NOVEDGE blog

The Edge: Matus Nedecky's Flying Architecture

We are proud sponsors of FlyignArchitecture's new contest, Architecture Unchained. To participate, you have to upload your work in progress of an architectural structure free from the constraint of gravity. Franco Folini, Novedge's President and Co Founder, is one of the judges and we are keeping a close eye on the competition. 

So, why not start by learning a bit more about FlyingArchitecture's founder, Matus Nedecky?

Novedge: Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do

Matus Nedecky: Hi all! So first of all, let me thank Aurora Meneghello for giving me this opportunity to be interviewed by Novedge. It's an honor!
My name is Matus Nedecky, I am originally from the small Slovak village of Zelenec. When I finished my high school in a nearby city, I started to attend the BUT - Faculty of Architecture in the Czech Republic. After gaining experience in three architecture firms (full-time during my studies), I decided to go my own way and become an architectural visualizer. There's still a long way to go, even if I have reached some milestones already, which can be seen on our studio's website.

 

Forest house - project postproduction breakdowns from FlyingArchitecture on Vimeo.

Novedge: How did Flying Architecture start? And how has it evolved?

Matus Nedecky: FlyingArchitecture started as a simple blog back in summer 2009. As I started to work in Rhinoceros 4, and I was working on some basic commercial visualizations, I needed to use the same 3D assets over and over again. Unfortunately, there was no website dedicated to Rhino assets at that time, the only package you could get was McNeel's Savanna3D... and I thought I could do better. So I started producing my work. First I created fifty 3D models in Rhinoceros and then I published the website on social media. Leo Bonilla, a great guy from Colombia, and Rendy Himawan, a designer from Jakarta, contacted me right away. These two (and many others afterwards) gave me great support, they shared my passion for this project and they also shared some of their 3D models. And this is where it all started :)

Then many people from all over the world started to share their own 3D models, and FlyingArchitecture grew rapidly.

I believe if one does something with passion, he will undoubtedly do a great job. And I can proudly say I loved doing this! It was and still is such a great feeling seeing all our own models and our fan's in visualizations all over the world (I have seen some models in visualizations by BIG)... it's an honor to serve thousands of people and to offer them something they need.

 

Well, free 3D models were just the beginning... since 2009 I also added other features, like the forum, materials and tutorials. Besides the website itself, I also work on architectural visualizations for commercial clients.

 

Then on December 28, 2009 everything changed. That's when I first talked to Veronika Nedecka, when she was an interior design student (now my wife and the mother of our child) - since we knew each other, we also started to work together, so our professional services went much more pro! Thanks to our images, which were getting better and better, we were offered to teach a workshop on architectural visualization in Barcelona, Spain, and we accepted. Since then, we led workshops in Barcelona, Vienna, Rome and some personal courses in Bratislava. Now we're are planning some more events, so if you are interested... stay tuned! :)

 

Advanced Vienna workshop 2013 from FlyingArchitecture on Vimeo.

I can't forget to mention that our new online store with 3D models is the first marketplace where Rhinoceros users can get truly realistic, high quality, 3D models ready for use in their 3D scenes. Take a look here.

Novedge: What are the rewards and challenges of having your own business?

Matus Nedecky: It's not really a walk in the park.... But of course it has many more pros than cons. However you are responsible for everything - you have to care of PR, marketing, the job itself, bookkeeping, etc. There is so much to think about, that it may sometimes seem unbearable. Just don't give up! Even if you think it's not worthwhile and sometimes it is a struggle, there are always better days coming :) For me, better days came with Veronika and my co-workers, Lukas [Filip, interviewed here] and Fabio.

 

The biggest challenge is time management: it's extremely hard to balance it all - work, family, free time, eventually school and also other projects.

The biggest reward for me since I started to work alone has been the lack of stress. I have to admit, I work longer hours than before, but I do not have someone standing behind my back checking what I am doing. Oh and also as an artist I have the opportunity to express myself, my own style and feelings, not just the opinions and style of my team leader... That's the biggest satisfaction!

  

Novedge: What surprised you the most?

Matus Nedecky: Well, I'd say it's the positive feedback! I started working on the FlyingArchitecture website just for fun, and to create something that I needed. You should see the mass of positive feedback I received, it's such a great feeling to receive hundreds of emails that say "Thank you"... That was the best award I could ever get :) So Thank You all, who supported me and who said Thank You... You gave me new energy to continue.

 

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?

Recently at the FlyingArchitecture studio we are working on tens of residential/commercial buildings for our clients... mostly new buildings for commerce or flat units. From time to time we also have a great opportunity to work on something very specific, like museum designs, firemen stations, hotels and so on.

What I appreciate the most are personal projects. At the moment, I am running about 5 of them, but I can show you some I finished recently. It is very important for me to take a break from commercial work (for most of them we sign an NDA, so they cannot be published) and to create something in my own style with a touch of artistic feeling.

