Blog For Google 3D Warehouse Part 6 (December Pick)

At the beginning of every month 3Dwalkthroughs.com selects our favorite 3D model from Greg Rose's blog which highlights new 3D building models as they are added to Google's 3D Warehouse.

Our monthly selection is based on impressive: architecture, level of detail, level of realism etc.

For the month of December we have chosen the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing China.

Description
The CCTV Headquarters is a skyscraper that is currently under construction in Beijing, China. The building will be the new headquarters of China Central Television. Groundbreaking took place on September 22, 2004. It is planned to be completed in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren are the designers of the building. The building will stand at 234 meters or 755 feet tall and will have 54 floors.

I chose this particular model because of the interesting way the model was integrated into the site plan. The wikipedia entry below describes some of the unique aspects of this amibitious project.

The CCTV Headquarters is a skyscraper that is currently under construction in Beijing, China. The building will be the new headquarters of China Central Television. Groundbreaking took place on September 22, 2004. It is planned to be completed in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren are the designers of the building. The building will stand at 234 meters or 755 feet tall and will have 54 floors.

The main building is not a traditional tower, but a continuous loop of five horizontal and vertical sections covering 4,100,000 square feet of floor space, creating an irregular grid on the building’s facade with an open center. The construction of the building is considered to be a structural challenge, especially because it is in a seismic zone. A second building, the Television Cultural Centre , includes a hotel, a visitor's centre, a large public theatre, and exhibition spaces. It is visible from the main intersection of the new Beijing Central Business District through the window of the main CCTV headquarters building. A media park forms a landscape of public entertainment, outdoor filming areas, and production studios as an extension of the central green axis of the CBD.[1]

The building is being built in two sections that will ultimately be joined to complete the loop. In order not to lock in structural differentials this connection has to be completed at the last minute and at the coldest time of night, 4am or 5am, when the steel in the two towers has cooled to the same temperature. This joining is widely anticipated by Beijing locals and has been a topic of much discussion.

Source: Wikipedia.com

3D Renderings and 3D Walkthroughs Used By Interior Design Professionals

3Dwalkthroughs.com has been working with a number of interior design professionals to create highly detailed 3D Walkthroughs and 3D Renderings for their clients.

Often times it is very hard for a client of an interior design professional to visualize a concept simply by looking at blueprints or rough wireframe mockups. In many cases the interior design professionals are asked to present their concepts even before being hired for the job. As many interior designers often receive a percentage of the total amount of money spent on the interior furnishings, it is certainly worthwhile for them to go the extra mile during their initial presentations.

Highly realistic 3D Walkthroughs and 3D Renderings are extremely effective ways for interior designers to blow away their clients by showing their concepts in vivid detail.

Using highly detailed 3D assets, interior designers are also able to ensure that they are completely on the same page as their clients before starting a project. We have heard stories from many of our interior design clients of instances where they had to rip out installations and start all over due to a miscommunication with their client.

Interior designers have used our services to showcase all types of interiors including: Kitchens, Living Rooms, Bedrooms, Home Theaters, Home Offices, Fitness Centers etc.

Along with interior designers we are also starting to get requests from Home Theater companies and cabinet makers to create detailed renderings of their concepts as a way to help them close big deals.

Qwaq - The Ultimate 3D Virtual Collaboration Tool?

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes we have found one of the most effective 3D virtual world applications to be launched to date. The application is designed by Palo Alto based Qwaq, which has just announced a $7 million first round of funding co-led by Alloy Ventures and Storm Ventures with participation from previous investor KPG Ventures.

Qwaq's 3D virtual world application is unique as it allows for real time collaboration and sharing of most types of documents. Much like Second Life, Qwaq Forums uses animated avatars representing users to populate 3D office spaces, complete with rotating fans and potted plants. Qwak's application has been described as a mash-up of WebEx and Second Life.

Here is some more information taken directly from Qwaq's website:

Designed for Collaboration
Qwaq Forums is designed for collaboration. Whether you are working internally with other team members and groups, or need to collaborate with supply chain partners or customers, Qwaq Forums has powerful features that simplify setting up and working in highly collaborative environments.

Content. Content is easily made available to users; simply drag and drop content from your local folders or desktop into Qwaq Forums and it will be automatically uploaded and made available to other users. Using Qwaq Multi-Share™, multiple users can edit content together within a virtual space. Once a work item is completed, content can be saved to your local desktop or folders for further processing.

Presence. Unlike traditional 2-D collaboration environments, Qwaq Forums' 3-D environment provides strong feedback on where users are focusing and what users are working on. Using avatars and a unique "laser pointer" makes it easy to see where people are, what they are looking at, what content they are editing and how they are using applications. In combination with Qwaq Forums' built-in high fidelity VoIP and text chat, users have a highly immersive environment and important social cues that help them work more effectively.

Context. A Qwaq Forums workspace provides a simple ways to link and associate content. Whether using drag-and-drop to link virtual spaces or simply choosing the spatial relationship between content in an existing space, users can establish areas of focus for collaboration.

Persistence. The virtual spaces in Qwaq Forums are designed to be dynamic and evolving. Users can save the state of a Qwaq Forums virtual space at any time. The saved state includes any editing made by users to documents or content in the space; for example, if you had been working on a budgeting spreadsheet, any changes you and other users made to that spreadsheet would be saved along with the rest of the state of the virtual space. This capability provides a powerful way for users to work on projects that cannot be completed in one session and allows them to leave incremental work updates for each other when working asynchronously.

