School of Architecture - Modelo

1. In your preferred web browser go to: https://modelo.io
2. In the upper right hand corner of the home page, click the “Sign Up Free” box
   
   
   
   

3. Follow and fill out the on screen information and you will be brought to your home/projects page upon successful account creation.

   

   
   

1. Storage on the free plan is limited, so you are able to check your usage by going to your projects/home page, and in the upper right-hand corner, click on your name circular logo.
   
   
   
   
2. A menu will appear, click “Plan” to view your storage limit and current usage. Delete old or unused uploads to allow for more uploads.
   
   

1. You will need to download and install the Modelo Revit Exporter Plugin. It is located if you click on your circular profile icon and click on “Revit Exporter” in the menu. The exporter will start downloading immediately.
   
   
   
   
2. When the option appears in the install wizard choose “installation for single user”.
   
   
3. Open the file in revit you wish to export. Go to the Modelo tab on the top ribbon.
   
   
   
   * Modelo currently supports uploads from Revit 2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019.
   
   
4. Click “BIM/DAM” to upload. Before selecting upload on Revit, you will need an upload token from Modelo.
   
   
5. To obtain an upload token go to your Modelo project page and in the folder or sub folder you want the Revit model in, click “upload”. Copy that upload token.
   
   
   
   
6. Paste the upload token into the “upload token”box in Revit.
   
   
   
   
7. You can select the polygon count, a lower polygon count will equate to a lower file size but lower quality, so choose a polygon count that is appropriate for the file size and desired model detail.
   
   * if the file size is too large, or the file is sluggish in Modelo, lower the polygon count before uploading.
   
   
8. Select the views you want to export and click ”upload” on the bottom right of the dialogue box.
   
   

1. In Rhino, when saving the 3dm file, go file > save… > save the file and make sure the “save textures” option is checked.
   
   
2. Copy all the textures to exactly where the model was saved in the previous step, the .3dm model and texture images (supported file types are .jpeg, .png, and .tiff) all in the same folder.
   
   
3. Zip everything together into a .zip folder.
   
   
4. Upload that .zip folder.
   
   *Modelo does not currently support 3rd party rhino textures such as V-Ray

1. From your home/projects page, click on the “Create Project” box in the upper left hand corner to create a new project.
   
   
   
   
2. Projects are essentially the organizational folders that hold sub folders and model uploads.
   
   
3. Within a project click the “New Folder” box to create a sub folder within that project to organize your 3d model uploads.
   
   
   
   
4. To upload a model, within the project, or within a subfolder click the “Upload Model” box.
   
   *Before uploading the model from Rhino, Autocad, etc. ensure your model is located at the origin (0,0).
   
   
5. Drag and drop your file into the upload box.
   
   *Upload times are determined by internet speed and file size.
   
   
6. Once the model is uploaded, to view click on the “3D” icon when hovering over the uploaded models thumbnail.
   
   * If a model is slow and lagging consider purging layers and condensing layers, Modelo renders by layer, so the fewer layers for Modelo to process, the better. Additionally, try checking the option box when uploading a model “Reduce texture file size for faster rendering”.
   
   
   

1. You can generate a walkthrough of a model to orchestrate views and highlight moments of your model for a viewer to see.
   
   *free accounts are limited to creating one walkthrough per model.
   
   
2. To generate a walkthrough click the walkthrough icon on the bottom options bar.
   
   
   
   
3. Click the “+” icon in the upper left hand corner to create a new walkthrough.
   
   
4. You can add waypoints and subtract waypoints, and control their elevations to determine your views. You can drag around the points and view the path of the animation on the left hand side of the screen, a plan is generated based on the elevation your points are at and will automatically adjust when you move those points in elevation.
   
   
   
   
5. When you are done, hit the play button to toggle the animation. You can also adjust the speed. You can hide the walkthrough by clicking the “X” icon on the walkthrough panel on the left hand side of the screen, this will not delete the walkthrough.
   
   
   
   
6. For a step by step guide to this process here is a link to a YouTube video.

1. Comments can be used to highlight areas of focus and to communicate ideas to the recipient.
   
   
2. Comments can be made in association with a particular view, for example, a comment about a new massing site strategy could be best used with a perspective view of the scene from Modelo.
   
   * You can only have three saved comments in the free version of the software.
   
   
   
   
   
3. You can accompany a comment with a walkthrough as well, just click the “add walkthrough” button.
   
   
4. For a more advanced view setup, and step by step guide to this process here is a link to a YouTube video.

1. The settings menu allows you to manipulate layers, change the sun location, render type, and add filters.
   
   
2. To get to the model settings on the bottom options bar, click the settings icon.
   
   
   
   
3. In the pop up settings menu you can adjust your layers by clicking the circle adjacent to the layer name to turn layers on or off. In the “effects” tab you can also adjust the rendering mode (either basic or advanced based on the performance of the model), add a filter, and also change the sun location by manually entering the projects location.
   
   

There are several ways to delete a project, on the home/projects page, there should be an ellipsis icon over the right hand side of the image of the project you want to delete, mouse over the photo of the project, click the ellipsis, and chose “Delete”.

*Deleting a project is permanent, you will lose all comments and mark-ups on the model.

1. The tools icon on the lower option bar allows you to take a section through, measure, zoom and pan, as well as enter full screen mode.
   
   
   
   
   
2. For a guide to the process of creating sections using tools, here is a link to a YouTube video.

• To rotate around the scene: click and drag the left mouse button.

• To pan: click and drag the right mouse button.

• To zoom: scroll in and out.

• To establish the point of rotation, double click on any part of the model, then the center of your scene will be located around that point.

• To share a model with a viewer, on the bottom option bar, click on the share icon.
  
  

• When the options come up after clicking the “Share” icon, input the email for users you are sending a link to view the model to, and you can toggle if they are allowed to see comments on the model, and also what the viewer first sees upon entering the model. If you did a walkthrough, ensure “Show Walkthroughs” is turned on. Select the desired options through the drop down menus. Then click “send” to send them an email link.
  
  * The link to view the model only lasts one day for the free version of the software.