Archimatix has been selected as a Finalist in the Tools category for the Unity Awards! 
You can help push AX over the finish line: cast your votes here!
You can help push AX over the finish line: cast your votes here!
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oh sorry I meant breakable!
Hi @Artomiano - excellent question! The answer is: you need both Archimatix and ProBuilder!
The two modelers are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to modeling philosophy, but they can work in tandem. Archimatix is a parametric modeler while ProBuilder is a polygonal modeler. With parametrics, you can build very complex models and environments non-destructively and stamp out dozens of variations of a theme. For example, one parametric Viking hut model can let you quickly stamp out a whole village, adjusting parametric handles to changes sizes, rafter counts, etc. so that each hut looks like it was made by the same craftsman, but not two huts are alike. When you make a building longer, the model adds more columns automatically. The downside of parametric modeling is that you canāt grab a single vertex or polygon and displace it manually. Everything is āgeneratedā by the logic of the model and its parameter values. With ProBuilder, you create everything manually by selecting, duplicating and transforming polygons. If you are making a single, idiosyncratic building or cave, this would be the way to go. But if you need to make that Viking village, it would take longer to model each one manually. Also, ProBuilder is destructive in that you canāt go back and change the basic plan of the building and have changes ripple through it. With ProBuilder, each move is a kind of permanent commitment, while with Archimatix, you can continually edit any parameter in the node graph, changing any move you made at any step in the process.
The good news is that, after playing with an Archimatix model parametrically, you can āStampā it out as a standard Unity GameObject hierarchy and then āProBuilderizeā it to start editing the model in ProBuilder at the polygonal level. This workflow is directional, since once you stamp a model, the stamped version is not parametric.
Here is some examples of parametrics at work. While you could model any of these in Probuilder, it would take longer and you would not be a blessing to drag the handles to change the entire model:
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Not yet, but this will be in the next version!
Hi roryo,
thanks for your explanation. I think I got it. 
Itās an interesting type of workflow, to create a model, then a bunch of variation for populating a whole scene/village and after that, individualize some special models for foreground usage in a scene. Hmā¦ really interesting. I hoped long time before for a solution that make a separate 3d software unnecessary. Maybeā¦ in some casesā¦ I finished my search.
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Hey, I just wanted to touch on one thing rory left out when talking about pro-builder and Archimatix. He covered that you can do Archimatix->Pro Builder, and while it may be obvious, just in case, the inverse is true as well. You can use a model you made in Pro Builder an use it in an AX graph. Sometimes it easier to model something in Pro Builder then create a graph for it, in those instance you can make the item in Pro Builder, then open up a graph an use the Prefab Instancer to pull the item in.
The two tools do a good job of complementing each other and completing a solid modeling workflow. One thing I want to look at in the near future is some integration for AX and Pro Builder as with Pro Builder installed some possibilities open up for some new interesting nodes to be created (For instance if Iām not mistaken you can select an edge loop in ProBuilder, or select a set of Edges. It would be nice to be able to āexportā these Edge selections to Archimatix as a new shape.
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Archimatix is so damn cool and addicting! Congratulations!!!
Is it somehow possible to import curves from other applications(f.e *.eps, *.ai, *.dwg)?
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My Pro Logic Nodes package includes an SVG path importer.
Hey guys,
I came across Archimatix and see that its currently on sale but still quite costly at around $70. My question really is about if i could make use of it or not?
So far all the demos, videos, screenshots ive seen have been specifically themed around Historic, Ancient, Sci-Fi. The issue that i have is my game is mostly in Modern-Current times, either city based or forest based levels i guess with some modern structures.
So what im asking is, can i build modern structures with Archimatix such as a House with windows and a door? or is it not that sort of tool?
Also can i use Archimatix to edit existing models? For example, say if i have a house already, can i use Archimatix to enlarge that house and create extra rooms inside it without actually breaking the exterior of the model?
Thanks for your help.
Hey Everyone,
So one of the things that has not been talked about much is interacting between models. Ever wish you could control one AXModel in the scene from within another AXModelās Graph? Now you can!
AXInstanceController Node
The AXInstanceController node allows you to target another AXModel in the scene, and adds that models exposed parameters as inputs. This allows you to have the parameters from one graph drive the exposed parameters of another graph. Currently bool, ints and floats, but im looking in to expanding it to allow to do more like materials and such.
I know Iām horrible at explaining what my cool nodes do, but this open up a lot of possibilities.
- You can have one graph control an entire scene of ax models.
- You can design larger models in smaller parts that are driven by the main model.
- You could target an AXModel in the scene with an AXInstanceController, and then use the PrefabInstancer to repeat it around the scene. You can now dynamically instantiate multiple copies of the original prefab, and use the AXInstanceController to update them all.