Powerful End User Features

- Simple virtual workspace creation. Create meeting rooms, offices, lab rooms or other indoor spaces from existing room templates. The templates provide ready-to-use rooms that can be used right away or further customized. Use the Qwaq Virtual Campus™ to create outdoor spaces. All spaces can be linked together using drag and drop commands.
- Drag and drop content import. Share Microsoft Office documents created with Word, PowerPoint and Excel; Adobe PDF files, images, and even 3-D content by dragging from local folders into a Qwaq Forums virtual workspace.
- Qwaq Multi-Share™. Qwaq's unique fine-grained sharing control lets multiple users edit a document or use an application GUI in an intuitive manner at the same time. All users see edits in real-time.

Qwaq Forums Architecture Highlights
Scalable Peer-to-Peer architecture for user Interactions.
Built-in wide area VoIP and text chat.
Built-in data encryption: all traffic between peers is encrypted to ensure privacy.
Option to have Qwaq Host or to Self-Host behind your firewall.
Open standards based: uses Croquet for platform and Python for scripting. Supports numerous document types for user import and export.

We are looking forward to our formal demo to see if the application is as good as it sounds.

3DVO - Affordable 3D Object Modelling

3Dwalkthroughs.com continues to research new technologies that will promote the move to a more interactive and immersive 3D internet.

Today we came across an interesting company based in Salt Lake City,3DVO, an industry pioneer in 3D modeling services for online retailers. One of their new products, 3DVO Engage, provides both small and large e-retailers with very realistic 3D models of their products that can be animated, rotated and viewed from 360 degrees.

Retailers send their products to 3DVO, and the company rapidly returns 3D images that can be manipulated by the consumer during the online purchasing process. For the first time, mass e-retailers can put all of their products online in 3D as opposed to just their higher end products.

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes this new technology can add a new level of value to the virtual shopping malls that are starting to pop up all over the internet. Instead of just walking through a virtual store and looking at a still picture of a product, this new technology can further immerse the shopper in the experience by letting them interact with the object they might be interested in buying.

"Traditional retail sales are slowing, but online sales are expected to grow 20 percent to $39 billion this holiday season," said Troy Sheen, CEO of 3DVO. "One way retailers are increasing online sales is by creating a realistic store experience. In the past they could only afford to create 3D models for their flagship products, but with our technology they can create 3D models for every single product - increasing online conversion rates."

Source: TMC.net

We recommend checking out the 3DVO website as there are some cool examples of this new technology.

3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings and 3D Floor Plans - Perfect For New Home Sales

In the past, when trying to market a soon to be developed single family home, the amount of affordable pre-sales marketing tools was extremely limited. Certainly, photos could not be used as there was nothing yet to photograph, and watercolor renderings were just not capturing the attention of buyers.

Enter---3Dwalkthroughs.com. We have recently been working on adding a much more streamlined and affordable suite of Custom 3D Walkthroughs , 3D Renderings and 3D Floor Plans to our existing product mix. This new suite of 3D products will be specifically geared to the yet to be developed single family home.

The products within our new suite of 3D offerings are created with floor plans,
CAD files, elevations and specific information delivered by the interior designers. We decided to create this new suite of products based on our most recent research which highlighted the unbelievably poor quality of 3D renderings and 3D walkthroughs being used across the country.

We are also speaking with a few new mapping companies whose technologies will integrate very nicely with our new suite of products. The marriage of these 2 technologies is sure to attract a lot more interested buyers to a pre-developed single family home...and more qualified ones at that.

Attending College in a 3D Virtual World

3Dwalkthroughs.com has been finding many examples of universities building a virtual presence in Second Life. Similar to the virtual trade shows we have seen, 3D virtual classrooms are not trying to totally replace their real life counterparts, rather complement them.

Integrating 3D virtual classrooms into a universities curriculum allows the teacher to reach a larger audience in a more immersive way than just posting text and photos on a schools intranet.

Some 300 schools, with about 4,200 educators from around the world, are now taking part, said Claudia L'Amoreaux of Linden Lab (creators of Second Life). Stanford University recently developed a new Second Life site that includes a virtual library. Stanford's School of Education and the humanities lab also have sites.

"The 3D Internet is this immersive place and it's very different than any kind of Web-based learning," L'Amoreaux said.

Schools such as the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill are even creating virtual school pharmacies and planetariums or interactive library catalogs and book-loaning projects.

For San Jose State, building a virtual campus gave distance learners a sense of "being present," said Linda Main, associate director of the School of Library and Information Science and a professor at San Jose State for 21 years.

Main said the school's virtual campus has allowed its small library program to offer more courses to a wider range of students, who come from more than nine countries. Fifty percent live in Southern California.

The virtual campus "has changed the whole concept of place - there's no need to move here to become a librarian," Main said.

Next fall, Main said, the department is going to make it a requirement for students to include a Second Life component.

Source: Mercurynews.com

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes that just like virtual trade shows, many new applications will be launched specifically focused on 3D virtual universities. These new applications will address and overcome any limitations existing in Second Life, and provide an even more valuable and interactive 3D learning experience.

