Conclusion

To conclude, I have thoroughly enjoyed this unit of work. It has pushed me to create beautiful pieces of art in different circumstances to normal units. Before we were always asked to create pieces of work that were relevant to the set of tutorials taught to us, or to learn to create work in a group. However, this term I have been pushed to learn a great deal more about my specialist area, including where it will be used in certain industries and what I will actually be creating. I'm also glad that I focused my dissertation on architectural modelling too because the research just went hand in hand and totally helped with the general stress that I normally get from university projects.

I'm glad that I had the opportunity to work with Architectural worker John O'Keffe because not only has he given me valid opinions of my work and taught me about what to expect in the industry but he has also taken me under his wing and given me an opportunity to feel what it is like to work for "a client", even though I was essentially volunteering.  The outcome of the work that I created from this experience is also something that I can really say that I am proud of and that I created overall in a very short space of time (roughly 2-3 hours for the whole thing).

Because I created most of that stage piece early on in the first half of term, I felt that I really should create something that was slightly more challenging but also from a perspective outside of a building to show that I am capable of creating a variety of different three-dimensional environmental designs. I chose the Saviour of Blood Chapel and I felt that it met this criteria that I set myself. I also had to make sure that I was running on track with my schedule so that I could fit in another piece. I generally managed to keep on top of my schedule throughout the project but a couple of things slipped past me.

Overall I am quite happy with my outcomes from this unit and I can't wait to see what I am capable of bringing to a team next term.

Final Pieces

So as I have said before, I have created two final projects for my portfolio. The first being the Architectural artistic impression, whilst the second being a complicated model of the Russian Chapel, "Saviour of Blood".

Other innovative ideas in cg purposes

According to a website called Deezen, some people have already begun a race to build the first ever 3d printed livable house. Architecture teams based in London and Amsterdam are now rushing to structurally produce and assemble the first printed structure, using 3d technology in a way that could change the housing development as we know it. Gilles Retin of Softkill Design says that:

“"When we started our research, we were dealing in science fiction. Everyone on the architecture scene was saying, 'It’s only going to be possible in 50 or 60 years.' But when we were sitting at the table in front of one of these 3D-printing companies, these guys were like, 'Yeah, no problem – let's start up the research, let's push it.' So it's not actually that far off any more."- Gilles Retin of Softkill Design

A man called Benjamin Dillenburger is actually in the process of creating a whole 3d printed house. So far he has only created a single room but it's still an amazing example of how architectural modelling can be used. Perhaps one day everyone will live in three-dimensionally printed house and everything will be creatively processed.

However of course, not only is there technology to create things in real life from virtual things but there is of course another method in which you can scan entire subjects (not just people) into your 3D program. Various Scanning studios such as “The Astronauts” have been using their rig developments to scan objects ranging from cars to all kinds of assets. The purpose of scanning objects like this has so far been used to create detailed digital compositions within films and advertising, where they keep trying to make things look as physically real as possible. Somebody anonymous asked this question on Quora: “Will 3D Scanning be a good tool for creating video games? Could it cut down time for developing 3D video games”. Dave Cahill answered saying that he doubts companies using it over normal modelling techniques due to an increased amount of polygons. He also said that there would be no real advantage of scanning a real world location because cleaning up the overall data would probably become far more handful than to simply create something creatively or loosely based on images of a real place. However on the Astronaut’s website, they boast how they have managed to scan an entire real-life church and recreate it perfectly in 3D. It’s a method known as “Photogrammetry”. You basically have to take pictures of a complete subject area, then feed the data back into the computer. Although if you miss a certain section of any part, you end up with an absolute mess of glitches everywhere forcing you to redo the entire thing.

How is Architectural work changing?

Up to date CAD software is constantly changing in a way to improve the quality of designs, along with improving communication between documentations and a database for manufacturing. CAD is used in many areas of architecture including automotive, shipbuilding, aerospace, industrial building and prosthetics, among other uses. Its also a big part within product lifestyle management. Autodesk Revit is another example that allows the user to manipulate or assemble an entire building inside the program. Revit is divided into three major categories within family groups. These include system families (the walls of the building), loadable families (components and assets) and the inplace families which are built in within a project. Revit is also considered an advanced version of AutoCAD.It is far superior to AutoCad with the abilities to achieve so much stronger designs.

