Nottingham Back Alley Montages

These images are montages created in PS from the images taken in Nottingham the other day.  I am really happy with the way these have come out.  Photoshops Photomerge feature does a great job of stitching images together and takes far less time than it would take to get the same results by hand.  You could argue that the blending is a bit rough in places but its saved me hours of time.

Shadows on Flats

This morning I used a High Dynamic Range image to light a scene, it was just simple coloured primitives on a plane but it looked really nice.  The HDR image was providing luminance information to the scene through Global Illumination.

After this I altered two of my old materials in PS using a simple Drop Shadow effect on a selection to create the effect that some of the bricks were further forward than others.  I then painted a shadow line using the Luminosity blending mode on the material used here as the floor.  I have observed this technique used in game engines where poly counts need to be kept low but without sacrificing effect.  I think it works well.  I can imagine using this technique to provide depth to building features that aren’t the main focus of the scene but still need shadows to give them believability in the scene such as drainpipe detail, shutters, fencing etc.

The Image above are the HDR image (7/Feb/2010, Paul Debevec Home Page, http://www.debevec.org) that I plan to use in my street scene and an example of the materials with shading (rather too quickly) applied to them.  Rendered with VRay.

I have the Demo of VRay installed and I am going to use it throughout this last project.  The quality of the output that it creates is high and this will aid believabilty in my scenes.  With the techniques I have learnt and the promise of high quality output I am really excited.

Rough Questionnaire to send to those who work in / know about the field

1. Do you believe that using signs of occupation in a 3D visualisation makes it more believable? Y/N and Why box
2. Tick one of the following two methods that you think makes a 3D visualisation more believable :
   1. use of objects in a space to show that the space is occupied (without actually using people).
   2. Use of images of people in a space to show that the space is occupied.
3. Do you think that clients would like to see images of their proposed building showing what your building may look like in use five or ten years from now? Y/N and why box
4. Do you think that 3D visualisations are more effective than 3D card/wood models for showing clients what their building will look like when constructed?  Y/N and why box
5. Which method of visualisation do you think that clients prefer: [Why box after this question]
   1. Card/Wood model
   2. 3D Visualisation prints/walk throughs
   3. They like both
6. How important is it to clients that 3D visualisations are photo-realistic? Not important 1 to 4 extremely important
7. How important is it to clients that 3D visualisations are believable? Not important 1 to 4 extremely important
8. Which do you think is more important.  (Tick only one.)
   1. The photo-realism of the scene due to the quality of the model, materials used and the rendered output.
   2. The believability of the scene due to the additional elements added such as objects, people etc.
      
9. What do you think makes high standard architectural visualisation stand out? (comment box.)

I need to assess whether the questions are worth knowing the answers to before committing to them.

Trope Relationships Venn Diagram

Earlier in this study I identified a set of tropes that could be used to categorise affluence in architecture.  During that time I realised that the tropes related to one another and this relationship and how strongly each trope applied indicated whether the architecture was indicating poverty or affluence or indeed somewhere in between.   I have created a Venn diagram to draw out (pun not intended) these relationships.  I’m not entirely convinced that its correct at the moment so it might get updated; I am dealing with the exceptions to every rule!

Space and Place

In “Nonplaces: Introduction to the anthropology of supermodernity” Marc Auge describes the differences between Space and Place.  I have yet to read the book but these are the notes I have been able to find out so far.  (The book is on hold at the Boots Library at this point Collecting it on Wednesday 10th.)

“non-places are spaces of transport and transit that are lacking any historical significance and strong symbolism.  If a place can be defined as relational, historical or concerned with identity, then a space which can not be defined as relational, historical or concerned with identity will be a non-place” Pg.77

The main point to Non-places seems to be that they are spaces that we travel through or need to temporarily occupy but through necessity rather than by choice.  For example (with reference to the films below) to travel from one country to another we need to use the non-place called an airport.  Its a non-place because we wouldn’t go there by choice, but need to through necessity.  Petrol Stations are another example I can think of, not a place you would choose to go, but if the need arose.

A place is where people meet and congregate and the non-place between places is used to get from one place to another.  Auge says that non-places need people to become places.  There are several videos on Youtube that clearly describe and show non-places.  Good examples are the airport terminal and the central reservation of dual-carriageways.

The videos I found of use can be accessed here: [31/01/2010] Youtube search “Marc Auge”.

‘http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EBnKhvcvP4′
‘http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO-yjb_6ocs’
‘http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6s_5dlFEVQ’
‘http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HCkpcZ32ZY’

One of the films chooses to use consumer outlets as the non-place and highlights that as cities contain the highest density of these non-places that the city could arguably be called a non-city.  The point of the film is to show the link that Auge makes between non-places and the lack of historic significance to the place it occupies.