3D Rendering Used in Ocean's 13

Last night my wife and I decided to stay in and watch Ocean's 13. Without giving away too much of the movie, the plot involves a heist of sorts of the fictitious Bank Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

As a frequent visitor to Las Vegas we had to stop and think for a second if we ever remember seeing a Bank Hotel. After a few seconds we realized that it was a 3D Rendering interspersed into an actual view of the Las Vegas Strip.

Benedict, the owner of the Bellagio, made a comment about the tower of Bank's Casino casting a shadow over his pool. The Bank hotel is an orangish glass structure consisting of three symmetrical towers winding around each other like a strand of DNA. The 3D Rendering is actually superimposed on the SE corner of Harmon & Las Vegas Blvd currently the home of the Harley Davidson Café - a single story building with no resemblance to the Bank Casino.

3Dwalkthroughs.com applauds the company that created the 3D rendering as it actually left us wondering if it was real for a second. This is the ultimate goal of any 3D Walkthrough, 3D Floor Plan or 3D Rendering we create.

Happy Thanksgiving From 3DWalkthroughs.com

The entire staff at 3Dwalkthroughs.com hopes all of our friends, family and clients had a very Happy Thanksgiving.

As everyone knows, the day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. Do you know why? Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year.

The origins of the name Black Friday are fuzzy but there are 2 popular theories as to its origin.

Theory 1- Stores do enough business during the holiday season, which officially begins on Black Friday,taking their financial position from being in the negative(red) to turning a profit(black).

Theory 2- The name Black Friday comes from the stress that one might experience during the holiday season due to the shopping with the crowds.

Ding,ding, ding...we have a winner. While theory 1 might be true, theory 2 seems a lot more appropriate.

We are looking forward to the day when 3D virtual shopping is as common as making a purchase on a site like Amazon. As computer processing speeds are improved and we continue to move towards an immersive 3D internet, a new theory for Black Friday might evolve. One which involves carpal tunnel syndrome or the depression that comes with credit card debt.

UpNext- Detailed 3D Map of Every Building in NYC

UpNext, a 4 person New York City start-up, has created a facebook application that bridges the gap between the 2D maps and images seen on Google Maps, Live Maps, and Yahoo Maps. It also brings a new level of functionality to Google Earth and Virtual Earth.

UpNext has launched an extremely detailed 3D map of Manhattan which shows almost every building in the city. In addition to the impressive detail of each building, UpNext's technology includes the following features: Users can pan and zoom within the 3D map,click on a building to get its full tenant list or even type a specific address to fly directly to the building. Another unique feature of the UpNext technology is the ability to set filters which highlight nearby restaurants, bars, stores, hotels, museums, or sports facilities.

Integrating the UpNext technology into Facebook gives their 3D map added value by allowing a user to benefit from the experiences of all their Facebook friends. The application includes a friend slider for easy sorting and viewing all the places they’ve rated.

3Dwalkthroughs.com thinks the UpNext technology could be a perfect complement to our Custom 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings and 3D Floor Plans by serving as an entry point to our Manhattan based presentations. The ability to learn so much about an area surrounding one of our development projects in Manhattan is extremely valuable to our clients, expecially one viewing the property from a remote location. Hopefully UpNext will get the investment they are looking for so we can utilize their application in other parts of the country.

Exercise in a 3D Virtual World?

Interested in riding a real life exercise bike in an immersive 3D virtual world? This ability may not be too far off in the future.

Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology in New Zealand have designed an IT gaming program which coupled with a stationary exercise bike allows a biker to interact/control a virtual setting.

The gaming program uses two Nintendo Wii remote controls - one attached to the rider's leg, and another receiving a signal from an infra-red light on the rider's helmet.

The signal controls the "virtual setting", providing users with the feeling of cycling through the backdrop of their choice.

Source: tvnz.co.nz

The research team hopes to take the system one step further by displaying the images using video goggles, instead of projected onto a screen, providing a much better virtual experience.

3Dwalkthroughs.com predicts that in the near future the ability to better control real time interaction within 3D Virtual Worlds such as Second Life will lead to the launch of virtual health club.

We will also be able to promote that along with one of our custom 3D walkthroughs effectively showing a property before it is built, it will also help to burn calories...yes we are joking about this one.

3D TV to follow The New Wave of Theater Based 3D Movies?

3Dwalkthroughs.com has been holding off about writing about the new wave of 3D movie's hitting theaters until the box office results were released. This past weekend, the highest grossing movie in the country was the animated 3D epic Beowulf released in 742 theaters across North America.

The renewed interest in 3D movies is due in part to the new technology used to create the 3D effect. The new generation 3D technology is said to prevent the nausea and sickening feeling associated with old 3D movies.

There are many new 3D movies in the pipleine including "Avatar" by James Cameron, Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jacksons "The Adventures of Tin Tin." and a remastering of George Lucas's Star Wars.

Very soon, the ability to watch these same 3D movies at home will be as easy as flipping a switch. Dynamic Digital Depth or DDD, launched in 2005, is responsible for the TriDef Vision+ 3D set-top box.

According to DDD, Vision+ automatically converts most popular consumer video formats to 3D as they are watched, allowing any broadcast or DVD content to be presented in 3D. When the viewer decides to watch in 3D, he simply activates the Vision+ set top box using the remote control and puts on a pair of 3D glasses. The system then delivers a 3D image from any viewing position in the living room with the same clarity and quality as the latest 3D digital cinemas.

