Retail Architecture in FC the brute force way

[JWorks]

Hello again fellows,

After the successful lubricant bottle designs (can be seen here) that have finally gone into production, I wanted to do an entire gas station in FC.
Lucky me, an oil company walked in with just such a requirement. Design and engineer a new fueling canopy, supporting buildings and gas station forecourt facilities. Simulate day and night views from customer point of view. Generate production drawings. Get it all prototyped.

With my 'safe options' safely tucked away, I went for modeling in FC and then porting the result to C4D for PBR renders using DAE exports.
I am STILL new to FC as there simply hasn't been enough time to learn all the fancy stuff like linking to external files, the Arch and BIM workbenches, Assemblies and Python automation that I KNOW will improve my work. I'll eventually get there.

We ended up hitting it out of the park with tons of steel and CO2 savings using 4 workbenches and the FCinfo plugin.
These were the Sketcher, Part, Part Design and Tech Draw. I even mixed up Part with PD at times. The models and drawings are hyper-precise in the sub-millimeter scale for a facility spanning 27,000 sqft. Also ran FEAs on complex steel structures internally with good results.

FILE HANDLING IS WONDERFUL!
No display lag issues, no process delays, opens in a bit over a minute, saves in 30 seconds.
Some compute times are long enough to grab a coffee but only if I edit very deep which there is mostly no need of anyway.

I'll be sharing a mixed bag of FC outputs and final outputs in C4D followed in a couple of months by pictures of the real thing.

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Mural Wall using hexagonal ACP and glass tiles in FC

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The same wall rendered as it will look in real life.

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The whole retail building. PBR renders in C4D

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And the building as finalized for construction. Murals moved to 1st floor. This is from FC.


I'll share much more including who it is for once it goes public and release sensitivity is removed. Soon.


Cheers!

[Freakcad_User]

Wow! Nice work!

[ThanklessLiving]

I wanted to do an entire gas station in FC.

"Tell me you're insane, without telling me you're insane ..."

But to be honest, it's a next level effort in terms of design/engineering compared to 3D printing something in your bedroom and one of the best things you could do to promote Free and Open Source Software in CAD, because there is nothing better than real world proof to say that this is something that's not just a CAD program made for FOSS principle.

[paullee]

... I am STILL new to FC as there simply hasn't been enough time to learn all the fancy stuff like linking to external files, the Arch and BIM workbenches, Assemblies and Python automation that I KNOW will improve my work. I'll eventually get there.

Looks great ! And not using Arch/BIM WB to build this model ? Can post your file, put it on something like github etc. ?


Maybe you would like to cross-post at different (sub-)forum, e.g.

1. Draft, Arch & BIM
2. OSArch - FreeCAD/Architecture 3D models created in FreeCAD

@bitacovir may be interested.

[JWorks]

"Tell me you're insane, without telling me you're insane ..."

Indeed! As insane as they come.
But on a more serious note, I totally agree with the rest of your post. It is a powerhouse of very fine tools and so far I've come out successful with everything I've tried on it and I've parked a bunch of long used tools to do that.

Looks great ! And not using Arch/BIM WB to build this model ? Can post your file, put it on something like github etc. ?

Thanks Paullee. This is a commercially sensitive project for a very large corporate. I'll be sharing lots of stuff as soon as it is legally sensible.


In the mean time, here is the modern open ceiling fueling canopy design that goes with the building I showed. It's all hexagons at sub-millimeter precision connected with bolts and meant for actual production at fleet scale which is a tall order that no juvenile tool can handle.

20x50 Test Canopy

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Detail

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[thschrader]

...
This is a commercially sensitive project for a very large corporate.

Doesnt matter. I like to see new architectures in FC.
That reminds me that FEM/CFD is for calculating,
not designing the world.
But the design comes first.

[paullee]

In the mean time, here is the modern open ceiling fueling canopy design that goes with the building I showed. It's all hexagons at sub-millimeter precision connected with bolts and meant for actual production at fleet scale which is a tall order that no juvenile tool can handle.

Wow! This is sensational!

Lots of people would be interested in your workflow if you can share some of your experience.

[mhalil]

Congratulations.
It's obviously professional work.