Two Morph Videos that aren’t flashy, but that’s the whole point

The Morph Tool Allows pleasant Surprises

There are a lot of great examples of what the Morph Tool in ArchiCAD 16 can do. If you want to see some crazy shapes and amazing forms, the videos in this post will disappoint you. If you want to start thinking about how to integrate the Morph Tool into your design process, then keep reading and watching. The first video shows a quick example of how to use the Morph Tool to test design options. Turning a slab into a Morph, I finally get to explore in the computer in real time. Just like a quick sketch or physical model, I can efficiently investigate all the possibly silly and potentially dead-end options that were just too cumbersome to model before the Morph Tool. And with luck, find that one stellar solution that would have been otherwise ignored if the act of making became to conscious. In fact the solution I end up with in this post was something I hadn’t thought about before. Listen closely and you can hear the pleasant surprise in my voice. If this project (which was done for LABhaus) wasn’t already out of my hands, I would be suggesting a refined version of what I stumbled upon while playing and sharing.

My Stairs are about to be more accurate in 3D

If you haven’t watched my video on how I handle stairs, you might want to read this blog post first. Of course, like every ArchiCAD user I look forward to the day when we have an improved stair tool. But… since that day is some unspecified time in the future, I continue to look for improvements to my process. The Morph tool provides a few solutions. This video talks about how to use the Morph tool to make the 3D geometry closer to perfection and the floor plan symbol usable.

Okay, so after I recorded the video realized I forgot to talk about the repercussions of this technique and why you don’t want to over-zealously use it. If you turn an object into a Morph, all the internal structures are lost. So if you have a very complex complex profile, all that internal beauty is lost when you Morph It!** There are of course solutions to this drawback. You could add 2D back to the section, but that seems like a poor trade-off.  You could split your stair into multiple objects/morphs: one morph for the finish surface, one complex profile for the internal structure of each run. That should work well. And for very complicated stairs I’m already using multiple elements for similar reasons. With this solution the entire finish surface (top and bottom) could be one Morph. Less elements. I like that. Another solution would be to model more discrete elements: every stringer instead of a generic stringer mass… I think that’d show up better in section. Lots of trade-offs and solutions. And I’m sure there’s a better option out there. Just need to keep researching, working, evolving, and discovering. And that’s the whole point of this blog.

I haven’t Won Yet…

Fortunately that’s not the point. There’s always a better solution around the corner. And that’s okay. These videos are about giving you options, opening up new possibilities, letting you finish my thoughts, getting you excited to explore…

How are you using the Morph tool to make you a better architect and designer?

**I need to start using Morph It! as a catchphrase… want to fix that stair? Morph It! Need to test a design option? Create a funny shape? Model your cat? Morph It!