Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
final project
One simple statistic provides an overview of the calamity that has occurred in an American industry. Over 400 furniture factories closed in the past 10 years (marketingscoop). Inexpensive imports, which mimicked the styles produced domestically, flooded the market. Domestic manufacturers were slow to respond and the survivors are working hard to regain the American market’s confidence.
This project researches and develops a marketing strategy to assist a specific domestic manufacturer. Before putting forth the effort to appeal to potential consumers, it was important to target whom those potential consumers might be. Then, determine what would appeal to this group. Finally, incorporate digital design techniques in the process.
Baby boomers have been the target audience for marketing campaigns for a very long time. But now two generations are even more important, X and Y. According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau these two generations, ranging in age from 20s to 40s, outnumber baby boomers by over 30 million and largely influence business practices and consumer marketing in American society. (Brown). This fact may have more to do with the decline in the furniture industry than the competition from imports. As someone who worked in the furniture industry for many years, I viewed the tendency to resist change as its most significant flaw. There are important differences between the boomers and their offspring regarding how they make decisions, particularly when making purchases. A different approach is necessary in order to appeal to the younger consumers.
There are two directions I could have gone with this project.
One was to educate the target audience about the product. Upholstery Journal Magazine suggests that Generations X and Y are less familiar with the furniture buying process(Brown). This could be part of the reason that imports have fared so well. A store selling inexpensive, mass produced merchandise is less intimidating than a more formal upper end furniture store. Also, if a consumer feels unprepared to make an informed decision on a purchase it is more comfortable to make a smaller investment. The industry needs to create a customer base that understands the basics of furniture construction and knows how to identify a quality product. Fortunately, behavior patterns of this younger group make it easy to find a platform for the education. According to a study done by AMP Marketing Group, Gens X and Y rely on research when shopping. Ninety-four percent said on line research positively influenced their decision to make a purchase, and nearly four in ten said they bought a product because of the research they found (media post). I considered making an educational video about upholstery construction.
The other direction was to provide a platform that has more appeal to Generations X and Y. Upholstery Journal Magazine’s statement “ They (Generations X and Y)
are drawn to elite products that allow them to individualize their style, and are driven by technology(Brown)” spells it out. If this consumer is given an outlet where he or she can be creative and personalize choices with the assistance of current technology there will be a good chance that furniture would be purchased. This project creates that platform.
Michael Thomas Furniture is a high end upholstery manufacturer in Liberty, NC. It provides a private label collection for Calico Corners, a large furniture retail chain. Recently a “design your own” program was developed, named Selections 3000, and I was asked to assist with the promotional materials. Unfortunately I was unable to complete the work in time for the launch of the program due to an injury, but I have produced a sales tool that provides the creative outlet on a digital platform that should appeal to the target audience, Generations X and Y.
Drawings of the product were done on Google Sketchup. The actual product line is much larger, but for this project there will be three categories which require the customer to choose between three or four choices: three cushion styles, three arm styles and four base styles. This will create 36 sofa designs, which would be very time consuming if all of the possibilities were drawn by hand. On Sketchup each sofa component was drawn and assigned to a layer. By turning layers on and off as needed, all 36 complete sofa drawings and 12 “sofa in progress” drawings were done with roughly the effort of drawing four sofas. Another benefit Sketchup offered was changing the drawing style with a simple click. Tom Jordan, the owner of Michael Thomas, requested a hand drawn style which was fitting considering that the concept of the project is to offer the opportunity to the end consumer to design his or her own sofa. I rendered several versions of the drawings in various sketch styles, but the unrendered version was a better fit for this projects aesthetic style.
Increasing my knowledge of computer-aided design was the purpose of the class and producing this project certainly achieved that goal. Even though I had been using Sketchup for a year, previously it had been for producing architectural designs primarily involving straight lines. Drawing upholstery required using new tools and new strategies. It would have been easier to use Adobe Illustrator for the graphic design segment, but I used Adobe InDesign because it includes features that were helpful with this type of layout and I wanted to acquire the ability to use this program. However, the images would not export from InDesign to Flash so I eventually designed the graphics with a combination of Illustrator and Flash. The biggest challenge was Flash. The drawing tools and the time line were manageable, but I could not make Action Script work without a tutor.
