provelo.co.uk

The single most important announcement in the development of the internet this millenium has just been made. Did you miss it? Ok then, for those who did, here it is again: Google puts 3d on the web

I must say, I feel more than a little vindicated by this announcement. For several years my family, friends and colleagues have put up with me raving about how the web will go 3D, and do so hand-in-hand with SketchUp. But have they taken me seriously? And my web designer friends have largely ignored my plea that they go and get 3D educated or at least 3D aware. So yes, I feel a little better now:)

But let me put these portends in plain English. Google is 100% behind a 3D internet experience. A 3D enabled Chrome is now being advertised on the front page of Google, coincidental with the release of the O3D programming interface (Open 3D).  Every web designer and developer now needs to ask themselves “can I afford to ignore this?” or a more pertinent “how long have I got to exploit this before I’m left behind?”

There’s just 15 days to go if you want to submit an entry for the 2009 CGarchitect.com Architectural 3D Awards. Award categories are split up into moving image, still image, and real-time entries:

Architectural Film/Animation

• Best Overall Architectural Film/Animation
• Best Editing
• Most Original Film/Animation Treatment
• Industry Choice

Architectural Image

• Best Overall Architectural Image
• Best Architectural Interior Image
• Best Exterior Architectural Image
• Most Original Image Treatment
• Industry Choice

Real-Time Presentation

• Best Overall Real-Time Presentation

To give you an idea of the quality of entry you’re likely to come up against, check out this link for last years finalists. I think you’ll also love this animated entry by Uniform (UK) which is a superb example of how you can mix 2D and 3D to engage the viewer in a storyline.

CGarchitect.com 3DAwards – Uniform (UK) from Jeff Mottle on Vimeo.

When giving clients an idea of their new interior, or when trying to sell a property, a 360 degree virtual tour can be a quick and easy option to get accross the spatial information you need. If you have Quicktime viewer installed you can click on the following link for an example.

Interior Panorama walkthrough

This cost effective alternative to a walkthrough animation can save a lot of money, particularly if you have a lot of rooms to showcase. In addition, the small file-size and interactive nature of virtual tours make them ideal for the web.

Have you ever wondered how filmmakers and documentary producers always seamlessly link scenes in different places, or even different times? One minute you might be on earth, the next in space, or one moment in 2009, the next in 2029! But you always know where you are.

They achieve this by the clever use of continuity scenes, or “orientation” footage. These are often very simple panning shots of the location where the next scene will take place. These can easily be created for your film or documentary or online flash intro, with the use of 3D animation techniques as you can see in this clip.

If it weren’t for short scenes like this, the viewer would be left disorientated and confused. This clip was created in Vue using one of their example sets. The camera is moved and keyframes set up. Vue outputs in avi format which can be edited within VirtualDub.

Once you’ve set up a scene and gone through all the hassle of creating a photo realistic render, it would be a waste not to animate it too. Kerkythea imports camera animation info from SketchUp, or you can create them directly within Kerkythea. Output is in the form of still images which need to be stitched together. I use Virtualdub which is free and available at http://www.virtualdub.org/. Animations needn’t be spectacular because even something simple like this example will give depth and realism that the still image will always lack

Book review: Blender 3D: Architecture, Buildings, and Scenery

You’ve heard of Blender, right? Maya or 3D-max for free? And, like me, you maybe downloaded it and installed it? Did you have that heady feeling of anticipation, your excitement barely contained as you dream of taking the 3D animation world by storm… only to have your dreams shattered with the un-useable interface? Yes, I think that’s happened to many of us. But wait… pick you shattered dreams back off the floor. You and I might just have misunderstood Blender. We just needed a helping hand.

