Leadwerks Engine for Architectural Visualisation

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Its always good to see innovation in the field of real-time visualisation in relation to architectural projects. Our argument is usually not to go for the known route, the high priced software engines, but to explore other solutions for clients. As such it is really nice to see visualisation company Pure3d using the Leadwerks Editor.


The movie below details realtime rendering, for a french client with the purpose of selling real estates:

Pure3d's remit was to deliver a rendered movie template which could be used for further editing and audio overlay. The visualisation was based upon CAD floor plans which they used as a base for modeling and layout.

In terms of Interactivity, the project can be presented in a game like setting with realtime interactivity, this allows prospective purchasers to take a free look around the site and properties.

Rendering is quick with the source material movie output to 4000x3000px per frame in less than 30 minutes on a single workstation, this in turn means notable savings in production costs.

Head over to the Pure3d Leadwerks Meets Architecture blog for more info and screenshots.

Wired Big Ideas for 2011: Chatitecture - Talking Buildings

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We are pleased to say that in at number 24 of Wired Magazines 'Big Ideas for 2011' is Chatitecture, part of the Tales of Things project. Over the past 8 months a group of us have been developing technology to allow buildings to 'talk', to communicate their history, their architecture and the stories of people passing through.

Its simple to do, just sign up with Tales of Things, upload a image of your building of choice (under 2mb) and add a story. Your building will then go live and your be able to add it to the architecture group. If you want you can also print out a QRCode that you can stick to the building allowing anyone to scan the code and add to the story/history of the building via the free iPhone/Android apps.

Your building will also be able to 'Tweet' everytime it is scanned or a new comment/story added, it will also become part of the 'World of Things' map - a place to view all the objects added so far to the site.

The project team are working on ways to make the objects more location aware and aware of near by objects, it could be interesting over the next few months to see how this develops.


You can start tagging anything and everything via talesofthings.com

404 Festival Taiwan 2010 Viz

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The 404 Festival Taiwan 2010 / Official Spot film investigates the genesis of a world created from information where success and failure becomes layered into an evolving urban landscape:

404 Festival Taiwan 2010 / Official Spot from 404 Festival on Vimeo.

Created by Nice Shoes, and in their own words - the city is not designed through intentional desires, but rather by the proliferation of ideas and thus equating failure with success, each becomes their own thread in a tapestry of an evolving construct.

We are not sure what that means either, but the visualisation is impressive as is the soundscape created for the clip. We do not often delve into sound here at digital urban, but this clip needs headphones, the spatial separation and mix are notable.

The 404 at the end is also rather lovely...

Architectural Viz: Transitions between Real and Virtual, Shopping City Sued

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Produced by Telegram71 and commisioned by Atp Architekten Ingenieure, the video below shows a possible future renovation of the Shopping City Sued, a shopping mall extending for nearly 2 km in the periphery of Vienna. The insertion of 3d modeled and rendered sequences into on site shootings gives a clear idea of the transition between the actual stage and the future development:




Central to the visualisation are the transitions between real world and rendered, we especially like the staircase sequence 3 minutes into the clip. Its not easy to make a clip based around a shopping centre interesting, but Telegram71 seem to of pulled it off.

Head over to http://www.telegram71.com/ for more examples.

Swinglet CAM: DIY Drone Aerial Photography

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If anyone is sorting out a Digital Urban Christmas List, then please add the Swinglet CAM and mark it with a little star for high priority.

With a 30 minute flying time, 12 mile range, 12Mp camera and ability to follow preprogrammed GPS tracks this is one of the best local air photography tools we have seen.

The Swinglet omes with all necessary components for operation: rechargeable battery, charger, radio modem, remote control (for experts of remote flying only), and software for flight planning and monitoring.

Head over to http://www.sensefly.com/products/swinglet-cam/ for full details.

Thanks go to Marek for sending us the link.

Making of the Map: John Potters Timelapse

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John Potter of Escape Key Graphics has just completed a map for the 2010 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, which takes place annually in of course Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Show Management; the company that puts on the boat show, wanted a friendlier, more illustrative map than the map they had used in previous years. John ran an ongoing screen capture as he has done with previous projects (find them on John's “Design and Illustration Videos” page). The speed is doubled six times giving you the ability to see the work and the thought process behind it without being burdened by specifics of technique. The project was done primarily in Adobe Illustrator, it makes for a fantastic video:

Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show Map - Illustrator Time-Lapse from John Potter on Vimeo.
John notes that the rendering was based on CAD drawings provided by Jeremy Thayer over at Show Management and the project simply could not have been done in such a short time frame, or with as high a degree of accuracy without those drawings as a foundation. If only everyone worked this way, the final result is excellent.

BBC Uses SurveyMapper: Living Longer

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Over the next few weeks the BBC is looking into the implications of an ageing society as part of their Living Longer series. We are pleased to say that they are using our free SurveyMapper system to canvas opinion across the UK.

The pubic are being asked a series of questions with the results mapped in realtime, creating a 'mood map' of the UK. You can take part via the Living Longer site and of course set up your own survey on a global, national, city, zip, postcode, borough or ward level.

Jan Jelinek & Visiomat: Modell Stadt Berlin

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Below is a contemporary audiovisual collaboration between Jan Jelinek and Visiomat inc. It is possibly one of the most surreal we have featured on digital urban but with its imposing soundtrack it is almost hypnotic. Jan Jelinek’s approach is all about the transformation of sound, about translating parameters of popular music into abstract, reduced and textural electronics:



Bypassing the rules of traditional musicianship, he prefers to construct collages from tiny sound fragments, from the lost-and-found products of samplers, tape recorders, media players and other recording implements. To this end, Jan Jelinek often works with loops and slight modulations to distil the gist of a piece of music and define it more clearly while masking its original source.