Cumincad : CUMINCAD Papers : Search Results

CumInCAD is a Cumulative Index about publications in Computer Aided Architectural Design
supported by the sibling associations ACADIA, CAADRIA, eCAADe, SIGraDi, ASCAAD and CAAD futures

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_id	276c
authors	Breen, Jack
year	1995
title	Dynamic Perspective: The Media Research Programme
source	The Future of Endoscopy [Proceedings of the 2nd European Architectural Endoscopy Association Conference / ISBN 3-85437-114-4]
summary	This paper focuses on the Research Programme of the Media Sector at the Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology. The media research objectives for the coming years have been brought together with an overall project: “Dynamic Perspective”. The “dynamic” quality may be interpreted both as movement (visual displacement and registration) and as change (the effects of different options). The four projects which together make up this research programme deal with perception (understanding) and conception (designing and imaging) of urban space: “the architecture of the city”. Specific aspects are the effects of primary and secondary spatial boundaries and the systematic structuring of simulation of visual information. The programme will further concentrate on the development and implementation of relevant techniques (besides “traditional” ones such as the drawing and the architectural model, on multimedia techniques such as endoscopy, computer visualization and development of virtual reality systems), both in education and in design practice. By means of analysis, the creation of visual models of choice and the setting up of experiments, the programme aims at the furthering of theoretical knowledge and at acquiring better insights into the effects of design decisions at an urban level, both for designers and for other participants in the design process. Further development of existing laboratory facilities towards a comprehensive Design Simulation Laboratory is an important aspect of the programme. Within the media research process the Aspern location master plan has been considered as a case study, the findings of which will be presented separately in the workshop sessions.
keywords	Architectural Endoscopy, Real Environments
series	EAEA
email
more	http://info.tuwien.ac.at/eaea/
last changed	2005/09/09 10:43

