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 bfe9
authors Suwa, M. and Tversky, B.
year 1997
title What do architects and students perceive in their design sketches? A protocol analysis
source Design Studies 18, pp 385-403.
summary The present research aims at examining what information architects think of and read off from their own freehand sketches, and at revealing how they perceptually interact with and benefit from sketches. We explored this in a protocol analysis of retrospective reports; each participant worked on an architectural design task while drawing freehand sketches and later reported what she/he had been thinking of during the design task. This research lies within the scope of examinations of why freehand sketches as external representation are essential for crystallizing design ideas in early design processes.
series journal paper
last changed 2003/04/23 15:50

_id 2354
authors Clayden, A. and Szalapaj, P.
year 1997
title Architecture in Landscape: Integrated CAD Environments for Contextually Situated Design
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1997.x.q6p
source Challenges of the Future [15th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-3-0] Vienna (Austria) 17-20 September 1997
summary This paper explores the future role of a more holistic and integrated approach to the design of architecture in landscape. Many of the design exploration and presentation techniques presently used by particular design professions do not lend themselves to an inherently collaborative design strategy.

Within contemporary digital environments, there are increasing opportunities to explore and evaluate design proposals which integrate both architectural and landscape aspects. The production of integrated design solutions exploring buildings and their surrounding context is now possible through the design development of shared 3-D and 4-D virtual environments, in which buildings no longer float in space.

The scope of landscape design has expanded through the application of techniques such as GIS allowing interpretations that include social, economic and environmental dimensions. In architecture, for example, object-oriented CAD environments now make it feasible to integrate conventional modelling techniques with analytical evaluations such as energy calculations and lighting simulations. These were all ambitions of architects and landscape designers in the 70s when computer power restricted the successful implementation of these ideas. Instead, the commercial trend at that time moved towards isolated specialist design tools in particular areas. Prior to recent innovations in computing, the closely related disciplines of architecture and landscape have been separated through the unnecessary development, in our view, of their own symbolic representations, and the subsequent computer applications. This has led to an unnatural separation between what were once closely related disciplines.

Significant increases in the performance of computers are now making it possible to move on from symbolic representations towards more contextual and meaningful representations. For example, the application of realistic materials textures to CAD-generated building models can then be linked to energy calculations using the chosen materials. It is now possible for a tree to look like a tree, to have leaves and even to be botanicaly identifiable. The building and landscape can be rendered from a common database of digital samples taken from the real world. The complete model may be viewed in a more meaningful way either through stills or animation, or better still, through a total simulation of the lifecycle of the design proposal. The model may also be used to explore environmental/energy considerations and changes in the balance between the building and its context most immediately through the growth simulation of vegetation but also as part of a larger planning model.

The Internet has a key role to play in facilitating this emerging collaborative design process. Design professionals are now able via the net to work on a shared model and to explore and test designs through the development of VRML, JAVA, whiteboarding and video conferencing. The end product may potentially be something that can be more easily viewed by the client/user. The ideas presented in this paper form the basis for the development of a dual course in landscape and architecture. This will create new teaching opportunities for exploring the design of buildings and sites through the shared development of a common computer model.

keywords Integrated Design Process, Landscape and Architecture, Shared Environmentsenvironments
series eCAADe
email
more http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ecaade/proc/szalapaj/szalapaj.htm
last changed 2022/06/07 07:50

