Volumetric modeling

Modeling in Arkio is inspired by working with your hands on physical models. Geometric shapes can be created, edited, picked up, and stacked on other shapes without needing conventional keyboard shortcuts or control widgets.

In Arkio, you create volumetric shapes that glide on solid surfaces and snap to the faces of other shapes. By placing a shape on another shape, you automatically create a hierarchy of shapes, much like gluing objects together on top of each other in the real world, or on physical models.

Arkio supports real-time boolean operations - you can easily create windows, doors, and any other opening by pressing a new shape inwards through the shape you started drawing on. Every primitive shape in Arkio can act as a solid or a void, and you can easily convert a solid shape to a void by pressing one of its faces into the parent geometry or convert a void into a solid by dragging one of its faces outside of the original shape. When faces are bashed together, the adjoining faces will merge, and objects are glued and parented to one another.

To make designing interior spaces easier, Arkio also features parametric hollow shapes that maintain their wall thickness even when stretched or skewed.

Working with flexible volumetric objects is different from working with traditional CAD or mesh modelling tools. It offers a non-destructive, more flexible modeling experience similar to BIM tools such as Revit or Archicad. The volumetric solid geometry created in Arkio can be exported and reused in other CAD/BIM applications.

You can add as much detail as you like in Arkio by duplicating or arraying objects with all attached geometry. When you adjust a parent shape, the child's geometry will adapt and resize accordingly, making all geometry you create in Arkio flexible from the start.

We are interested in hearing your thoughts on our modeling approach and what features you would like to see added to make Arkio more useful in your design process.