3DS Max Animation Attempt

As a technologically challenged individual, I tend to learn one program and cling to it. Revit has been my mainstay for rendering software, though anyone who is familiar with the program knows its severe limitations. Each render requires a few hours of touch up and adding entourage in Photoshop. Also, animation in Revit takes an extremely long time to render with less than satisfactory results. 3DS Max, on the other hand, takes hours to render (as opposed to days) with pretty impressive results. The key to creating a successful animation is to limit the amount of information that you want to communicate. In my first attempt at an animation, I wanted to focus on the spatial qualities (especially how they are enclosed) of the entry space and the loft, how those two spaces fit into the overall design, and the general form of the building. I limited the textures to just solid and transparent surfaces. However, I found that some definition between different materials might be helpful, especially as some of the different surfaces tended to blend into one another. Since I don’t know how to use this program very well, I just took off the roof to allow light into the space, rather than add lights. Since this is my first go around, the camera is a bit jerky in places. In the future, I will try to create more intermediate key frames to create a smoother camera track. One issue I ran into was the problem of wanting to use different lenses in different situations. For the interiors, I really needed a wide angle lens to capture the entire space, but as I moved to the exterior, I found I wanted to zoom in one certain aspects of the building. However, I couldn’t find a way to switch lenses mid animation, so I just had to find a lens somewhere in the middle that kind of worked in each situation, but wasn’t ideal.

Vasari Eco-Analysis

The analysis tools in Vasari can provide crucial data on how a building form will perform in its environment. In just one 50 minute class period, Beach was able to test solar heat gain, analyze local site wind speed and direction, and see how wind interacts with a form. One of the most helpful features is the ability to focus in on a certain period of time (i.e. during the summer months in the afternoon), so designers can best respond to changing passive system needs from season to season. Since I am working with a more defined site (540 Commercial Street), I wanted to stretch Vasari’s abilities so that I might test how the surrounding built environment might affect my proposed mass model.

Overall model of proposed form and surrounding built environment

Solar heat gain average from December through March from 12:00pm to 6:00 pm, the time of year designers should take advantage of solar heat gain to passively heat buildings. Roofs and south facing walls absorb the most amount of heat, but west facing walls absorb a moderate amount of heat, especially the site-boundary wall.

Solar heat gain average from June through September from 12:00pm to 6:00 pm, the time of year when designers need to limit the amount of of solar heat gain.  

Solar heat gain average on the summer solstice from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. The east facing walls have little heat gain. Even the south facing walls have minimal heat gain.

Average wind speed and direction for site

Average wind speed and direction for site from May to September from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Wind flow analysis, able to observe how wind moves around and through buildings

Wind velocity analysis, able to observe how wind moves around and through buildings on the horizontal plane (10' above ground).

Wind flow velocity, able to observe how wind moves around and through buildings on the vertical plane (through the proposed courtyard space).

Analysis of the surrounding context in addition to the site is only helpful when looking at the buildings directly surrounding the site. The larger the context, the less useful and less readable the analysis. In this particular example, only the building directly to the right of the site had much impact on the proposed form: it casts shadows on the building in the morning and creates a wind tunnel in the 12' space between the two structures. Especially for wind flow analysis, one will gain much more valuable information the more one can limit the area for analysis.

Google Earth and SketchUp

Importing a SketchUp model into Google Earth (even as a preview) provides a user-friendly method of viewing a site or building in its complete context. One of the problems with most 3D modeling tools is that only a limited amount of contextual information can be created before crashing the file. Also these programs can typically only represent the information in drawings and still images. Google Earth and SketchUp allow the viewer to explore the space 3-dimensionally.

In addition to being able to use all of the information already stored in Google Earth, the program allows for even more information to be linked to the file through the descriptions of placemarks and image overlays. In placemark descriptions, the designer can include all the data he desires in text form or he can add links that may direct the viewer to more information. Image overlays make it simple for the designer to share ideas in a plan perspective. Sketches or drawings may be superimposed over the existing Google Earth terrain to better represent site different aspects of site analysis, programming, or plan views of a project. Also, the ability to “turn off” and “turn on” different layers of information allows the viewer to control the amount of data that appears on the model, which can help maintain legibility. The viewer can also control what information he or she wants to analyze in relation to other data.

This method seems particularly beneficial when creating a site analysis, as multiple layers of information can be represented in the SketchUp model and in Google Earth as image overlays, placemarks, and polygons (a drawing tool in Google Earth). Information that is too cumbersome to include in the model or textual data can be added in the placemark descriptions or can be linked to the file. One caution, however, is to not overload the model or descriptions in a manner that lessens the legibility of the model or that is overwhelming to the viewer.