Rhino: Begin Room Layout

(You can click any of the images below to enlarge)

We begin this project by placing our floor.  If your room is rectangular (as the example shows) it is pretty easy to plot it out.  I started my room in coordinate 0,0, entered 144" (12 ft.) for the length and 120" (10 ft.) for the width -- and then specified 3" for the floor thickness.

Next I began adding walls by specifying the length, height (I did 96" for 8 foot ceilings), and the wall thickness (I did 3" -- but remember to add to your room length when adding walls)

Next I added the remaining walls.  After you get two connected walls you can simply copy and paste to make new walls.

I remove one wall so I can see into the room easier -- similar to a dollhouse view.  I also add a doorway and window opening by doing a boolean difference.

Next I began adding some details.  In this case, a mattress and box springs (two boxes with filleted edges), and feet for the bed.

I continue adding details by adding "lofted" curtains (2 curves lofted together), a pillow, and a rug in front of the door.  I am also in the process of adding a poster to the wall -- in this case just a box (.25 inches thick) with a texture I will apply next.

I add textures, lights, gloss, transparency, etc for my nearly finished scene.

Reminder: Measure Your Room (Due Tomorrow)

Tomorrow we will begin building our room with the measurements you have taken at home.

Make notes about where your doors and windows are, where furniture is placed, etc.

Try to measure everything in inches -- for example, if the room was 10 feet long it would be 120 inches.  If a door was 7 feet tall it would be 84 inches.

Homework: Measuring

ASSIGNMENT #1: MEASURING A ROOM -- I will be handing out a sheet that you can use to measure a room -- it can be a room in your house (bedrooms usually work well) or a room at the school or a room at a local business.  You will be measuring the dimensions of the room (length, width, and height) and the locations for major architectural features (windows, doors, closets, etc.) as well as making notes about what materials are used (e.g. blue carpet, red paint, flower wallpaper, etc.).  We will be using these dimensions and material ideas to build the room in 3D with Rhino.  Feel free to make notes on the back of the paper (materials, colors, etc.).

ASSIGNMENT #2: MEASURING AN ITEM -- Locate an object or two that you are willing to create in Rhino.  Accurately measure and sketch the dimensions of your object.  For example, if it was a desk, you might have a sketch like this:

If you wanted to do a toaster redesign, it might look something like this (with the inches to be figured out later):

It might be useful to built items that can go into the room plans you are making.  For example, if you're doing a bedroom you might want to try an alarm clock or a desk or a nightstand.