This is the Norwegian house, design and visualizations by FlyingArchitecture:

 

Aluminium house, some romantic idea of where I'd love to live:

 

FlyingArchitecture, our future office design. We jut have to wait a bit for the technology to catch up :)

 

Novedge: What software do you use?

Matus Nedecky: Haha, that's a long and painful story... At university, they taught us how to use 3ds Max, but I gave a try to Cinema 4D, Blender, Modo, SketchUp and Rhino. I have to say that polygons just aren't my blood type. That's why I was so amazed by the NURBS technology in Rhinoceros, which I chose as my primary 3D software.
Since then, I use it on a daily basis. It worked great in college for all architectural drawings and also for 3D modeling and rendering. Its stability and extraordinary user-friendliness just amaze me. And that's why I stick with it :)

 

Besides Rhinoceros, I use V-Ray for Rhino and Photoshop. The combination of these software solutions give us extreme flexibility to finish all daily tasks in a very effective way and within reasonable time.

Novedge: What makes a good render extraordinary?

Matus Nedecky: The most important thing is to be original. That's why I try to keep Rhino as our primary 3D software in FlyingArchitecture. The worst thing that can happen is that  somebody starts to take shortcuts and just mindlessly copy and paste assets to their 3D scenes. There are tons of CGI artists working like this these days... So the direction we are taking is to use custom 3D models and our own photos for exterior postproduction, so we stay original all the time.

Generally speaking, it's always up to the artist, everybody has a different point of view. There is an artist in all of us, we just have to release him :) Don't just copy... create!

 

Novedge: What are your plans for the future?

Matus Nedecky: I always have big plans! I would need several lifetimes to accomplish them all... Of course, there are some particular plans for FlyingArchitecture, mostly regarding the website itself, so we can get bigger and better with our free 3D models database. I'll have more news soon, so stay tuned! And of course, we are doing our best to offer better visualizations to our clients every day. You can check our current visualization portfolio here.

Want to see more? Check out FlyingArchitecture's website.

Ready to share your Architecture Unchained? Read all about the contest here.

And don't forget to get in touch with us on Twitter and Facebook!

The Edge: Lukas Filip's Fairy Tale Houses

Today we talk to Lukas Filip, a member of our online community, Rhino Jungle. The dreamy quality of his renderings caught my eye and I asked him to share a bit more about what he does.

Novedge: Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do

Lukas Filip: First of all, I’d like to thank you for choosing me for this interview and for giving me this opportunity. My name is Lukas Filip, and on the forums I am known as “Yosi”.  I’m from Slovakia, and I am 27 years old and live in my hometown Kosice. After finishing Secondary Technical School of transport I decided to get a degree at Technical University of Kosice in Civil Engineering, which is where I found out all about CG.  As for what I do, I am currently at the end of my part time job as seller and designer at a kitchen studio, and beginning official cooperation with Matus and Veronika Nedecky’s at Flying Architecture visualisation as a CG artist.

Novedge: Your work has a certain "dreamy" quality: can you talk about how you approach your images to create this effect?

Lukas Filip: I’ve never thought about it that way, this is kind of hard to explain... Generally, I follow no strict rules.  I usually go with my feelings, instead of relying on exact repeatable steps. My melancholic nature might be the cause of this "dreamy" quality. I’m a lover of cold weather, frosty days, dense fog, and mountains half-clad in heavy clouds and so on. Not that I dislike sun or anything.

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?

Lukas Filip: That would be Traditional Housing in Slovakia. After visiting one of these houses I got enchanted by the simplicity of this project, use of raw rood, this so-called "return to our roots." I am starting to feel a bit fed up with glossy and flashy looks in architecture, and prefer simplicity over complexity, use of neutral-coloured matte materials and so on. 
My main objective was to create something that would make you feel you are part of the nature and give it certain fairy-tale feel (what is better suited for a fairy-tale scene than a lovely wooden cottage at the edge of a forest?). The moment I decided to work on this I knew what the scenes should be about, colours, composition and all.

The early morning scene is my personal favourite; it has everything I love – the time is just before sunrise (I am an early riser), it has my favourite colour tones - shades of blue/cyan with rich green grass, dense fog engulfing the valley and so on...  The day scene is more traditional, lots of light and a little girl chasing a deer. Who wouldn’t want to live in such environment?
I have to be careful though, for this could backfire just as well; some people might actually imagine a lonely wolf instead of a lovely deer, with the chase thing being the other way round, that would be a big no-sell material!

Novedge: What software do you use? Why?

