FAQs

VisualARQ is a plug-in designed for a sector of the architectural market. It allows you to work within Rhino’s interface, providing specific tools to create/edit architectural plans, and to work with parametric 3D Objects -such as walls, doors, windows, columns, slabs, roofs, stairs and railings- making the architectural design process and its documentation much easier to handle.

• Complex architectural projects modeling in 3D and 2D in an easy and fast way.
• A full library of 3D paremetric architectural objects, customizable and editable anytime.
• Easy editing and automatic update of all the 2D document drawings, which are attached to the 3D model.
• Import and export of IFC 2×3 files, in order to exchange 3D models between Rhino and other BIM plaftorms such as Revit, ArchiCAD, Solibri or Tekla Bimsight.
• The dynamic section tool, which allows to work with real-time section views.
• An affordable price. VisualARQ plus Rhino makes a very affordable and competitive 2D/3D architectural package solution compared to related products in the market.
• Free technical support and constant development based on the users’ needs and requests.

VisualARQ is aimed at architects, interior designers, engineers, constructors, urban planners, renderers, and architecture professionals. It is even useful for product designers in the marine design industry. In general, it can be a very useful tool for any Rhino user interested in architectural modeling or wishing to obtain technical drawings from their designs in a fast way.

Useful features regarding professional profiles.

• Architects

  There is a wide range of architectural projects and usages where VisualARQ can be useful:

  • Work with 3D parametric architectural objects.
  • Navigation tools: Level and Section manager panels.
  • Shop drawings tools.
  • Other documentation tools (spaces, custom parameters, Quantity take-offs, opening elevations, tags..)
  • IFC import and export features.
  • Support to any material or render engine that works with Rhino.
  • Automate design workflow with Grasshopper components.
  • Create custom objects driven by Grasshopper with VisualARQ Grasshopper styles.
• Interior designers: VisualARQ helps to prepare the architectural environment to work on interior design, and produce the documentation of it.
  • Shop drawings tools.
  • Work with 3D parametric architectural objects.
  • Automate design workflow with Grasshopper components.
  • Create custom objects driven by Grasshopper with VisualARQ Grasshopper styles, (including Furniture and custom Element objects).
  • Quantity take-offs.
• Engineers, + constructors: VisualARQ is used to open an IFC file, add data on it in Rhino, edit and model some stuff and export it back to IFC:
  • Work with 3D parametric architectural objects.
  • Shop drawings tools.
  • Add custom data to geometry.
  • Quantity take-offs.
  • Automate design workflow with Grasshopper components.
  • IFC import and export features, IFC Tag, and export custom parameters as IFC Properties.
• HBIM – Scan to BIM professionals (Example): People that work in historical BIM projects. They bring a scanned building as a point cloud into Rhino, and use VisualARQ to produce a BIM model out of it:
  • Work with 3D parametric architectural objects.
  • Navigation tools: Level and Section manager panels.
  • Shop drawings tools.
  • Other documentation tools (spaces, custom parameters, Quantity take-offs, opening elevations, tags..)
  • Automate design workflow with Grasshopper components.
  • IFC import and export features, IFC Tag, and export custom parameters as IFC Properties.
• Product designers (Example): Even a small product design can get advantage of VisualARQ features to document it:
  • Shop drawings tools.
  • Quantity take-offs.
  • Create custom objects driven by Grasshopper with VisualARQ Grasshopper styles.
• Urban planners: Many of the VisualARQ features that are useful for architectural projects, can be applied to urban scale projects:
  • Work with 3D parametric architectural objects.
  • Shop drawings tools.
  • IFC import and export features, IFC Tag, and export custom parameters as IFC Properties.
• Visualization specialists: VisualARQ supports the same render engines than Rhino, so after modeling the project in 3D, you can show it in section, assign materials and shot nice render views.
  • Work with 3D parametric architectural objects.
  • Navigation tools: Level and Section manager panels.
  • Support to any material or render engine that works with Rhino.
• Marine / Ship designers The architecture is always present in the marine design industry. From small boats to big ships.
  • Work with 3D parametric architectural objects that can be created from 3D curves (beams, railings). (Watch this video).
  • Navigation tools: Level and Section manager panels.(Watch this video).
  • Shop drawings tools.
  • Create custom objects driven by Grasshopper with VisualARQ Grasshopper styles (Watch this video).
  • Quantity take-offs.