Source: Cable360.net

As the ability to view 3D movies at home becomes the norm, 3Dwalkthroughs.com will be sure to start thinking of the elements we can add to our 3D Walkthroughs to make objects literally jump off the screen. Beware of opening a closet that looks too full.

3D Rendering Used To Preview a Tattoo

It is no secret that 3Dwalkthroughs.com promotes the use of 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings and 3D Floor Plans as a way of previewing all the aspects of a new development before the property it is built. We have also described how 3D Renderings can be used to help make decisions on capital improvement projects and even trade show set designs.

Well, an article from wired.com describes a new use for 3D Renderings.

French graphic designer Loic Zimmerman created a 3D rendering of himself tattooed with his design concept to see how it would before he was all inked up and it was too late to make any design changes.

Zimmerman first went to French gaming and motion-capture studio Quantic Dream to get a 3D scan of himself. He then used an exported UV set of the section of his body to be tattooed as a guideline in Photoshop to fit and enhance his tattoo design.

While I do not envision that 3Dwalkthroughs.com will be changing our direction to focus on creating 3D Renderings to preview tatoos, it is always interesting to read about new uses of 3D technology. Pehaps we can offer free tattoos to any developer that purchases a 3D Walkthrough...or maybe not.

The full post of this article can be found here along with a step by step process of Loic's creation.

Should People Be Included in a 3D Walkthrough?

3Dwalkthroughs.com would like to pose a question to our clients:
Does adding people to a 3D Walkthrough improve the experience or serve as a distraction?

We have recently come across some new market research which states that adding people to a 3D Walkthrough might not always be a good thing. The findings of the research states that in some cases adding people can serve as a distraction and actually take away from the experience.

Without being privy to all of the details and criteria surrounding the test, I am skeptical about these findings. We have seen plenty of examples of 3D Walkthroughs and 3D Renderings where people dramatically improved the experience as well as plenty of examples where they have not.

Some of the ways to ensure that the 3D Walkthrough experience is improved by adding people are:
1) Making sure the demographic of the people is consistent with the targeted audience
2) Don't add too many people that make a property look congested
3) Make sure the speed of peoples movement is consistent with the speed of the overall camera pan
4) Do not have use still images of people when the rest of the environment is moving

The biggest deciding factor whether or not people should be added to a 3D Walkthrough is the overall goals of the presentation. If the goal is to market to a specific demographic or demonstrate energy or excitement within a common area, then adding people is probably a good idea. If the goal is to show tranquility and a peaceful lifestyle, then pehaps people should be kept out of the presentation.

A Tool To Help Capture Views That Can Be Included In 3D Walkthroughs

A few days ago 3Dwalkthroughs.com posted about the value of integrating actual photos into a Custom 3D Walkthrough. In today's NY Times there is a story of a company that can help to capture photos of views to or from properties that are not accessible by a photographer.

Digital Design and Imaging Service, a company based in Falls Church, Va., has invented a remote camera, which is attached to a large helium balloon and is suspended over a lot where a building will eventually stand. The camera takes pictures every 30 feet at multiple compass points to show views at various levels. The photos are valuable sales and marketing tools and also to help developers determine the best window placement to maximize the views.

According to Curt Westergard, the company’s president, potential buyers involved at the conception of a project often relish the chance to compare the master-bedroom views from, say, Apartments 11-W and 11-E. Similarly, he added, the photos are useful to architects in figuring out where to place windows, or whether to avoid them at certain spots because the views might not be terrific. They also give developers a way to fine-tune unit prices, which may be higher if the apartment has a glimpse of the Empire State Building, or lower if the views are not as good.

Source: NY Times

It would be extremely valuable for us to utilize this service to demonstrate actual views in our 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Floor Plans and 3D Renderings, especially if the views are big selling points of a property.

Professional Balloon tests can help to show the height, location and views to and from proposed structures. A sample of the process can be found here>>>

3D Virtual Worlds Used For Trade Shows

In the past year 3Dwalkthroughs.com has come across various 3D virtual technology platforms focused on the trade show industry. Companies like IBM, Cisco, and others are using virtual trade shows as a way of cutting costs and attracting a larger worldwide attendance.

3D virtual trade show platforms are created to look exactly like actual trade show exhibition halls. In contrast to virtual world platforms such as Second Life, virtual trade shows are much more professional and are created specifically for business environments. We have seen virtual trade shows platforms with and without actual avatars that can walkthrough the virtual environment. In most of the platforms we have seen you can upload a picture, chat with booth representatives, and attend pre-recorded or live sessions.

Virtual Trade Show events typically cost less than live events and often result in more targeted leads. Many people we have spoken with do not think virtual trade shows will ever replace live trade shows completely, rather complement them by attacting more attendees from remote locations.

One virtual trade show platform we discovered recently is Unisfair. Founded in 2002, Unisfair tradeshow offers a 3D collection of booths, live and recorded presentations, trackable analytics, and a combination of online collaboration tools with social networking elements.

We are currently in the process of working very closely with a 3D virtual trade show developer to improve the level of reality they offer in their virtual environment. We believe as more companies such as 3Dwalkthroughs.com with an expertise in creating realistic renderings work with virtual world platform developers, the overall experience will become more immersive, interactive and enjoyable.

Global Condo Center - Using Real and 3D Virtual Worlds To Market New Properties

Vancouver based Global Condo Center has announced the launch of a new platform that allows potential residential or recreational real estate buyers to view properties worldwide in person, online and in the virtual world of Second Life.