BIM modelling from an architectural point of view is currently and mainly used for plumbing and electricity maintenance (MEP). Current versions AutoCad software give an accurate building representation. This can be used to control or observe areas such as water and gas usage without actually spending time trying to check the information by hand. For example, for a building that has some sort of leak, rather than exploring  the real life environment, they can turn to the model to track down where the dodgy valve is located. Sensor measurement and control signs can also be incorporated within BIM software to support analysis of the system maintenance.

The future potential of 3d designing overall then is obviously improved visuals and productivity due to use of newer rendering information, increased coordination of construction documentation, embedding and linking of vital information relevant to the building (including materials, location of things). Another newly developed game changer is a new app available on all current smart phones which lets you create a rough 3d visualisation just by pointing the mobile camera at 2d blueprints on a table. The app is being developed by a company called Arch20.com. Having a further look into mobile apps that are available for architects, there is  quite a selection and it seems that they are quite useful too. Archdaily.com has shared what they believe are the top 10 mobile apps for architcture, including AutoCAD 360, Autodesk Formit (Which is basically a toned down version of Revit) and the websites personal favourite, “Paper”, which consiss of five tools and a blank canvas, coupled with as many virtual sketchbooks as you want. Paper won apple’s Designing app of the year back in 2012 and apparently nothing’s beaten it yet three years later. All Autodesk mobile apps are currently free, therefore this implies that they are not quite worthwhile for professional use compared to their big brother PC counterparts (obviously phones aren’t nearly as powerful as computers are).  

Is money an issue in my industry?

The massive companies in this business are making an absolute steal in revenues. Autodesk made a profit of $2.5 billion dollars in 2014 from the sales of their various software to development companies and freelancers alike. The problem with most industry standard programs is that they are proprietary software, i.e. you have to pay a fortune to use them with an official licence (e.g. 3ds max). There are ways of course to get a free version, whether you are a student or have obtained it from other mysterious methods, but to actually publish a piece of work, you are require to own a copy. Otherwise you are inflicting copyright infringement. Some other licenced Autodesk products include AD inventor, maya, revit and softimage.

When looking for various job opportunities in Architectural designing, a website called “Careers in Construction” instantly came out with 240 available jobs. A vast majority of the recruiting companies include Hays, Bespoke and Yourstoree, with an average starting salary of around £20k. A simple job on this wage from Hays includes being an Architectural technician, at which requires an advanced knowledge and proficiency in AutoCAD. You should had have also had some sort of experience, whether it be an internship, out of education for a year in a relevant job to residential apartments. And of course you must be highly capable in a technical respective. Eventually you can then build up enough experience towards a £40K-£50K job in team management. The requirements to be a “Principal architect” at the same company requires extensive, proven experience at a senior level- designing firm alongside delivering large scale projects in the commercial and industrial sectors. Other management requirements are obviously being organised along with understanding Revit.

Now for 3d environment artists, I’m looking at the job site “Indeed”. The absolute bare minimum wage in 3d modelling is roughly between £20-£30k. A company called “Frame” us looking for a willing junior Architectural visualizer. The company offers an opportunity to mainly use 3ds max to complete 3ds modelling tasks and I have to demonstrate my abilities in a promising portfolio full of photorealistic visual images with a major focus on lighting, Materials and textures. Major Video game company Rockstar Games on the other hand is currently looking for a “senior environmental artist” position. To meet their requirements you have to of achieved at least 5 years of post educational experience in 3d design production, alongside a proven track record in triple A titles. Here is the full list of what they require:

Transcript interview

I interviewed a self employed architectural freelancer, Mr. John O’Keefe after he kindly replied to my emails and gave me that work experience.

Can you think of any differences in Architectural work over recent years?

“Residential work has changed dramatically. The clients are more interested in style and the actual architecture work isn’t quite as costly as it used to be. For example a client may wish to only change a small feature such as particular doors or other minor details which may not need as much work put in as a full on extension. In fact, overall people are actually looking for much more flamboyant designs. This makes a change from just regular boring work to make it more interesting for everyone.”

Are there any new techniques?