Keep in mind this is a Controller. It does not read the properties values out of an AxModel (except when you first target the model). If you wanted a graph to be aware of variables from another graph you could add an AXInstance controller to that other graph, and have it target variables back in the original graph (did that make sense)?
In the screen shot below. There are two models. AXModel1, AXModel2.
They both have a rectangle shape, with a polygon extrusion. On is used as a floor (AXModel1), one is use as a wall(AXModel2). In this example the Width parameter of the rectangle shape in AXModel2 has been exposed and an AXInstanceController has been added to AXModel1 that targets AXModel2 and I have hooked the width of the Rectangle in AXModel1 to the Rectangle_width parameter of the AXInstanceController node.
Now when i change the width of the rectangle in AXModel1, the Width of the rectangle in AXModel2 is changed as well.
Hey @KillerNads
Yes you can make modern houses with Archimatix. However, it does take some time to learn all the tools, and creative thinking in how to put them together to achieve what you want.
If you just wanted to make a house, it would be faster to do it in another modeling program. If you wanted to make a dynamic parametric house, then AX is what you want to use.
Hi @KillerNads - There was some discussion on the topic of AX modeling a modern suburban house a ways back in the thread. I have specāed out a set of nodes that will generate rooms based on centerline splines and door and window objects to connect rooms. This is still a bit in the future, so for now ProBuilder might be best.
In the meantime, you can model something like this relatively easily (once you are comfortable with AX modeling):
AX shines when there is a certain logic at work:
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Hello, Iām just playing around with this amazing plugin and was looking into deforming some prefabs. However, the prefabs I quickly threw together have very low poly count not showing the full potential of the deformers. Is there some sort of subdivision node?
Also, I was wondering if anyone tried using this plugin on shapes created in Realtime CSG for example ( [RELEASED] Realtime CSG - level design for Unity )?
Iām trying to combine the power of the two but currently my workflow isnāt exactly non-destructive. Iām exporting the CSG model as an fbx, making a prefab out of it and importing that into Archimatix. A setup to dream of would be if I could take in realtime csg models directly, allowing me to modify the original model as Archimatix reflects those changes.
@roryo While I do realize that this is a bit far off, I spotted a CSG node (beta) on one of your screenshots a couple of pages back. Could there possibly arise some bridge between the two?
Hi @2dgame - I am in contact with the developer of Realtime CSG. It would be interesting to try to establish a workflow! A big help would be a subdivision node. Currently, subdivision happens at the Shape level in the generative flow of Archimatix. When you are generating everything, it is easy to have optimal subdivision logic. Subdividing an arbitrary mesh is a bit more computationally intensive (as general cases always are!). But it should not be too difficult, and certainly easier than polygon reduction of an arbitrary mesh.
Yes, there has been some work on a CSG node, but it has a bit of a ways to go. Realtime CSG has a constraint that helps it optimize - all the source forms must be convex. So a wall with a hole in it is actually a collection of blocks. I am hoping the CSG node will be arbitrary, but we shall see if this is possible.
In the meantime, although it takes a bit of getting used to, 2D booleans are both optimal in terms of computational resources (especially on mobile) and you can do things that are not possible with 3D booleans. For example, in this villa, there is a boolean that resolves into all sorts of architectural details. CSG would not be able to do this. Note in particular, the merging of the cylindrical form in the this model as it slides across the plan (in realtime) with windows, corner columns and parapets resolving, etc.:
With CSG it would be very computationally intensive to cut these window openings in this curved surface, but to do it as a 2D boolean with deformation, the wall shape and the openings can be manipulated in realtime.
This would also be very expensive CSG:
Once you get into the power of 2D shape merging and mesh generation, you may never go back to CSG! LOL
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Archimatix has been selected as a Finalist in the Tools category for the Unity Awards!
You can help push AX over the finish line: cast your votes here!
7 Likes
If you are wondering what fun things you can do with an AX model, you can shoot it upā¦
Weāre going to need a bigger cannon!
Or even blow it up!
You can choose whether to combine the the meshes of an AX model, or keep them separate and add Rigidbodies.
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voted for Archimatix
voted. easy choice 
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funny, I was just asking if there would be another sale a few weeks agoā¦ the gods answered buying today
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Okay thank you, still confused with it though, and dont actually know if it would come in use for me and my game 
It seems great for creating background environment objects and buildings, but im not so sure if it can be used to create a exterior plus an interior modern structure. Secondly, can it be used on existing modelled objects? For example, if i was to buy a house model from asset store, can i use this to expend the house up giving more space in the rooms, for instance. Or even perhaps duplicating the house to double its size and have twice as many rooms, even if it is a mirror image of the existing house?
Thanks