_id 389b
authors Do, Ellen Yi-Luen
year 2000
title Sketch that Scene for Me: Creating Virtual Worlds by Freehand Drawing
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2000.265
source Promise and Reality: State of the Art versus State of Practice in Computing for the Design and Planning Process [18th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-6-5] Weimar (Germany) 22-24 June 2000, pp. 265-268
summary With the Web people can now view virtual threedimensional worlds and explore virtual space. Increasingly, novice users are interested in creating 3D Web sites. Virtual Reality Modeling Language gained ISO status in 1997, although it is being supplanted by the compatible Java3D API and alternative 3D Web technologies compete. Viewing VRML scenes is relatively straightforward on most hardware platforms and browsers, but currently there are only two ways to create 3D virtual scenes: One is to code the scene directly using VRML. The other is to use existing CAD and modeling software, and save the world in VRML format or convert to VRML from some other format. Both methods are time consuming, cumbersome, and have steep learning curves. Pen-based user interfaces, on the other hand, are for many an easy and intuitive method for graphics input. Not only are people familiar with the look and feel of paper and pencil, novice users also find it less intimidating to draw what they want, where they want it instead of using a complicated tool palette and pull-down menus. Architects and designers use sketches as a primary tool to generate design ideas and to explore alternatives, and numerous computer-based interfaces have played on the concept of "sketch". However, we restrict the notion of sketch to freehand drawing, which we believe helps people to think, to envision, and to recognize properties of the objects with which they are working. SKETCH employs a pen interface to create three-dimensional models, but it uses a simple language of gestures to control a three-dimensional modeler; it does not attempt to interpret freehand drawings. In contrast, our support of 3D world creation using freehand drawing depend on users’ traditional understanding of a floor plan representation. Igarashi et al. used a pen interface to drive browsing in a 3D world, by projecting the user’s marks on the ground plane in the virtual world. Our Sketch-3D project extends this approach, investigating an interface that allows direct interpretation of the drawing marks (what you draw is what you get) and serves as a rapid prototyping tool for creating 3D virtual scenes.
keywords Freehand Sketching, Pen-Based User Interface, Interaction, VRML, Navigation
series eCAADe
email
more http://www.uni-weimar.de/ecaade/
last changed 2022/06/07 07:55

_id 536e
authors Bouman, Ole
year 1997
title RealSpace in QuickTimes: architecture and digitization
source Rotterdam: Nai Publishers
summary Time and space, drastically compressed by the computer, have become interchangeable. Time is compressed in that once everything has been reduced to 'bits' of information, it becomes simultaneously accessible. Space is compressed in that once everything has been reduced to 'bits' of information, it can be conveyed from A to B with the speed of light. As a result of digitization, everything is in the here and now. Before very long, the whole world will be on disk. Salvation is but a modem away. The digitization process is often seen in terms of (information) technology. That is to say, one hears a lot of talk about the digital media, about computer hardware, about the modem, mobile phone, dictaphone, remote control, buzzer, data glove and the cable or satellite links in between. Besides, our heads are spinning from the progress made in the field of software, in which multimedia applications, with their integration of text, image and sound, especially attract our attention. But digitization is not just a question of technology, it also involves a cultural reorganization. The question is not just what the cultural implications of digitization will be, but also why our culture should give rise to digitization in the first place. Culture is not simply a function of technology; the reverse is surely also true. Anyone who thinks about cultural implications, is interested in the effects of the computer. And indeed, those effects are overwhelming, providing enough material for endless speculation. The digital paradigm will entail a new image of humankind and a further dilution of the notion of social perfectibility; it will create new notions of time and space, a new concept of cause and effect and of hierarchy, a different sort of public sphere, a new view of matter, and so on. In the process it will indubitably alter our environment. Offices, shopping centres, dockyards, schools, hospitals, prisons, cultural institutions, even the private domain of the home: all the familiar design types will be up for review. Fascinated, we watch how the new wave accelerates the process of social change. The most popular sport nowadays is 'surfing' - because everyone is keen to display their grasp of dirty realism. But there is another way of looking at it: under what sort of circumstances is the process of digitization actually taking place? What conditions do we provide that enable technology to exert the influence it does? This is a perspective that leaves room for individual and collective responsibility. Technology is not some inevitable process sweeping history along in a dynamics of its own. Rather, it is the result of choices we ourselves make and these choices can be debated in a way that is rarely done at present: digitization thanks to or in spite of human culture, that is the question. In addition to the distinction between culture as the cause or the effect of digitization, there are a number of other distinctions that are accentuated by the computer. The best known and most widely reported is the generation gap. It is certainly stretching things a bit to write off everybody over the age of 35, as sometimes happens, but there is no getting around the fact that for a large group of people digitization simply does not exist. Anyone who has been in the bit business for a few years can't help noticing that mum and dad are living in a different place altogether. (But they, at least, still have a sense of place!) In addition to this, it is gradually becoming clear that the age-old distinction between market and individual interests are still relevant in the digital era. On the one hand, the advance of cybernetics is determined by the laws of the marketplace which this capital-intensive industry must satisfy. Increased efficiency, labour productivity and cost-effectiveness play a leading role. The consumer market is chiefly interested in what is 'marketable': info- and edutainment. On the other hand, an increasing number of people are not prepared to wait for what the market has to offer them. They set to work on their own, appropriate networks and software programs, create their own domains in cyberspace, domains that are free from the principle whereby the computer simply reproduces the old world, only faster and better. Here it is possible to create a different world, one that has never existed before. One, in which the Other finds a place. The computer works out a new paradigm for these creative spirits. In all these distinctions, architecture plays a key role. Owing to its many-sidedness, it excludes nothing and no one in advance. It is faced with the prospect of historic changes yet it has also created the preconditions for a digital culture. It is geared to the future, but has had plenty of experience with eternity. Owing to its status as the most expensive of arts, it is bound hand and foot to the laws of the marketplace. Yet it retains its capacity to provide scope for creativity and innovation, a margin of action that is free from standardization and regulation. The aim of RealSpace in QuickTimes is to show that the discipline of designing buildings, cities and landscapes is not only a exemplary illustration of the digital era but that it also provides scope for both collective and individual activity. It is not just architecture's charter that has been changed by the computer, but also its mandate. RealSpace in QuickTimes consists of an exhibition and an essay.
series other
email
last changed 2003/04/23 15:14

