Do virtual 3d landscapes resemble the actual or is it distorted or corrupt?
From CollabLandWiki
Digital landscape models
- Made for purposes of 'visual inference', or for simulating and understanding behavior or other invisible aspects of the landscape,
- 'realistic' depictions are desirable
- For the basic landscape elements -- terrain, vegetation, and water -- some standard techniques for convincing static visual representation have been developed
- Many complicating questions and obstacles remain
- Landscapes are essentially dynamic, and digital techniques for representation of these dynamics are still in their infancy
- Surveying these techniques, complications, and possibilities leads to some generalized comments about the promises and problems of landscape modeling, and to a handful of proposed research topics to help pursue the landscape modeling agenda.
Digital Computer Models
- Routinely used in landscape architecture, design and planning and other allied disciplines for visualization of proposals, evaluation of alternatives, and simulation of impacts, broadly defined
- Intangible models inside computer memory, which take form or appearance only when rendered, either to a paper print or photograph, a computer screen, an immersive display environment, or a computer-generated physical model formed from plastic, cardboard, wood, etc.
- The validity of the conclusions reached from any model is, of course, dependent upon the model's quality and characteristics
- "How 'good' is the model, and so how reliable are the inferences?"
- "Is a viewer’s response to a representation (photograph, or virtual model, etc.) of a landscape in some way equivalent to the same viewer’s (or more generally, 'experience-ers') response to the landscape in situ?
- What aspects of the representation (realism, color, navigability, etc.) are important?"
- This represents a vital and significant area of research into visualization
But these kinds of visual questions are not the only ones that call for digital landscape models. GIS systems create maps of landscape suitability and visibility; CAD systems make three-dimensional renderings of road alignment geometry or estimates of cut-and-fill volumes; landscape ecologists use differential equations and particle systems to describe dynamic processes like vegetation succession. For these, vision and visualization -- and even the details of human perception -- are important to be sure, but the visual judgment in these cases is not limited to ‘looks like’ or ‘I like it’ (or not!) The judgments expected upon viewing the displayed results of a model are the inferential purpose for which the model is made; and as with all representations, these inferential -- and sometimes rhetorical -- purposes turn out to be critical in devising and evaluating models. (Arnheim, 1969)
While both of these kinds of models -- those meant for generation of images, and those meant for other kinds of inferential purpose -- have been extensively developed and explored in the past thirty years, and are capable of surprisingly informative, and sometimes even realistic simulations of landscapes and landscape elements, a number of problems remain. Many of these have to do with realism of a sort, but are not limited to visual photo-realism. In the effort to model and visualize landscapes, we need to seek a balance between 'looks like' and 'acts like'. Landscape modelers are continually confronted with tensions and trade-offs between these two attributes, and these tensions and trade-offs are the subject of the rest of this article.
Virtual Landscape Theatre
The Virtual Landscape Theatre is a projection screen which is curved that allows people to feel within their models to explore present and past landscapes. This program allows individuals or groups to explore different landscapes and provide their opinions through a handset device. This can provide clients the opportunity to have a direct assessment of a design. The United Kingdom developed this system to research and to gain an understanding with the public on landscape design issues.
http://www.macaulay.ac.uk/landscapes/
http://www.virtual-landscape-centre.co.uk/
Vue 6
http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/solutions/?page=landscape
The Vue 6 program was developed to allocate artists and designers to turn their ideas into digital works.
Landscape Visualization/ Architectural Visualization
The Vue 6 Infinite and Vue 6 xStream are the recommended products for 3D landscape visualization. These programs are designed to handle the large amount of polygon counts which is common when creating landscapes and offers many different tools for realistic atmospheres.
Vue 6 xStream http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_6_xstream/
Vue 6 Infinite http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_6_infinite/
Where Have We Gone As Designers?
In the Past, Designers would have used much more creative means to highlight the importance of their design to a potential client. These designs would have been important area to look at for case studies. So, as designers, should we forget the past? And press the Delete Button on our past. Or, should we try to rekindle the past by meshing old world style with new modern technology?
Designers in the past, brought with them learned art talents a lost art itself. Much of the media in the past has been watercolors, colored pencils, charcoal and pen and ink. It does sound too primiative for some, however these techiques are what designers have used long before auto cad, viz, sketch-up etc...
Much of today's designer's have evolved from the drafting table to the computer for design, almost forgeting that they are limited by the computers ability not their own ability. Today, scanners and photoshop help capture hand drawing quality but allow for editing and graphics to be applied for presentation.
Here are some slides to further show 3-d design with different styles. Among them sketch up rendering plug ins.
