Some useful Blender Add-ons for Architecture:
Archimesh
Archpack
Building Tools
Sketch Style
Blender GIS
Blender Open Street Map
Import Open Street Map
CityBuilder 3D
Plants and Trees:
Grasswald
Real Grass
True Grass
Real Trees
Scatter
Lighting and Rendering:
E-Cycles
Gaffer
Pro Lighting Skies
Archimesh
Archpack
Building Tools
Sketch Style
Blender GIS
Blender Open Street Map
Import Open Street Map
CityBuilder 3D
Plants and Trees:
Grasswald
Real Grass
True Grass
Real Trees
Scatter
Lighting and Rendering:
E-Cycles
Gaffer
Pro Lighting Skies
A LITTLE MORE DETAIL ON SOME OF THE FREE BLENDER ADD-ONS USEFUL FOR ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION:
Archimesh - above are the default elements of Blender's Archimesh. Walls and baseboards are mesh planes with thickness modifiers (any thickness). Columns have settings for arrays, and arch centers can be adjusted. Stair settings allow rounded edges, sides filled to the floor, and stair curve shapes can be manipulated with built-in handles. The door handle options have been reduced (but you can get them from an earlier version, or use Archipack's.) There are 4 roof tile types (you can set the number of tiles too). The window parameters are fully adjustable (but I would change the glass to the VX Materials version). The cabinets show the various handle types, cabinet dimensions and number of shelves are adjustable too. Lamps have 5 basic body types, but you can easily change all of them to any desired form in the settings (very useful for creating customized vases, ceramics and pottery too). Venetian, Japanese and roller blinds are adjustable in length. Number of books, their dimensions and randomness in size and shelf design is also customizable. Like other 3D programs, any object can have any color or material surface (such as wood, concrete, metal, plastic etc..)
Archipack - Above are the default Archipack elements in the free version for Blender 2.79b (not the €49 version for 2.8; these were laid out in 2.79b and rendered in 2.8 as a test). You can get version 2.79b any time (and use it free forever!) because it's open source and available at blender.org ,and I recommend keeping a local copy of Blender Version 2.79 as you can also use it to help you bring older version assets into the new 2.8 (like direct conversions of older Sketchup models using the Sketchup Importer, and 3DS models, which are no longer supported in 2.8, etc..) In 2.8 you have to purchase Archipack in order for it to work (and since the Free version is broken in 2.8, IMO it really should NOT be included as an add-on option.) That said you can see here that the windows, doors, stairs, fences, floors, truss, and roof's have some useful attributes for quick visualizations. Of course you can create all of these things (and anything else) in Blender 2.8 yourself, but these could speed some things up a bit.
Blender comes with several built-in functions that are very useful for architectural modeling that include:
Below are some other useful add-ons from external sources that include:
- Archipack
- Archimesh
- tinyCAD Mesh Tools
- BlenderKit Online Asset Library
- Grease Pencil/Ruler Protractor - sketch notes, mark-up models, converting viewport sketches into polylines, 3D curves (including NURBS) and meshes, and measure lengths with Ruler snapping tool.
- Import Images as Planes
- Sapling Tree Generator
- Bolt Factory
- Pipe Joints
- Screencast
- LoopTools
- Cloud Generator
- Texture Paint Layer Manager
- Cycles Render Engine (ray tracing renderer)
- EEVEE Real Time Render Engine (raster renderer)
- Ivy Generator
- Layer Management
- MeasureIt
- Dynamic Sky
- Sun Position
- Sky Texture - Nishita Environment Lighting (great substitute for HDRI)
- Material Library
- Snap Utilities Line
- Auto-Mirror
- Cloud Generator (processing intensive sometimes, save for the end)
- Extra Objects
- A.N.T. Landscape
- Geodesic Domes
- Import/Export FBX format
- Import/Export OBJ Wavefront format
- Import/Export Web3D (good for online walkthroughs)
- Import/Export STL
- 3D Print Toolbox
- Mesh Tissue
- Align Tools
- Bool Tool
- Curve Tools
- Node Wrangler
- Real Snow (for those Winter renders)
- FreeStyle SVG Exporter
Below are some other useful add-ons from external sources that include:
ARCHIMESH ADD-ON
I made this small house using the FREE Archimesh add-on for Blender. All of the elements in this house, except the chimney/fireplace, are included in Archimesh. You have control of the wall thicknesses (via numeric settings that can be changed any time later after you unselected the wall), including auto-cut outs of walls for windows and doors, ceilings and floors that you can shut off, various door types and handles, various types and size-adjustable windows (to any size) countertops on cabinets (floor and wall cabinets, also adjustable to any size via settings), shelves of any size and number count and dimensions (including various kinds of legs so you can even make tables) There are various types of blinds (venetian, roll-up and Japanese, all fully sizeable, including slat sizes and length, all via just changing the numbers when you first add the object.) This add-on is truly an incredible tool that makes creating these kinds of models WAY WAY FAST!
I made this small house using the FREE Archimesh add-on for Blender. All of the elements in this house, except the chimney/fireplace, are included in Archimesh. You have control of the wall thicknesses (via numeric settings that can be changed any time later after you unselected the wall), including auto-cut outs of walls for windows and doors, ceilings and floors that you can shut off, various door types and handles, various types and size-adjustable windows (to any size) countertops on cabinets (floor and wall cabinets, also adjustable to any size via settings), shelves of any size and number count and dimensions (including various kinds of legs so you can even make tables) There are various types of blinds (venetian, roll-up and Japanese, all fully sizeable, including slat sizes and length, all via just changing the numbers when you first add the object.) This add-on is truly an incredible tool that makes creating these kinds of models WAY WAY FAST!
Sketchup importer for Blender (only works for older Blender versions and older Sketchup Models.) Convert newer Sketchup models to Collada .dae format to import them to Blender.
OTHER ARCHITECTURE RELATED ADD-ONS FOR BLENDER