_id 598d
authors Davies, P.
year 1997
title Case study - Multiprofessional
source Automation in Construction 6 (1) (1997) pp. 51-57
summary IT is just a tool, but the most powerful one ever to be offered to us. This case study deals with the areas at which IT can be targeted within the Building Design Partnership. Firstly, should anything be done and if so, what criteria should be used to choose the priorities? A SWOT analysis is one way way to identify goals. Strengths/weeknesses, opportunities/threats are the positive/negative pairs. We have to build our strength and perceive and take opportunities while at the same time countering weaknesses and threats. It is a threat that the industry sets a moving target of IT capability without wanting to meet its cost. It is an opportunity that only a few practices will be at the leading edge and that they will secure the key projects. IT could help us to overcome technical weaknesses and liability and reduce staff and premises costs. It could also increase our exposure to fixed capital costs in a cyclical business. IT could increase the success of integrated practice or it could make it easier for separate firms. We believe the likelihood is that IT will do as it has for financial services and favour the large, multi-national, well prepared and technologically advanced firms. New services will emerge and become assential and will separate the `sheep from the goats.'
series journal paper
more http://www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon
last changed 2003/05/15 21:22

_id c4a6
authors Haapasalo, Harri
year 1997
title The Role of CAD In Creative Architectural Sketching
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1997.x.o2b
source Challenges of the Future [15th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-3-0] Vienna (Austria) 17-20 September 1997
summary The history of computers in architectural design is very short; only a few decades; when compared to the development of methods in practical design (Gero 1983). However, the development of the user interfaces has been very fast. According to the practical observations of over one hundred architects, user interfaces are at present inflexible in sketching, although computers can make drafts and the creation of alternatives quicker and more effective in the final stages of designing (Haapasalo 1997). Based on our research in the field of practical design we would wish to stimulate a wider debate about the theory of design. More profound perusal compels us to examine human modes, pre-eminently different levels of thinking and manners of inference. What is the meaning of subconscious and conscious thinking in design? What is the role of intuition in practical design? Do the computer aided design programs apply to creative architectural sketching? To answer such questions, distinct, profound and broad understanding from different disciplines is required. Even then, in spite of such specialist knowledge we cannot hope to unambiguously and definitively answer such questions.
keywords Creativity, Design Process, Architectural Design, Sketching, Computer Aided Design
series eCAADe
email
more http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ecaade/proc/haapas/haapas.htm
last changed 2022/06/07 07:50

