BIG (Blender, Inkscape, Gimp)
topModelling Seminaarinmäki buildings with Inkscape and Blender
by Saana Tammisto & Ari HäyrinenMy SVG-importer available here:
http://www.opendimension.org/blender3d_en/svg_import.php
We use Inkscape (www.inkscape.org) and Blender (blender.org) for modelling our targets. The process is following: Floor plans and cross-sections are scanned and the floor plans are re-drawn in Inkscape. The plain SVG file is then imported to Blender and the rest is modelled in Blender. The scanned cross-sections are used as reference images inside Blender.
See the previous tutorial: How to draw the floor plan in Inkscape?
topImporting the Plain SVG file to Blender
Start Blender
Select File -> Import -> Paths
Select InkScape (.svg)
Select Scale on Height
Select Old proofed method, import using Blender OBJ format
In Edit Mode select all vertices (A) and change control points to vector (V) and then convert to poly (Curve tools, Convert, Poly)
In Object Mode convert curve to Mesh (Alt + C)
In Edit Mode select all vertices (A) and remove doubles (W -> Remove Doubles).
After removing doubles select Mesh -> Faces -> Convert Triangles to Quads or Alt + J.
From Mesh tools you will find Edge Length button. This helps you to
scale the floor plan. To find out the scale factor, you have to
divide the exact dimensions of the building by edge length seen in the
screen. In this case: 4.26 / 0.349 = 12.2063.
In Edit Mode select S (Scale) and insert the scale factor 12.2063 and press Enter.
You can now check that the new edge length adds up. :) YES!
The next step is to load scanned cross-section and facade as background images to front and side views.
NB: The background image can only be seen in orthogonal views (meaning Front, Side and Top Views)
Select View -> Background Image...
From the dialog box select Use Background Image and press the tiny Browse button to choose and open picture.
After opening the picture you should adjust the image size and position with Image Size and Offset buttons.
Select background image to all your orthogonal views and adjust them.
And now it's time to model!!
Don' forget to Save your model! Ctrl+W!