Lukas Filip: Some six years ago I made my first render using Archicad. Continuing to Artlantis Studio 2.0 I tried to gain more knowledge and enhance my work. Experimenting led to passion and I found myself craving for more, constantly unsatisfied with my results. During this time I learned most of the basic stuff, the need for good lighting and the basics of texture mapping.
I eventually ended up using Rhinoceros 4 and V-Ray. Why? It is very user friendly, it doesn’t require a NASA-built power station, it is stable enough, and when a new version comes out, it actually is a new version, not a bunch of service packs packed into a prettier coat.  With a V-Ray plugin for rendering and Photoshop for post processing it gives me everything I need.

Novedge: Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Lukas Filip: I’d say everywhere: just observing life around me. While shopping, sitting at cafeteria, trekking, reading books... And of course in works of famous CG artists, like matte painter and concept artist Raphael Lacoste, or Viktor Fretyán  (MIR).

Novedge: Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming projects?

Lukas Filip: As I mentioned before, I’ve never been satisfied with anything I created in my CG portfolio, some I even dislike.  There are several personal projects in my mind right now. Some I hope to finish by the end of this year, maybe even a re-mastered version of one of my older projects ;-). Then there are one or two much more complex projects, in terms of time, research and skill needed that will require several years of mere preparation.  The theme itself is very famous and if actually finished, it would not be part of my usual architectural portfolio.

If you want to see more of Lukas's work, check out his online portfolio and connect with him on Rhino Jungle.

Learn more about Artlantis, V-Ray and Rhino on our website.

The Edge: Dave Schultze and the Retro-Inspired Computer

Novedge: Tell us about what you do.
 

Dave Schultze: I am an industrial designer focusing on a dynamic range of products, most of which have a technology component. In the last few years, I have designed robots, computers, cell phones, science and educational products, housewares, furniture, and lighting. I even designed a musical tooth brush for Hasbro called “Tooth Tunes”, which became the number one-selling toothbrush on the market when it launched in 2007.

Novedge: You have a Design Manifesto. What is it and how did it come about?
 

Dave Schultze: Funny story! The manifesto is not even complete yet, but somehow people have noticed it on my website and starting asking about it. It was initially inspired when I tried to build my own 3D workstation computer. I never found a PC case that was even remotely attractive as an Apple product, which really surprised me, since so many companies are prolific copycats of Apple. Out of this frustration, I started sketching a retro-inspired computer that ended up becoming the Philco PC. The goal of the design was to create something that was both new and familiar, but above all, had a unique and compelling personality with a touch of humor.

By contrast, if you look at the current lineup of smart phones; they are all black, shiny slabs that are indistinguishable from each other! I wanted my design to have more of an emotional connection and allow easy upgrades for sustainability purposes. Above all, I wanted to make a commodity computer less of a commodity and inspire people to hang on to it long term. As the Philco PC design neared completion, a competition came up from V-Ray, makers of the popular rendering plug-in. I entered the computer renderings and won Top Three honors. I then decided to share the news and wrote a press release, sent it to a few of my favorite websites and that is when the coverage exploded. The design was featured in the New York Times, on the front page of Engadget and Gizmodo, and ultimately in 25 magazines, including one cover.

Philco PC from Dave Schultze on Vimeo.

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?

Dave Schultze: A recent project that is just hitting the shelves is Nancy B’s Science Club. It is a line of educational / science products aimed at younger girls and designed for Educational Insights of California.

The force behind the line is Nancy Balter, a former science teacher with an MA in Education whose mission is to spread the joys of science to kids everywhere. For this line, she observed that both boys and girls have equal aptitude for science at a younger age, but somehow the girls end up getting pink microscopes and they deserved better. Five products later, we have a full line and the sales are going great!

Novedge: What software do you use?

Dave Schultze: My primary 3D & design software is Rhino and I’m loving the new version 5.0 that just came out. Since compelling visuals can make or break selling you design, we couldn’t work without the V-Ray plug-in for rendering. The other mandatory plug-in is T-Splines, a brilliant set of tools that handles organic modeling beautifully. Of course, we have the entire Master Collection of the Adobe products to prepare and present the work. My favorite is After Effects, which we use to create all of our videos. I found After Effects so incredibly useful and just plain FUN, that I added it to the curriculum where I teach at Otis College of Art and Design. In the series of 3DVisualization classes that I teach, it’s the students favorite thing to do.

Novedge: What keeps you inspired?

Dave Schultze: Fortunately (or unfortunately), I am inspired by almost anything that captures my attention, which can get very distracting. I love great design of any kind, but I’m also inspired by architecture, movies, books, photography, museums, and now my latest hobby, paragliding.

Novedge: What are some of the rewards and challenges of owning your own business?

Dave Schultze: The reward is having total freedom with my schedule, but that is also a challenge since I frequently have the ‘freedom’ to work seven days a week. But, the freedom does allow me to work on one design research project or competition per year. Our most publicized design research project was the Philco PC, but the first one was a cell phone I designed for an LG Design Competition in 2008. My ‘Roto Retro’ cell phone design came in first place amongst a total submission of over 500 entries. It was extremely cool to win, but it also told me I was on to something with a re-thinking of current design aesthetics.