_id diss_marsh
id diss_marsh
authors Marsh, A.J.
year 1997
title Performance Analysis and Conceptual Design
source School of Architecture and Fine Arts, University of Western Australia
summary A significant amount of the research referred to by Manning has been directed into the development of computer software for building simulation and performance analysis. A wide range of computational tools are now available and see relatively widespread use in both research and commercial applications. The focus of development in this area has long been on the accurate simulation of fundamental physical processes, such as the mechanisms of heat flow though materials, turbulent air movement and the inter-reflection of light. The adequate description of boundary conditions for such calculations usually requires a very detailed mathematical model. This has tended to produce tools with a very engineering-oriented and solution-based approach. Whilst becoming increasingly popular amongst building services engineers, there has been a relatively slow response to this technology amongst architects. There are some areas of the world, particularly the UK and Germany, where the use of such tools on larger projects is routine. However, this is almost exclusively during the latter stages of a project and usually for purposes of plant sizing or final design validation. The original conceptual work, building form and the selection of materials being the result of an aesthetic and intuitive process, sometimes based solely on precedent. There is no argument that an experienced designer is capable of producing an excellent design in this way. However, not all building designers are experienced, and even fewer have a complete understanding of the fundamental physical processes involved in building performance. These processes can be complex and often highly inter-related, often even counter-intuitive. It is the central argument of this thesis that the needs of the building designer are quite different from the needs of the building services engineer, and that existing building design and performance analysis tools poorly serve these needs. It will be argued that the extensive quantitative input requirement in such tools acts to produce a psychological separation between the act of design and the act of analysis. At the conceptual stage, building geometry is fluid and subject to constant change, with solid quantitative information relatively scarce. Having to measure off surface areas or search out the emissivity of a particular material forces the designer to think mathematically at a time when they are thinking intuitively. It is, however, at this intuitive stage that the greatest potential exists for performance efficiencies and environmental economies. The right orientation and fenestration choice can halve the airconditioning requirement. Incorporating passive solar elements and natural ventilation pathways can eliminate it altogether. The building form can even be designed to provide shading using its own fabric, without any need for additional structure or applied shading. It is significantly more difficult and costly to retrofit these features at a later stage in a project’s development. If the role of the design tool is to serve the design process, then a new approach is required to accommodate the conceptual phase. This thesis presents a number of ideas on what that approach may be, accompanied by some example software that demonstrates their implementation.
series thesis:PhD
more http://www.squ1.com/site.html
last changed 2003/11/28 07:33

_id 873a
authors Ng, Edward
year 1997
title An Evaluative Approach to Architectural Visualization
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.1997.449
source CAADRIA ‘97 [Proceedings of the Second Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 957-575-057-8] Taiwan 17-19 April 1997, pp. 449-463
summary In the forthcoming globalization and virtual almost everything, we are indeed reliving a moment of history when, at the turn of the century, machines replace craftsman in mass-producing goods quicker, cheaper, ‘better’ and faster for the mass market regardless of the appropriateness in using the machine. So much so that the recent proliferation of computer graphics has reached a stage where many are questioning their validity and usefulness in the advancement of architectural discourse. This paper argues that the pedagogy of the use of the new tools should be effective communication in vision and in representation. In short, saying what you do and doing what you say, no more and no less, or to be ‘true’ and ‘honest’. The paper tries to provide a hypothetical framework whereby the rationale of drawing could be more systematically understood and criticised, and it reports ways the framework is introduced in the teaching of design studio. The focus of the experimental studio (Active Studio 1.6 beta) is to enable the substantiation of ideas and feelings through a critical manipulation of medium and techniques. The results are narratives whereby the expression of intention as well as the drawings are both on trial.
series CAADRIA
last changed 2022/06/07 07:58

_id ab09
authors Qaqish, Ra’ed and Hanna, Raid
year 1997
title The Impact of CAL Strategies on CAD
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.1997.475
source CAADRIA ‘97 [Proceedings of the Second Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 957-575-057-8] Taiwan 17-19 April 1997, pp. 475-489
summary This paper reports on a two fold study, which examines the impact of CAL on CAD and architectural education, and evaluates the overall effectiveness and efficiency of CAD teaching and strategies in the curriculum of architecture. The study also examined the need for a framework within which the creation of a module for applying CAL in CAD to support the curriculum of architecture can be structured and assessed. The main concern of the study was to explore the range and balance of computer assisted activities in the design studio, and the interpretation of the various roles of the CAD tutor and his/her involvement in delivering these activities. In delivering these activities two criteria, namely: teaching methods and CAD integration (which are interchangeable and yet play different roles), can have a distinct effect on the implementation of CAL in the design studio. The case study evaluated and investigated the CAL the AEC course as part of the 3rd year design studio at Mackintosh School of Architecture, to determine to what extent the AEC learning events were effective in advocating new strategies in CAD. The methods of this investigation consisted of classroom observations and administrating questionnaires. Variables such as the group and gender differences/participation, the tutor’s confidence, level of administration and strategies to help with technical problems and motivations, also the task-related activities, tangibility of the learning materials, and the minutes of lesson have been examined. The global rating of the CAL events in CAD lessons, the CAL organisation and sequence, the level of students’ confidence, the rate of students’ interest, the mode of classroom, the level of learner performance and the relationship between CAL and the overall curriculum have also been empirically examined and their interdependent relationships explored. The findings of this study may help in establishing future directions in adopting some form of effective CAL strategies in CAD. The study also serves as an evaluation tool for computing teaching in the design studio. Furthermore, the checklist used in this case study may also be used in evaluating the different courses in CAD in the curriculum of architectural schools.
series CAADRIA
last changed 2022/06/07 08:00