“Of course there is the yearly update of Autocad and other Autodesk products, but personally I don’t think it's really changed that much. The new features seem a little bit gimmicky, but maybe that's because I just haven’t tried the new software out.”

Are 3D modelling artists still required for architectural work?

“Definitely. Companies and clients alike are becoming more likely to hand out larger budgets because people are actually afraid of whether or not the artist can complete the work to an exceptional standard and quality. But saying that, 3D artist are not always required for planning because it’s faster to quickly sketch it out in 2D on paper or in AutoCAD. However anything contentious that will eventually become a public enquiry requires a 3D design for sure.”

Research on autodesk programs

It was pretty handy that I based my dissertation around my kind of portfolio interest of work because I can happily use the same research for both pieces technically.

Autodesk's range of Architecture, engineering and construction software solutions include of course autocad Architecture (Released 1998), MEP (BIM software which was first concepted as an idea in 1970) and Civil 3D (which was first prototyped in 1982). Another company that competes with Autodesk to the present day is called Bentley Systems and they have created a similar program known as Microstation, which plays a similar role in the creation of digital environments. Other three-dimensional modelling programs include: Art of illustration, blender, zbrush, pythonOCC, open Cascade and various other CAD inspired software and addons.

Research into Architectural work

Architecture and environmental designing can of course be used for quite a variety of different areas such as gaming, interior and exterior designs. 3d programs have also branched out to be used in the medical industry to create interactive representations or replacements of some sort of faulty anatomy. From my own experience in where i have done the occasional work experience, i believe that people do like to see an artistic impression of the final outcome before they go ahead and create the actual building.

Architectural programs are known as Building information Modelling software. The BIM software is a shared knowledge resource for information between various different roles to complete an overall objective. It helps make major decisions for certain projects based on certain circumstances.

“Building information modelling (BIM) is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics  of a facility. A BIM is a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life cycle; defined as existing from earliest conception to demolition.” -The US National Building Information Model Standard Committee

Processes in businesses that support BIM developments include Cost Management, Construction Management, Project Management and Facility Operation. The Construction project management incorporates the initial stages of the design development and contains further steps including programming, conceptual feasibility of the ideas, design development, schematics and also contract documents. The conceptual feasibility is for example the overall control of the potential building size, with the amount of rooms within, along with the actual available space that they are actually allowed to use. The schematics that are used are still classic blue-prints to identify shapes, spaces and patterns (materials must also be considered too) and these are put together in Autocad. 4D BIM models are 3D Models with a schedule while 5D BIMs are with Cost related information too. 6D is the complete package with all the relevant building component information.

Idea change

At the formative, Dan and Josh seemed unimpressed with my plan to create a video for police forensics because it wasn't suitable for the portfolio piece and fitted better into the FMP unit. Dan suggested that I should have a look on Pinterest and pick out some ideas and create them, to see how quickly I can actually put a piece of work together.

When I got on the train after the formative i looked on Pinterest and saw a selection of images that intrigued me. And then when I got home I actually tried to recreate the pieces in a very short space of time. The lack of detail in the shapes adds for ease of construction. Here is what I came out with: 

Formative feedback

So Dan and Josh liked the work that I had created for my work experience and gave me further advise that could push me in the correct direction for my show reel project. They recommended that I use the next 48 hours to research alot before the wednesday session.

They told me to think more about my educational development, and look more into what each area pushes into. Perhaps branch off into a different area.

They also felt that I was far too comfortable in my current role within Tesco, so I need to work out what my actual goal is and work towards it. When I look into companies and what they are actually after, who actually does the work. For example, in Tesco, do they do the 3d advertisements themselves or do they actually employ a separate company for that?

I should try and manage my time of blog management more too.

Also, what are the timezones of actual jobs? And I need to look more into Lighting and rendering of my piece, along with a bunch of other software (and companies).

Final idea for portfolio piece

After looking into police/forensic investigations i am very interested in trying to recreate a pretend crime scene. Based upon the examples that I have seen, the 3d models are normally set in a house, or a building with lots of rooms but then obviously it could be outside too.

The model i will create shall be my grandmas house, because I am cool like that. I'm creating my grans house because I have already made mine and my girlfriends house in previous university projects. The house will have two floors and seven rooms across which i feel is about enough rooms to show creativity but also not too much that I would over shadow the point that im trying to get across.