Novedge: If you could go back in time, what would you say to your younger self before embarking in your current career?

Dave Schultze: I might suggest not working so hard, but then again, I enjoy what I do too much to slow down. So, to answer the question, “nothing different.”

 

See more of Dave's work on his website and on his Vimeo channel. And read more about V-Ray, Rhino  and Adobe After Effects at Novedge: Tools to Design the Future.

Interview with James Coleman: "What started as a result of not being able to move more than a few meters a day has ended being in a very strong position teaching one of the most powerful 3D/CAD render engines in the world."

I discovered James Coleman's work on Twitter and invited him to talk about being a student in England and becoming a certified instructor of Maxwell Render. Little did I know James had needed all his determination to study and work while battling a rare disease.

Novedge: Tell us about yourself and what you do.

James Coleman: I am a student of product design, currently in my last year at the University of Brighton. I also teach fellow students at the University and I have my own YouTube channel with tutorials on Maxwell Render.

 

I studied physics, electronics and maths (pure & mechanics) at college when I was 17, and chose to study mechanical engineering in university. Then something happened that would, for better or worse, shape the rest of my education forever. In 2007 it was discovered that I had a condition called chronic hypersensitivity that affects 300,000 in the UK, and the root cause is still unknown, as is a cure. The recovery period is approximately half the patient's age, in other words, I still have 5 years of recovery ahead of me, but at least I now have a diagnosis and I am receiving treatment.

Once I found out about my condition, I started to use my spare time to make 3D models of spaceships in SketchUp and decided to change my course to Product Design Bsc.

Novedge: How did you get into teaching? 

James Coleman: Whilst in my second year, my renders kept garnering attention, and I started showing groups of students how I made them. Then I setup some lectures in the afternoon. The first was hugely successful and I became the official Maxwell Render Mentor at the University of Brighton Center for Design Technology. When Next Limit announced their certification program I signed up immediately!

In the summer of 2012, I set up my Youtube channel and started recording basic tutorials, things like resolution and focal length, with the occasional overview of certain setup techniques. I also upload tutorials based on the questions my students asked me most frequently.

Then one day I was looking for inspiration for a new tutorial and I saw that VizPeople had released a free model of a DeLorean DMC12, which has always been one of my favourite cars. By coincidence, Maground had also recently released a free HDRI set with environment and backplates on hdri4u.com. I decided to strike while the iron was hot, and I made a series of tutorials involving setting up the model and then rendering it in a variety of different environments. The DeLorean Series got the attention of cadjunkie.com, which I was already a fan of. I ended up producing 10 free and 6 premium tutorials for them, Studio Lighting Techniques In Maxwell Render. The series went on to great acclaim, and like the DeLorean tutorial, continues to be one of the most popular videos on my channel.

 

Currently I am working on the tutorial series’ Maxwell Render Hot Tips and What Not To Render. There’s currently a new video in each playlist every week and there will be until April.

Novedge: Your university didn't have instructors to teach you how to render using Maxwell Render. How did you learn?

James Coleman: I learned by doing: I spent my time using the program, looking for answers in online forums and  watching online tutorials. 

Novedge: What software do you use? 

James Coleman: I started out with SketchUp all those years ago for one very simple reason: it was free. I can’t remember exactly where I first heard about it, but I do remember using it with friends and learning from each other. It was also really helpful that SketchUp didn’t have high system requirements, the interface and the “sketchy” style made it approachable, and although it was designed for architecture, we used it for whatever we liked.

After I became frustrated with the limited modeling tools in SketchUp, I started searching for a more advanced alternatives. 3ds Max has a huge reputation on the web, but is only available on Windows, and I use a Mac. I heard about Cinema 4D and downloaded the demo. I loved it’s interface and I understood the basics almost immediately. The tutorials available online were extensive and it wasn’t difficult to find an answer to a problem. I decided to keep it and I’ve never regretted it. I still use it today when making quick drafts, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone starting out in product design, but plenty of other students on my course use it for animations, and for times when they need to make a model quickly and easily. 3ds Max is also popular with Windows users as an alternative to CAD centric software.

The CAD software we use at the university is less a matter of choice and more a matter of logic. SolidWorks is practically a requirement on CVs at the moment. Rhino is also available. When I started the course, I found Rhino to be more similar to Cinema 4D and hence I preferred it at the time. But now that I’ve used both for years, I always open SolidWorks before Rhino when I need to make a prototype, even for models with complex curves.