When I complete projects I have always been able to look back and see how I could have produced them more efficiently, but never as much as I did this one! Now that the project is completed, I can describe the most efficient way to create the project. Here is the process:
• Create sofa images in Sketchup. Each component of a sofa, such as an arm or a cushion, is drawn separately and placed on its own layer. Layers are turned on and off to create the different styles.
• Export images of each complete sofa and each “sofa in progress” (an example would be a sofa with cushions and arms, but no base) as a jpg.
• Open images in Photoshop, make corrections and delete background.
• Create a graphic layout in Illustrator for an opening page, instructional page and “design your own sofa” page which all incorporate the graphics created in Sketchup.
• Copy and paste into Flash as scenes.
• On the introduction page create a motion tween which will make an image of a sofa change every two seconds into another sofa image. Create a gleam, which makes each letter in the title of the program appear to brighten sequentially, with the use of a motion tween. Create a button from type and use Action Script 2 to make the informational page appear. The page is actually a scene in the same Flash file.
• Copy and paste the sofa image with the motion tween attached from the opening page. Repeat the process of creating a button and giving it the function of moving to the next scene.
• On the “design your own sofa” page create buttons with the cushion style images. With Action Script 2 program each button to move to the scene that matches its style. The graphics which are functioning buttons on this page are highlighted with a rectangle and directions for the user. The graphics which are not buttons are subdued with a black rectangle with its opacity reduced.
• Each cushion style scene is identical, except for the “sofa in progress” image. These images include seat cushions and a specific back cushion style, but the rest of the sofa is missing. On these scenes there are cushion and base graphics which need to be subdued as the ones were on the previous page. Change the arm style graphics to buttons and program them to make movie clips appear. Also program a button to go back to the cushion option page/scene in case the user wants to change his/her cushion choice .
• Movie clips have their own time line. Make movie clips which include a sofa cushion and arm style only, and complete sofas which use those particular cushion and arm styles with each of the base styles. Connect buttons to the movie clips to make the current scene evolve. With this process 48 different sofas will be shown on the program.
The program could be taken further to offer more style options and to display how each sofa style would appear with particular fabric choices. It would be time consuming to produce all of the graphics necessary for such a cornucopia of options, however putting these options into the Flash program would only involve putting movie clips inside movie clips inside movie clips and so on.
This process has produced a tool which could enable someone with no design or design software background to participate in the design experience. With this tool a manufacturer or retailer could allow customers to have fun, actually see what their custom designed furniture would look like prior to purchase and, hopefully, become comfortable enough to buy lots of furniture.
"Marketing Expert | Internet Marketing Secrets." Internet Marketing Expert | Marketing Secrets. Web. 26 June 2011..
Brown, By Amanda, and Lizzie Nguyen. "Marketing Upholstery to Generations X and Y - Upholstery Journal." Home - Upholstery Journal. Web. 26 June 2011..
"MediaPost Publications - Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines." MediaPost - News and Directories for Media, Marketing and Online Advertising Professionals. Web. 26 June 2011..
This project researches and develops a marketing strategy to assist a specific domestic manufacturer. Before putting forth the effort to appeal to potential consumers, it was important to target whom those potential consumers might be. Then, determine what would appeal to this group. Finally, incorporate digital design techniques in the process.
Baby boomers have been the target audience for marketing campaigns for a very long time. But now two generations are even more important, X and Y. According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau these two generations, ranging in age from 20s to 40s, outnumber baby boomers by over 30 million and largely influence business practices and consumer marketing in American society. (Brown). This fact may have more to do with the decline in the furniture industry than the competition from imports. As someone who worked in the furniture industry for many years, I viewed the tendency to resist change as its most significant flaw. There are important differences between the boomers and their offspring regarding how they make decisions, particularly when making purchases. A different approach is necessary in order to appeal to the younger consumers.
There are two directions I could have gone with this project.