_id	2115
authors	Ingram, R. and Benford, S.
year	1995
title	Improving the legibility of virtual environments
source	Second Euro graphics Workshop on Virtual Environments
summary	Years of research into hyper-media systems have shown that finding one's way through large electronic information systems can be a difficult task. Our experiences with virtual reality suggest that users will also suffer from the commonly experienced "lost in hyperspace" problem when trying to navigate virtual environments. The goal of this paper is to propose and demonstrate a technique which is currently under development with the aim of overcoming this problem. Our approach is based upon the concept of legibility, adapted from the discipline of city planning. The legibility of an urban environment refers to the ease with which its inhabitants can develop a cognitive map over a period of time and so orientate themselves within it and navigate through it [Lynch60]. Research into this topic since the 1960s has argued that, by carefully designing key features of urban environments planners can significantly influence their legibility. We propose that these legibility features might be adapted and applied to the design of a wide variety of virtual environments and that, when combined with other navigational aids such as the trails, tours and signposts of the hyper-media world, might greatly enhance people's ability to navigate them. In particular, the primary role of legibility would be to help users to navigate more easily as a result of experiencing a world for some time (hence the idea of building a cognitive map). Thus, we would see our technique being of most benefit when applied to long term, persistent and slowly evolving virtual environments. Furthermore, we are particularly interested in the automatic application of legibility techniques to information visualisations as opposed to their relatively straight forward application to simulations of the real-word. Thus, a typical future application of our work might be in enhancing visualisations of large information systems such the World Wide Web. Section 2 of this paper summarises the concept of legibility as used in the domain of city planning and introduces some of the key features that have been adapted and applied in our work. Section 3 then describes in detail the set of algorithms and techniques which are being developed for the automatic creation or enhancement of these features within virtual data spaces. Next, section 4 presents two example applications based on two different kinds of virtual data space. Finally, section 5 presents some initial reflections on this work and discusses the next steps in its evolution.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	5c5f
authors	Jepson, W., Liggett, R. and Friedman, S.
year	1995
title	An environment for real-time urban visualization
source	Proceedings of the Symposium on Interactive 3D Gra hics, Monterey, CA
summary	Drawing from technologies developed for military flight simulation and virtual reality, a system for efficiently modeling and simulating urban environments has been implemented at UCLA. This system combines relatively simple 3-dimensional models (from a traditional CAD standpoint) with aerial photographs and street level video to create a realistic (down to plants, street signs and the graffiti on the walls) model of an urban neighborhood which can then be used for interactive fly and walk-through demonstrations.The Urban Simulator project is more than just the simulation software. It is a methodology which integrates existing systems such as CAD and GIS with visual simulation to facilitate the modeling, display, and evaluation of alternative proposed environments. It can be used to visualize neighborhoods as they currently exist and how they might appear after built intervention occurs. Or, the system can be used to simulate entirely new development.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	06e1
authors	Keul, Alexander
year	1996
title	LOST IN SPACE? ARCHITECTURAL PSYCHOLOGY - PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
source	Full-Scale Modeling in the Age of Virtual Reality [6th EFA-Conference Proceedings]
summary	A methodological review by Kaminski (1995) summed up five perspectives in environmental psychology - patterns of spatial distribution, everyday “jigsaw puzzles”, functional everyday action systems, sociocultural change and evolution of competence. Architectural psychology (named so at the Strathclyde conference 1969; Canter, 1973) as psychology of built environments is one leg of environmental psychology, the second one being psychology of environmental protection. Architectural psychology has come of age and passed its 25th birthday. Thus, a triangulation of its position, especially in Central Europe, seems interesting and necessary. A recent survey mainly on university projects in German-speaking countries (Kruse & Trimpin, 1995) found a marked decrease of studies in psychology of built environments. 1994, 25% of all projects were reported in this category, which in 1975 had made up 40% (Kruse, 1975). Guenther, in an unpublished survey of BDP (association of professional German psychologists) members, encountered only a handful active in architectural psychology - mostly part-time, not full-time. 1996, Austria has two full-time university specialists. The discrepancy between the general interest displayed by planners and a still low institutionalization is noticeable. How is the research situation? Using several standard research data banks, the author collected articles and book(chapter)s on architectural psychology in German- and English-language countries from 1990 to 1996. Studies on main architecture-psychology interface problems such as user needs, housing quality evaluations, participatory planning and spatial simulation / virtual reality did not outline an “old, settled” discipline, but rather the sketchy, random surface of a field “always starting anew”. E.g., discussions at the 1995 EAEA-Conference showed that several architectural simulation studies since 1973 caused no major impact on planner's opinions (Keul&Martens, 1996). “Re-inventions of the wheel” are caused by a lack of meetings (except this one!) and of interdisciplinary infrastructure in German-language countries (contrary to Sweden or the United States). Social pressures building up on architecture nowadays by inter-European competition, budget cuts and citizen activities for informed consent in most urban projects are a new challenge for planners to cooperate efficiently with social scientists. At Salzburg, the author currently manages the Corporate Design-process for the Chamber of Architecture, Division for Upper Austria and Salzburg. A “working group for architectural psychology” (Keul-Martens-Maderthaner) has been active since 1994.
keywords	Model Simulation, Real Environments
series	EAEA
type	normal paper
email
more	http://info.tuwien.ac.at/efa/
last changed	2005/09/09 10:43

_id	d5b3
authors	Knight, Michael and Brown, Andre
year	1999
title	Working in Virtual Environments through appropriate Physical Interfaces
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1999.431
source	Architectural Computing from Turing to 2000 [eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-5-7] Liverpool (UK) 15-17 September 1999, pp. 431-436
summary	The work described here is aimed at contributing towards the debate and development relating to the construction of interfaces to explore buildings and their environs through virtual worlds. We describe a particular hardware and software configuration which is derived by the use of low cost games software to create the Virtual Environment. The Physical Interface responds to the work of other researchers, in this area, in particular Shaw (1994) and Vasquez de Velasco & Trigo (1997). Virtual Evironments might have the potential to be "a magical window into other worlds, from molecules to minds" (Rheingold, 1992), but what is the nature of that window? Currently it is often a translucent opening which gives a hazy and distorted (disembodied) view. And many versions of such openings are relatively expensive. We consider ways towards clearing the haze without too much expense, adapting techniques proposed by developers of low cost virtual reality systems (Hollands, 1995) for use in an architectural setting.
keywords	Virtual Environments, Games Software
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:51