Walk-in Urban & Resort Condo Center stores currently located in downtown Vancouver and Calgary, Alberta, offer display areas for local and foreign developers to present their properties in person to prospective buyers. Developers can also feature their projects on www.globalcondocenter.com, the company's Internet search portal capable of showcasing new developments in 2,200 cities and regions around the world. A second web site, www.previewcondocenter.com is used when developers have an upcoming project. Members to this web site are e-mailed about new developments if a project meets certain criteria they have identified. Both Condo Center portals can be accessed online and on large screens at Urban & Resort Condo Center locations.

Source: Marketwire.com

Today, Global Condo Center announced the launch of its virtual version of the Urban & Resort Condo Center in Second Life. You can access the virtual site Here>> (you must be connected to Second Life)

In the Urban & Resort Condo Center on Global Condo Center Island in Second Life, buyers can view information detailing real-world properties, some with design options and 3D interactive floor plans that avatars can navigate through.

3Dwalkthroughs.com will certainly introduce our developer client database to the tremendous potential offered by this virtual real estate center. It is certainly advantageous for a potential buyer to be able to rely on one website to view a mulititude of new available properties on the market. The ability to immerse in so much information about a property from anywhere in the world including the ability to view 3D Floor Plans and 3D Walkthroughs which are integrated into virtual worlds like Second Life is awesome.

Long Island's Lighthouse Plans Unveiled

The plans have been unveiled for the Lighthouse Project in Nassau Long Island. The project is not only one of the most amibitious developments to ever take place on Long Island, but also involves two of our good friend's companies. Rexcorp Realty and The Spector Group.

Note: 3Dwalkthroughs.com did NOT create any of the 3D assets for this project.

Phase 1 of The Lighthouse Project includes a new home for the NY Islanders with a redeveloped Coliseum, twin towers 31-stories tall that will house Long Island's first five-star hotel overlooking: a conference center, offices, homes and a "Celebration Plaza" larger than New York's Bryant Park.

Phase 2 includes a residential village sub-district with a neighborhood more or less built on top of parking decks, with each block a circle of multi-story townhouses and condominiums looking out over green courtyards, many of them with swimming pools. Below on street level will be grocery stores and dry cleaners.

In addition, the plans include four new office buildings comprising 1 million square feet under the residential subdistrict, with two each to be built on the Coliseum parcel's northwest corner and just west of RexCorp Plaza. The tallest would be no more than 175 feet.

The Lighthouse project will help to bring a ton of new jobs and tax revenues to Long Island and also serve as an important incentive to keep the NY Islanders on Long Island. The project will also follow green-building and smart-growth neighborhood development principles and include bicycle and jogging trails that connect with Hofstra University, Nassau Community College, Museum Mile and wind all the way to Eisenhower Park.

The complicated part now will be to get approvals for all the zoning, planning and environmental permits. It will be up to Hempstead Town to decide whether the site and its surrounding neighborhoods can handle the traffic and parking demands this development would place upon it.

Using Actual Photos in 3D Walkthroughs

3Dwalkthroughs.com's goal is to create extremely realistic 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings, 3D Floor Plans and Interactive 3D Presentations that effectively demonstrate a development project before the first shovel hits the ground.
We are often approached by developers that tout the views their development has to offer as one of the biggest selling points of a project. When this is the case we can often seamlessly integrate actual photos into the finished Custom 3D Walkthrough. Without giving away all of our tricks we will simply say that we have come up with creative ways to integrate photos that blend in naturally with the rest of the 3D presentation.

For development projects with a limited budget, using actual photos instead of modeling the entire environment is the perfect way of staying within an affordable range. It is important to mention that the quality of the photos must be top notch to match the quality we can render with our 3D presentations. If low resolution or blemished pictures are integrated into a 3D Walkthrough, it will only serve to turn off a potential buyer.

Panoramic images often work the best as you pan across a very wide area, capturing the entire view a project has to offer. Not too long ago we completed a NYC project that overlooked Central Park South. As the building already existed we were able to get up to the gutted apartment and capture the exact views the apartment had to offer.

Here is the result>>

Toyota's Scion Division is Using Various 3D Virtual Worlds To Market Their Cars

An interesting article in Mediapost.com describes Toyota's latest efforts to market their Scion car by getting involved with various virtual worlds such as: Whyville, Gaia.com, Second Life and There.com.

As the Scion car is targeting the GenY audience, Toyota's marketing strategy makes total sense. By going after GenY'ers where they gravitate, as well as offering interactive and social networking 3D elements that GenY'ers are attracted to, this strategy seems like a home run.

According to Mediapost.com here is an example of what citizens of There.com can do as part of Toyota's virtual presence. Members can modify not only virtual Scion cars, but also an in-world venue called Club Scion. The virtual club is a three-tower building that replicates, on a large scale, Scion's xA, xB and tC car models. The Club doubles as a vehicle tour and venue. Members of the club can socialize around music and virtual dance floors, seating, hot tubs and transparent walkways and ladders.

The extension of the club lets consumers create designs for the outside of Club Scion, and submit them to There.com, where they become the look of the club's exterior. The designs will be rotated on a regular basis.

In There.com, which attracts 13- to-24-year-old users, consumers will also be able to create, buy and sell their own versions of drivable, branded Scion cars, which were designed for the program by game developer Trilogy Studios. The cars can be personalized and raced in the virtual landscape.