One was to educate the target audience about the product. Upholstery Journal Magazine suggests that Generations X and Y are less familiar with the furniture buying process(Brown). This could be part of the reason that imports have fared so well. A store selling inexpensive, mass produced merchandise is less intimidating than a more formal upper end furniture store. Also, if a consumer feels unprepared to make an informed decision on a purchase it is more comfortable to make a smaller investment. The industry needs to create a customer base that understands the basics of furniture construction and knows how to identify a quality product. Fortunately, behavior patterns of this younger group make it easy to find a platform for the education. According to a study done by AMP Marketing Group, Gens X and Y rely on research when shopping. Ninety-four percent said on line research positively influenced their decision to make a purchase, and nearly four in ten said they bought a product because of the research they found (media post). I considered making an educational video about upholstery construction.
The other direction was to provide a platform that has more appeal to Generations X and Y. Upholstery Journal Magazine’s statement “ They (Generations X and Y)
are drawn to elite products that allow them to individualize their style, and are driven by technology(Brown)” spells it out. If this consumer is given an outlet where he or she can be creative and personalize choices with the assistance of current technology there will be a good chance that furniture would be purchased. This project creates that platform.
Michael Thomas Furniture is a high end upholstery manufacturer in Liberty, NC. It provides a private label collection for Calico Corners, a large furniture retail chain. Recently a “design your own” program was developed, named Selections 3000, and I was asked to assist with the promotional materials. Unfortunately I was unable to complete the work in time for the launch of the program due to an injury, but I have produced a sales tool that provides the creative outlet on a digital platform that should appeal to the target audience, Generations X and Y.
Drawings of the product were done on Google Sketchup. The actual product line is much larger, but for this project there will be three categories which require the customer to choose between three or four choices: three cushion styles, three arm styles and four base styles. This will create 36 sofa designs, which would be very time consuming if all of the possibilities were drawn by hand. On Sketchup each sofa component was drawn and assigned to a layer. By turning layers on and off as needed, all 36 complete sofa drawings and 12 “sofa in progress” drawings were done with roughly the effort of drawing four sofas. Another benefit Sketchup offered was changing the drawing style with a simple click. Tom Jordan, the owner of Michael Thomas, requested a hand drawn style which was fitting considering that the concept of the project is to offer the opportunity to the end consumer to design his or her own sofa. I rendered several versions of the drawings in various sketch styles, but the unrendered version was a better fit for this projects aesthetic style.
Increasing my knowledge of computer-aided design was the purpose of the class and producing this project certainly achieved that goal. Even though I had been using Sketchup for a year, previously it had been for producing architectural designs primarily involving straight lines. Drawing upholstery required using new tools and new strategies. It would have been easier to use Adobe Illustrator for the graphic design segment, but I used Adobe InDesign because it includes features that were helpful with this type of layout and I wanted to acquire the ability to use this program. However, the images would not export from InDesign to Flash so I eventually designed the graphics with a combination of Illustrator and Flash. The biggest challenge was Flash. The drawing tools and the time line were manageable, but I could not make Action Script work without a tutor.
When I complete projects I have always been able to look back and see how I could have produced them more efficiently, but never as much as I did this one! Now that the project is completed, I can describe the most efficient way to create the project. Here is the process:
• Create sofa images in Sketchup. Each component of a sofa, such as an arm or a cushion, is drawn separately and placed on its own layer. Layers are turned on and off to create the different styles.
• Export images of each complete sofa and each “sofa in progress” (an example would be a sofa with cushions and arms, but no base) as a jpg.
• Open images in Photoshop, make corrections and delete background.
• Create a graphic layout in Illustrator for an opening page, instructional page and “design your own sofa” page which all incorporate the graphics created in Sketchup.
• Copy and paste into Flash as scenes.
• On the introduction page create a motion tween which will make an image of a sofa change every two seconds into another sofa image. Create a gleam, which makes each letter in the title of the program appear to brighten sequentially, with the use of a motion tween. Create a button from type and use Action Script 2 to make the informational page appear. The page is actually a scene in the same Flash file.
• Copy and paste the sofa image with the motion tween attached from the opening page. Repeat the process of creating a button and giving it the function of moving to the next scene.
• On the “design your own sofa” page create buttons with the cushion style images. With Action Script 2 program each button to move to the scene that matches its style. The graphics which are functioning buttons on this page are highlighted with a rectangle and directions for the user. The graphics which are not buttons are subdued with a black rectangle with its opacity reduced.