_id	55e0
authors	Liggett, R, Friedman, S, and Jepson, W.
year	1995
title	Interactive Design/Decision Making in a Virtual Urban World: Visual Simulation and GIS
source	Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual ESRI User Conference. Palm Springs, CA, (May)
summary	Researchers at UCLA have developed an Urban Simulator which links virtual reality technology with traditional two-dimensional Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and databases. This paper discusses the data structure and interface requirements necessary to integrate a real-time three-dimensional visual simulation system with a GIS system. Potential uses of the integrated system are illustrated with a set of current projects in the Los Angeles area.
series	other
email
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	dc71
authors	Liggett, R., Friedmann, S. and Jepson, W.
year	1995
title	Interactive Design/Decision Making in a Virtual Urban World: Visual Simulation and GIS
source	Proceedings of the Fifteenth 1995 ESRI User Conference, Palm Springs, CA, May, 1995
summary	Researchers at UCLA have developed an Urban Simulator which links virtual reality technology with traditional two-dimensional Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and databases. This paper discusses the data structure and interface requirements necessary to integrate a real-time three-dimensional visual simulation system with a GIS system. Potential uses of the integrated system are illustrated with a set of current projects in the Los Angeles area.
keywords	3D City Modeling, Development Control, Design Control
series	other
more	http://www.aud.ucla.edu/%7Erobin/esripaper/p308.html
last changed	2003/02/24 10:56

_id	b633
authors	Tan, Milton and Teh, Robert (Eds.)
year	1995
title	The Global Design Studio [Conference Proceedings]
source	Sixth International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 9971-62-423-0] Singapore, 24-26 September 1995, 779 p.
summary	1995 marks the 10th anniversary of the CAAD Futures series of international conferences which is dedicated to "promoting (...) the advancement of computer-aided architectural design in the service of those concerned with the quality of the built environment". It also marks the first time this important forum is held in Asia; hosted by the School of Architecture, National University of Singapore. This proceedings is a compilation of the sixty nine papers which were selected by an International Review Committee and presented at the conference in Singapore on 24-26 September 1995. The Chapters are organised according to the themes covered by the conference -Electronic Design Media, Environmental Simulation & Decision Support, Generative Systems, Scene and Product Modelling, Virtual Reality, Information Delivery Systems & Geographic Information Systems, Shape Grammar, Recognition & Emergence, Precedence & Prototypes, Case-based Reasoning, and Cooperative Design.
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2003/05/16 20:58

_id	0c8e
authors	Ager, Mark Thomas and Sinclair, Brian R.
year	1995
title	StereoCAD: Three Dimensional Representation
source	Sixth International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 9971-62-423-0] Singapore, 24-26 September 1995, pp. 343-355
summary	Concepts of stereoscopic vision have been around for more than two thousand years. Despite this long history, its application to the field to architecture and design seems relatively unexplored. Synthesis of two technologies, the stereoscope and the computer, was the focus of the present study. The goal of the research was to determine if computer-generated stereoscopic pairs hold value for architectural design. Using readily available computer technology (Apple Macintosh) the research team modelled and rendered an existing project to verify the degree of correlation between the physical construct, the computer 3D model and resultant correlation between the physical construct, the computer 3D model and resultant rendered stereo-paired representation. The experiments performed in this study have shown that producing stereo-paired images that highly correlate to reality is possible using technology that is readily available in the marketplace. Both the technology required to produce (i.e., personal computer and modelling/rendering software) and view (i.e., modified stereoscope) the images is unimposing. Both devices can easily fit in a studio or a boardroom and together can be utilized effectively to permit designers, clients and end-users to experience proposed spaces and projects. Furthermore, these technologies are familiar (clients and end-users have already experienced them in other applications and settings) and assume a fraction of the cost of more dynamic, immersive virtual reality systems. Working from this base, limitations of the process as well as future applications of computer-generated stereoscopic images are identified.
keywords	Stereovision, Representation, Computers, Architects, Design
series	CAAD Futures
last changed	2003/11/21 15:15

_id	c05a
authors	Bridges, Alan
year	1995
title	Design Precedents for Virtual Worlds
source	Sixth International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 9971-62-423-0] Singapore, 24-26 September 1995, pp. 293-302
summary	The usual precedents cited in relation to Cyberspace are William Gibson's book "Neuromancer" and Ridley Scott's film. "Bladerunner". This paper argues that, whilst literature and film are appropriate precedents, there are more suitable sources to refer to when designing virtual worlds. The paper discusses the use of computer modelling in exploring architectonic concepts in three-dimensional space. In doing so it draws on the philosophy of simulation and gives examples from alternative film and literature sources but concludes that one of the most appropriate metaphors is widely available in the form of the television soap opera.
keywords	Design Simulation, Space, Time, Virtual Reality
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2003/11/21 15:16

