Drag and drop your models with Creator

Esperient Creator is an interactive 3D application-authoring tool, that provides a WYSIWYG approach to creating interactive 3D applications. It's compatible with Google SketchUp and integrates right into your workflow. John D'Amours, President and Founder of Visual Training Solutions, uses Google SketchUp and the Google 3D Warehouse to create or find content. He then brings that content "to life" with Esperient Creator. He says, “SketchUp provides some great home furnishings, accents, and even unique materials and textures that can easily be modified and brought to life in RH and Esperient Creator. This is extremely useful for creating 3D instructions for improvement projects around the house, employees, and even marketing and communication tools. You never know what you’ll find in the Google 3D Warehouse…I always check there first.”

Check out this video that highlights a number of workflows using Google SketchUp and Google 3D Warehouse with Esperient Creator.

Via Google Sketchup Blog

Microsoft officially announces the Zune HD

Lately a lot of rumors have been surfacing on the Internet about a new HD device named as Zune HD.

However, this is no longer  a rumor anymore as Microsoft has officially announced the new Zune HD portable media player in a press-release.

The new Zune HD becomes the first ever Zune to feature a metallic surface and a touchscreen. Below is a detailed list of all the features and specifications for the new Zune HD.

• 3.3 inch Capacitive Touchscreen
• Metallic body in black and bronze
• A resolution of 480x272
• Multitouch input
• HD radio and video
• Full-screen Internet browser
• WiFi and accelerometer

Looking at the features one can definitely believe it to be hell of a device, and also the first ever portable media player to include HD radio which streams songs at a much better quality than traditional radio.

Although a head to head comparison with the iPod Touch tells us that Microsoft might not trying to be too innovative with the Zune HD. Also the device is supported to sync and work with only Windows PCs which is ironic in the sense that Mac users wouldn't really consider buying a Zune.

The Zune HD will only be available in the US, unlike most other portable media players which are available worldwide. More details on the hardware, availability and price will be released by Microsoft soon.

Via Sizlopedia

New Cadyou.com Model & Texture Search

Tom of cadyou.com has created a new 3d model and texture search application that searches 13 sites for models and textures.

The search returns thumbnail links of the models and textures, and has some great sorting and filtering options.

Give it a try - it works well, looks nice, and is a real time-saver if your searching assets.


Via sketchup plugins

Modelur - a SketchUp tool for parametric urban design

MODELUR is a sketchup plugin  for parametric urban design that enables:

 

• rapid design of built environment,
• quick response to changed conditions of planned site,
• automatic change of built environment,
• quick creation of different variants of urban design solution,
• avoiding mistakes issued by wrong building articulation and
• continuous supervision of achieved urban control values.

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Below is a video showing the application in action:

MVRDV vision for Grand Paris 2030

This animation presents MVRDVs vision for Greater Paris 2030. The project Paris Plus petit by MVRDV in collaboration with ACS and AAF is one of ten proposals by international architecture and urbanism teams to envision the future of the French capital and its vast agglomeration. The urban challenge has been commissioned by Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France.

Paris Plus stands for more: more ambition, more optimism, more density, more efficiency, more ecology and more compactness. Greater Paris needs a strong combination of responsibility and ambition to continue its development, to ensure its consistency and to develop a cohesion that can build a base for a collective enterprise to solve its problems, to enlarge its presence and attractiveness, to create an even more remarkable, exemplary city.

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Via architecturemnp

Google Announces First Round of PowerMeter Partners

Most ecogeeks have been anxiously awaiting updates on Google's smart grid technology, the PowerMeter, which will allow homeowners to track and manage their energy use on their iGoogle homepage and, according to one Google employee who saved $3,000 in one year, significantly lower their energy bills.

Many other smaller companies have been developing energy management software too, but we all know that Google has a track record of being a game changer and their addition to the market could allow us to see a huge increase in smart meter users and, hopefully, major gains in home energy efficiency.

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Via EcoGeek

frank lloyd wright: from within outward exhibition opens at the guggenheim, nyc

Fifty years after the realization of frank lloyd wright’s renowned design,
the solomon r. guggenheim museum is celebrating the golden anniversary
of its landmark building with the exhibition frank lloyd wright: from within outward,
co-organized by the guggenheim foundation and the frank lloyd wright foundation.

the exhibition which opened on friday brings together sixty-four projects designed
by one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, including privately
commissioned residences, civic and government buildings, religious and performance
spaces, as well as unrealized urban mega-structures. presented on the spiral ramps of
wright’s museum through a range of mediums; including more than 200 original
frank lloyd wright drawings, many of which are on view to the public for the first time,
as well as newly commissioned models and digital animations.
it will be on view until august 23, 2009.


entrance into the exhibition


entrance into the exhibition


'from within outward' exhibition throughout the various levels


model of the gordon strong automobile objective, sugarloaf, maryland, 1924 -1925
image © designboom

the gordon strong automobile objective was conceived by frank lloyd wright
as a project for businessman gordon strong to provide views on the summit
of the sugar loaf mountain and serve as an objective for short motor trips.
the spiraling roadways, cantilevered to allow full views, were supported by
a vast dome 150 feet in diameter. under the dome wright proposed a planetarium,
to be surrounded by a circular gallery containing aquaria and natural-history exhibits.


model of the gordon strong automobile objective, sugarloaf, maryland
image © designboom


model of johnson wax headquarters, 1936-1939
image © designboom

the johnson wax headquarters was built with over 200 types of curved red bricks
and used glass tubing in its interior. perhaps one of the most known sections of
the headquarters isthe 'great workroom' , an open area with no internal walls
constructed with steel reinforced 'lilypad' like columns.