• Each cushion style scene is identical, except for the “sofa in progress” image. These images include seat cushions and a specific back cushion style, but the rest of the sofa is missing. On these scenes there are cushion and base graphics which need to be subdued as the ones were on the previous page. Change the arm style graphics to buttons and program them to make movie clips appear. Also program a button to go back to the cushion option page/scene in case the user wants to change his/her cushion choice .
• Movie clips have their own time line. Make movie clips which include a sofa cushion and arm style only, and complete sofas which use those particular cushion and arm styles with each of the base styles. Connect buttons to the movie clips to make the current scene evolve. With this process 48 different sofas will be shown on the program.
The program could be taken further to offer more style options and to display how each sofa style would appear with particular fabric choices. It would be time consuming to produce all of the graphics necessary for such a cornucopia of options, however putting these options into the Flash program would only involve putting movie clips inside movie clips inside movie clips and so on.
This process has produced a tool which could enable someone with no design or design software background to participate in the design experience. With this tool a manufacturer or retailer could allow customers to have fun, actually see what their custom designed furniture would look like prior to purchase and, hopefully, become comfortable enough to buy lots of furniture.
"Marketing Expert | Internet Marketing Secrets." Internet Marketing Expert | Marketing Secrets. Web. 26 June 2011.
Brown, By Amanda, and Lizzie Nguyen. "Marketing Upholstery to Generations X and Y - Upholstery Journal." Home - Upholstery Journal. Web. 26 June 2011.
"MediaPost Publications - Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines." MediaPost - News and Directories for Media, Marketing and Online Advertising Professionals. Web. 26 June 2011.
Monday, February 22, 2010
simulation
All of the articles for this week's reading were intriguing, but the description of the Masdar Headquarters in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City was, for those of us who rightly believe that global warming is a real threat, truly uplifting news. The eight-story building, which includes eleven steel-and-glass-enclosed cones, is beautiful in an aesthetic sense. However, the real beauty of the building lies in its function. It will be the first large-scale, mixed-use, positive-energy building, producing more energy than it consumes (Minutillo, 2008). Some aspects of it were inspired by structures which have been in the Middle East for hundreds of years, traditional Arabic wind towers. They are intended to assist with light and ventilation. But designing a structure such as this required technology which is very new. Four programs were used to develop and test the design: Ecotect was used for simple building orientation and shading studies, EQUEST helped to optimize the building envelope and mechanical and electrical systems, CFD simulated the interaction of fluids and gases within complex systems and FloVENT was used to predict 3D airflow, heat transfer, and contamination distribution in and around buildings (Minutillo, 2008). The harsh environment of the Middle East makes computer programs very helpful in the design of two buildings planned for Saudi Arabia, the King Abdulaziz Center for Knowledge and Culture and the Al-Birr Foundation Headquarters. In addition to helping architects plan for limiting energy consumption, they also help to design buildings which are able to withstand sand and stones being blown by the harsh winds.
The longest and tallest spanning arch bridge in the world and several art museums in the United States have something in common: computer programs were used to plan revolutionary lighting plans. Architects for the Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Crossing in Dubai used cultural inspiration when planning lighting which would vary according to the phases of the moon. The complicated structure would have been enough of a challenge to light with the twelve lanes of traffic, light rails and pedestrian paths on two separate spans. Changing the lighting patterns five times a month added to the difficulty (Minutillo, 2008). The designers used AGi32, a lighting program introduced to UNCG students in their third year, to be sure of the anticipated results.
The commonality of the lighting plans for the US museums described in the article by Joann Gonchar was taking advantage of natural light. There were multiple advantages for this approach: sustainability, perfect color rendering and the experiential dimension of a dynamic light source. There were multiple challenges, also. Sometimes a natural light source can be too dynamic. Accommodations need to be made for seasonal changes. Artwork has to be protected from too much light. These museums used a wide variety of architectural designs to allow sunlight inside: skylight system, motorized exterior blinds, photo censors, covered courtyard, frosted-glass fins, fabric baffles and aluminum louvers. The method for developing the design was the same. Simulations of the lighting effects in each of the buildings was extensive. Computer programs can take into account the geographical location, the time of the year or day, building orientation, and so on. Before construction begins, the designers of the buildings know how the lighting will work.