_id	679e
authors	Coyne, R.
year	1995
title	Designing Information Technology in the Postmodern Age
source	The MIT Press, Cambridge, Ma and London UK
summary	Designing Information Technology in the Postmodern Age puts the theoretical discussion of computer systems and information technology on a new footing. Shifting the discourse from its usual rationalistic framework, Richard Coyne shows how the conception, development, and application of computer systems is challenged and enhanced by postmodern philosophical thought. He places particular emphasis on the theory of metaphor, showing how it has more to offer than notions of method and models appropriated from science. Coyne examines the entire range of contemporary philosophical thinking -- including logical positivism, analytic philosophy, pragmatism, phenomenology, critical theory, hermeneutics, and deconstruction -- comparing them and showing how they differ in their consequences for design and development issues in electronic communications, computer representation, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and multimedia. He also probes the claims made of information technology, including its presumptions of control, its so-called radicality, even its ability to make virtual worlds, and shows that many of these claims are poorly founded. Among the writings Coyne visits are works by Heidegger, Adorno, Benjamin, Gadamer, Derrida, Habermas, Rorty, and Foucault. He relates their views to information technology designers and critics such as Herbert Simon, Alan Kay, Terry Winograd, Hubert Dreyfus, and Joseph Weizenbaum. In particular, Coyne draws extensively from the writing of Martin Heidegger, who has presented one of the most radical critiques of technology to date.
series	other
email
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	a91e
authors	Deering, M.
year	1995
title	Holosketch: A virtual reality sketching/animation tool
source	ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 2(3), pp. 220-238
summary	This article describes HoloSketch, a virtual reality-based 3D geometry creation and manipulation tool. HoloSketch is aimed at providing nonprogrammers with an easy-to-use 3D “What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get” environment. Using head-tracked stereo shutter glasses and a desktop CRT display configuration, virtual objects can be created with a 3D wand manipulator directly in front of the user, at very high accuracy and much more rapidly than with traditional 3D drawing systems. HoloSketch also supports simple animation and audio control for virtual objects. This article describes the functions of the HoloSketch system, as well as our experience so far with more-general issues of head-tracked stereo 3D user interface design.
series	journal paper
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	5e49
authors	Deering, Michael F.
year	1996
title	HoloSketch: A Virtual Reality Sketching/Animation Tool Special Issue on Virtual Reality Software and Technology
source	Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 1995 v.2 n.3 pp. 220-238
summary	This article describes HoloSketch, a virtual reality-based 3D geometry creation and manipulation tool. HoloSketch is aimed at providing nonprogrammers with an easy-to-use 3D "What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get" environment. Using head-tracked stereo shutter glasses and a desktop CRT display configuration, virtual objects can be created with a 3D wand manipulator directly in front of the user, at very high accuracy and much more rapidly than with traditional 3D drawing systems. HoloSketch also supports simple animation and audio control for virtual objects. This article describes the functions of the HoloSketch system, as well as our experience so far with more-general issues of head-tracked stereo 3D user interface design.
keywords	Computer Graphics; Picture/Image Generation; Display Algorithms; Computer Graphics; Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism; Human Factors; 3D Animation; 3D Graphics; Graphics Drawing Systems; Graphics Painting Systems; Man-Machine Interface; Virtual Reality
series	other
last changed	2002/07/07 16:01

_id	8955
authors	Donath, Dirk and Regenbrecht, Holger
year	1995
title	VRAD (Virtual Reality Aided Design) in the Early Phases of the Architectural Design Process
source	Sixth International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 9971-62-423-0] Singapore, 24-26 September 1995, pp. 313-322
summary	With this paper we are introducing a system which supports the early phases of the architectural design process. The system consists of two main components: the software solution ìvoxDesign" and the physical environment "platform". Our aims are: to formulate, develop, and evaluate an architectural design system through the use of VR (virtual reality)-space. The exploration and development of design intentions is supplemented by a new method of three dimensional sketching.
keywords	Virtual Reality, Architectural Design, Human Computer Interfaces, Design Techniques
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2003/05/16 20:58