This piece is also fantastic for collaborating as well. There are many sections of this piece where I will require a character animator to  animate a simple rig getting shot or something.

I quickly made a basic layout of my grans house from memory. After i take some photos, I shall have a better idea of the general structure in her house. Perhaps I should spend some time developing her garden a bit more too.

Storyboard

Here is a few quick story boards for the collaboration of my piece inspired by some of the videos i have looked at.

Further ways that 3d helps in the forensic field

As well as what I have already mentioned, Forensics in the police department now use 3d technology is quite a few different ways. Especially 3d printing. It can be used to recreate and analyse important evidence from crime scenes to support important cases. For example, they may need to recreate foot prints outside a recently robbed bank. They  simply scan the ground around the print, then put that into some 3d software and then print it off. Other examples include facial reconstruction and fingerprints.

What skills can other people bring to my piece?

Well straight away without constructing any major research into the matter, I have a rough idea of what others can potentially bring to my Portfolio piece of work. My piece is relevant to police forensic analysis, and I think that to build a stronger picture of what actually happened at a crime scene, you kinda have to show a bit of movement. So with the assistance of an animator (possibly on my course) I can get them to possibly animate two basic bipedal rigs to "recreate" potentially what could have happened at a crime scene.

This will require careful planning, I shall have to create a storyboard and potentially construct  a simple paper model of the entire environment with arrows and bluetac! I could also act out the sequence in the real life environment, then break down each camera angle and dub over the top, explaining exactly whats happening in each shot.

Another way that I could potentially gain the assistance of others during this piece of work is perhaps to ask the advice of an architect? They could give me advice on correctly measuring a building for 3d purposes. After-all, if this was a genuine job, the whole stage would have to be as realistic as physically possible.

Here are some examples of where other people have come in to assist with animation and other developments. In this video, the environment is 3d and the characters have been animated to represent what happened in reality.

In this video however, the entire scene has been scanned to create an accurate impression of whats going on in the environment.

Research into bizarre 3d industry segments

For my main piece, I am very interested in looking into an area of 3d modelling that you wouldn't think about straight away. Josh told me about the use of 3d modelling in historical use, police investigations and even for hospitals.

For the police/ forensics side of things, they use 3d modelling for a variety of different things. The daily mail wrote a post in 2013 about how they have been using three-dimensional equipment since around the year 2000 to try and reconstruct what people looked like based upon their boney remains. But they also try to reconstruct entire 3d environments with diagrams explaining how a crime was carried out.
For the actual crime scene model they use elements captured by security video cameras, police in-car videos, police & dispatch communications/gps data/reports, csi reports, trajectory analysis and blood splatter evidence. (Source, http://eyewitnessanimations.com/crime-scene-reconstruction/)

 

In hospitals, apparently its becoming more and more frequent that they actually use 3d modelling to model important elements used for operations and print them off using a 3d printer. They have gone so far as to create things such as a completely reconstructed skull to rehearsing incredibly complex operations as well as implants actually used in surgury.
3D printing saves time, money and lives. In the future they are hoping to create 3d printed cells, but we are probably quite far off that stage!

improvements of my community freelancing project

Here are some improvements that John asked me to change for the stage room piece.

Work experience 1: feedback

John provided me with some decent feedback. He eventually replied to my email and provided written feedback. He also approached me at work with the five shots printed out, with additional points drawn onto the pieces of paper.

PPR form

Staff and students should refer to the guidelines to ensure that the targets set are appropriate to the level of study.

A: Educational

Target (s)	Action required
1:	To learn more about getting a job in a salary based company (a safe job)
2:	Look into more architecture related stuff.