_id ga0026
id ga0026
authors Ransen, Owen F.
year 2000
title Possible Futures in Computer Art Generation
source International Conference on Generative Art
summary Years of trying to create an "Image Idea Generator" program have convinced me that the perfect solution would be to have an artificial artistic person, a design slave. This paper describes how I came to that conclusion, realistic alternatives, and briefly, how it could possibly happen. 1. The history of Repligator and Gliftic 1.1 Repligator In 1996 I had the idea of creating an “image idea generator”. I wanted something which would create images out of nothing, but guided by the user. The biggest conceptual problem I had was “out of nothing”. What does that mean? So I put aside that problem and forced the user to give the program a starting image. This program eventually turned into Repligator, commercially described as an “easy to use graphical effects program”, but actually, to my mind, an Image Idea Generator. The first release came out in October 1997. In December 1998 I described Repligator V4 [1] and how I thought it could be developed away from simply being an effects program. In July 1999 Repligator V4 won the Shareware Industry Awards Foundation prize for "Best Graphics Program of 1999". Prize winners are never told why they won, but I am sure that it was because of two things: 1) Easy of use 2) Ease of experimentation "Ease of experimentation" means that Repligator does in fact come up with new graphics ideas. Once you have input your original image you can generate new versions of that image simply by pushing a single key. Repligator is currently at version 6, but, apart from adding many new effects and a few new features, is basically the same program as version 4. Following on from the ideas in [1] I started to develop Gliftic, which is closer to my original thoughts of an image idea generator which "starts from nothing". The Gliftic model of images was that they are composed of three components: 1. Layout or form, for example the outline of a mandala is a form. 2. Color scheme, for example colors selected from autumn leaves from an oak tree. 3. Interpretation, for example Van Gogh would paint a mandala with oak tree colors in a different way to Andy Warhol. There is a Van Gogh interpretation and an Andy Warhol interpretation. Further I wanted to be able to genetically breed images, for example crossing two layouts to produce a child layout. And the same with interpretations and color schemes. If I could achieve this then the program would be very powerful. 1.2 Getting to Gliftic Programming has an amazing way of crystalising ideas. If you want to put an idea into practice via a computer program you really have to understand the idea not only globally, but just as importantly, in detail. You have to make hard design decisions, there can be no vagueness, and so implementing what I had decribed above turned out to be a considerable challenge. I soon found out that the hardest thing to do would be the breeding of forms. What are the "genes" of a form? What are the genes of a circle, say, and how do they compare to the genes of the outline of the UK? I wanted the genotype representation (inside the computer program's data) to be directly linked to the phenotype representation (on the computer screen). This seemed to be the best way of making sure that bred-forms would bare some visual relationship to their parents. I also wanted symmetry to be preserved. For example if two symmetrical objects were bred then their children should be symmetrical. I decided to represent shapes as simply closed polygonal shapes, and the "genes" of these shapes were simply the list of points defining the polygon. Thus a circle would have to be represented by a regular polygon of, say, 100 sides. The outline of the UK could easily be represented as a list of points every 10 Kilometers along the coast line. Now for the important question: what do you get when you cross a circle with the outline of the UK? I tried various ways of combining the "genes" (i.e. coordinates) of the shapes, but none of them really ended up producing interesting shapes. And of the methods I used, many of them, applied over several "generations" simply resulted in amorphous blobs, with no distinct family characteristics. Or rather maybe I should say that no single method of breeding shapes gave decent results for all types of images. Figure 1 shows an example of breeding a mandala with 6 regular polygons: Figure 1 Mandala bred with array of regular polygons I did not try out all my ideas, and maybe in the future I will return to the problem, but it was clear to me that it is a non-trivial problem. And if the breeding of shapes is a non-trivial problem, then what about the breeding of interpretations? I abandoned the genetic (breeding) model of generating designs but retained the idea of the three components (form, color scheme, interpretation). 1.3 Gliftic today Gliftic Version 1.0 was released in May 2000. It allows the user to change a form, a color scheme and an interpretation. The user can experiment with combining different components together and can thus home in on an personally pleasing image. Just as in Repligator, pushing the F7 key make the program choose all the options. Unlike Repligator however the user can also easily experiment with the form (only) by pushing F4, the color scheme (only) by pushing F5 and the interpretation (only) by pushing F6. Figures 2, 3 and 4 show some example images created by Gliftic. Figure 2 Mandala interpreted with arabesques   Figure 3 Trellis interpreted with "graphic ivy"   Figure 4 Regular dots interpreted as "sparks" 1.4 Forms in Gliftic V1 Forms are simply collections of graphics primitives (points, lines, ellipses and polygons). The program generates these collections according to the user's instructions. Currently the forms are: Mandala, Regular Polygon, Random Dots, Random Sticks, Random Shapes, Grid Of Polygons, Trellis, Flying Leap, Sticks And Waves, Spoked Wheel, Biological Growth, Chequer Squares, Regular Dots, Single Line, Paisley, Random Circles, Chevrons. 1.5 Color Schemes in Gliftic V1 When combining a form with an interpretation (described later) the program needs to know what colors it can use. The range of colors is called a color scheme. Gliftic has three color scheme types: 1. Random colors: Colors for the various parts of the image are chosen purely at random. 2. Hue Saturation Value (HSV) colors: The user can choose the main hue (e.g. red or yellow), the saturation (purity) of the color scheme and the value (brightness/darkness) . The user also has to choose how much variation is allowed in the color scheme. A wide variation allows the various colors of the final image to depart a long way from the HSV settings. A smaller variation results in the final image using almost a single color. 