"Nighthawks" -- The Real Deal

Here is a link to see an image of the famous painting.
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hopper/nighthwk.jpg.html

Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
1942
Oil on canvas
30 x 60 in.
The Art Institute of Chicago

Serious Use of Game Technology

In the forums on CGArchitect.com there has been discussion, by professionals in architectural visualization, of experiementing with importing architectural computer models into Doom or Quake to allow the user true interactivity, rather than providing the user with a pre-determined walk-through. This is another example of the fact that game technology is providing serious and useful applications. I think it is only a matter of time before the interractive technology of games will play a big role in architectural visualization. I want to learn the skills, so I will be ready.

Nighthawks of Doom

Nighthawks of Doom

Nighthawks of Doom

Nighthawks of Doom

What I Want To Do

Although I especially want to work with historic architecture rather than current construction, I found a good example of the kind of work I would like to do.

Go to www.renderings.com
In the lower center panel, click 3-D Virtual Animations.
Then click one of the pictures. I recommend the one on the bottom, "The Metropolitan Dallas."

That's it. That's what I want to do.

Inviting Your Comments

Our class is almost over, so one last time I want to invite comments. I would especially like to hear the perspectives of my classmates on software applications, so if you haven't already please see the post 3D Software Wars: Maya vs 3DS Max and share your thoughts.

Please note, also, that many posts have already been archived, so, if these topics are of interest to you please check the archive as well, and share your thoughts so those of us with similar interests can network!

Thanks!

DeVry's New Degree in Games and Simulation

It looks like ATEC graduates will not only be facing competition in the job market from graduates of CCCC, but from DeVry:

DeVry University to Offer Bachelor's Degree Program in Game and Simulation Programming at Irving Campus; Program to Begin in July

"Graduates of the program ... will also be qualified for jobs in fields beyond the game industry, where integrated competencies of game and simulation design and programming come together. Examples include military tactical and strategic simulations and training, automotive design and testing, training for health care workers, crime scene reconstruction, flight simulation and any other industry that does design and prototyping work."

"Simulations" would probably be the term to describe what I want to learn how to do.

Nighthawks of Doom

Visualization for the Legally Blind

A legally blind poet at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has designed a "seeing machine" that allows people with limited vision to see faces of friends, read or study the layouts of buildings they intend to visit.

MIT Seeing Machine

3D computer modeling would function with this device in a very important way.

Catia vs Gehry Technologies "Digital Project"

I would like to hear from anyone who can comment on "Catia" vs Gehry Technologies "Digital Project" software. Digital Project is built on the Catia engine, and it appears that Digital Project may be more appropriate for architectural modeling. It would be great to hear from anyone with thoughts to share on this!

3D Software Wars: Maya vs 3DS Max

I would appreciate comments from anyone who can venture an opinion on the virtues of 3DS Max as opposed to Maya. Or vice versa. I understand that each of these software packages has its assets and limitations. I'd like to hear from others on this!

It's interesting to note that Autodesk has purchased Maya, so now these two competitors are both owned by Autodesk. I wonder if they will eventually be merged into one product, or end up going very separate ways.

I'm especially interested in any comments relevant to working with architectural models.

I would also be delighted to hear from anyone who has worked with Catia, and would appreciate comments on Catia's relevance to architectural modeling. It would also be great to hear from any of my classmates who are especially interested in learning Catia.

Thanks in advance!

Flash animation worth watching!

I thought this was about the best Flash animation I have ever seen!

Animator Vs. Animation

Basic software

Vocational colleges and community colleges are recommending that students in our field be familiar with at least these seven basic software products:

• Photoshop
  
• Illustrator
  
• InDesign
  
• Dreamweaver
  
• Flash
  
• Maya and/or 3DS Max
  
• Final Cut Pro (or other video editing software)
  

I concur with this list. About seven years ago I spent many anguished hours looking through want-ads and compiling a list of the software most in demand in the job market. These are the ones that came up over and over again.

I hope our program will find a way to incorporate these software packages in our classes, so that we will at least have a working familiarity with the basic software. Otherwise, with our master's degrees we won't even be able to compete with the community college graduates in the job market.

Freya Fairymeadow

Where do we go from here

When my classmates and I started talking about our goals and concerns, at first it seemed that there was a wide disparity in our worries, but the more we talk, the more I see a common thread. While one classmate worries that she can't keep up with our classmates in the technical arena, another worries about how to pull her broad range of interests together without gaps into one employable package, and I worry that I will dutifully complete assignments through a master's degree program and walk away with a degree but without the skills to do the kind of work I want to do. The common thread in our concerns is that we know we need real-world job skills. It is foolish to set aside those concerns. It is foolish to unquestioningly complete assignments which will teach us a dying art that has no current applications, and it is foolish to spend all our time dreaming about future opportunities that advancing technology might bring in some future decade. For a well-rounded education we need to consider the earlier roots of our field, of course, as well as anticipating where things might be going in the future. But those are extraneous issues, not worthy of consuming our entire educational experience. What we need most is the ability to do productive work in the world of today, with a broad enough knowledge base to adapt to what's coming in the next few years. We need real skills in what's happening now, not in what's going away, and not in some dream that may never come to fruition.

We don't want to be working drones, we want to be leaders and innovators. But innovation does not come from a romanticized clinging to the past while scorning the present, or from anticipating the future through a fantasy which has no relationship to reality.

And none of us wants a worthless degree that will scare employers away.

Catia

Dr. Linehan recommended that I find out about the software Catia
for architectural modeling, saying that it would produce more elegant work than 3DS Max. He said that I might (eventually) find work in digitally preserving the old Spanish mission churches in California, because there is concern that an earthquake could destroy them beyond repair. This kind of work, digitally preserving the past, sounds like just the kind of thing I would love to do.