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Interior Design and Architectural Rendering with Microvellum and Blender

16

This exciting custom version of Blender adds new types of interaction and easy interior design functionality.

Andrew Peel wrote:

Here are some features that i have been working on with a team of developers. I am interested to hear what the Blender Community thinks. These Tools were designed for interior designers, but the functionality can be extended to do exterior design as well.

The project sparked a bit of a debate on Twitter yesterday when Andrew's first video made no reference to Blender, and people were worried about the project. In response, Andrew posted the following video:

About the Author

Avatar image for Bart Veldhuizen
Bart Veldhuizen

I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.

16 Comments

  1. Andrew, you've had a great idea. Hopefully you already contacted Ton personally. He surely will prove a great collaborator.
    As a cabinetmaker with a small workshop and just a few employees I did enquire about Microvellum products in the past. The required initial investment did not make any sense for us compared to other solutions. We are now using Sketchup and Blender in combination. I guess that your project has its roots in the realization that this is the case for many, many other small shops. If you could just fix a couple of things in Blender itself, like its (not so) funny way to handle imperial measurements and its difficult workflow when it come to parametric objects (hooks, drivers... are ill adapted) you'll get solid allies to help you along the road.

    I already subscribed to the Fluid Designer alert and you can count on me for beta testing.

    Regards,
    JM

  2. This tool looks amazing... especially to someone who's just finished designing their kitchen / extension in Blender the hard way! But since most of the world uses metric units, this tool must have an easy way to define a library of cabinets with standard 300, 400, 500, 600, 1000 mm widths etc.

  3. This is fantastic! I am also a cabinetmaker with a small shop, and could use a program like this. This is "real-world" capability that Blender needs. Very excited. Thank you!

  4. While I'm not an interior design person, I see an awful lot of potential for this kind of tool. Personally, I'd be interested in it being made available.
    I have a couple of questions:
    1. Can Blender modelers create their own custom objects to add to the library or is there something special behind the scenes that you are using to create the "smart objects?"
    2. Can smart objects be modified by Blender after placed in a scene? For example, I may want to change the knobs on the cabinets and add custom hinges.
    3. Can smart objects in the library be modified by Blender? For example, I may want to duplicate a smart object and then modify it to fit a particular design theme like if I were creating the interior of a log cabin or a modern apartment.
    4. Can other types of objects other than cabinets and appliances be added to the library? For example I might want to create a sophisticated pool and patio scene.
    I have a number of other questions, but the answer to these will likely give me insights to others that I have.

  5. This is great, it will atract new profesional drawers, with new a perspective to blender.
    I still remember the time that some enthousiast out of the architect field, wroter their own drawing program on a comodore64, this group has a need to draw professional. Some of them might in the future extend blender also.
    I remember that part of my autocad course was programing in it.
    New user groups add needs for new functionalities, the library looks great !
    I could use that, i hope its in 2.7 not 2.8 :)

    I hope for some tools to do exact drawings too, and measurements; it would be great for those architects but also for the reprap people.

  6. I would love to see such tools a natural progression for blender as add-on modules. Whether my fields of Mechanical Engineering and CS or Architecture to Gaming worlds, these tools would be great additions.

  7. Utterly awesome.
    Can't wait to see the source code (and of course use this great app), there's some neat tricks in there!

  8. Great programme! I also want to try beta version. Can you tell me if there is an opportunity to make any light scenes with locating chandeliers on the ceiling?

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