Yes. VisualARQ has a set of parametric architectural objects and tools, that make design and documentation processes easier and faster. All project documentation (plans, sections, elevations, schedule tables for room areas, openings quantifications, etc) is attached to the 3D model and is updated automatically at any change on the 3D model. In addition, VisualARQ provides the option to import & Export IFC files, which is the the standard file format of exchanging objects in the building industry.

We certainly are very interested in developing a VisualARQ version for Rhino for Mac, but we won’t be able to work on it until Rhino for Mac supports third party plug-ins written in C++, as VisualARQ was developed using that language. Once Rhino for Mac supports those kind of third party plug-ins, our development team will be able to determine how much work/time we need for adapting VisualARQ to Rhino for Mac. More information about Rhino for MAC: https://www.rhino3d.com/mac

Click here to learn more about VisualARQ licenses modes.

Yes, it is. After the 90-day trial you can still use VisualARQ, but some features are disabled:

• VisualARQ objects and styles are no longer saved.
• Copy, paste and explode commands for VisualARQ objects are disabled.
• Style import/export commands are disabled.
• IFC import and export are disabled.

Click here to learn what is a VisualARQ LAB license.

Yes, it does. VisualARQ supports floating licenses using Cloud Zoo, or the Rhino Zoo, both free services of McNeel. Learn more about License modes here.

You can install VisualARQ in different machines. But a single VisualARQ license can only run in one machine simultaneously.

Yes, there is a command to create automatic walls and openings dimensions from the 3D model. In addition, Rhino provides a set of drafting tools for the rest of the 3D model dimensioning and documentation.

VisualARQ provides a material manager which supports materials of all render engines that are supported by Rhino (Rhino render, V-Ray, Flamingo nXt, Maxwell, etc…). This tip gives more information of how to assign materials to VisualARQ objects.

VisualARQ includes a built-in IFC import and export plug-in, which makes it possible to exchange IFC 2×3 files between Rhino and Revit (as well as with other AEC software packages).

VisualARQ adds the ifc Tag feature that lets you assign any IFC category to any Rhino object (ifcWall, ifcBeam, etc…), that will be recognized as generic objects in Revit with data. (Check it out how it works in this video). After exporting a Rhino model through IFC, all VisualARQ objects are recognized in Revit as native architectural objects or generic objects, depending on the object type and how they have been created in Rhino. Check this guide to learn how each object is recognized in Revit through IFC. In addition to the ifc Tag, VisualARQ adds the option to create new custom parameters, and feed the geometry with information. This data can be assigned to geometry through the VisualARQ Grasshopper components. These new parameters are exported to IFC as ifc Properties, that Revit can read.

VisualARQ integrates with Grasshopper in two different ways:

• VisualARQ Grasshopper Components: they are the VisualARQ objects and commands available from Grasshopper. They let you automate workflows in Grasshopper using VisualARQ objects and commands. You can also add data and obtain data to geometry and connect VisualARQ with other add-ons for Grasshopper, for multiple purposes within the Grassshopper environment.
• Grasshopper styles: they are VisualARQ objects created from Grasshopper definitions. You define the custom parametric object in Grasshopper and turn it into a VisualARQ object style. Once the new object style is created you can work with it and change its parameters in Rhino as any other VisualARQ object. At this point no Grasshopper knowledge is required, although Grasshopper is running in the background. You can find and download some examples in food4Rhino.

Is it easy to learn? If you are familiar with Grasshopper, you will find it very easy to work with the VisualARQ Grasshopper components or create new custom objects from Grasshopper definitions. If you are not, there are useful material to learn from scratch how to use VisualARQ with Grasshopper:

• Exercises for learning how to use the VisualARQ Grasshopper Components.
• Tutorials for creating custom VisualARQ Grasshopper styles.