3Dwalkthroughs.com gets excited every time another national brand launches a new strategy in 3D virtual worlds. We believe that we are heading very quickly to a 100% 3D internet, where 3D virtual worlds, social networking sites, 3D Walkthroughs and actual video will all be seamlessly integrated on the web.

Noisette - New Development Project in South Caroina

The staff at 3Dwalkthroughs.com is currently visiting Charleston, South Carolina to meet with one of the top real estate agents in the nation. During our down time we were able to check out some of the sights and sounds of downtown Charleston. We became friendly with former New Yorkers and current owners of the contemporary clothing and accessories store BZAR. It must have been our lucky day as it turned out the owners were hosting a huge party at the site of a very ambitious new development project. The party featured artists, DJ's and breakdancers (the breakdancers were certainly not from New York).

After returning home from the party we investigated this development project further. The project entitled Noisette, is being developed on a 3,000 acre plot of land in North Charleston. The website provides intimate details of the project including some 3D Renderings and video. In an effort to make sure all the details of this impressive project are explained correctly, please read the description below taken directly from their website. For such a large project they are the perfect candidate for our 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings and 3D Floor Plans.

Here is the description of the project. Source: Noisettesc.com website.

What is Noisette?
Noisette is a 3,000 acre city-within-a-city. It is an area of North Charleston, South Carolina targeted for integrated restoration as a sustainable community – modeled on the belief that cities must be equally responsive to social needs, environmental responsibility and economic vitality (the philosophy embodied by people, planet, prosperity).

The Noisette community boundaries are roughly those that defined North Charleston when that community was incorporated in 1973. However, in the last 30 years, through annexation and “green-field” subdivision development, North Charleston has expanded into one of the state’s largest cities. Today, the Noisette area represents only a small corner of its parent city.

What’s Noisette like today?
Located beside the Cooper River, the main tributary of the South’s most famous harbor, the Noisette area supports a racially and economically diverse population of 13,000 people, plus a daily influx of thousands of workers, shoppers, students and others. It includes a wide mix of neighborhoods, retail areas, industries, schools, municipal buildings and parks, many of which have remained relatively stable in profile despite the rapid development of the Charleston/North Charleston metropolitan area.

For example, historic Noisette neighborhoods like Liberty Hill – founded in 1878 as a community of freed slaves – include many homes occupied by fifth generation owners. The layout of Park Circle, a mixed-use recreation center designed in the late 19th century, still reflects its original vision as a leisurely melting pot for residents and visitors. The East Montague Avenue business district looks much as it did in the days of two-dollar haircuts.

Other assets of interest include a network of tidal creeks, marshes and protected wetlands bordering the Cooper River. There’s also a range of well-preserved architectural structures and details, especially on property developed by the U.S. Navy. Their engineers arrived in 1901 to build a major base and shipyard, then the Navy’s collection of residential and industrial structures was vacated during the base closures of 1995. That base closure was the trigger for development of the Noisette concept.

Who’s behind the Noisette project?
In a unique public-private partnership, the Noisette Company and the City of North Charleston teamed up in the late 1990s to revitalize the Noisette area. In exchange for the right to purchase 400 acres of old Navy base property at the city-appriased fair market value – a small portion of the land promised to the city after the Navy’s departure – Noisette Company principal John Knott agreed to launch a master planning effort on an unprecedented scale.

The master plan would:
Outline Noisette Company plans for the development of their proprietary section of the old Navy base, and help guide the city’s efforts to redevelop the adjacent 2,600 acres of private residential neighborhoods, private commercial structures, and municipal property.

Contracting with two of the country’s premier architectural and land planning firms, and in consultation with an international group of environmental, social and professional organizations, Knott’s team created an outline for restoration of a healthy, sustainable, human-scale community.

The plan seeks to preserve historic architectural styles, neighborhood diversity and the area’s unique social fabric. It also works to restore environmental stability and beauty, attract jobs, improve services like education and healthcare, reduce dependence on car travel, promote recreation, eliminate the foundations of crime and poverty, and strengthen the sense of pride many North Charleston resident feel toward their community.

After years of development, community input and revisions, the master plan was presented to the City of North Charleston in December 2003. It was reviewed in community meetings, neighborhood gatherings and private one-on-one sessions. And it was accepted by the City as satisfaction of the Noisette Company’s contractual agreement in early 2004.

Amazing Technology Alert!!! Photosynth + Seadragon

Imagine a world where all the images available from digital and cell phone cameras as well as existing archived images are connected with a huge visual set of hyperlinks.

Microsoft's Photsynth technology (we have written about this months ago) is a marriage between this new technology and an awesome image viewing technology called Seadragon. Seadragon allows a viewer to literally dive into pictures to see the most minute details without any loss of resolution. The Seadragon technology, acquired by Microsoft, allows for seamless zooming and panning of images with no loss of resolution. They are able to accomplish this by very quickly delivering only the pixels shown on the computer screen at any given time, as opposed to trying to deliver all the pixels available for a particular subject.

Using photos of popular subjects (like Notre Dame) scraped from around the Web, Photosynth creates breathtaking multidimensional spaces with zoom and navigation features. Curious about that speck in corner? Dive into a freefall and watch as the speck becomes a gargoyle.

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes this technology will allow worldwide 3D Walkthroughs to be created based on the snapshots of the masses. The interesting part of this technology is that it only improves as time goes on and more pictures and metadata are added to the system. It is also available on mobile devices.

