Exploring 3D Modelling of Architectural Plan using Camera Tracing

Abstract

With the advent of technology, architecture has also benefitted by applying tools and equipment instead of conventional manual works. Computational technology has come to the aid of the design process. There is a shift from hand drawing to computer-aided design. Drawing had become more of a tool to explore design ideas and express proposed solutions. The coordination between hand and mind will remain superior until those tools progress. The physical human conditional gesture continues with reliability and is still relevant in idea generation and presentations. But in recent years, technology has driven architectural computing into a new exploratory domain. This research aims on building a procedural 3D model using a pixel-based tracing of the sketch of an architectural plan. The proposed method blurs the line between hand sketching and CAD, thus providing a quicker solution in visualizing the design. The point generated by vectorizing the bitmap data is used to achieve the desired curve. It is all done in a fully parametric model where the user has control over the properties for modeling. Finally, we validate our result with a study in which we compare the conventional modeling tools and establish a system to build the 3D model from an architectural plan. This study helps in believing that CAD and hand drawing could perfectly coexist and finding the right balance in architectural design.