Computers are not only changing how architecture is being designed now, they are also changing how iconic buildings from the past are being seen and understood. In “Space, Time and Architecture” the classic text for design students, Sigfried Giedion describes how Frank Lloyd Wright designed many of his houses around the central axis of the fireplace. "In organizing his plans," Giedion wrote, "Wright goes back to the seventeenth century in the use of the large chimney in the center of the house as starting point for the whole layout. He spreads out the different rooms from this massive kernel." This description of Wright's spacial organization has been challenged with the use of 3D modeling. Bernard Hoesli published a book titled “Transparenz” which uses computer models to show spacial relationships which, until now, were nearly invisible. The ability to hide or highlight various structural elements with a simple keystroke makes it easier to produce a more thorough analysis. Hoesli gives a detailed account of a totally different perspective of how the spaces in Wright's Martin House relate to one another (Maddalina, 1999). Biology and astronomy changed substantially when the microscope and telescope allowed scientists views previously unattainable to the human eye. Computers could possibly do the same for architecture.
Model Behavior: Anticipating Great Design
http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=5&C=471
Let the (Indirect) Sun Shine In
http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=5&C=406
Computer Visualization as a Tool for Critical Analysis by Mark Maddalina
http://www.architectureweek.com/2000/0705/tools_4-1.html
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
3d animation
In her description of Four Imaginary Walls, an interactive computer installation, Ann Spalter gives a wonderful explanation of the 3D world. It can behave in predictable ways, include familiar objects and may even appear to be a place that one can recognize, but it is not the real world. It only exists within a machine. However, she also demonstrates the thin line between the virtual world and the real world with the description of how computer programs contributed to the financial crash of 1987. They had been programmed to respond to Wall Street's behavior and did exactly that, replicating through a machine the human reactions which had stimulated the crash of the stock market 60 years earlier. (Spalter pg. 324). Unlike Hal in 2001, A Space Odyssey, computers had not become independent thinkers, but humans were still unable to control the effects caused by computers.
In the rest of the chapter, Spalter describes how 3d animation works. Some of the more basic concepts were familiar to me, such as persistence of vision and visual closure; others, such as linear interpolation and easing, were new information. Linear interpolation and easing explain how a computer can produce the images between key frames, the extremes in an objects motion, with mathematical computations (Spalter pg. 329). This was interesting enough when applied to movement in animation, but the possibilities if offers when applying it to morphing is even more intriguing. The first image that came to mind when reading about morphing was the Michael Jackson video Black or White. Of course I had to go to YouTube and watch it over and over trying to see exactly how the transitions were done. While on YouTube searching for the video I ran across countless videos showing the changes in Michael Jackson's face during his lifetime. There was an obvious difference in the quality of the morphing in various videos, which reminded me of a statement I recently read but unfortunately cannot remember the source so I cannot give the author credit. Computer generated drawings are no more designed by the computer than a novel written on a word processor is written by a computer. The computer is only a tool. Another part of the morphing discussion that caught my interest was the work of Joseph Santarromona. Beginning with his own face, he did imaging of it morphing into iconic faces: Marilyn Monroe, Ferdinand Marcos, the unabomber, Homer Simpson, Ronald MacDonald, etc. Next he used faces of his friends. The negative emotional response, even from fellow artists and photographers, was surprising. As Santarromona was a Filipino growing up in an area in the Midwest with a strong Ku Klux Klan presence, the difficulties of one's identity is a strong focus of his work. He is aware of the effect of the media (Spalter pg. 339). Perhaps his work with morphing could be helpful in a psychological study on the issue.
Spalter pointed out some of the important differences in 2D and 3D imaging. Spacial cues are generated automatically in 3D. Motion implies space. In 2D the artist has to create the implication of depth. An infinite amount of points of view are a part of 3D: the 2D artist has to generate a new drawing for each point of view. From my biased viewpoint, 3D has so many advantages for the interior designer. The automatic perception of perspective, the ability to produce countless drawings from one model and the ability to show a space with different lighting are all important reasons. Even if I were as talented as many of my classmates are with 2D perspective drawing, I do not think that my opinion would change!
