Master in Arch_Final Year: January 2011

Friday, January 28, 2011

Interim Submission

Final project: Successes and failures so far…….

So far I have created a prototype of a certain construction system, I had chosen to model a simple system of construction on sloping sites. I started by modelling the components of this system on sketchup including a sloping site, an area which is cut away (the construction site), foundations (negative and positive), retaining walls and piers, concrete floor slab with drop beam and then double brick walls. I then exported these components from sketchup into 3ds Max to create animations, the animations worked perfectly as you can see in the video below, however the first problem arose when I exported the animation into buildAR, my file was imported as a static object rather than an animation. You can also see in the buildAR video (below) that some of the surfaces are completely missing and that none of the materials had exported through. These failures, may mean that I need to rethink the design process of my construction systems for the final project, the process of importing models from sketchup to 3ds may be causing inconsistencies in the model and final animations… so the final models may have to be completely produced in 3ds max.

Another problem I have encountered (which is a recurring problem from the last project) is that buildAR isn’t recognising my webcam… the initial webcam settings window which appears as soon as you start buildAR states that my computers video standard is PAL_B… on the tutorial on buildAR website they have it as none.. but I cant change it. So I am therefore forced to use my sisters laptop which crashes everytime I have buildAR open longer than 5 mins… (FRUSTRATING!!!!)

Sketchup screen shots and final project illustrations:

Friday, January 21, 2011

Assignment 3 Proposal

Proposal
Understanding a buildings structural system has always been an area in architecture which i have constantly struggled with. There are many resources available in the form of books and journals which illustrate the various building and construction details however the examples are commonly two dimensional and often too vague to engage a proper understanding with the reader... It was not until i recently purchased the Modern Construction Handbook by Andrew Watt's which illustrates structural systems in three dimensions that i started to gather a greater understanding... However after playing around with augmented reality over the past few weeks i believe that i can take this concept a little further.. I thought what if a buildings structural systems animated out of a page in a sequential rythem that not only has stronger visual clarity for the reader but creates a much richer educational experience..???

Below are some pages from Modern Construction handbook:

More traditional 2D Construction sections:

So for my final project i aim to use the skills of which i have acquired in augmented reality and 3ds Max over the last few weeks and create a prototype for a 3D construction handbook. Obviously as i am constrained with time i will be limited on the number of systems i can explore in my book but my main aim is not to produce a large quantity of systems in the book but more so, to produce a prototype for something that could be expanded in the future - AND to present something that has not been created before which could have profound outcomes on future eduction and student interaction with literature.

Assessment Criteria

3D Books.... the future of books