copy of them (Ctrl + Shift + M) along the bottom edge.

Ground Floor Lighting/RCP

SHEET

SHEET TITLE: Sheet Index


REVISION #:

Generic Perspective

#Client Name

#Project Name

#Architect Full Address

PHONE: #Architect Phone Number


FAX: #Architect Fax

Tim Wang 2014

The Last Part: Smoothing the Ridges


In the 3D Window, select the Morph. Click on point 1, and in the Pet Palette
choose Fillet/Chamfer Corner(s).... In the dialog box, type 2000 for the Fillet
radius, then press OK. The computer may lag before anything changes, because
many new polygons are being generated on the Morph. Repeat for points 2 and 3.

Tim Wang 2014

With the Morph selected, get a more birds-eye view by orbiting in the 3D
Window.
Click on point 1, and in the Pet Palette choose the Add Polyline/Rectangle/Box/
Revolved Morph option. The Palette will show a set of drawing options. To return
to the previous set, you can choose the Go Back... option.
With the Straight Segment option selected, click on point 2 to add a Polyline to
the Morph. Click anywhere along that Polyline (point 3) and add a Polyline to
point 4 (you may have to choose the Add Polyline... option again if the Pet Palette
has refreshed itself.

2
1

Tim Wang 2014

Do the same for the other parts of the Morph.

2
4
4
2

3
3

3
3

4
4

4
4

3
3

3
3

2
4
4
2

With the Morph selected, click on point 1. In the Pet Palette choose Move Node,
then click on point 2. Use Move Node to move point 2 to point 3.

Tim Wang 2014

Do the same for the other parts of the Morph

2
2

2
2

2
2

2
2

With the Morph selected, click on point 1, and in the Pet Palette choose Fillet/
Chamfer Corner(s).... Press OK when the dialog box appears (the radius should
still be set to 2000). Do the same for point 2.

Tim Wang 2014

Select the Morph and go to its settings (Ctrl + T). Change the Edge Type to Soft.

Tim Wang 2014

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101
301
401
501
601
701
103

Done!

Whats next?
Now you can change the dimensions of the Morph by using Box Stretch in Plan or
3D view.

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You might want to experiment with how to make the final Morph smooth and
regular. This may require changing the position of nodes and ridgelines. We used
filleting and soft edges in the method above, but there are other options.
For example, when you select a Morph face (not an edge or node), theres a Bulge
option in the Pet Palette that lets you bulge a radial area up or down.

With a Morph selected, go to Design > Modify Morph and youll find some other
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