When I first became interested in photorealistic rendering, V-Ray was very appealing to me, but once I actually had V-Ray for Cinema 4D, I realized that I didn’t want to spend a lot of time adjusting settings, I wanted to spend more time designing and modeling. A few internet searches later and I found Maxwell Render. When I first tried it, it was still version 1, and it won me over in terms of ease of use and quality. One of the first images I ever made showed the model casting a shadow on the floor, when the only lighting in the scene was an HDRI. I’d never seen that before and it was enough to make a lasting impression. I dabbled between Cinema 4D’s own render engine, V-Ray and Maxwell Render for a while, but when Maxwell Render 2 was released I didn’t look back. For me it still delivers fantastic results, whether the image is complicated or simple, very easily. 

And something I wish someone had told me when I started: whenever you see a render that really impresses you, 10-25% of all the work that went into making that image came from Photoshop, which is why it is also another vital tool in my arsenal of software. Alien Skin Exposure is a plug-in for Photoshop that I couldn’t work without, it mimics the effect of certain types of photographic film, but with a lot more control and subtlety than Instagram.

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?


James Coleman: The most surprising thing about my product design course is that we focus on teaching communication, technology, professionalism, history, etc. It’s a doctrine that actually I agree with. Not just because it follows Dieter Rams’ principles, but also because we have the rest of our lives to design, so we might as well use the time now to make sure we know how to do it right, and then later on we can be eccentric if we like. Very often in product design, designers can get too caught up in the aesthetics of a product and forget about ergonomics, engineering, or any other topic. That’s not what’s taught in Brighton, and that's what makes it stand out from other, more “arts” based courses.

One project I enjoyed was making a “Revolutionary” product, with the tag-line of “It doesn’t look like a “X”, but it does what a “X” does”. I was inspired by one of my favorite ideas in product design, “the new application of an existing technology”, and because we were so pressured to design something that would be completely revolutionary, I decided to include some technologies that were theoretically possible but not available yet. I based the project on audio loudspeakers, because the technology in them hasn’t really changed for nearly 150 years, they’re still as electrodynamic as they were when they were first invented. The end result is the Levitating Superconducting Speakers concept. 

After starting to use Maxwell Render 2, one of my projects was to identify a product which exhibited evolutionary design, and to continue that design onto its next generation. For my project I chose the Kodak Brownie, despite being out of production since the 1970’s, its design when it was discontinued was very similar to when it was originally conceived at the beginning of the century. Kodak would often make special edition cameras for major events and I immediately themed the project around the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games. The project was small and it only took a few weeks to complete, but it went on to be featured on Yanko Design, and after that it was very popular on the web, I still see the occasional tweet about it! I put the amount of public interest in the project down to the quality of the renders. I approached Kodak to see if they would be interested in taking the project further, and although they weren’t interested at the time, they invited me to contact them about employment upon my graduation.

Novedge: What innovations do you see in your field (now or in the future)?


James Coleman: I think predicting the future has never really involved specific technologies, but instead looking at habits, lifestyles and routines, and then the technology is left to catch up. Touch screen technology, for example, was mostly a gimmick that had little real world value, until you could touch simultaneously in more than one place at once, and it was applied to a mobile phone. In hindsight it seems obvious that that’s how it should be used. So predicting specific technologies that will be developed, find a niche, and become cheap enough to be in common use, is much more difficult than imagining overall work flows and customs. My Levitating Speakers involved several different technologies that are not commonplace yet, or do not exist at all, including superdiamagnetic levitation, wireless power transfer, and flexible screens. It is certain that these technologies will develop over time, in fact when the project was completed, wireless speakers were still revolutionary, but now AirPlay is commonplace. The question is, will there be a benefit to having Levitating Speakers?

3D printing has got a lot of press lately regarding its potential. I agree that one day we may have 3D printers in every home, and in one end you would put waste, and then products, food and other luxuries will come tumbling out of the other. I think that one day, we will have “Star Trek” style replicators, powered by electricity which will probably come from fusion reactors. But not within my lifetime. At the moment, 3D printing and rapid prototyping often seem limited to making spare components when objects break. Even then they have to come from 3D files made by a professional. Consumers will want to be able to print complete objects, like kettles, laptops or phones. Even though 3D printers which are capable of making multi-coloured objects, and printing multiple components connected together have existed for some time, as someone who has worked with 3D printers for many years, I think we still have some way to go. But when we are there, they will change the world in ways which no one has yet imagined, and copyright and piracy laws will once again be brought into question.

In my particular area of interest (medical design), there are plenty of issues which are commonplace and well known. Drug resistant infections, obesity related complications, and aging population are the three problems which I expect to encounter in my design career. In much less than a century, certain bacteria have evolved to become almost immune to many typical antibiotics. If this trend continues, product design will have to play a major role in increasing the hygiene of hospital environments. Anti-microbial materials such as copper are already seeing a comeback, and although cloth bedsheets interwoven with silver (again for its anti-microbial properties) is a hugely expensive concept at present, if it becomes cheaper than treating patients, it will become a reality. 