johnson wax headquarters - 'great workroom'


solomon r. guggenheim museum, new york, new york, 1943 - 59, perspective.
ink and watercolor on art paper
© 2009 the frank lloyd wright foundation


edgar j. kaufmann house,'fallingwater', mill run, pennsylvania, 1934 - 37, perspective.
graphite pencil and colored pencil on paper.
© 2009 the frank lloyd wright foundation


unity temple, oak park, illinois, 1905 -08, perspective.
ink and watercolor on art paper
© 2009 the frank lloyd wright foundation


herbert jacobs house #1, madison, wisconsin, 1936 -37, perspective.
colored pencil and sepia ink on paper
© 2009 the frank lloyd wright foundation


the living city (unbuilt project), u.s.a., 1958, perspective.
graphite pencil on paper.
© 2009 the frank lloyd wright foundation

Via Designboom

Theo Jansen: The art of creating creatures

Artist Theo Jansen demonstrates the amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures he builds from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. His creatures are designed to move -- and even survive -- on their own.

Pedestrian Modelling: Oxford Circus London Video

Oxford Circus in London is a busy intersection between Regent Street and Oxford Street with more than 200m visitors a year (BBC). Work is about to begin on a £5m project to pedestrianise part of Oxford Circus. Based on crossings in Tokyo, the new design will stop all traffic in all directions, and allow people to cross diagonally as well as straight ahead. Street clutter and barriers at the junction of Oxford Street and Regent Street will also be removed.

Graphic showing the Oxford Circus redesign

The movie below created by Designhive details how Atkins' two-dimensional traffic and pedestrian models can be coupled with 3D Studio Max in such a way it is difficult to distinguish the model from a real piece of video footage. Combining the models in the simulation in this way makes the finished product particularly compelling. Furthermore it has the benefit of being based on the technical models developed to test the proposals prior to their implementation (such as the removal of street clutter).

The pedestrian model is a particle-based system controlling 5000 agents to match up the data produced by Atkins Intelligent Space. When the final simulation was rendered, the 'particles' were replaced with animated people, programmed to walk while the points were moving and idle when the points stopped for traffic lights.

 

Via Digital Urban

Nathaniel Kahn: My father, my architect

Nathaniel Kahn shares clips from his documentary "My Architect," about his quest to understand his father, the legendary architect Louis Kahn. It's a film with meaning to anyone who seeks to understand the relationship between art and love.

Infinity Citizen

After succeeded Tenspace, young stag this splendid spot carried out by Japanese studio WOW for the Citizen mark At the time off the living room room Baselworld 2009 in Switzerland. The topic off film is centered one the possibilities infinity: mixture off images combined with has collecting off the town off Tokyo has.

Via fubiz

Photosynth Now Intergrated with Virtual Earth

Microsoft have just launched Photosynths integration with Virtual Earth along with some tweaks to the interface, the slightly corporate and stumbled through video below provides details:

 

While it is still early days the example of the House Synth over at http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/ details the possibilities.

Via Digital Urban

City of Vancouver: Passive Design Toolkits

The City has developed and approved two passive design toolkits detailing ways to reduce energy use in new buildings, which are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in Vancouver. The tookits provide best practices for homes and larger buildings for passive design elements such as layout, orientation, insulation, landscaping and ventilation. They are targeted to City staff and the design and development communities, intended to help us move toward a new, higher standard of energy efficiency without sacrificing thermal comfort.

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Via blgsim

Using micro-blogging to record architectural design conversation alongside the BIM

The majority of professionals within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry use the telephone and email to collaborate on immediate design problems. Unfortunately there is a disconnection between this communication and the underlying Building Information Model (BIM) where the agreed upon architectural solution is recorded. As a consequence it is difficult for a person interacting solely with the BIM to take part or learn from this external conversation because they are often oblivious to it taking place. Micro-blogging is an emerging, Internet-based communication medium that may provide the common thread to tie these disparate sources of project information together. It will achieve this through enabling the issues and outcomes discussed during architectural conversations to be quickly recorded by any member of the project team. Those working on the BIM will be able to actively monitor and search across these conversations to keep up to date with the project’s state and help solve new design problems.

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Via Stress-Free

MAC Version of Augmented Reality Plug-in for Google Sketch-Up

The Development Lab of Inglobe Technologies released today the MAC version of ARmedia Plugin for Google SketchUp. AR-media™ Plugin technology allows users to bring their models from the world famous 3D modelling tool by Google straight into “reality” just in a click.

A free trial can be downloaded from this link.

Via sketchup plugins

Revit Architecture 2010 To Ecotect

Click the link below for a step by step tutorial on “How to import an analysis model from Revit Architecture 2010 into Ecotect via gbXML”.

Green Templates Part II: Revit Architecture to Ecotect

Via revitology

Autodesk announces Ecotect Analysis 2010 and free Guide to Sustainable Design

During the AIA 2009 Convention Autodesk announced Autodesk Ecotect Analysis 2010, the latest version of the software that offers improved integration with Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 and Autodesk Revit MEP 2010.

And continuing with the teaching spirit of the original version of Ecotect, Autodesk has launched the Autodesk Guide to Sustainable Design, a new free online resource for designers that illustrates sustainable design principles, decisions and technologies for every phase of the building project lifecycle.

Via ArchDaily