How did they animate Buckingham Palace?

Posted on June 11, 2012 by John Webb

See our Links page’s Examples section for links to Treatment Studio and D3 Technologies: ” … Treatment organised a highly accurate 3d laser scan of the front of the palace, which mapping technician Nils Pormann then used to make a 3d architectural model. Producer / Creative Director Sam Pattinson commissioned a team of designers and animators to create all the video content, working under the direction of Show Director Geoff Posner and Executive Producer Guy Freeman. …”

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Taster sessions c/o North Hertfordshire College

Posted on June 10, 2012 by John Webb

The Launch event on Saturday 9 June 2012 went well with 15 attendees including adults and some children at the taster sessions. Here’s a big THANK YOU to our sponsors North Hertfordshire College for hosting the event with excellent facilities (including keeping the foyer cafe open until 4pm), the tutors Chris jackson (of NHC & Siegeworks) and Richard Lovewell (of the Hitchin virtual Town track) for their time and Letchworth Festival 2012 for publicity via the festival programme.

Let us know if you are local but missed this event and would like to catch up via the follow-up sessions we arrange.

Wherever you are you are welcome to let us know if you start on a 3D model for the Competition. Then if you wish we will add you to a public list of who is working on which building, area or street scene of Letchworth.

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Awards event in November 2012

Posted on June 8, 2012 by John Webb

This Competition spans the 5 months between two local festivals: Letchworth Festival 2012 in June and the Letchworth Arts Centre’s Festival in November. Our final activity as a project is planned to show off the winning entries and sponsor’s exhibits on a stand in the town centre on 17-18 November. The theme of that festival will be the 1970s and 1980s. What has that to do with digital 3D modelling, you might ask. Well, that is when software tools for 2D and 3D drawing were first developed experimentally and as early products. So we are hoping to connect those decades with the present and future of high technology industries in this area. See the History section of CADbuilt Inc.’s CAD Drafting/Crafting and Design page here.

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Golden rules of 3D digital modelling

Posted on June 7, 2012 by John Webb

Some advice to 3D modelling beginners from Peter McMullan at Northern Regional Colleges, Northern Ireland:

“… I have pasted below a link to my YouTube channel, there you can find a little of my 3D work going back over the years (and some other stuff). The medical animations are quite interesting. here
Here are my two golden rules of 3D which I always adhere to…..

  1. If you can’t see it, don’t model it!
  2. If it looks right, It is right!

Obviously this comes from a perspective of using 3D in the entertainment industry, I wouldn’t recommend doing this if you’re using 3D to make engineering designs for planes or buildings.

If you are keen on 3D, if you find it fun, if your passionate about it as I am, stick with it. If you find yourself up against a brick wall and can’t work something out, don’t give up. Just remember that after using 3ds Max [software] since its 1st release in the early 90’s I still refer to tutorials, help files and forums on a daily basis. No one knows it all, but someone knows everything about your problem.”

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A message from Apple

Posted on June 6, 2012 by John Webb

We’ve just had a courteous refusal from Marketing Communications at Apple Europe Ltd. It ends with “… we would like to thank you for considering Apple, and wish you great success. // Best of luck with all your endeavours, …”. It worked as an advertisement, since I’m referring to it here!

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BBC TV Countryfile in Northern Ireland

Posted on June 4, 2012 by John Webb

BBC TV’s Countryfile programme on 3rd June 2012 showed vibrant ‘fly-through’ views of archaeological reconstruction c/o the Northern Regional College:

“NRC Media Students are Front of Camera with Countryfile”

“While filming National Trust owned Downhill House and Mussenden Temple the  BBC’s Countryfile presenter John Craven previewed a 3D computer graphic model of the buildings by NRC’s Media department for the Trust. The model is a meticulous reconstruction illustrating the interior and exterior grandeur of the 18th century home built by the Earl Bishop Frederick Hervey. // … Peter McMullan senior lecturer working with NRC students studying interactive media at the Ballymoney campus. …”

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‘Disclaimers’ page updated

Posted on May 31, 2012 by John Webb

We have added some ‘small print’ about references to third party web sites and services. Thanks to the LGCS’s webmaster for the source text.

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Judging and awards

Posted on May 27, 2012 by John Webb

Here are notes on the process for submitting entries and deciding which will be awarded a prize.

  1. The competition’s rules are those of the Letchworth Festival plus some specific ones for this 3D competition.
  2. Entrants will submit 3D models for the competition as a whole rather than for particular classes or awards.
  3. Entrants will put their 3D models online in Google’s 3D Showcase and all entries will be evaluated there.
  4. Sponsors who contribute to the awards (in cash or kind) are expected to nominate someone to judge their award.
  5. Each judge will assess each entry on its merits relative to their criteria to decide which entry best deserves their award.*
  6. If no entries are considered suitable for a particular award, that award will not be made in this competition.
  7. Google will independently assess whether entries submitted directly to it meet its criteria for inclusion in Google Earth.

*By using positive selection, we can avoid judges criticising entries whose merits lie outside their own area of expertise (e.g. urbanist, architectural, aesthetic, digital design, ecological, historical, visionary etc.). Entrants can then focus on the particular quality that their 3D model is designed to demonstrate

Comments are welcome, especially as the specific rules will remain in a draft state until the Competition is launched on 9th June. After that date a formal procedure for changing them will be available, so even then please notify us swiftly of any problem you find in applying or complying with the rules.

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Sponsors come forward

Posted on May 26, 2012 by John Webb

Both the Letchworth Garden City Society and Transition Town Letchworth have generously agreed to sponsor a cash prize for an appropriate award each. These community groups operate on small budgets with no regular income from public sources, using entirely voluntary effort, so this means a lot to the Letchworth Festival and the Competition project in particular. See the Sponsors page for details.

Updated at end-May: LGCS have actually doubled the cash sum initially offered. That gives the option of making two LGCS awards, perhaps for an individual model and a scene or sequence.

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Poster and flyer for the Competition

Posted on May 21, 2012 by John Webb

We need to use “crowd sourcing” to get lots of people involved. Here is a poster (A4 sized) and a flyer (A5 x 4 on an A4 sheet) @ 3MB each. Please use them to publicise the Competition. In electronic format (PDF), the poster’s links should be active for accessing the related web sites.

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