Despite being prepared for these trends, I don’t think there is anything that can or will prepare me for the problem of ageing population. There are practical, medical, and ethical issues where product design will be called upon to help. These issues are nothing new, but will be exaggerated in the future. With higher demand, and larger markets, products specifically for the elderly will become more commonplace, and inclusive design will have more influence over everyone. This effect is visible now, for example with non-step access to buildings being a legal requirement, and this trend shows no sign of stopping.

Novedge: What are your plans after graduation?

James Coleman: My ideal job would be a product designer at a company specializing in the medical industry. My overall impression of the purpose of product design is to make our lives more efficient, where is that more important than when well being, potentially lives, are at stake? Medical staff are often overworked and underpaid, and then they have to use equipment made by the lowest bidder. Then this equipment will not be updated unless it breaks or is recalled (the standard that dictates the design of an IV drip stand is nearly 50 years old, and has never been updated). And with humans living longer and getting fatter, the market is just going to get bigger (some pun intended).

My family is a big reason I feel this way. Three generations have in some way or another worked in the medical industry. I’m not brave enough to be on the front line like they are, but I wouldn’t mind sitting back at a comfortable distance and making the equipment that they use everyday a little bit more efficient. 

Most of all, though, I’m going to recover from the condition that has practically dictated my life for the past 5 years. It’ll take another 5 years to be completely rid of it, but I’m looking forward to being able to walk to places without running the risk of being housebound the next day. I’m looking forward to working to improve the services that have served me for so long.

Interview with Mark Perrett, Founder of Tips for Architecture School: "Take what you have learned from one genre and apply it to everything else you do in life"

I discovered Tips for Architecture School, while looking for great blogs to follow on Tumblr. Mark Perrett has built a great resource for anyone currently studying architecture or planning to do so. His blog is also a useful reminder of what it means to start on this path and how much things have changed. Here's what he shared with us.

Novedge: Tell us about yourself and your blog Tips for Architecture School. How did it start and why?

Mark Perrett: I started Tips for Architecture School out of pure necessity. My love for teaching pushed me to become a graduate teaching assistant at my university and my first day with the class was not what I expected. I knew I would be helping people with their designs, and teaching them new methods of drawing and construction they had never seen before, but I did not expect there to be so many questions about even the most basic things like what kind of glue to buy and what pencils to use. I began writing every question the students asked in my sketchbook and when I gave the class an answer, I would fill it in next to the question. After the first two weeks, my sketchbook was almost full with words, phrases, quotes, and questions answered from all my students. I showed it to a friend of mine and he, almost as a joke, said “You should save some paper and write a blog.” So I did. :)

Novedge: What inspires you?

Mark Perrett: I’m 26 now, but I died at age 5. When I was younger, I was thrown off of a horse and
trampled. I was rushed to the E.R. and became clinically dead for a few seconds before the doctors got to work. After a year, I completely recovered.

The older I get, the more I can’t help but think that I got a second chance to take advantage of life, and so inspiration comes in abundance. Over time, I have tried to develop a filter for greatness. I look at the world around me and sift through to find the good in everything. If I had to choose one person in particular who inspires me the most it would be my mother. She was, and still is, a great role model for me. Growing up, we lived a modest life, and didn’t really have much, but she taught me how to be positive, innovative, intuitive, and imaginative under any circumstances. This encouraged a fascination with learning and how things work in life in general.

When I got older, I marched in marching band and also toured all over the country for four seasons with a Drum and Bugle Corps. Still to this day most of my mentors, values, and work ethic come from all of my years with music. It is funny when my musician friends read my architecture school blog because they can point out the principles I learned from music as they read each post. Especially as I come close to graduating with my Master’s degree and entering the “Real World”, the need for inspiration and encouragement is growing by the day.
Whenever I am feeling inadequate, or that the work I am doing is not sending me in the
right direction, I have a few key players in my box of inspiration. And for the record, everybody should have a box of inspiration.

Here's what is in my box:

Eric Thomas | The Secrets to Success
Will Smith | Talent vs Skill
Morgan Freeman | Oprah’s Master Class
Robert Kiyosaki | Rich Dad Poor Dad
Barry Green | The Inner Game of Music (Self 1 and 2)
and Bruce Mau | Incomplete Manifesto for Growth
Just to name a few...

Novedge: What have you learned by writing your blog and answering questions from
students?

Mark Perrett: This blog has taught me not only a lot about others, but a lot about myself. In fact, Iwrite every post as if I am addressing myself from the past, which keeps me honest. It is almost like I am going back in time and sharing all of the secrets to life I have learned through experience, but instead of talking to myself, I am talking to the prospective students within my field. That is what teaching is, in a way, a real-time form of time travel. I am in the present, passing on my knowledge from the past, to help people in the future.

