Let there be light!

Shedding a little light into a rendering makes all the difference. And as it turns out, manipulating lights in Kerkythea is much easier than I remember Vizrender awhile back. Here are a few renderings with minor adjustments made to the light multiplier tool. From the rendering with no light to the 'lit' rendering (where only one light is illuminating the building's facade considerably), the multiplying factor is 3. The rendering 'in between' is a factor of .8... It's safe to say, a little goes a long way!

'quick' renderings

A 'quick' Kerkythea rendering is perhaps an oxymoron, since the actual processing time seems to drag quite a bit. But considering the amount of time actually spent manipulating materials, 'quick' is an understatement when describing the process of taking a texturized model from SketchUp to a rendered Kerky image. The program whips out beautiful renderings fast as lightning...
The images below already convey design ideas clearly - buildings are nestled into the terrain, building materials are clear, etc., but after a bit of dabbling in Kerkythea's lighting and materials editor, these specific elements should be even more convincing.

(Notice the lighting on the face of the church - the vague spotlights will undoubtedly produce a more dramatic effect once these elements are tweaked in Kerkythea. Soon to come!)

Hvem behøver dyrt klatreudstyr?

I løbet af de sidste par dage har jeg sammen med min 4 årig dreng fået researchet hvilke legepladsudstyr holder, og hvilke er uinteressante. Efter flere besøg til adskillige 'sites' er det blevet klart, at edderkroppens spind og klatreudstyr er superseje, og balanceudstyr er suveræn for 'jorden er giftig.'

På vej hjem en af dagen stoppede vi forbi børnehaverne langs Møllegade for at se, hvilke udstyr børnene legede med. Her blev vores tidligere iagttagelser bekræftet, da vi så, at mange af børnene legede på institutionens klatreudstyr.

Efter et par minutter blev nogle af børnehavebørnene nysgerrige og spurgt, hvorfor vi kiggede på deres legeplads. Jeg fortalte, at vi skulle bygge en ny legeplads i vores gård lige over på den anden side af gaden fra børnehaven.
"Det behøver I ikke." sagde én.
"Nå. Hvorfor ikke det?" sagde jeg.
"I kan bare låne vores!" konstaterede han.
Det var godt nok sødt, tænkte jeg, men så sagde, at det kunne vi ikke, da deres legeplads var indhegnet.
"Jamen, I kan bare hoppe over!"

Så det gør alle kvarterets børn nu, legepladsprojektet er blevet droppet og pengene sparede... ; J

Pre-kerky sketchup!

Some more pre-Kerkythea renders and screen shots... I think I'm getting addicted...





and across the quad...

Digital 3d modelling

SketchUp is amazing. Yes, for landscape architectural applications, too. I have recently developed a solid understanding of the sandbox tools, as well as specific plug-ins that make it a breeze to create convincing, functional 3d models and terrains. It doesn't seem to be common knowledge that SketchUp is capable of actually creating organic forms in landscape architectural scenarios, but indeed, it is. The illustrations below are from a plan of a campus quad and only quickly rendered. Notice the gentle slopes of the terrain in front of the dorm and along the stone tower. The next step will be to put them into Kerkythea - yet another amazing (and free!) program which creates photorealistic renderings of anything the mind can imagine... Wow - I can't wait...