_id	0128
authors	Engeli, M., Kurmann, D. and Schmitt, G.
year	1995
title	A New Design Studio: Intelligent Objects and Personal Agents
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1995.155
source	Computing in Design - Enabling, Capturing and Sharing Ideas [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-04-7] University of Washington (Seattle, Washington / USA) October 19-22, 1995, pp. 155-170
summary	As design processes and products are constantly increasing in complexity, new tools are being developed for the designer to cope with the growing demands. In this paper we describe our research towards a design environment, within which different aspects of design can be combined, elaborated and controlled. New hardware equipment will be combined with recent developments in graphics and artificial intelligence programming to develop appropriate computer based tools and find possible new design techniques. The core of the new design studio comprises intelligent objects in a virtual reality environment that exhibit different behaviours drawn from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Artificial Life (AL) principles, a part already realised in a tool called 'Sculptor'. The tasks of the architect will focus on preferencing and initiating good tendencies in the development of the design. A first set of software agents, assistants that support the architect in viewing, experiencing and judging the design has also been conceptualised for this virtual design environment. The goal is to create an optimised environment for the designer, where the complexity of the design task can be reduced thanks to the support made available from the machine.
keywords	Architectural Design, Design Process, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Personal Agents
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	600e
authors	Gavin, Lesley
year	1999
title	Architecture of the Virtual Place
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1999.418
source	Architectural Computing from Turing to 2000 [eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-5-7] Liverpool (UK) 15-17 September 1999, pp. 418-423
summary	The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London (UCL), set up the first MSc in Virtual Environments in the UK in 1995. The course aims to synthesise and build on research work undertaken in the arts, architecture, computing and biological sciences in exploring the realms of the creation of digital and virtual immersive spaces. The MSc is concerned primarily with equipping students from design backgrounds with the skills, techniques and theories necessary in the production of virtual environments. The course examines both virtual worlds as prototypes for real urban or built form and, over the last few years, has also developed an increasing interest in the the practice of architecture in purely virtual contexts. The MSc course is embedded in the UK government sponsored Virtual Reality Centre for the Built Environment which is hosted by the Bartlett School of Architecture. This centre involves the UCL departments of architecture, computer science and geography and includes industrial partners from a number of areas concerned with the built environment including architectural practice, surveying and estate management as well as some software companies and the telecoms industry. The first cohort of students graduated in 1997 and predominantly found work in companies working in the new market area of digital media. This paper aims to outline the nature of the course as it stands, examines the new and ever increasing market for designers within digital media and proposes possible future directions for the course.
keywords	Virtual Reality, Immersive Spaces, Digital Media, Education
series	eCAADe
email
more	http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/ve/
last changed	2022/06/07 07:51

_id	ab9c
authors	Kvan, Thomas and Kvan, Erik
year	1999
title	Is Design Really Social
source	International Journal of Virtual Reality, 4:1
summary	There are many who will readily agree with Mitchell's assertion that "the most interesting new directions (for computer-aided design) are suggested by the growing convergence of computation and telecommunication. This allows us to treat designing not just as a technical process... but also as a social process." [Mitchell 1995]. The assumption is that design was a social process until users of computer-aided design systems were distracted into treating it as a merely technical process. Most readers will assume that this convergence must and will lead to increased communication between design participants, that better social interaction leads to be better design. The unspoken assumption appears to be that putting the participants into an environment with maximal communication channels will result in design collaboration. The tools provided, therefore, must permit the best communication and the best social interaction. We see a danger here, a pattern being repeated which may lead us into less than useful activities. As with several (popular) architectural design or modelling systems already available, however, computer system implementations all too often are poor imitations manual systems. For example, few in the field will argue with the statement that the storage of data in layers in a computer-aided drafting system is an dispensable approach. Layers derive from manual overlay drafting technology [Stitt 1984] which was regarded as an advanced (manual) production concept at the time many software engineers were specifying CAD software designs. Early implementations of CAD systems (such as RUCAPS, GDS, Computervision) avoided such data organisation, the software engineers recognising that object-based structures are more flexible, permitting greater control of data editing and display. Layer-based systems, however, are easier to implement in software, more familiar to the user and hence easier to explain, initially easier to use but more limiting for an experienced and thoughtful user, leading in the end to a lesser quality in resultant drawings and significant problems in output control (see Richens [1990], pp. 31-40 for a detailed analysis of such features and constraints). Here then we see the design for architectural software faithfully but inappropriately following manual methods. So too is there a danger of assuming that the best social interaction is that done face-to-face, therefore all collaborative design communications environments must mimic face-to-face.
series	journal paper
email
last changed	2003/05/15 10:29