Originally this blog was meant to be a place for my intro students to go and read the tips I was writing for them, but the blog started becoming more popular within the Tumblr community and people from around the world began to follow. The questions started pouring in from Singapore, Serbia, Australia, France, Iran, England, The Philippines, and much more. It was surprising to see that I could answer a question from one student and it was beneficial for thousands of other students around the world.
It's not just architecture students either. The information can be applied across many platforms of design and life in general. In fact, I believe that application is the most important attribute to all education. Being able to take what you have learned from one genre and apply it to everything else you do in life is a key trait in maxing out your current knowledge to its full potential.

Novedge: What software do you use? What software do you recommend to architecture
students?

Mark Perrett: Software is undoubtedly one of the most integral parts of an architect’s education. Through school I have learned and used the following programs: AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop, Rhino, Grasshopper, Revit, Adobe Illustrator,  Google SketchUp, V-Ray for SketchUP and Adobe Dreamweaver.There are many more programs out there like Kerythea and Adobe Lightroom that I seeused a lot, but If I had to pick three programs to prepare you for architecture school they would be AutoCAD, Photoshop, and SketchUP. Here is why:

AutoCAD is one of the most widely used in the industry, but it is so much more than just a software for making clean plans and sections. I use AutoCAD with our laser cutters and CNC Router to build accurate 3D models and prototypes. Another great feature is the 3D modeling capabilities to create high quality 3D graphics. If you are getting into the field of architecture, you will need to be able to use this program.

Adobe Photoshop is a great equalizer. You don’t have to be a wizard of rendering software to produce beautiful graphics. A proficient amount of skill in Photoshop can help you produce stunning graphic representations of your work even if you are not a pro at too many other programs.

SketchUP is the “McDonald’s of software” in the design profession. Everyone uses it, it works great, but it is not as “healthy” for you as some other 3D modeling software because of its brutal simplicity. Other 3D modeling software can do much more, but this is a great place to start. I have heard plenty of snide remarks from professors about this program, but I love it. I can either quickly sketch out an idea or spend hours detailing my entire model, but the program as a whole allows me to make quick, easy digital models for my projects which can later be exported to many other programs for further development. Plus, I can mass a model out in SketchUP and import it into Rhino if I want to use complex forms, parametric modeling, or print on a 3D printer.

Novedge: What innovations do you see in your field, now or in the future?

Mark Perrett: Of course we will always be improving on things like renewable resources and energy
efficiency, but I think the innovations for the future of architecture will focus more on architectural amenities. And I’m not talking about bathroom tile.
I imagine that, as technology becomes more advanced, so will the way we inhabit space and interact with architecture. Interactive architecture is a growing interest in this field. Architecture has such a broad spectrum it really shapes the way we eat, sleep, work, play, and live life in general. Here is a video that always gets me thinking when looking into the future of architectural design: A Day Made of Glass... Made possible by Corning.

A section of my thesis also deals with interactive architecture in the public realm. A group of four students (including myself) from the University of South Florida School of Architecture + Design has developed an urban design collaborative called The Urban Conga. We activate public spaces by installing interactive installations in downtown/urban settings, creating arenas for exploration, and promoting free choice learning. Learn more about The Urban Conga here.

 

You can see Mark's personal work on his website and you can read his Tips for Architecture School on his blog. You can purchase his book Architecture Terms | A Guide for Students on How to Speak like a Designer here.

 

 

Interview with Important Looking Pirates (ILP), VFX for Academy Awards Nominated Film Kon-Tiki

We are excited to feature our interview with ILP today on our blog, a vfx firm from Sweden who has worked on many projects, from commercials to video games, and is now expanding to movies. Niklas Jacobson, the co founder of the company, answered our questions.

 

Novedge: Tell us about yourself and Important Looking Pirates

 

ILP: We are a visual effects / post production company based in Stockholm, Sweden. ILP was founded by me (Niklas Jacobson) and Yafei Wu in October 2007 with the vision of one day be able to compete with the best international studios. Since we come from an artist background, our focus has always been about the quality of our work, together with an inspiring and creative work environment to accomplish it.

Today we are 20 full time employees which we believe are among the most passionate artists, producers and support personnel in the industry. 

 

 

Our core business has always been visual effects for commercials, but in the last couple of years the way we consume media has changed quite a bit, with the internet and other technologies. So now we see ourselves more as content providers for all kinds of platforms like television, web, game industry. We recently finished the visual effects work on our first feature film Kon-Tiki which was a fantastic project to work on. And we are definitely looking forward to more film work as well!

 

Novedge: What or who inspires you? 

 

ILP: We take inspiration in lots of things. There are plenty of "nerds" in the office so there is obviously a lot of discussion around art, movies and games. But what drives us the most is the passion for what we do, the competition in seeing what other people and companies manage to achieve. I think it is very important to take pride in what you do, while remaining humble. There is so much we are constantly learning from each other, and from others outside of ILP, we all feel equal within our team.  There is a never ending journey of self improvement. This is a very fast paced and evolving industry and so you need to keep looking forward and not get stuck on old merits. 

 

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?