Animation creates so many possibilities. One of my favorites is object interaction – special programing which allows objects to respond to one another. Instead of one object moving through other, as a ghost in a cartoon, programming can allow objects to be aware of properties of other objects. A trampoline will cause someone to bounce; a hard floor will not. Another is artificial intelligence. It is used to produce 3d objects that display specific behaviors: fish schooling, fabric draping, etc.
My favorite demonstration on a concept in this chapter was the cartoon which demonstrated the difference in inverse and forward kinematics, when 3d models meet. In forward kinematics the end position and final rotation of an object are not known. In inverse kinematics the desired final position and rotation are achieved. The audience for this humor is rather limited; it made me wonder if there is a comic strip for 3D animators as xkcd is for math and science sorts.
This is past my alloted word count and I haven't touched on the second chapter. I'll just say her comment that WWW could be an abbreviation for wild, wild west is very appropriate.
"2D and 3D Animation and Video" by Anne Spalter, Addison Wesley Longman Inc. 1999, pp 323-358 (pages 358-365 have additional information which are not required to be read)
"The World Wide Web" from The Computer in the Visual Arts by Anne Spalter, Addison Wesley Longman Inc. 1999, pp 415-437.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
research project proposal
Significance of Issues
The speed at which new technologies for 3D imaging are developing pose a challenge for those in the design field. Being competent with a particular set of tools will only allow a designer to be productive and marketable for a limited amount of time. In order for designers to be up to date with their skills, it is necessary for them to know the best way to become literate in the latest tools of their trade. After graduation, the luxury of classes with knowledgeable professors guiding the learning process will no longer be available. Being informed of the most efficient learning processes will be invaluable.
Scope of Limitations/ Research Methodology
The scope of this research will focus on my attempt to master Revit. As a design professional I used pencils and paper to design and produce construction drawings for ten years. As an employee of Bernhardt, a furniture manufacturer with a staff of six designers who created galleries for furniture display, I was taught Versacad by a drafter who was a recent college graduate. Two years later I left the company and was employed as the only designer for a smaller manufacturer who used Autocad. The education received for Autocad was three hours of instruction and occasional phone calls to the company engineer. This was sufficient for the limited drafting done there for the next 17 years. As a student in UNCG's interior architecture program, I took an Autocad class last summer and was surprised by the gaps in my knowledge. Knowing that many architectural firms no longer use Autocad and being informed of the many advantages of Revit, learning it seems prudent. As I am close to graduation, there is no time to schedule a class to learn it. This awareness of how I am behind on the latest technology is what inspired the idea for this project.
In the article "Once and Future Graphics Pioneer Part II" by B.J. Novitski, he discussed how architecture students at Cornell seemed to master software programs more efficiently if they were learning them in conjunction with a studio class which required the software for the design process and for presentation. My plan will be to learn Revit while designing the project for the IAR-412 class. I will research tutorials, publications and any other resources which are available and evaluate various aspects of each. A log of time spent with learning tools, practice and actual work on the studio project will be kept. An attempt will be made to avoid making use of the instructors in the department, but if their assistance is required, that also will be documented.
Expectations
The results of this project should be a through analysis of the tools available to assist while learning Revit. The evaluation should include specifics on what tools worked well for particular aspects of the program, what the limitations were and what suggestions might be made for improvements. Becoming competent with the basic functions of Revit will be a delightful bonus.
The speed at which new technologies for 3D imaging are developing pose a challenge for those in the design field. Being competent with a particular set of tools will only allow a designer to be productive and marketable for a limited amount of time. In order for designers to be up to date with their skills, it is necessary for them to know the best way to become literate in the latest tools of their trade. After graduation, the luxury of classes with knowledgeable professors guiding the learning process will no longer be available. Being informed of the most efficient learning processes will be invaluable.