Check Out The Demo From The Programs Architect to get a better understanding of this awesome technology.

3D Walkthroughs - Which Unit Should You Choose?

3Dwalkthroughs.com often runs into 2 schools of thought when deciding which unit to showcase when creating 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Floor Plans or 3D Renderings for a development property. Almost all of the companies we work with want to show a full exterior view along with any amenity areas that are included as part of the development.

The decision that differs amongst development companies is which unit to showcase in the 3D presentation. Some marketing departments like to show the best unit the devlopment has to offer. The thought process behind this philosophy is that the largest number of inquiries will be generated. Once they get these potential buyers into a sales office they can always upsell other features of the building. The goal is to get them to overlook the fact that the actual unit that is available or affordable is much different that the one in the marketing presentation.

The second school of thought is to showcase a unit type that is not being sold as fast as the other units. The 3D presentation of these types of units can highlight other features of the building, but more importantly, the properties purchasing agent knows they are getting much more qualified clients.

We have seen cases that validate both of these schools of thought. It seems that this decision is often based on the timing of when the 3D presentations are introduced as part of the marketing materials. If they are introduced at the beginning of the marketing plan, it is more likely that the best unit available will be showcased. In contrast, if the 3D presentation is introduced after the marketing efforts have begun, it is more likely that a developer will want to showcase a unit type that is not selling as fast as the others.

Columbus Ohio Police - Using 3D Models of High Profile Buildings To Prepare For Emergency Events

Columbus, Ohio police are working with Ohio University to build accurate, interactive 3D models of 30 high-profile city buildings and other sites that are likely targets for terrorist attacks or other violent incidents.

The Columbus police will use the 3D models to help promote a more effective and safe environment for emergency first responders by providing them with this valuable data on wireless PC's and within their respective precints.

The 3D models will include 360-degree photograpraphy and video, as well as 3D user control of the viewing direction and variable playback speed. The system also incorporates the Global Positioning System and inertial guidance systems (IGS) for tracking and positioning information.

The university will combine additional metadata, such as GPS data and measurements, with the images, as well as add video game technology to the images. The gaming technology will allow the police to move around the images as if they were avatars — fully mobile virtual people — in a video game. Project designers expect the avatar feature will improve the interactive nature of the virtual-reality system.

Source: Government Computer News

According to Government Computer News, counterterrorism agencies across the country increasingly are developing 3D models to provide improved preparation, response and recovery to homeland security threats, as well as catastrophic natural disasters

3DWalkthroughs.com has contacted local and government officials offering our 3D modelling capabiliies to help with this effort.

ad:tech - Media - Marketing - Media Trade Show

Yesterday the staff at 3Dwalkthroughs.com attended the ad:tech tradeshow at the Hilton Hotel in Mid-town Manhattan. Of the last 10 trade shows we have attended covering various industries, this one felt the most energetic and packed with exhibitors.

Ad:tech is an interactive advertising and technology conference dedicated to connecting all sides of today's brand marketing landscape. Worldwide shows blend keynote speakers, topic driven panels and interactive workshops to provide attendees with the tools and techniques they need to compete in a changing world.

One of the most interesting aspects of the show was the amount of new companies with social networking applications and 3D virtual world technologies. During the show we spoke with quite a few of these companies and were amazed to see that they were just as excited to hear about our 3D Walkthrough technology. It seems like a common theme of all of these companies is the desire to improve the realism of their 3D world graphics. They all seemed to be actively looking for companies to help them with this effort.

With Intel planning on entering into the 3D world arena, we all agreed that processing speeds will quickly rise to a level which would allow for more realistic 3D graphics in real time. The fact that so many of these companies are presenting at such a prestigious trade show validates our recent focus on virtual world technology. It usually takes us a few days to organize all the material we accumulate at trades shows before we start our follow ups. After the dust settles we will post about any promising technologies we uncovered at the show.

New Search Tool in Second Life Helps Users Find 3D Objects

Second Life recently released a search tool built on a platform available from Google to help residents find 3D Objects more easily. In the past residents could perform very general searches but did not have the ability to find specific objects or events.

The new tool will list the results of a search in order of relevance as opposed to just listing them alphabetically. Jeska Dzwigalski, who is in charge of community and product development at Linden Lab, explains that the tool also allows residents to search much more specifically. In addition to being able to search for objects, residents can now look for information--about hobbies, for example--in each other's profiles. Dzwigalski says she expects that being able to search profile information will improve Second Life's social features.

Credit: Linden Lab

As Second Life and various other 3D virtual worlds gain popularity, the ability to search for specific 3D objects/events/profiles will only help to improve their social networking and e-commerce capabilities. In order for 3D objects to show up in a search the object must be tagged so the search engine can recognize them.

A good search engine for 3D objects will also become much more important as applications are launched that allow residents of one virtual world to pass into other virtual worlds. The challenge of making a search engine interconnect within various virtual worlds compares to the early days of creating a search engine for the internet.

3Dwalkthroughs.com has been actively speaking with a few virtual world technology companies about integrating our 3D Renderings and 3D Walkthroughs into their virtual worlds. The goal is to produce a much more realistic virtual experience.
In the next few years we believe the lines will truly be blurred between virtual and reality.

