ArchiCAD Tutorials: Terrains

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve uploaded a couple screencasts to YouTube related to the creation of terrains using the mesh tool. I thought I’d post them here too for all to see.

 

Screencasting – An overview

I recently recorded this for a e-learning symposium. It’s a basic overview of how I use screen casting (and audio recordings) to augment my classes. It includes software (Screenflow, Camtasia and Jing), hardware and basic workflow. Enjoy.

 

E-on software’s “The Plant Factory”

I was just checking out the new term over at fxphd and noticed a little something some of you may be interested in; a new unannounced plant modelling software from e-on (makers of Vue) called “The Plant Factory”.

From the screen shot it appears to be a standalone tree/plant modeller that can create plants similar to that found in Vue however it has a lot more controls to create trees from scratch (in Vue you can only modify existing Vue plants). It appears to have the ability to create procedural geometry as well as use paths and splines for the shape of branches. You can also adjust the strength of limbs (presumably for wind effects), add random variables (to create different instances of a plant), an internal renderer with atmosphere settings,  and uses a nodal interface to control the whole process.  After a little googelling I discovered they have a website too; http://www.theplantfactory-tech.com/

UPDATE 12 March ’13

The plant factory website has had a couple new posts recently, one is about integration with other programs. They name Vue but also mention that it’ll work within other CG programs (unnamed). At a guess it would similar to other e-on products so I’d expect to see it in 3ds Max, Cinema4D, LightWave, Maya, and Softimage

Theres also a slightly older post showing some examples of plants made with the plant factory. Looks really really good! Check them out.

As soon as I get a copy (not sure when it’s being released) I’ll post something here. Stay tuned…

 

Last Flight released on YouTube

For all those that didn’t get to see this on the big screen…

I was heavily involved in the making of this including VFX advice, shooting the green screen footage at my studio and grading the final film (see my previous post). I also did some additional camera work on location and produced some concept imagery/pre viz during pre-production. Cheers to Damon for putting this online and getting me involved, it was an awesome experience.

 

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

[Opps, this should have been posted a couple weeks ago.]
After 32 days traveling I’m finally home. Places visited; Hong Kong, Den Haag, Bernburg, Dessau, Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin, Rotterdam, Schaijk (near Oss in the Netherlands), Enkhuizen, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Brisbane, Surfers Paradise, Coolangatta, Byron Bay, Lennox Head and Skennars Head. Not a bad effort aye! In the last post I was on my way to Dresden for an afternoon then onto Berlin for a couple days to hang out with Simon (Brother), Rubin (Dutch Cousin), Jan (a friend also from NL), and my Mother, and we had a blast! Instead of writing lots I figured I’d just put a bunch of picture here instead, enjoy;

Dessau (Germany): Bauhaus Building – It’s me! Spent the day here during the DLA2012 Conference.

Bauhaus Building – A classic angle.

Bauhaus Building – I’ve never seen images of the rear of the Bauhaus Building, really like these balconies.

Berlin – It’s just like the blobby shapes I’d did for a research project (have a rummage through my posts).

Berlin – Close up of Blobby Building

Berlin Graffiti – Pretty cool

Berlin – The crew.

Berlin – Bugatti Veyron; Mmmm. Nice ride.

Berlin – A couple beers for lunch.

Berlin – Cheese

Berlin – Of course you’d find a McD’s @ check point charlie!

The Hauge – A typical dutch shopping street.

Enkhuizen – In the North of Holland.

Enkhuizen – Such an awesome little town.

Enkhuizen – Good times.

Enkhuizen – Yes, its a goat.

Amsterdam – Yes, it’s some boats, in Amsterdam (near the Nemo Building)

Amsterdam: Nemo Building – Such a cool design.

The centre of Utrecht.

This isn’t unique, most of the old buildings in the netherlands are a bit crooked.

 

Good bye Bernburg

Bernburg, Germany.

Its11:30am and I’m on a train half way between Halle and Leipzig. I arrived in the Netherlands last Monday and spent a couple days hanging in the hague. When we arrived the weather was absolutely perfect and had been for at least a week before (as every one keeps reminding me), however it quickly turned European grey and has pretty much stayed the same. I caught up with my cousin and some old Dutch friends at the grotemart, had pita giros at an old haunt and finally ended up in a pool hall. The next morning I was on a 6:30am train to Bernburg with a hangover, and yes I did go through Hanover, which was kinda amusing but at the same time was not at all. About 7.5 hours later I arrived at my destination, the gorgeous little German town Bernburg, which also greeted me with blue skies. The next day turned grey and the weather was almost identical to the winter I left back in NZ.
[11:58 just arrived in Leipzig.]

 

Hong Kong

I’m currently flying over Russia, and it’s still 6 hours to Amsterdam. Our two days in Hong Kong were awesome. Such a full on city. We touched down just after 9pm and we had to get out of the plane and onto a bus which took us to the terminal. It was quite surreal walking around with massive planes all about. We took the train to Hong Kong Island and ended up walking with all our gear to our hotel, was a massive mission, but we had just been sitting for 12 hours so it was a welcome stretch of the legs. The GPS wasn’t working for us (turns out if you leave your iPhone in plane mode it disables it) so I had to use the internal GPS, which turned out to be pretty good. We stayed at the Cosmo in Wan chi and when we arrived they upgraded us to a better room, which was nice, still small but that’s Hong Kong. Crashed out at around midnight and had a solid sleep until the internal alarm clock went off, at about 5 am.