SketchDesign

Googling Art: Gehry's and Disney's resonance

OK. Here it is, a thing of beauty.
Googling the Earth brings new surprises in semantics and semiotics.

Where will 3D vector and pixel-based imagery meet again? On Google Earth 4!

Is this a technological aberration (like I am afraid it is) or is it googling free art (like I hope it is not)?

I couldn't find better evidence to illustrate this post about real-time 3D semiotics on Google Earth than this screenshot.

When looking for 3D models of great architects I candidly downloaded the Disney building designed by Frank Gehry from the Google 3Warehouse and found this areal photograh.

All models there are free. I loaded the building and enjoyed the view in Google Earth.

At closer look to the image something looked very odd.
 

What was missing in this googling image?

Shadows? No.
Shadows seem to be oriented about right. In my naivety, I don't know how they got that right.

Details? No.
I can see people walking (or cars parked).  But of course they are flattened people and cars.

Building orientation? Camera direction? Yes, just that.

Isn't that pure deconstructive art? Perhaps a zest of hyperrealistic techno-cubism?

De - .. constructed - what?

To the south is the Frank Gehry's Disney building well simulated in 3D.
Read more on the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
More on Gehry' sketching work.
More photography of Gehry's work.

 

Also, read more on Jacques Derrida' de-constructivism, here.

This all leads back to visual language, semiotics and semantics. As all come together into the discrete design of simulated environments.

Read the odd book from Robert E. Horn: Visual language. The book is masterly illustrated, way beyond aesthetics, and analyses the meaning of visual comunication units without the burden of beauty.

Of course, for the serious designers, Tufte's 'Envisioning information' remain the best source - by far.

I think this misformed perspective surroundings in the photo may be voodoo. Or perhaps the worst kind of figurative _magnetic resonance_. Between the buildings shown in flat 3D and the other in real 3D elevation, there seems to be some contrast and also some invisible tendency or attraction. Here you have a borderline between Line art and Pixel art.
Where will they meet?

Well as this is being written, Google Earth released its new version 4 allowing the use of texture geometrics (like in games). This will allow for 3D vector shapes and 3D bump maps or image overlays to meet up in 3D space - AND on earth location!

Short story into Google Earth 3D: Funda.nl

This is a little story on a recent assignment for a House project. The house is published on Google Earth, along with more traditional media (large prints).

Click here to see the 3D model on Funda.nl

The story is about the suggestive power of sketching and the pictoral power of so-called 3D realism.
Both visual approaches nourish one another, they are not opposites.
Contradictions are only in the human mind!

1. First the House was sketched according to the agency's requirements.

Another viewpoint for the same sketch.

2. After laying out the scenery, I worked on the coloring and textures. This step delivered suitable flat presentations for the project.

The result was rendered applying color shifting -and other filters- to give it a napkin sketchy look.

Blueish tints and orange lines give the scene a special crispy yet moony atmosphere.

 

Non-design everything!

Sometimes, you read stuff which is just what you meant to say - only so much better. Here are some quotes from the Fastcompany section 'Master of design'.

So no pictures here, just a nice read.

MASTERS OF DESIGN

More from the Mentors to the Masters
http://www.fastcompany.com/design/2005/design-mentors-extra.html

Design ideas and insights from the six-person, all-star jury -- drawn from academia, business, and design -- who helped select this year's masters.

Companies that want to win in the future have to understand how to make the most of design thinking. That means non-designers need to learn how to think like designers. Here's how, from the six jurors who helped select our Masters of Design.

For designers: try not to design.
For non-designers, try to design!

Toshiko Mori

Principal, Toshiko Mori Architect,
New York, New York

"Design is a process of abstraction. If you really analyze it, you don't reduce something. You try to get the best out of it and make it essential. In fact, the word "design" comes originally from Latin "designare," which means to draw the essence of. One way designers do that is through drawing, and anybody can learn to draw. It's true.

Hurricane Engineering

Computer-enhanced image of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes are increasing in average intensity due to global warming.
Image:  NOAA

The bustling port of New Orleans circa 1885, with the Mississippi River in the foreground and Lake Pontchartrain in the distance.
Image: Currier & Ives, courtesy of the Library of Congress

Something went wrong. And it is is not the first time. New images make it look like it is new. But the story is quite old and the tragedy repeats itself over and over. Nature is stronger it seems.

Satellite image of Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf coast, superimposed a U.S. map shows the eye passing just east of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.
Image: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Which comment to make? Which human voice can rise to this (I mean the real thing)?

Sweet muscle

Why is this image so sweet?

Gamedesign needs 3D real-time sketching to design the appropriate charachter features. This is a newbee from MAYA. Unlimited. I must say: i am im-pressed.

Read all about it on CGProShop.com
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Muscles
Quickly draw muscles on any NURBS surface, then apply the custom muscle deformer to them. Muscle TK's muscle deformer is extremely fast, allowing you to watch a full body musculature in movement in real-time on most machines.
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