Let the games begin. Today marks the torch lighting and opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC. Now, although it is technically winter, this part of the country has seen so little snow. You have to wonder why the climate change deniers still continue to talk conspiracy theories, when all I have to do is see the brown topped mountains where we have previously held the world annual snowfall record. Yes Mt. Baker, practically in my backyard, had a record 1,140 inches of snow fall on it’s peak during the 1998-1999 season. Put your calculator away, that’s not a typo – it was 95 feet! This year, snow needs to be trucked in to Whistler, and the other locations. Well one sport that suffers from no ill effects is speed skating.
Perhaps I’ll see Stephen Colbert practicing for his bid to take all the gold. Seriously, we wouldn’t even be taking part in these events had it not been for his generosity in getting a leg up, and sponsoring the team along with donations from fans. Apollo Ohno may not be favored to take home the gold for Team USA, but always a fan of the local underdog, I’m routing for him. The five-time Olympic medalist, and 2007 Dancing With the Stars champion is back. There are so many taleted athletes in the men’s and women’s speed skating, I just think it will be interesting to watch. I grew up playing hockey, and how could I not, growing up in Boston and watching the likes of Bobby Orr, and Raymond Bourque glide across the ice, and occasionally crushing bones. Go Bruins! Although never as good as this guy, I really enjoyed the sport, and especially the feeling of the cold air and the pungent smell of the ice and sweat in an arena.
Which finally leads us to…
What do you think? Photo or Fake? Is this a clever rendering technique? Think about it, then hit the Read More link if you are on the main blog page. Otherwise, scroll down, when you’ve decided.
OK, so it’s not really a house, but perhaps a really good house wine. Every once in a while you find a very intriguing use of technology in architecture schools. Lately, the amount of good work has been not scarce. In this example, however there is evidence of biomimicry, parametric scripting, simple rendering using ambient occlusion, and using Ecotect to present sustainable analysis data in very compelling and rich ways. Bravo Andrea!
Development is fast and furious on the iPhone/iPod Touch platform. As noted by Beau Turner, there’s already a new version of the Sketchbook Mobile application. Finger painters’ unite:
If you wish to concurrently work in Revit for creating construction documents, and visualizations, you must learn to separate logically. Digital entourage such as RPC content, or people cars and trees can coexist in your building information model. This video shows how you can use worksets to contain elements you do not want visible in all views.
Warning: I finally picked up a new headset for creating these recordings, so the volume may be a little higher than previous videos. Enjoy.
As an added tip: If you forgot to uncheck the box “Visible by default in all views”, no problem, just carefully follow the steps below:
Create a brand new workset to contain the model components you wish to control visibility of, being sure this timeto uncheck the ‘visible’ box
Be sure to ’synchronize with central’, or ’save to central’ depending on your version of Revit, reliquishing all borrowed
Make the workset you wish to convert ‘editable’
Choose the old workset containing the objects you wish to make invisible in the project views
Click Delete
Now the important part here is to choose the new workset to move these items to, we certainly don’t wish to delete our model components
Now just use Visibility/Graphics Overrides (keyboard shortcut VG) to change the visibility in selected views from the Worksets tab.
For other cool tips, or more information on this method described above be sure to go to http://au.autodesk.com, sign in and search for the Autodesk University 2008 class I co-authored called “Horrible Hacks”. If you are attending AU this year, hopefully I’ll see you there.
Working with background images in Revit Architecture is not difficult, if you know some basic techniques.
Revit does not support background images directly, but does allow background effects. This video explores the possiblities within Revit, and what you can do with the images post-process in image-editing software. What better way to integrate your project site context, or insert your project into otherwordly locales; 3ds Max not required.
If you are a customer on subscription for AutoCAD or Revit products (including all vertical applications aimed at the AEC markets), you will have access to the new Impression 2 available at no additional fee. This much anticipated second version has so many improvements, they can’t all be mentioned here but here are some of my favorites:
New pencil lineweights that mimic the real thing with hardness values like H, HB, and 2B, etc…
Import wizards for making the your works of art perform much faster
Block editor and a more comprehensive library of images for swapping out CAD symbols
Read Lisa’s final post, to find out exactly how to download your copy today.