B: Personal

Target (s)	Action required
1:	To achieve my highest standard piece of work in the environmental modelling (Showreel Worthy.
2:	Action required
	Make sure my blog is updated constantly with detailed work. (Plan out timings properly)

C: Industry

Target (s)	Action required
1:	To complete at least one more freelance project by christmas and earn some money from it (create a short deadline for this)
2:	Recieve a decent amount of feedback from industry employees (at least 3)

Staff name Joshua Griffin
Date 7/10/15
Comments

Student name James Patrick-smith
Date 7/10/15
Comments

Brief Feedback from Josh for my PPR form plus other feedback

PPR
Personal Targets
-Personal targets are ACTIONS
-Under personal targets I said: "To achieve my highest standard piece of work in environmental modelling". I simply need to guarantee that they are showreel worthy. I also said "Make sure my blog is updated constantly with detailed work" which I need to plan out timings accurately and realistically.
Industry Targets
-"To complete at least one more freelance project by Christmas and possibly earn some money from it". I need a short deadline for this otherwise it will get in the way of my other work.
-"Receive a decent amount of feedback from industry employees" Requires at least 3
Educational Targets
-"To learn more about getting a job in a salary based company". I'm after a safer job than just freelancing. What kind of company am I looking into? What do they do? Who do they work for?
-Josh actually changed the second educational target because we felt that I didn't want to look into freelancing despite how I felt I should look into loads of different areas. Plus as Josh said, education should be "fun". We changed it to "Look and research more into architectural work" which still lets me branch out but its also something that I am interested in.

Other notes
-Examples of 3d environments I could look into are Police and hospital relevance, and well as historical recreation.
-While I'm using linkedin, I need to share posts to prove im actually using the website properly.
-Comment on other peoples work in artstation, so that they actually look and comment on your work too.
-Sign up to freelancer.
-Build up a better portfolio (add this to my schedule otherwise i may put off getting it done).
-Over-structure my schedule planning. I can test out a structure on this portfolio unit in preparation for the FMP unit after christmas.
-Final piece for FMP should be relevant to what I'm creating. Think more about what I want to create to help myself.
-Plan to find a frequency of possible ideas.

Work experience 1: First draft

Here is my progress on the first draft of my piece that i presented to John for feedback.
I sent him this email along with the following five renders.

Work experience 1: Plan

Ok so basically, I work in a store called "Tesco". My job is pretty damn repetitive so sometimes I talk to people and customers to kill the time a little bit. I discovered that this one bloke in-particular, John O'keefe, happens to do a lot of freelancing in Architecture. He told me that if anything major came up he'd let me know, then discussed with me about the development of improving a stage in a local memorial community center (I.E. the work is unpaid, and counts as community work).
The work consists of two things, adding a "litedeck" temporary structure along the front of the stage, along with a viewing platform at the opposite end of the room for staff to for example; project lighting or control music.
Here are some plans from the Front (Stage end) and the back (viewing platform).
Front:

Back

I then looked into roughly how much it would cost to buy litedeck.

Schedule

	05/10/2015	12/10/2015	19/10/2015	26/10/2015	02/11/2015	09/11/2015	16/11/2015	23/11/2015	30/11/2015	07/12/2015	11/12/2015
Start creating portfolio piece						Formative					Summative
finish portfolio piece						formative					Summative
Skills pitch (presentation)						formative					Summative
Research into required skills (+other peoples)						formative					Summative
Ideas Pitch						formative					Summative
Create concepts (at least 10)						formative					Summative
Industry research (List of potential companies)						formative					Summative
Find some work experience						formative					Summative
Complete work experence + feedback						formative					Summative
Make some sort of showreel						formative					Summative
Look into festivals to go to (attend 3)						formative					Summative
Sign up to various comunity websites						formative					Summative
Take part in a competition						formative					Summative
Experiment with ideas and techniques						formative					Summative
Prove that I can deal with technical issues						formative					Summative
Create an about me section on blog						formative					Summative
Fill out PPR form						formative					Summative
Report on my online presence						formative					Summative
Create my CV						formative					Summative
Create Business cards						formative					Summative
Self critisize						formative					Summative
Research into Good cheating						formative					Summative
Research time for certain developments						formative					Summative
Test model things to test my timings						formative					Summative
Learn more about my weak areas						formative					Summative
Research into what companies audiences are						formative					Summative
What the companies create						formative					Summative
Talk to architecture students for advise						formative					Summative
Compare my work to the 11 steps and adjust it						formative					Summative
Consider different options with my work (music)						formative					Summative
Think about my filmic language						formative					Summative
How im making my piece (the medium)						formative					Summative
Email people in the industry for feedback						formative					Summative
Create a website (optional)						formative					Summative
Research business start up (legal framework)						formative					Summative
Research the R&D of my piece						formative					Summative