I am trying to do the doors in the Villa Savoye tutorial. I could really use a proper manual. Is there one hiding somewhere?
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Hi @stefank2 , are you following the tutorial on the VisualARQ website? Video tutorial - VisualARQ
You can find the chapter where you insert doors here: 2.6 Doors - VisualARQ
Remember that in order to see the full library of object styles, you need to have started the document using a VisualARQ template, or have imported the library from a .val file (I can't see VisualARQ object styles libraries. Why? How can I load them? - VisualARQ)
Please let me know if you get stuck at any point or have any questions.
Hi Francesc,
Yes I am following the videos.
I started with a VA template as one of the earlier videos shows.
No manual?
S.
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Hi Francesc, I will take you up on your offer.
Door location alignment has me puzzled. I have gotten a little from VA for Grasshopper which has documentation though it doesnât correspond exactly. Door Vertical Alignment is clear. Exterior/Interior/Center is clear except that I wonder how Exterior and Interior are defined. But so far as I can see from experiment, Horizontal Alignment doesnât do anything. Left/Right/Center seems to have no effect on the door produced so I wonder what it does and how left and right are defined.
Regards
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Hi @stefank2
The exterior/interior alignment of doors defines how doors are aligned to walls/curtain walls according to their thickness. However, in the case of doors whose frame is adjusted to the wall thickness, this alignment canât be appreciated.
The horizontal alignment defines the insert point of the door. So for example, if you define it as âCenterâ, when you change the doorâs width, it will grow from that center point.
The chapter â0. Overviewâ of the tutorial doesnât have written text, but the rest of the chapters do.
Thanks Francesc, that helps a bit. With that I will try to work out how left, right, interior, and exterior are defined. All this may be obvious to the other telekinetically intelligent users of VA, but it isnât to this one. I know about the text associated with the videos. By the way, if you could write the answer above, you are able to write the rest of the manual. (=;
I posted a related topic some time ago. You passed this link to me which is now bookmarked: Video tutorial - VisualARQ
Itâs actually hard to find that link just by browsing your website. The tutorials are good but dated. Most likely due to their age, the available tutorials donât do the capabilities of Visual ARQ and Rhino justice. Once I get into the program a little more Iâll be able to start contributing tips and tricks of my own (Iâm actually on a bit of a tangent - learning C#⌠for Rhino Common).
If you browse YouTube and search for Revit tutorials you might come across someone called âBalkan Architectâ. He does really good tutorials which kind of over-extend the practical capabilities of Revit. Most BIM programs (Visual ARQ is no exception) require the development of some sort of workflow to achieve the best result the respective program is capable of. To get Revit working as good as it is, itâs taken a lot of time and effort (and annoying work arounds)⌠and the results still arenât that great when you consider the amount of time and effort spent. Revitâs popularity is really more due to marketing than anything else; yes itâs the industry standard but itâs far from perfect, especially for certain niches.
The crazy part about Revitâs marketing (and having a company as big as Autodesk behind them) is that most of the âmarketingâ is actually done by their user base rather than Autodesk itself - they overcharge their customers and STILL get free marketing out of them.
High quality, up to date tutorials would go a really long way I think if the time is available.
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Totally agree, I have tried to learn Archicad before revit and because of the lack of updated tutrilas for the newest version I gave up and switched to Autodesk Revit.
Making a lot of tutorials for VisualARQ and just trying to recreate or model some existing pavilion, building ⌠etch, will catch peoplesâ eyes towards VisualARQ so they will earn many other users.
Unfortunately VisualARQ developers couldnât get this point as thousand of students and even professionals use the software than has plenty of tutorials online more than a perfect software without any tutorials .
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Revit also comes packaged with a fully-annotated and documented sample project - thereâs at least two of them (I havenât peeked into Revit in quite some time). These models are ultra-detailed and obviously took a serious amount of time to put together; so much time in fact that they probably wouldnât be feasible in a commercial setting. They do however flatter the programâs abilities.
The Villa is a decent little sample project but to my knowledge itâs not fully annotated and documented.
Iâm not saying that Asuni should stop everything and get a better set of tutorials/sample project out the door asap⌠but rather something that should consider updating some stuff in the future.
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I think what @stefank2 was looking for was a manual or help file. Some sort of official documentation that goes over each command step by step. The visualArq villa savoye tutorial doesnât have anything on grasshopper styles for example. Is there a repository with all the commands and features documented?
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Hi @Benjamin_Paolo_Fortu, you can check the VisualARQ Userâs guide for the full program documentation: vaHelp command.
On the website you can find also tutorials for the VisualARQ Grasshopper styles: Grasshopper styles - VisualARQ
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thanks! It would be great if what ever is there in vahelp is also online.
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Yes, we are planning to publish the help online! Iâll let you know when we do it!
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Hi Keith,
Itâs hard to believe, but after more than four years (this post of yours above), the level of documentation for VisualARQ still feels incredibly minimal. A few scattered pages on the web simply arenât enough, especially for those of us genuinely trying to integrate it into our daily architectural workflow. From our interactions with Asuni, it seems they donât fully realize how essential proper documentation, tutorials, and real-world examples are to growing a confident user base.