3. Colors chosen from an image: The user can choose an image (for example a JPG file of a famous painting, or a digital photograph he took while on holiday in Greece) and Gliftic will select colors from that image. Only colors from the selected image will appear in the output image. 1.6 Interpretations in Gliftic V1 Interpretation in Gliftic is best decribed with a few examples. A pure geometric line could be interpreted as: 1) the branch of a tree 2) a long thin arabesque 3) a sequence of disks 4) a chain, 5) a row of diamonds. An pure geometric ellipse could be interpreted as 1) a lake, 2) a planet, 3) an eye. Gliftic V1 has the following interpretations: Standard, Circles, Flying Leap, Graphic Ivy, Diamond Bar, Sparkz, Ess Disk, Ribbons, George Haite, Arabesque, ZigZag. 1.7 Applications of Gliftic Currently Gliftic is mostly used for creating WEB graphics, often backgrounds as it has an option to enable "tiling" of the generated images. There is also a possibility that it will be used in the custom textile business sometime within the next year or two. The real application of Gliftic is that of generating new graphics ideas, and I suspect that, like Repligator, many users will only understand this later. 2. The future of Gliftic, 3 possibilties Completing Gliftic V1 gave me the experience to understand what problems and opportunities there will be in future development of the program. Here I divide my many ideas into three oversimplified possibilities, and the real result may be a mix of two or all three of them. 2.1 Continue the current development "linearly" Gliftic could grow simply by the addition of more forms and interpretations. In fact I am sure that initially it will grow like this. However this limits the possibilities to what is inside the program itself. These limits can be mitigated by allowing the user to add forms (as vector files). The user can already add color schemes (as images). The biggest problem with leaving the program in its current state is that there is no easy way to add interpretations. 2.2 Allow the artist to program Gliftic It would be interesting to add a language to Gliftic which allows the user to program his own form generators and interpreters. In this way Gliftic becomes a "platform" for the development of dynamic graphics styles by the artist. The advantage of not having to deal with the complexities of Windows programming could attract the more adventurous artists and designers. The choice of programming language of course needs to take into account the fact that the "programmer" is probably not be an expert computer scientist. I have seen how LISP (an not exactly easy artificial intelligence language) has become very popular among non programming users of AutoCAD. If, to complete a job which you do manually and repeatedly, you can write a LISP macro of only 5 lines, then you may be tempted to learn enough LISP to write those 5 lines. Imagine also the ability to publish (and/or sell) "style generators". An artist could develop a particular interpretation function, it creates images of a given character which others find appealing. The interpretation (which runs inside Gliftic as a routine) could be offered to interior designers (for example) to unify carpets, wallpaper, furniture coverings for single projects. As Adrian Ward [3] says on his WEB site: "Programming is no less an artform than painting is a technical process." Learning a computer language to create a single image is overkill and impractical. Learning a computer language to create your own artistic style which generates an infinite series of images in that style may well be attractive. 2.3 Add an artificial conciousness to Gliftic This is a wild science fiction idea which comes into my head regularly. Gliftic manages to surprise the users with the images it makes, but, currently, is limited by what gets programmed into it or by pure chance. How about adding a real artifical conciousness to the program? Creating an intelligent artificial designer? According to Igor Aleksander [1] conciousness is required for programs (computers) to really become usefully intelligent. Aleksander thinks that "the line has been drawn under the philosophical discussion of conciousness, and the way is open to sound scientific investigation". Without going into the details, and with great over-simplification, there are roughly two sorts of artificial intelligence: 1) Programmed intelligence, where, to all intents and purposes, the programmer is the "intelligence". The program may perform well (but often, in practice, doesn't) and any learning which is done is simply statistical and pre-programmed. There is no way that this type of program could become concious. 2) Neural network intelligence, where the programs are based roughly on a simple model of the brain, and the network learns how to do specific tasks. It is this sort of program which, according to Aleksander, could, in the future, become concious, and thus usefully intelligent. What could the advantages of an artificial artist be? 1) There would be no need for programming. Presumbably the human artist would dialog with the artificial artist, directing its development. 2) The artificial artist could be used as an apprentice, doing the "drudge" work of art, which needs intelligence, but is, anyway, monotonous for the human artist. 3) The human artist imagines "concepts", the artificial artist makes them concrete. 4) An concious artificial artist may come up with ideas of its own. Is this science fiction? Arthur C. Clarke's 1st Law: "If a famous scientist says that something can be done, then he is in all probability correct. If a famous scientist says that something cannot be done, then he is in all probability wrong". Arthur C Clarke's 2nd Law: "Only by trying to go beyond the current limits can you find out what the real limits are." One of Bertrand Russell's 10 commandments: "Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric" 3. References 1. "From Ramon Llull to Image Idea Generation". Ransen, Owen. Proceedings of the 1998 Milan First International Conference on Generative Art. 2. "How To Build A Mind" Aleksander, Igor. Wiedenfeld and Nicolson, 1999 3. "How I Drew One of My Pictures: or, The Authorship of Generative Art" by Adrian Ward and Geof Cox. Proceedings of the 1999 Milan 2nd International Conference on Generative Art.
series other
email
more http://www.generativeart.com/
last changed 2003/08/07 17:25

