and the WINNER is...

Who is the winner in your opinion? (leave comment below or HERE)

In my opinion 3dAllusions is the BEST portal focusing on architectural renderings, visualization, illustrations, and 3D renderings on the net. Back when it hit the web running I was one of its first moderators (albeit for a New York-minute... regretfully I was too busy to keep it up).

Founder|CEO Russell Thomas, a Seattle area resident, created 3dallusions to fuel his passion for his profession as an architect. A self-described computer GOD and comedic genius, he has found a way to leave the head ache of the practice of architecture behind. Now that's what I call creative thinking! I admire his gratitude and spunk and the way he has given back to the community.

His new venture 3dAllusionsStudio brings together a talented collective of CG artists for hire.



The Design Challanges - Charrette's/Themed Challenges is one of my favourite forums at 3dallusions. In the latest challenge, Charrette #14, competitors rendered a residence in Portugal, Casa am Alenquer/House in Alenquer by Aires+Mateus

A I R E S M A T E U S

see the actual WINNER of the Grand Prize: here and here
Runner Up: here
Honorable Mention: here
Special Mentions: here, here, here, here and here

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:: you've got to be kidding... no I am not ::

Juan Siquier has been on my radar for many years now. I catch glimpses of his work in my mind from time to time and want to revisit his work and genius here. He writes a blog, he has been digged, he has been featured on almost every CG site on the net, he is a musician, a photographer. In fact he uses photography as a starting point for his street scenes. Sometimes it is hard to tell the photograph from his art. One of the pioneers of CG, he started creating images before software and hardware became as sophisticated as it is today. I am a modernist at heart, but his images, with their painterly quality, are quite irresistible. They appear like photographs which have had touch ups and photoshop filters added. The level of detail is utterly mind-blowing. They are all created using the tools of his trade... a computer, a Wacom tablet, and a mouse... I kid you not...

you can see more of Juan's work at designdipp

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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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