I considered these films and their meaning and have found that they interact well will Bachelards theory of corners in that ‘a place is cradled by the corners and the non-place is the surrounding area the place is protected from’. Place and Non-place appear in my external renders of buildings.  The places being where you would expect people to congegate and the non-places being areas used to travel to these places.

I really enjoyed the film about the experience of travelling as being in Transit-limbo.  I immediately understood the film and it brought a refreshed meaning to the simple daily travelling experience.

Hyper-reality “The simulation of something which never really existed.”

I have been wanting to define Hyper-reality for a while now and having looked through the three books I have about Baudrillard I have come to this conclusion:

“Hyper-reality is the reality which is ‘more real that real’, fed to us by a range of media forms that we generally believe to be the truth.  This hyper-reality is a simulacrum in the sense that it is a copy of reality which hides the fact that it itself is not real.  i.e. It is pretending to be the real when infact it is not.”

Baudrillard seems to focus on the media when talking about hyperreality and this interests me because it provides a context for all the promotions and advertising that we are bombarded with on a daily basis.  In terms of 3D architectural visualisation work I think this naturally falls into the category of Hyper-reality.  The work displayed is created to represent entirely new projects or alterations of existing structures so that building planners, investors, local councils and the general public can see (or visualise) the intended building before a brick has been laid.  So Architectural visualisations are realer than real and due to their “perfect” visual quality are simulacrums of the real buildings.  The weathering and aging processes that the building becomes involved in once constructed in a real environment aren’t reflected in 3D architectural visualisations, also the actual use of the building in many cases changes its appearance from the original visualisations as visual cues of occupancy and habitation appear.

Horrocks.C. & Jevtic.Z., 1999, Introducing Baudrillard, Icon Books
Baudrillard.J., 1994, Simulacra and Simulation, The University Of Michigan Press
Proto.F., 2006, Mass Identity Architecture – Archtectural Writings Of Jean Baudrillard, Wiley-Academy

Project three: Final work

Below are the images that I have created for the third project.

PgDip preparation

I have spent the last several weeks going through my to-do lists to ensure that I’ve done everything that I wanted to do and needed to.  I re-edited my presentation yesterday and spent most of the day ensuring that its contents reflects what I have learnt and shows how all the separate projects that I have done so far join and interrelate to each other.  In the morning there was dread.  In the afternoon there was excitement.  It was a turning point day that brought all the many strands of my studies together.  I have placed pictures almost throughout the presentation.  Its over 20 slides long but I am confident that it won’t drag as each slide is punchy and makes its point.  I have created a small section within the presentation to show the Arcs between the projects and to my surprise one or two faced backwards; by this I mean that what I have learnt in my latest project is already manifest in the previous ones.  Its all come together finally and I am really excited about giving my presentation on Wednesday.  I hope it is received well.

I have been pretty stressed lately, I had to go to my dentist as I have started to unconciously clench my jaw in the night and I keep catching myself doing it in the day too.  Hopefully it will stop as I take a break after the end of this stage (despite being keen to get stuck into the next part).

It occurred to me the other day that this presentation is incredibly important and decides whether or not I:

• Pass the PgDip.
• Get to continue onto the MA stage of the course.

I am giving this course my all in terms of effort and time.  I hope the people on the panel see this in my presentation.

In progress…

Current render of work in progress focusing on occupation and difference.

Presently…

I am

• carrying out adjustments to the models previously created and finalising the Flats/hotel building models.
• Finishing off my write up of Bachelards Poetics of Space.
• Shaping the powerpoint for the PgDip Assessment that’s coming up.
• (When the books arrive) Taking a look at Baudrillard, Debord and Jung to see if I can weave them into my work.

From Amazon I have ordered:

• Introducing Baudrillard by Chris Horrocks (Author), Zoran Jevtic (Illustrator)
• Simulacra and Simulation (The Body in Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism) by Jean Baudrillard (Author), Sheila Glaser (Translator)
• Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
• Jung: A Graphic Guide (Introducing…) by Maggie Hyde (Author), Michael McGuiness (Author)  (His red book is expensive I want to know if its likely to be worth the money.)

Updated image:

Latest new image:

Whilst I was in the University library I got talking to one of the librarians because of the Calcutta book that I have been renewing since I started my MA.  He told me stories about his time in India.  He told me one particular story of how one afternoon he was reading the paper drowsily on the balcony of the place where he was staying when he became aware that he felt like he was being watched.  As he lowered his paper to take a look around he realised that on the edge of his balcony looking at him… waiting… was a Vulture!