_id 4cce
authors Monedero, Javier
year 1997
title Parametric Design. A Review and Some Experiences
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1997.x.q8p
source Challenges of the Future [15th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-3-0] Vienna (Austria) 17-20 September 1997
summary During the last few years there has been an extraordinary development of computer aided tools intended to present or communicate the results of architectural projects. But there has not been a comparable progress in the development of tools intended to assist design to generate architectural forms in an easy and interactive way. Even worst, architects who use the powerful means provided by computers, as a direct tool to create architectural forms are still an exception. Architecture continues to be produced by traditional means using the computer as little more than a drafting tool.

The main reasons that may explain this situation can be identified rather easily, although there will be significant differences of opinion. Mine is that it is a mistake trying to advance too rapidly and, for instance, propose integrated design methods using expert systems and artificial intelligence resources when do not have still an adequate tool to generate and modify simple 3D models.

The modelling tools we have at the present moment are clearly unsatisfactory. Their principal limitation is the lack of appropriate instruments to modify interactively the model once it has been created. This is a fundamental aspect in any design activity, where the designer is constantly going forward and backwards, reelaborating once and again some particular aspect of the model, or its general layout, or even coming back to a previous solution that had been temporarily abandoned.

keywords Parametric Design
series eCAADe
email
more http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ecaade/proc/moneder/moneder.htm
last changed 2022/06/07 07:50

