I recently graduated in architecture, and over the years I’ve come across a bunch of great resources that have really helped me during the drawing and production phase, from early sketches to final presentation drawings.
I use Rhino and v-ray for Rhino for all my work, and these tools have made things a lot faster and easier.
I just wanted to share some of my favorites here, hopefully you’ll find them useful too.
It’s not architecture-specific but if I need 3D files of mechanical hardware, my first stop is almost always McMaster-Carr for anything along the lines of screws, bolts, gears, springs, rivets, bearings, motors, pipe fittings, linear actuators…if it’s industrial hardware, they probably have it, and very likely have CAD details for it. Tip - if they don’t have CAD details listed on the item page, call their customer service line. They might be able to get it for you; I’ve had about a 60% success rate with that, plus their service is typically quick and friendly.
For electronic products, a lot of the parts on Digikey have 3D files (or at least 2D drawings that you can use to start a model). (Link is to .com, but I use .ca )
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