 

ILP: We have recently finished about 60 very visual effects intensive shots for the upcoming Norwegian feature film Kon-Tiki directed by Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg. The film is about the legendary explorer Thor Heyerdal’s epic journey crossing the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in 1947.

The movie has been very well received and has just received a nomination to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

 

 
This was an extremely fun and challenging project to work on. We worked on a sequence featuring digital white sharks and a digital parrot.

 

 

One exciting thing with this kind of work is that you often get to do some pretty in depth studies on very random subjects. For this project we spent a lot of time watching documentaries like "Life" and "Planet Earth" We studied the movement of sharks and the look of underwater footage. 

 

One of the greatest challenges with our work was that it had to look 100% believable. We are cutting between live action scenes and completely digitally created scenes which puts incredible high demands on everything, from models, textures, lighting and animation to compositing and integration of the computer generated elements. 

 

Kon-Tiki Making of from Important Looking Pirates on Vimeo.

Novedge: What software do you use? Tell us why.

ILP: Before we founded ILP, Yafei and I spent a few years working abroad in London and Los Angeles. We were very inspired by how well developed the industry was at that time compared to Sweden. A lot of the companies were developing proprietary tools and pipeline workflows which in a lot of cases gave them an edge in creating really stunning visual effects or in their workflow. We have embraced that at ILP and are not afraid of putting a lot of resources into research and development and pipeline work. Among our tools we have developed a proprietary volumetric render to meet our needs for speed while rendering effects like smoke and fire. 

Among the "off the shelves" software that we use, Maya is our main 3D software. Maya feels like industry standard in our field and is a powerful tool that many 3D artists know and like. We use The Foundry's Nuke for compositing for more or less the same reason. We sometimes use Adobe After Effects for more motion graphics work. We use both ZBrush and Mudbox for sculpting when you need that extra detail in your models. In case we have to finishing work directly with the client we have Smoke for quick playback and last minute tweaks but more often we work remotely and review work over the internet especially with international clients. For FX work and heavy simulations we use Houdini and Naiad. We render our images using V-Ray. We switched to V-Ray about 1.5 years ago and are really happy about that. It makes the look development process extremely efficient and V-Ray has a lot of ways to get very fast feedback while still keeping all the fancy features like GI. You can get a quick read on how your lighting will look and when satisfied you can increase the settings with very predictable results. Two other good reasons to use V-Ray is the pricing and the excellent support.

 

Novedge: What innovations do you see in your field, now or in the future?

ILP: There are lots of great things already happening on the software side of things. Things are becoming more accessible and new features are being implemented to make our work easier. However, the expectations are increasing as well. Higher resolution, frame rates and stereo production have been  introduced and make for a continuous struggle to keep your head above the water. The thing I personally look forward the most for ILP is the fact that we just started using Shotgun in our pipeline as a production management tool. I think the key to survive in a business with continuously increasing demands is making sure the work you do is made as efficiently as possible. And a huge part of that is production management. 

 

To see more of ILP's work, check out their website.

To learn more about specific software, take a look at Novedge Best of the Best Webinar Series.

 

V-Ray and T-Splines Webinar for Rhino 3D Addicts!

What makes Rhino 3D so special? The power of the NURBS modeling commands? The affordable price? The strong and supportive community? The kindness and generosity of the McNeel team? Or the powerful set of plugins available to expand the Rhino 3D in every conceivable direction?

These plugins make Rhino 3D the optimal solution for an incredible diversity of vertical markets

I guess the answer is that all of these factors contribute tremendous value to Rhino users. In my opinion what pushes the popularity of Rhino to the next level is the variety and quality of plug-ins. These tools, created by advanced users as well as by professional software developers, make Rhino the optimal solution for an incredible diversity of vertical markets. You can be an architect, jewelry designer, or a shoe designer -- just to name a few -- and the Rhino "family" has a professional, high quality, affordable solution for you.

The Rhino platform also supports plug-ins intended to improve horizontal features, shared by all Rhino users, such as modeling and rendering. Among these horizontal plug-ins T-Splines and V-Ray are extremely popular.

• T-Spline for Rhino is a powerful extension to the modeling engine of Rhino that can simplify the creation of rich and sophisticated shapes while preserving 100% compatibility with the Rhino platform.
• V-Ray for Rhino is a fast and powerful rendering system able to produce amazingly photorealistic images of 3D Rhino models.

On June 23, 2009 between 1:30 PM and 2:30 PM EDT you will have the opportunity to see how T-Splines and V-Ray can work together to improve your Rhino 3D. This instructional webinar will feature two exceptional experts:

• Matthew Sederberg, CEO and founder of T-Splines (Matt's profile on RhinoJungle)
• Fernando Rentas, 3D Visual Artist and V-Ray Trainer (Fernando's profile on RhinoJungle)

I recommend registering as soon as possible through this page.

Franco Folini