Cue the book by Allan Brito. In 316 pages Alan attempts to demystify Blender for the uninitiated, and I must admit, he achieves it. Now, I’m not saying after I read the book I became a Blender pro (I still find Blender frustrating and counter-intuitive), but the book allowed me to give a second chance to an excellent piece of software which I had dismissed completely. As an architectural visualiser, Blender is not your ideal software choice, but it can fit into your workflow. If you find your usual modelling, rendering, or animation software lacks some functionality, Blender will no doubt provide it.

The book’s aim

The book is written with the Blender beginner in mind, and as such does not attempt to cover the whole subject of Arch-viz. Instead, Allan chooses to open the door far enough for you to have a look in. And this, as we know, is the problem with Blender:  we can’t have a look in because it’s so counter intuitive to use. Having described the interface and keyboard shortcuts which will make all the difference, the book goes on to cover the basics of modelling, lighting, texturing and rendering. What’s especially useful is Allans dogged determination not to stray from the subject in hand. With the size and depth of the software, this would be suicide.

What you won’t like

It would have been good to see some more about import and export. In my opinion Blender is best used for animation once models have been modelled and textured in CAD or SketchUp, but there was no mention of this. The book also concentrates more on interiors than buildings or scenery.

Summary

A capable introduction to Blender as a stand-alone Arch-Viz application. Check out the book here.

The superb Vue 7 landscape creation and rendering software has been released for free! Vue Pioneer appears to have the full functionality of Vue Esprit and is limited by a logo over the rendered image. Pioneer is for non-commercial use only, but the logo can be removed and renders used for commercial use by purchasing any one of a number of upgrade packs. These start at 33 pounds UK.

This is a novel approach to rendering software sales and is done in the hope that users will buy content from the cornucopia content library. A similar approach has been tried by DAZ 3D which has previously released their DAZ Studio software for free. Daz also sells the Bryce landscape generation software, Vue’s main competitor.

Do you have problems with morale in your team? Does the fact that you ask someone to do some work, any work, seem to be a great problem to them? If so, you might be forgiven for thinking that people just don’t like work. But you’d be wrong. Motivated people love work. They just need a worthy cause.

Why is it that retired men return to work in droves? Most of it appears to be low paid or volunteer work. I know a retired engineer who now spends days slaving away restoring a steam engine in a museum. Women who work in charity shops. Armies of people who descend on stately homes and show tourists round day after day. And I bet you know lots more like them. So, actually, people want to work. They want to be part of something. Maybe they just don’t feel part of something in your team? If this is the case, then there’s an easy solution. Turn them into paid volunteers.

An un-tapped resource

Most CAD or creative people sit there all day thinking about how they can do their job better. They’ve got bags of ideas and energy to give, but they may feel stifled by your dictatorial management style! So give, give, give responsibilities back to them. But be there for them to support them and  help pick up the pieces whenever they get into trouble. View yourself as a guide and overseer rather than a leader or manager, and you’ll gain respect. Turn “me” into “we” and see what happens.

We all want to be part of the rescue effort 

In this current recession, be honest about the trouble your business or team is in. Be open about the redundancies seen in other firms, or other teams, or their team. Tell them you’re out of your depth without them, but you sure could do with some help. Maybe they will volunteer their hard work, ideas, and passion to be part of the rescue effort.

If you need a source of backround photographs and entourage for your renders and proposals, look no further than one of the many royalty free image banks on the web. Royalty free means you pay a small fee to download the image, but you are then free to use it without paying any further royalties. In my opinion the two best (and lowest cost) are:

www.bigstockphoto.com

www.istockphoto.com

and if you want to know how much stock photos used to cost try www.fotosearch.com

This video introduces the 3D printing plugin for SketchUp. It also explains what 3d printing is - so it’s a good starting point for those of us who’ve never looked into it. If you’re thinking of actually using this technology, my advice is to get in touch with your local university first. Many of them have rapid-prototyping machines sitting around doing nothing for 11 months of the year, and will be only too happy to have a “real life” project to get to grips with.

Other sources of info:

Business Week: Printing in 3D Gets Practical

Wikipedea: 3D printing