On the topic of rendering, as many folks asked (but I could not speak about) at AU… I can now say Yes; Revit Architecture 2009, and the other discipline-specific flavors, will have the mental ray rendering engine embedded. This is going to really enhance the workflow of the designer. And… as if that was not enough, the new 3ds Max Design 2009, which appears to be taking the place of VIZ has an excellent workflow taking models from Revit and adding that extra zing. With the ability to export to FBX file format, and having mental ray ProMaterials in Autodesk 3ds Max Design, importing the model geometry with lights, materials, and cameras will be more fluid and much more accurate. I wish I could show you some sample renderings, but that will have to wait a bit longer. For now, enjoy the press announcements and some of the other blogs mentioning the new products.
Visit the Autodesk World Press day website for more information on the latest product announcements: http://www.worldpressdays08.com
Well, I must say I’m very impressed with the Venetian Hotel and Casino so far. The rooms are great, and it’s not too far to walk to the convention area. I wasn’t in attendance last year, but this is so much different than the last Autodesk University in Vegas I attended at the MGM Grand.
For those attending this week, I’ll be at the Revit Mixer this evening at 7:30. Anyone who signed up for Revit classes should have received an invite. I’m glad the tradition continues. I look forward to meeting some new users and reconnecting with customers that I’ve worked with at Autodesk Consulting. See you there.
I’m all warmed up and ready to present my first of two classes, Leveraging Revit Projects in VIZ, Tuesday morning at 10:00, right after the main stage presentation. Shaan Hurley hints that there will be some very exciting stuff. Even as an employee, I can’t say I’m sure what amazing things will be showcased. My other class, held Friday at 8:00am, features Pre-Design and Planning in Revit Architecture. It is a lab, so space is limited, if it hasn’t already sold out. This should prove to be a very exciting week.
Creating renderings for client presentations are lots of fun, but can be a real nightmare when the design is still under development. Making decisions about forms, materials, and details can have a negative impact on the further development of an idea. Once the client sees the “pretty picture”, they form a strong and often unchangeable opinion of what will be built in the field. I’ve been a strong beliver in a balance between realism and that loose, watercolored, soft-focus look. The goal should be to let the client focus on the design concept and not get caught up in the details. After all, with tight deadlines and budgets, who has the time? Thus the need for non-photo real renderings, or NPR.
There’s a large array of NPR tools available. Most of us have heard of and use Piranesi, SketchUP and AutoCAD 2007’s new feature - visual styles, but have you seen the latest rendering tools such as: finalToon™(an add on for 3Ds MAX), Maxon4D (a standalone renderer with a plugin for toon shading), and with the aquisition of Alias, Autodesk now offers an interesting product in Sketchbook Pro. Sketchbook Pro allows the creation of 2D sketch-based illustration in a digital environment, and supports digitizing tablets & the TabletPC. In the content department, one extensive library I’ve explored are the offerings from Entourage Arts.
There are also some interesting technologies coming down the pike for creating non-photo 2D architectural rendering. Imagine creating hand rendered look, directly from a model or 2D CAD data. At the 2006 AIA convention, Google, after recently acquiring AtLast and their SketchUP! modeler, showed a demonstration of a layout and presentation tool named Grizzly. And at Autodesk University 2005, attendees were shown a sneak peak of preview technology code-named Vespa. Both of these do not yet have a public release date, but those who wish to can sign up to test Vespa, and participate in it’s development.
Back in the day, I remember playing Quake at lunch with some co-workers. I always wanted to explore the idea of using it as a real-time simulator, sans gun of course. The following article goes way beyond what I was thinking some 8 years ago… Expressive 3D Components for Building Simulation and BIM – by Fred Abler of FormFonts.com
