Monday, 30 July 2007

A Closer Look at Microsoft's Virtual Earth

Microsoft's Virtual Earth is the competitor of Google Earth. Not much has been said about Virtual Earth. It simply comprises of similar features to that of Google Earth in terms of navigation however, Google Earth is just too ahead of Virtual Earth in terms of usage and its various features such as importing sketchup models and creating your own mashups. New features are still getting developed for Google Earth users. I guess one of the cool feature of Virtual Earth is navigating via a browser which shows 3D buildings as well and the quality of the resolution of the 3D buildings is much better than Google Earth.However, a plugin needs to be downloaded which can take several minutes.

Below is a video showing Stephen Lawler of Microsoft giving a talk on Virtual Earth.



Below is a video showing Virtual Earth in action:



More info visit: Inside Microsoft blog post.

Second Life and Architectural Practice

Some architectural firms are starting to use Second Life as a professional tool for architectural collaboration, presentation and communication with clients. With SL it is easier to communicate designs to clients as they are able to walk into the built design concepts and have meetings sitting inside the designs instead of describing drawing over the phone. The more virtual models enable clients to interact with them and make changes to them.

Autodesk have already started an island on SL and softwares which import AutoCAD models into SL have already been developed. One particular software "Henshin" will be available soon. Below is a demonstration video showing how to import AutoCAD models into SL using Henshin.



For further info: visit The ARCH blog post on Second Life and Architectural Practice and New World Notes blog post on AutoCAD into SL

Saturday, 28 July 2007

Burj Dubai: The Tallest Building




Burj Dubai currently under construction will be the tallest building and the tallest man-made structure in the world. In fact as at of 21 July 2007, the tower's developers reported Burj Dubai's height as 512.1m with 141 completed floors surpassing Taipei 101 (509.2m) as the tallest high rise building in the world.

Burj Dubai designed by Skidmore Owings and Merill will comprise of 162 floors and an overall height of aprox 808m.

The SketchUp Show

Google SketchUp is a free modelling tool which has a lot of features such as importing models into Google Earth. A new podcasting website called The Sketchup Show has been created to help people use SketchUp. It includes video podcasts on tips, tricks and tutorials on modelling in SketchUp. A SketchUp blog has also been created which includes tutorials and other useful information.

Photoshop CS3's photomerge feature



Photoshop CS3 has a feature which creates panoramic views. The new photomerge feature combines several photographs into one continuous image. It automatically stitches them together to create panoramic views. You can also create interactive panoramic views.

I think this feature is available in CS2 and CS to some extent.

To view a video tutorial on how to use the photomerge feature on CS3 click here.

Tuesday, 17 July 2007

MyVu Personal Media Viewer




MyVu Corporation a company, has developed a product to view ipod videos through a new dimension. It has developed glasses which project videos which can be viewed via a virtual big screen. An amazing technology however, it has some issues which needs to be developed further. It can be purchased via the product website.

For further info visit the blog post on EcoGeek which shows the sustainability of the design and its 'green' features.


Sunday, 8 July 2007

SPEED-PAINTING

A speed painting of John Locke from LOST:



Further info visit YouTube to check out more videos on speed-painting. To visit the speed-painting websit click HERE which shows how it is done.

Saturday, 7 July 2007

Microsoft touch screen table



Check out this video showing Microsoft's new surface computer. A great product for interactive presentations.

The Top Ten Green Skyscrapers



EcoGeek has announced the top ten green skyscrapers. To check out the top ten green skyscrapers visit Eco-Towers blog post. Mixed Greens, is an organisation which is working on sustainable and energy efficiency design in skyscrapers.

Thursday, 5 July 2007

REALVIZ HDR Imaging Studio



REALVIZ HDR Imaging Studio is a new product by REALVIZ which combines Stitcher 5.6, VTour 1.2 HDR and Photomatix Pro in order to create HDR environments for virtual reality, architecture, industrial design, special effects and video game applications. With Stitcher 5.6, users can produce HDR panoramas and directly export them as environment maps in a 3D modeling software such as 3ds Max. VTour 1.2 HDR creates 3D virtual tours from existing single environmets or panoramas. It adds HDR depth to environment maps for Spatial Image-Based Ligthing (SIBL). Photomatix pro has tone mapping capabilities and creating HDR images from various exposures.

Visit InsideCG blogpost and REALVIZ for further info.


HyperShot



HyperShot is the world’s first interactive photography software by Bunkspeed. It lets you load 3d models and environments, then lets you see automation in real time. It also delivers real time rendering. "See instant global illumination and physics-based materials on models come alive, right before your eyes…with stunning photographic results." It's another type of rendering software but has other features such as real time interactive view with environmnents and change of renderings of the same object in the same environment.

Visit InsideCG blogpost and Hypershot website for further info.


Tuesday, 3 July 2007

Squint/Opera Animations

Squint/Opera is a company which makes films,animations and renders for architectural firms. I came across a few animations which were very interesting and very cool! Below is a presentation created by Squint/Opera. To view more films visit there YouTube site.



Some interesting CG images created by Squint/Opera:





C.G.I. and Compositing

An interesting video I came across in youTube showing a CGI and a compositing showreel which includes live bluescreen work.



Below is a tutorial on a Node-Based Compositing program used to create CGI. This gives an idea how it is done.

Dynamic Architecture



To be constructed in Dubai, is this skyscraper designed by architect David Fisher which rotates by wind power. The building rotates by individual floor, creating ‘dynamic architecture’.

Wind turbines are positioned horizontally between each floors which, will produce energy to the building itself and will supply energy for several other buildings. The skyscraper consists of 59 floors and will have 48 wind turbines, making the building to be a Power Station producing Green Energy for the city. In addition to the horizontal turbines, the building is to be fitted with photovoltaic panels on the roof in order to generate more electricity.

For further info visit dynamic architecture=green architecture post.

Below is a presentation of the dynamic architecture showing its sustainability and functionality.


Monday, 2 July 2007

Popfly Mashup Service

Microsoft has launched a new mashup application called Popfly designed for people who do not know how to develope codes.

The free online srvice which is still at its Alpha stage provides a way to construct mashups by combining various web 2.0 applications. The application users microsoft's Silverlight browser plugin which is now in beta. In order to use Popfly Alpha, you have to sent an invitation request. For more info visit webware blog post on popfly.

Below are videos showing what popfly is,its features and how to use the application.





To checkout my embedded mashup click here.



Open-source architecture to house the world

An open-source architecture network has been developed by architecture for humanity, a charitable organisation. It is a great idea in order to share and communicate ideas through an open-source network. Below is a video which shows what the network is all about and who is behind it.

Sunday, 1 July 2007

Photosynth

Photosynth is a new software still in development by microsoft which takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object through photosharing applications such as flickr, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional way.

The video below shows a presentation of photosynth at the TED conference 2007 by its developer Blaise Aguera y Arcas.



Below is a videoof photosynth in action



For further information visit anarchitecture blog on photosynth.

The system requirements to run this application is quite demanding. A good graphics card is reccomended and windows vista. To check out the system requirements click here.


A Closer Look At The iPhone

the new apple iphone is released in US. The video below shows a quick demonstration of the product and its features.



You can also download a guided tour from the apple website.

To view the specifications of the iphone click here.

To view reviews and listings of any and all software for the iPhone click here.