During our search for robust CAD tools, we came across this brilliant page from Chief Architect with no login, accessible to everyone:
Chief Architect Samples
Itâs packed with real project files, beautifully presented, and provides both inspiration and education. Itâs exactly the kind of accessible, practical, and engaging material we wish existed for VisualARQ.
The strange part is that VisualARQ has been around since 2009, over 16 years, and yet there are only a handful of working examples available. Trying to find more resources sometimes feels like searching for buried treasure. Itâs such a missed opportunity, especially on a powerful NURBS-based platform like Rhino.
We strongly believe itâs time for an all hands on deck effort. Building a vibrant, open VisualARQ community where users actively share templates, models, tutorials, and workflows could change everything. With the right energy and support, VisualARQ could truly shine and earn its place as a leading Rhino-based BIM solution.
Thanks for continuing to share your thoughts, it really keeps the conversation moving forward.
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They have a really good tutorial series but itâs a little cumbersome (but just a little) to access. This is one aspect of the mentality I donât agree with: That being asking users to spend extra time finding this stuff. Make it as available and as accessible as possible. If itâs just one or two things⌠but for Rhino/VisualARQ alone I think Iâve had to sign up for like 5/6 different sites and eventually I just donât bother anymore.
Chief Architect scares the crap out of me. It is however expensive. I recently subscribed to Fine Home Building and Chief Architect has advertises all over it. My guess is that when you reach outside the programs limitations it falls flat on itâs face. And Iâll also mention again that itâs expensive. Even with the price tag, It still takes a huge chunk out of the âmarketâ I was trying to capture. And if youâre competing against people with cracked versions of itâŚgood luck. No question the drawings look amazing - they do a great job of showing their projects. My current Rhino versus their interior elevations however I think I have them beat.
Sketchup drawings look amazing too. Google Image search âkcda architecture Sketchupâ. I donât want to risk opening that (Sketchup) can of worms though probably safer just to talk about current politics instead 
Regarding the Revit sample projects: I had to do some Revit work recently so I also checked out the âlatest and greatestâ: I find it funny that the sample projects are actually looking worse and worse. The small house (the newest sample I think) has several flaws. The older projects - notably the custom ultra-modern luxury home and that building in a tightly-packed German? city are very well executed.
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Hi Keith, Donât worry, I actually tried Chief Architect myself and, honestly, I didnât like it much. It felt too rigid, very âAmericanâ in style (no metric plan at all, only feet and inches), and far too expensive with their subscription model. But what I did love was their sample page. Itâs incredibly well done, full workflows, clean presentations, linked videos, and a wide variety of projects both interior and exterior. They add a new one each year too, so by now, theyâve built up a rich, inspiring library.
If VisualARQ had followed a similar approach from the beginning, we could be looking at 16 complete sample projects by now. That kind of resource would make a world of difference for users, offering insight, education, and confidence right from the start.
The Chief Architect example really shows how a software company can engage its audience effectively. And that brings us to what weâve been discussing, whether itâs the community producing tutorials and resources or Asuni investing directly in that effort, something needs to happen. Either way works, but the end goal should be the same, helping people truly see what VisualARQ is capable of.
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There is zero YouTube videos or podcasts on doing full complete architectural jobs and document sets in rhino and visual arq. I went Indie as f+{^}!}! and did full doc sets for small houses in rhino and va- But major performance issues and inability to manage moderately sized drawing sets. Still great for modelling though. Noting I linked in nested models for structure , joinery blocks , site models , I use lands for topography. I create my own scripts and plugins to make it manageable. But currently there has been too much friction and the complexity to get proper drawings working cleanly has made me think it is unsustainable - hence I am going to dum dum rayon design 2d for docs and keeping intense 3d rhino model as fabrication and source of truth and for design. But the documentation limitation is a killer.
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Hi Luke,
Thanks so much for your message, we really appreciate your honesty and your point of view. What youâve described is exactly the heart of the issue with VisualARQ: itâs not that the tool is without potential, but rather that there are very few complete examples or tutorials showing a true workflow from start to finish. And that, of course, leaves people like us experimenting, improvising, and often reinventing the wheel.
Thatâs why weâre trying, through this forum, to build something different. The aim isnât to pretend VisualARQ is âready to take on the big BIM playersâ today, letâs be real, for now itâs still a bit of a pipe dream. But if we manage to gather a community willing to share experiences, samples, and clever workarounds, then step by step we can build the missing knowledge base. Itâs a patient game, nothing will happen overnight, but every shared script, workflow, or file is one stone added to the foundation.
You mentioned your Indie attempt with complete doc sets, amazing effort! Even if performance and documentation were painful, thatâs exactly the kind of exploration others can learn from. If youâre open to it, why not drop one or two sample files on your Google Drive and share the link here? They donât have to be perfect, the community will notice, bookmark, and provide feedback. From âsomethingâ we can build âmore,â but from nothing weâll always stay stuck at zero.
We are convinced there are people here who do know how to bend VisualARQ and Rhino into shape for small and medium residential projects. The trick is simply connecting the dots, collecting these scattered brains into a single conversation. Thatâs how we help each other, and thatâs how we push Rhino + VisualARQ closer to being a true BIM contender.
So, thank you again for sharing your insights and frustrations. Theyâre not just valuable, theyâre exactly what this conversation needs. And who knows, maybe weâll turn that âpipe dreamâ into something solid.