Scope of Limitations/ Research Methodology
The scope of this research will focus on my attempt to master Revit. As a design professional I used pencils and paper to design and produce construction drawings for ten years. As an employee of Bernhardt, a furniture manufacturer with a staff of six designers who created galleries for furniture display, I was taught Versacad by a drafter who was a recent college graduate. Two years later I left the company and was employed as the only designer for a smaller manufacturer who used Autocad. The education received for Autocad was three hours of instruction and occasional phone calls to the company engineer. This was sufficient for the limited drafting done there for the next 17 years. As a student in UNCG's interior architecture program, I took an Autocad class last summer and was surprised by the gaps in my knowledge. Knowing that many architectural firms no longer use Autocad and being informed of the many advantages of Revit, learning it seems prudent. As I am close to graduation, there is no time to schedule a class to learn it. This awareness of how I am behind on the latest technology is what inspired the idea for this project.
In the article "Once and Future Graphics Pioneer Part II" by B.J. Novitski, he discussed how architecture students at Cornell seemed to master software programs more efficiently if they were learning them in conjunction with a studio class which required the software for the design process and for presentation. My plan will be to learn Revit while designing the project for the IAR-412 class. I will research tutorials, publications and any other resources which are available and evaluate various aspects of each. A log of time spent with learning tools, practice and actual work on the studio project will be kept. An attempt will be made to avoid making use of the instructors in the department, but if their assistance is required, that also will be documented.
Expectations
The results of this project should be a through analysis of the tools available to assist while learning Revit. The evaluation should include specifics on what tools worked well for particular aspects of the program, what the limitations were and what suggestions might be made for improvements. Becoming competent with the basic functions of Revit will be a delightful bonus.
Monday, February 8, 2010
rendering
The reading from Anne Spalter's book was quite enlighting. Many of the tools she described were familiar to me, but the understanding of how they actually work was not. Knowing such things as how different types of mapping respond to light or that ray tracing is so time consuming because of the amazing complexity of the operation will be helpful in the future. I also was unaware of the differnt types of lighting models and their respective strengths and weaknesses. Knowing just how many options there are available makes it difficult to know which direction to choose when furthering my education in 3D technology. However, it is comforting to know that every time I learn a program or something new about a program I already use, it will make it easier to become competent on others. After all, the technology is changing so quicklly that being adaptive is a requirement of working with 3D graphics.
In spite of 3D rendering being a new part of life for me, it is rather easy to take for granted the programs we designers use to transfer the images from our brains to our computers. The readings in this course are connecting names and personalities to the work that has been done to provide the amazing tools at our disposal. Donald Greenberg has been directing the Program of Computer Graphics at Cornell University since 1974. Because the PCG is independent of any one academic department, its students and faculty enjoy an unusual opportunity for multidisciplinary research. The very diverse group includes individuals from the fields of architecture, computer science, engineering, art, perception psychology and theater arts. This mix results in a rich research environment that values human perception and the aesthetics of light as much as physics and precision computation (Novitski, 2000).The focus of the work is primarily in three areas: improving the user interfaces for architectural applications to make them more suitable for designers, simulating the behavior of light in space and understanding the human visual perception system to refine the rendering algorithms and developing methods for improving image capture and the quality of image-based rendering.
Considering that Autodesk provides some of their funding, it seems likely that PCG was responsible for a development in the first category which I learned about in our last class, the improved manipulation of objects in 3D space with 3DS Max. Relatively simple improvements of that nature could save designers a lot of time. But Greenberg and his cohorts are working on something that could have a more profound effect on computer design, a device that is a transparent digitizing surface which uses a pen and a high res rear-projection display. He feels that the pen is more suited for the way designers work than the current mouse and monitor system. But unlike the traditional pen and paper approach, it utilizes the advantages of digital systems, including the ability to allow multiple designers to work together online (Novitski, 2000).
The work PCG is doing in the next category involves the physics of light at the wavelength level. No other architectural research lab in the world is studying light at this level of precision. Complex algorithms translate the effects of light in the real world to the one we see on our computer screens. In order to keep the programs as fast as possible, perceptual psychologists are used to determine what the human eye actually perceives, so that unnecessary information does not interfere with efficiency. They are combining the advantages of ray-tracing and radiosity in a simulation method which works fast enough for real-time animation.
Another goal being pursued is the improvement of image capture and rendering. There are many problems with existing programs, such as distortions or blank spots. The work involves finding the sources of errors in these existing programs and adjusting algorithms accordingly. Part of the process is comparing image-based renderings of scenes with physically accurate images.
