Can't Touch This !

As MC Hammer would say and probably agree... these renders are the cream of the crop (excuse the idiom) when it comes to photo-real CG. My friend, Karlos Herflo, who resides and works in Mexico City, studied architecture and 3D visualization at the University Iberoamericana. Karlos really nows how to work the light, camera angles and DOF (Depth of Field) in 3ds Max / V-Ray! Other than the fact that they are utterly superb works of art, I'll let the images speak for themselves...

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CG Architect Extraordinaire

Olivier Campagne is without doubt a highly accomplished architect / computer graphic artist! His images all have a certain quiet tenor. Their elegance inspires a reverence and solemnity. I like to study his images so that some of what he sees just might sink in. Every stroke of the mouse is pure genius. Thank you Olivier for your brilliant contributions to the world of architectural visualization.

Olivier has worked as a freelance CG artist and is now a partner at Arte-Factory LAb.
Read an interview with Olivier at CGarchitect.

Images:

1. Architectural Visualization Competition Image 2005
2. Babylon 2005
3. Saint Benedict Chapel by Peter Zumthor 2005
   
4. Tativille 2005
5. Pavilion Seroussi by EZCT Architecture & Design Research 2007
   
6. Concours VNF by Jacques Rougerie Architecte 2008
   
7. Baby Building Amsterdam 2005
   
8. CIIID Amsterdam 2004-2005
   
9. Missile room 2005
10. Pixel Art Movement

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SketchUp: The Best Little Modeling App That Could

After mastering formZ (a 3D app with a leap of a learning curve), I discovered SketchUp in 2005 back when it was still under the auspices of @last software and before it was acquired by Google.

For many reasons SketchUp is the most addicting software program I have ever used.

• it's free http://sketchup.google.com/download/
• it's easy http://sketchup.google.com/training/
• it supports a multitude of file formats http://www.suwiki.org/suwiki/index.php?title=3DS
  
• it crosses disciplines (architecture, engineering, event planning, story-boarding)
  
• there are lots of resources, components & third party plugins (i.e. smustard)
  

links:
pushpullbar2
3dwarehouse
community
sketchUcation
smustard

I originally built the 3D model of Apex House in Silverlake by Make Architecture in formZ and exported it as a 3ds file. These images were created within SketchUp after importing the 3ds file. Post-work was done in Photoshop, which is standard practice for most 3D work.

Images:

1. East & West Elevations
2. North & South Elevations
3. Street View
4. View of Downtown LA to the East
5. A Steep Site
6. Aerial Perspective

Designed by Nathan Charris, Shook Kelley's (branding architects) vision for the Buell (Erik Buell Motorcycles) Boutique embodies the notion of a traveling TI (tenant improvement). A fabricated metal tube slides neatly into a commercial space... this one proposed for the famed Melrose Avenue in LA.

Images:

1. Entry
2. Exterior
   
3. Interior 1
4. Interior 2
5. Interior 3
6. Night View

The bikes, based on the actual Buell models (Blast, Firebolt, Lightning and Ulysses) were modeled by my gifted 3D artist friend Ivica Valjak.

Photoshop was used to add entourage (people elements) and composite the SketchUp images into the actual photos of the proposed site.

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Photo-Realistic 3D

The eight interior images created in 3ds Max and rendered with V-Ray are from 3dblur's latest visualization project... a sexy vacation home in Loreto, Mexico by Sumich Design.

Images:

1. Northeast Perspective by Dave Sanders
2. Southwest Perspective by Dave Sanders
3. Pavilion Lanai
4. Pavilion Kitchen/Dining
5. Pavilion Powder Room
6. Pavilion Living Room
7. Master Bedroom
8. Master Bath
9. Bunkhouse Bedroom
10. Bunkhouse Bath

A snazzy teen's bath in a Laguna Beach was also rendered for Sumich Design.


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Houses at Sagaponac

It amazes me when people have a grandiose idea and then pull it off in reality. The Sagaponac House images, created in SketchUp, document the Houses at Sagaponac, a groundbreaking architecture project initiated by Harry (Coco) Joe Brown Jr. Educated at Yale and Oxford and a long time fixture of the arts world, (Beckett's "Knapp's Last Tape" and Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story"), Brown initially supported his endeavours with real estate investments which grew into a successful holdings company.

The project features houses designed by internationally recognized architects on a 100-acre site near the tip of Long Island. Sources of inspiration include the Case Study Houses in California commissioned by Arts + Architecture magazine in the 1950s and the 1927 Weissenhof Seidlung experimental housing in Stuttgart, Germany.

Brown is a true genius when it comes to combining art and business. Give me some lessons please. So many housing developments have fallen prey to the artlessness of bureaucracy. Bravo to Mr. Brown for his vision and steadfastness.

American Dream: The Houses at Sagaponac: Modern Living in the Hamptons can be purchased at Amazon and read on a Kindle.