Architectural modeling for games.

jRocket

I have been modeling with 3ds Max, Maya, and now Blender for many years. I have made character, props, and environments- but I have found the process of making buildings particularly slow, especially if I manually going in the model and cutting out features like doors and windows, and adding things like crown molding.

Ideally, I would like to have workflow where I can quickly design a floor plan from the top view, and drag out premade windows and doors that properly boolean into the walls(nondestructively)- all while keeping good UVs.

Are there any scripts/plugins for this? Is CAD software any good for this? I imaging this is something Houdini could do, albeit with a lot of work to get it set up?

Eric Chadwick

I used to do 3d floor plans as freelance work, and developed a fast workflow that allowed frequent edits as requested by the client.

My process was in 3ds Max, using architect plan on a plane, drawing splines for the wall layout, then using Extrude, Shell,  Sweep modifiers. Crown molding is great with Sweep, including automatic UVs. ProBooleans for windows and doors. Layers for organizing hiding/unhiding different floors.

It all depends though, how the architecture needs to be used. If modular, very different workflow.

oraeles77

learning cad software for this would be total overkill. CAD's main thing is helping architects test physical stuff like weight of the ceiling etc.

Prime8

Blender comes with the 2 plugins Archimesh and Archipack, you might wanna have a look at them.
I never used them myself though.
Exports from CAD software are usually so messy that wish you would have modeled the whole thing in your DCC right from the start.