In addition to the improvements in the actual technology, Cornell is improving the way that students learn. Incorporating the software programs into the studios increases the students' motivation to master the program. Tools which provided better visualization of their designs helped the students to proceed quicker in the design process. Learning the program while designing also taught them to model and render within the context of design thinking. Cornell students are getting an education using technologies they can expect to work with a few years from now rather than on today's technologies, many of which will be obsolete by then. Greenberg says, "We have always emphasized the teaching of concepts so that the students can ride the technological wave and never be outdated" (Novitski, 2000).
"Rendering 3D worlds - 3D Geometric Graphics II" by Anne Spalter, Addison Wesley Longman Inc. 1999, pp 257-293.
"Once and Future Graphics Pioneer", B.J. Novitski
http://www.architectureweek.com/2000/0913/tools_1-1.html
"Once and Future Graphics Pioneer Part II", B.J. Novitski
http://www.architectureweek.com/2000/0920/tools_1-1.html
In spite of 3D rendering being a new part of life for me, it is rather easy to take for granted the programs we designers use to transfer the images from our brains to our computers. The readings in this course are connecting names and personalities to the work that has been done to provide the amazing tools at our disposal. Donald Greenberg has been directing the Program of Computer Graphics at Cornell University since 1974. Because the PCG is independent of any one academic department, its students and faculty enjoy an unusual opportunity for multidisciplinary research. The very diverse group includes individuals from the fields of architecture, computer science, engineering, art, perception psychology and theater arts. This mix results in a rich research environment that values human perception and the aesthetics of light as much as physics and precision computation (Novitski, 2000).The focus of the work is primarily in three areas: improving the user interfaces for architectural applications to make them more suitable for designers, simulating the behavior of light in space and understanding the human visual perception system to refine the rendering algorithms and developing methods for improving image capture and the quality of image-based rendering.
Considering that Autodesk provides some of their funding, it seems likely that PCG was responsible for a development in the first category which I learned about in our last class, the improved manipulation of objects in 3D space with 3DS Max. Relatively simple improvements of that nature could save designers a lot of time. But Greenberg and his cohorts are working on something that could have a more profound effect on computer design, a device that is a transparent digitizing surface which uses a pen and a high res rear-projection display. He feels that the pen is more suited for the way designers work than the current mouse and monitor system. But unlike the traditional pen and paper approach, it utilizes the advantages of digital systems, including the ability to allow multiple designers to work together online (Novitski, 2000).
The work PCG is doing in the next category involves the physics of light at the wavelength level. No other architectural research lab in the world is studying light at this level of precision. Complex algorithms translate the effects of light in the real world to the one we see on our computer screens. In order to keep the programs as fast as possible, perceptual psychologists are used to determine what the human eye actually perceives, so that unnecessary information does not interfere with efficiency. They are combining the advantages of ray-tracing and radiosity in a simulation method which works fast enough for real-time animation.
Another goal being pursued is the improvement of image capture and rendering. There are many problems with existing programs, such as distortions or blank spots. The work involves finding the sources of errors in these existing programs and adjusting algorithms accordingly. Part of the process is comparing image-based renderings of scenes with physically accurate images.
In addition to the improvements in the actual technology, Cornell is improving the way that students learn. Incorporating the software programs into the studios increases the students' motivation to master the program. Tools which provided better visualization of their designs helped the students to proceed quicker in the design process. Learning the program while designing also taught them to model and render within the context of design thinking. Cornell students are getting an education using technologies they can expect to work with a few years from now rather than on today's technologies, many of which will be obsolete by then. Greenberg says, "We have always emphasized the teaching of concepts so that the students can ride the technological wave and never be outdated" (Novitski, 2000).
"Rendering 3D worlds - 3D Geometric Graphics II" by Anne Spalter, Addison Wesley Longman Inc. 1999, pp 257-293.
"Once and Future Graphics Pioneer", B.J. Novitski
http://www.architectureweek.com/2000/0913/tools_1-1.html
"Once and Future Graphics Pioneer Part II", B.J. Novitski
http://www.architectureweek.com/2000/0920/tools_1-1.html
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