_id	c7e9
authors	Maver, T.W.
year	2002
title	Predicting the Past, Remembering the Future
source	SIGraDi 2002 - [Proceedings of the 6th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Caracas (Venezuela) 27-29 november 2002, pp. 2-3
summary	Charlas Magistrales 2There never has been such an exciting moment in time in the extraordinary 30 year history of our subject area, as NOW,when the philosophical theoretical and practical issues of virtuality are taking centre stage.The PastThere have, of course, been other defining moments during these exciting 30 years:• the first algorithms for generating building layouts (circa 1965).• the first use of Computer graphics for building appraisal (circa 1966).• the first integrated package for building performance appraisal (circa 1972).• the first computer generated perspective drawings (circa 1973).• the first robust drafting systems (circa 1975).• the first dynamic energy models (circa 1982).• the first photorealistic colour imaging (circa 1986).• the first animations (circa 1988)• the first multimedia systems (circa 1995), and• the first convincing demonstrations of virtual reality (circa 1996).Whereas the CAAD community has been hugely inventive in the development of ICT applications to building design, it hasbeen woefully remiss in its attempts to evaluate the contribution of those developments to the quality of the built environmentor to the efficiency of the design process. In the absence of any real evidence, one can only conjecture regarding the realbenefits which fall, it is suggested, under the following headings:• Verisimilitude: The extraordinary quality of still and animated images of the formal qualities of the interiors and exteriorsof individual buildings and of whole neighborhoods must surely give great comfort to practitioners and their clients thatwhat is intended, formally, is what will be delivered, i.e. WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get.• Sustainability: The power of «first-principle» models of the dynamic energetic behaviour of buildings in response tochanging diurnal and seasonal conditions has the potential to save millions of dollars and dramatically to reduce thedamaging environmental pollution created by badly designed and managed buildings.• Productivity: CAD is now a multi-billion dollar business which offers design decision support systems which operate,effectively, across continents, time-zones, professions and companies.• Communication: Multi-media technology - cheap to deliver but high in value - is changing the way in which we canexplain and understand the past and, envisage and anticipate the future; virtual past and virtual future!MacromyopiaThe late John Lansdown offered the view, in his wonderfully prophetic way, that ...”the future will be just like the past, onlymore so...”So what can we expect the extraordinary trajectory of our subject area to be?To have any chance of being accurate we have to have an understanding of the phenomenon of macromyopia: thephenomenon exhibitted by society of greatly exaggerating the immediate short-term impact of new technologies (particularlythe information technologies) but, more importantly, seriously underestimating their sustained long-term impacts - socially,economically and intellectually . Examples of flawed predictions regarding the the future application of information technologiesinclude:• The British Government in 1880 declined to support the idea of a national telephonic system, backed by the argumentthat there were sufficient small boys in the countryside to run with messages.• Alexander Bell was modest enough to say that: «I am not boasting or exaggerating but I believe, one day, there will bea telephone in every American city».• Tom Watson, in 1943 said: «I think there is a world market for about 5 computers».• In 1977, Ken Olssop of Digital said: «There is no reason for any individuals to have a computer in their home».The FutureJust as the ascent of woman/man-kind can be attributed to her/his capacity to discover amplifiers of the modest humancapability, so we shall discover how best to exploit our most important amplifier - that of the intellect. The more we know themore we can figure; the more we can figure the more we understand; the more we understand the more we can appraise;the more we can appraise the more we can decide; the more we can decide the more we can act; the more we can act themore we can shape; and the more we can shape, the better the chance that we can leave for future generations a trulysustainable built environment which is fit-for-purpose, cost-beneficial, environmentally friendly and culturally significactCentral to this aspiration will be our understanding of the relationship between real and virtual worlds and how to moveeffortlessly between them. We need to be able to design, from within the virtual world, environments which may be real ormay remain virtual or, perhaps, be part real and part virtual.What is certain is that the next 30 years will be every bit as exciting and challenging as the first 30 years.
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:55

