Augmenting aerial earth maps, or Augearth as it is called by its creators, is the resultant of a research effort at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Augmented Environmental Laboratory. I discovered the results of the research while visiting the Google Earth Blog, which is a must bookmark for architectural 3d modelers and illustrators. I am writing about this, not because I don’t feel like finishing the dozen or so articles I have sitting in the queue, but because the researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have brought to the forefront a new type of visualization that will not only change the way we view architecture and the world, but our process. … continue reading Augmenting Aerial Earth Maps: Are Architects Ready For An Augmented Reality?

Today’s download resource is a 3D Apple Power Mac g5 & Cinema Display combo complete with keyboard and textures. The model has a low polygon count and makes use of textures for most of the detail. I have had 30 or so of these computers in a model and render times and Open GL performance has not diminished. The model is supplied in dwg and fmz file formats. The FormZ file is completely textured, and materials are set up in the model, requiring only minor tweaks. This is the only computer I use in my renderings, because it is dead sexy and instantly makes any space cool. … continue reading Download: 3D Apple Power Mac G5, Cinema Display & Keyboard

This is the first of what is hopefully many video tutorials that focus on techniques associated with architectural rendering. This particular video tutorial is a two part video that shows you how to take raw digital photographs, and Photoshop them to be high resolution background images for your renderings.   Below the video is a brief description of tools and shortcuts used, and how to use these tools. … continue reading Video Tutorial: Create Your Own Sky In Photoshop (part 1)

This is the first of what is hopefully many video tutorials that focus on techniques associated with architectural rendering. This particular video tutorial is a two part video that shows you how to take raw digital photographs, and Photoshop them to be high resolution background images for your renderings. Below the video is a brief description of tools and shortcuts used, and how to use these tools. … continue reading Video Tutorial: Create Your Own Sky In Photoshop (part 2)

It’s not just important to be a talented renderer,  developing a great set of resources is essential, and allows you to spend your time on design rather than modeling a lamp. Time spent searching the internet for the perfect sky could be better spent developing a stronger proposal in order to win a new commission or simply meet a deadline.  This posting contains many high resolution (3,000 pixels wide) images of skies that are open source and free to use. Over the years I have developed a plethora of graphic resources that I keep in my satchel (LaCie Little Disk 500 GB Portable Hard Drive, designed by Sam Hecht), and I will continue to organize these resources and post them on this site absolutely free! … continue reading Download: Sky

This is the first resource of what I hope to be many in the Graphic Download page.  The LEED Certification Logo Set is a set of 2d and 3d logos that I have created for visualization purposes and for LEED presentation slides.  The 2d logo set is pictured below and includes all four of the LEED logos in Adobe Illustrator vector format.  At the bottom of the page 3d files of the LEED logo are available in dwg and fmz file formats.  If there are other LEED graphic resources that you would like to see added to this site, please contact us and we will do our best to track them down. … continue reading Download: LEED Certification Logo Set