Virtual Neighborhoods - 3D Models Integrated into Google Earth

3Dwalkthroughs.com recently came across a new product, Virtual Neighborhoods, developed by Europe based Earthware. Virtual Neighborhoods allows potential buyers to interact with a property and its surroundings by viewing 3D models integrated into Google Earth.

Earthware product is interesting because in addition to viewing a 3D model of a property integrated into Google Earth, it gives potential customers access to “off plan” information including virtual tours, property details, floor plans, images, price and availability. Virtual Neighborhoods also allows customers to get a thorough understanding of the surrounding environment including school info, health facilities, tranportation as well as many other local areas of interest.

We are excited to see many new applications are being launched that integrate 3D Models, 3D Walkthroughs and 3D Floor Plans into Google Earth and Virtual Earth. As the user base of Google Earth and Virtual Earth continue to increase, real estate agents and property marketers will need to incorporate these technologies into their marketing strategies to stay competitive.

While I do not believe less realistic 3D models will ever replace the emotional attachment that can be created from a photo-realistic custom 3D Walkthrough, I do believe they are getting much better in quality, and are an effective way of getting a good sense of a properties relative location.

NY TIMES - Foreign Buyers Take Manhattan - Perfect Timing For a 3D Walkthrough

An article in today's NY Times describes an increasing number of foreign investors and buyers that are looking for property in Manhattan.

One of the reasons behind the influx of foreign buyers is the increasing number of new condominum projects in New York City. In the past, foreign buyers that were looking for co-op's did not have credit histories in the United States or did not intend to use their apartments as primary residences. As a result they had trouble being approved by co-op boards. Approval by the board of a co-op is not an issue when purchasing a condo.

Foreign investement of New York properties are coming from all parts of the world including: Australia, Korea, Russia, Israel, Italy and Colombia.

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes that due to the increase in foreign real estate investors, the need for highly detailed and realistic marketing materials is even more critical than ever.

The internet allows people anywhere in the world to view 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings, and 3D Floor Plans online and allows them to get a very good sense of all the features a New York City property has to offer. When they finally travel to Manhattan to visit some possible investment properties, they will have been able to narrow their choices to a few that meet their criteria.

It is very important for brokers that represent condo properties in Manhattan to know all the 3D assets they have at their disposal as well as the ways they can bring them to the foreign buyers attention.

The NY Times article can be found here>>>

CharlesYourHome.com - The Nation's Best Real Estate Agent Website

A little over a month ago we posted about a story about Diane Szoke of Charlestonyourhome.com. A real estate agent we felt had that certain "it" quality about her. Well it looks like 3Dwalkthroughs.com should consider switching careers to become a talent scout because her website was just voted the nation's best real estate agent web site by AgencyLogic.

Diane's website won the award because of it's clean design and well thought out site architecture. Her company and website really seem to embrace web 2.0 technology. We know from our conversations with Diane that she is constantly searching for new technologies to improve the service she provides to her clients.

3Dwalkthroughs.com will be visiting Diane in the next few weeks to give her a face to face demonstration of our new 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings, 3D Floor Plans and Interactive 3D Walkthroughs. We are really looking forward to finally meeting with the new rock star of the real estate world.

Here is the article from RISMEDIA.

RISMEDIA, Oct. 5, 2007-AgencyLogic, one of the largest real estate industry provider of single property Web sites in North America, and one of the industry’s top technology coaches, Allen F. Hainge, CRS announced that it has selected www.CharlestonYourHome.com as the nation’s best real estate agent Web site.

The judging for this contest was based on Allen Hainge’s analysis guidelines from his highly acclaimed Web site evaluation services.

The winner-www.CharlestonYourHome.com by Diane Szoke & Carolyn Dubrofsky of Charleston Your Home, in Charleston, SC-was selected because of its focus as well as its clean, modern design and helpful information such as community details, searchable listings and a link to their blog. More detailed information about what made this site a winner can be found at http://powersiteblog.com.

“We selected this Web site because it is a beautiful, effective site, one that exhibits simplicity, elegant design, ease of navigation and, if I may say so, serenity,” said Allen Hainge, CRS. “This site recognizes and meets the needs of today’s consumer rather than focusing on the agents.”

“We would like to thank everyone who submitted their Web site to the contest,” said Stephen Fells, CEO of AgencyLogic. “There were many great agent Web sites to choose from, but we feel that our winner really demonstrates an understanding of what today’s real estate consumer is looking for when they go to the Web to find an agent or look for listings.”

Blog For Google 3D Warehouse Part 5 (November Pick)

At the beginning of every month 3Dwalkthroughs.com selects our favorite 3D model from Greg Rose's blog which highlights new 3D building models as they are added to Google's 3D Warehouse.

Our monthly selection is based on impressive: architecture, level of detail, level of realism etc. Next month we are going to another requirement to the list. The building selected must be involved with the "Green" effort in some fashion. Next month we will also be looking for the most impressive 3D Walkthroughs integrated into Google Earth.

For the month of October we have chosen City Hall, Dublin. I chose this particular model as I was impressed with the level of realism and nightime mood lighting.

Description
Description
The City Hall, Dublin (Irish: Halla na Cathrach, Baile Átha Cliath), originally the Royal Exchange, was built between 1769 and 1779 to the designs of architect Thomas Cooley and is a particularly fine example of 18th century architecture. Located at the top of Parliament Street on the city's southern side, it stands next to Dublin Castle, the centre of British government in Ireland until 1922. isg group tcd