_id	24
authors	PayssÈ, M., Piperno, P., Grompone, J. and Somma, P.
year	1998
title	ReconstrucciÛn Virtual de la Colonia del Sacramento de 1762 (Virtual Reconstruction of "Colonia del Sacramento" of 1762)
source	II Seminario Iberoamericano de Grafico Digital [SIGRADI Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-97190-0-X] Mar del Plata (Argentina) 9-11 september 1998, pp. 192-197
summary	Colonia del Sacramento (capital of Colonia department, in Uruguay) has been registered in the list of the Convention Heritage concerning the protection of worldwide cultural and natural heritage. The registration on this list (December 6th 1995) confirms the exceptional and universal value of a cultural or natural places which deserves protection for the whole humanity. The ancient Colonia del Sacramento founded in 1680 by Portugal, was a commercial and military site leading role of the historical controversy between Spain and Portugal. Main place of wars and treaties during a century, it keeps an urban design, unique in the area and valuable architectonical testimonies of different periods of this rich past, with a simple, popular profile. This work has been effected within the Clemente Estable Found 1996, which is promoted by National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICYT). Through virtual reality techniques, a three-dimensional model of Colonia del Sacramento city was built as it was in its period of prosperity (around 1762). For the achievement of this digital maquette, a great deal of written and graphic information was compiled and processed. This information was organized in an inventory way (with numerous readings and searches). The inventory and the digital maquette were joined in a multimedia application (CD-ROM) which allows potential users to move through virtual city and friendly and interactively consult images, graphics and texts.
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:57

_id	7670
authors	Sawicki, Bogumil
year	1995
title	Ray Tracing – New Chances, Possibilities and Limitations in AutoCAD
source	CAD Space [Proceedings of the III International Conference Computer in Architectural Design] Bialystock 27-29 April 1995, pp. 121-136
summary	Realistic image synthesis is nowadays widely used in engineering applications. Some of these applications, such as architectural, interior, lighting and industrial design demand accurate visualization of non-existent scenes as they would look to us, when built in reality. This can only be archived by using physically based models of light interaction with surfaces, and simulating propagation of light through an environment. Ray tracing is one of the most powerful techniques used in computer graphics, which can produce such very realistic images. Ray tracing algorithm follows the paths of light rays backwards from observer into the scene. It is very time consuming process and as such one could not be developed until proper computers appeared, In recent years the technological improvements in computer industry brought more powerful machines with bigger storage capacities and better graphic devices. Owing to increasing these hardware capabilities successful implementation of ray tracing in different CAD software became possible also on PC machines. Ray tracing in AutoCAD r.12 - the most popular CAD package in the world - is the best of that example. AccuRender and AutoVision are an AutoCAD Development System (ADS) applications that use ray tracing to create photorealistic images from 3D AutoCAD models. These ,internal"' applications let users generate synthetic images of threedimensional models and scenes entirely within AutoCAD space and show effects directly on main AutoCAD screen. Ray tracing algorithm accurately calculates and displays shadows, transparency, diffusion, reflection, and refraction from surface qualities of user-defined materials. The accurate modelling of light lets produce sophisticated effects and high-quality images, which these ray tracers always generates at 24-bit pixel depth,"providing 16,7 million colours. That results can be quite impressive for some architects and are almost acceptable for others but that coloured virtual world, which is presented by ray tracing in AutoCAD space in such convincing way, is still not exactly the same as the real world. Main limitations of realism are due to the nature of ray tracing method Classical ray tracing technique takes into account the effects of light reflection from neighbouring surfaces but, leaves out of account the ambient and global illumination arising out of complex interreflections in an environment. So models generated by ray tracing belong to an "ideal" world where real materials and environment can't find their right place. We complain about that fact and say that ray tracing shows us "too specular world", but (...) (...) there is anything better on the horizon? It should be concluded, that typical abilities of today's graphics software and hardware are far from exploited. As was observed in literature there have been various works carried along with the explicit intention of overcoming all these ray tracing limitations, These researches seem to be very promising and let us hope that their results will be seen in CAD applications soon. As it happens with modelling, perhaps the answer will come from a variety of techniques that can be combined together with ray tracing depending on the case we are dealing with. Therefore from the point of view of an architects that try to keep alive some interest on the nature of materials and their interaction with form, "ray tracing" seems to be right path of research and development that we can still a long way follow, From the point of view of the school, a critical assimilation of "ray tracing" processes is required and one that might help to determinate exactly their distortions and to indicate the correct way of its development and right place in CAAD education. I trust that ray tracing will become standard not only in AutoCAD but in all architectural space modelling CAD applications and will be established as a powerful and real tool for experimental researches in architectural design process. Will be the technological progress so significant in the nearest future as it is anticipated?
series	plCAD
last changed	2000/01/24 10:08

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