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Fantasy Architecture – SketchUp

By 3D Modelling, Fantasy Architecture, Oblivion, SketchUp

A while ago we built a imaginary or fantasy city in 3D Studio Max – partly as a way of experimenting with the software and partly as a way to get around the rules implied of our Virtual London model of not being able to insert any politically sensitive buildings.

As part of the export process we used the Oblivion Engine to visualise the city in real-time, a technique which works remarkably well and one that we will have a tutorial on shortly. The movie below provides a sample flythough of the city in Oblivion.

Since our first development Google released SketchUp, their free of charge 3D modelling software. SketchUp is a powerful 3D modeller and one which is both fun and intuitive to use – not something you could say about 3D Max. As such it has led to the development of a number of fantasy cities such as ‘Sun City’ which we feature below.

Developed and posted by a YouTube user known as foxmtbr it provides an insight into the sort of city creations possible with SketchUp.

Google SketchUp is free of charge, if you fancy making your own fantasy city then simply download the software, start building and let us know how it goes..

SimCity DS Advert/Movie

By SimCity

SimCity was first released in 1989 – essentially a game of urban economics and planning the game was first developed in 1985. The four year wait for release and further development was due to publishers unwillingness to commit to a game a) about city planning and b) with no winning or losing.

In 1989 SimCity formed part of our MSc in Town and County Planning, then running on high end PC’s. It is now available for a wide range of platforms, most recently the Nintendo DS.

The 15 second Japanese Advert below is interesting in its rearranging of the urban backdrop:

In terms of gameplay it looks similar to the previous PC and Mac incarnations of SimCity, although tailored to a younger audience. The movie below provides a good preview of the gameplay:

SimCity DS is a city in your pocket complete with the old school urban planning and economics. Yet, and maybe this is an age thing, we cant help but to be drawn back to the original version without all the ‘blowing into the microphone’ to put out fires….

SimCity DS Advert/Movie

By SimCity

SimCity was first released in 1989 – essentially a game of urban economics and planning the game was first developed in 1985. The four year wait for release and further development was due to publishers unwillingness to commit to a game a) about city planning and b) with no winning or losing.

In 1989 SimCity formed part of our MSc in Town and County Planning, then running on high end PC’s. It is now available for a wide range of platforms, most recently the Nintendo DS.

The 15 second Japanese Advert below is interesting in its rearranging of the urban backdrop:

In terms of gameplay it looks similar to the previous PC and Mac incarnations of SimCity, although tailored to a younger audience. The movie below provides a good preview of the gameplay:

SimCity DS is a city in your pocket complete with the old school urban planning and economics. Yet, and maybe this is an age thing, we cant help but to be drawn back to the original version without all the ‘blowing into the microphone’ to put out fires….

PS3 Home Beta Movie

By PS3 'Home'

A movie of Sony’s multi-user environment for the Playstation 3, known as ‘Home’ has been leaked onto YouTube:

Although the footage is of low quality it does provide an insight into how Home is shaping up.

Comparisons with Second Life will abound over the next few months in the main stream press and time will tell how close it is to the PC/Mac based multi-user world. At the moment it is unsurprising how well Home is shaping up considering the power of the PS3.

Joystiq notes to enjoy the movie while you can as its liable to be deleted from YouTube shortly..

See our other PS3 Home posts for more details.

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