_id 0c91
authors Asanowicz, Aleksander
year 1997
title Computer - Tool vs. Medium
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1997.x.b2e
source Challenges of the Future [15th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-3-0] Vienna (Austria) 17-20 September 1997
summary We have arrived an important juncture in the history of computing in our profession: This history is long enough to reveal clear trends in the use of computing, but not long to institutionalize them. As computers peremate every area of architecture - from design and construction documents to project administration and site supervision - can “virtual practice” be far behind? In the old days, there were basically two ways of architects working. Under stress. Or under lots more stress. Over time, someone forwarded the radical motion that the job could be easier, you could actually get more work done. Architects still have been looking for ways to produce more work in less time. They need a more productive work environment. The ideal environment would integrate man and machine (computer) in total harmony. As more and more architects and firms invest more and more time, money, and effort into particular ways of using computers, these practices will become resistant to change. Now is the time to decide if computing is developing the way we think it should. Enabled and vastly accelerated by technology, and driven by imperatives for cost efficiency, flexibility, and responsiveness, work in the design sector is changing in every respect. It is stands to reason that architects must change too - on every level - not only by expanding the scope of their design concerns, but by altering design process. Very often we can read, that the recent new technologies, the availability of computers and software, imply that use of CAAD software in design office is growing enormously and computers really have changed the production of contract documents in architectural offices.
keywords Computers, CAAD, Cyberreal, Design, Interactive, Medium, Sketches, Tools, Virtual Reality
series eCAADe
email
more http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ecaade/proc/asan/asanowic.htm
last changed 2022/06/07 07:50

_id 63bb
authors Kokosalakis, J., Brown, G. and Moorhouse, J.
year 1997
title Incremental Reflective Learning and Innovative Practice in Electronic Design Media
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1997.x.u1q
source Challenges of the Future [15th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-3-0] Vienna (Austria) 17-20 September 1997
summary This paper discusses the impact of a continuously developing CAAD learning strategy, describing in detail a few of these principles, and considering their dynamic impact through deeper more lasting learning, feeding a substantial intensification in the application of Architectural Designing with Computers, changing design methods with interesting analytical and creative results.Aspects of the CAAD teaching discussed include extended collaboration between CAAD and design tutors in defining learning outcomes and tutoring the students’ application of CAAD to design projects, inclusion of CAAD within traditional interim reviews and feedback for design projects and bringing emphasis on conceptual principles, structuring the model and simple programming into earlier stages of the teaching programme and a simple excursion into programming. Studio project examples indicate the interplay between teaching, learning and achievement. Some evidence is explored in greater detail. from the "Interstitial Layers" project utilising the appropriateness of CAAD to store and switch the visibility of spatial data in endless permutations and extensive combinations for mapping, analysing and strategically projecting patterns of city centre activities, fabric and space. Students’ demonstrate a dynamic command of CAAD: as a vehicle for conceptual design, a device to analytically review, criticise and modify the design, as a means to explain design ideas to tutors and to develop and detail final building designs. Reciprocal valuing of quality CAAD achievement between architecture students and staff is seen to be contributing to involvement and motivation, reinforcing striving for equality of achievement. Reference to a further strand of the new methodology considers the impact of tutoring based in researcher findings from video case study precedents of architects practising creative design through use of computers, on a more open, effective development of the architecture students’ own designing processes, culminating in interesting design work.
keywords Incremental Learning, Understanding, CAAD-Design Approaches, Retention, Feedback, Review, Urban Spatial Forms, Spatial Analysis, "Interstitial Layers", Patterns, Conceptual Electronic Designing, Creative Innovation, Equality and Sharing
series eCAADe
email
more http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ecaade/proc/kokosa/jmup01.htm
last changed 2022/06/07 07:50

_id c59c
authors Kokosalakis, Jen
year 1997
title C AD VANTAGE for Communities, Professionals and Students
source AVOCAAD First International Conference [AVOCAAD Conference Proceedings / ISBN 90-76101-01-09] Brussels (Belgium) 10-12 April 1997, pp. 235-254
summary I propose to consider how added value for professionals, and the consumers of their buildings and students of these processes might be attained. Through the vehicle of new technologies including the humble 'CAD' system a fuller collaboration in design decision- making is aided through representation of 3 dimensional design ideas and their comprehension from different 'vantage' points. Thus computing may enhance opportunity for more informed dialogue involving verbal and visual responses between the intentions of the architect and client and promise to open up more of the architectural design process to participation by the building consumers, bringing advantage' to all actors in the design process. More liberated sketching at the system is becoming evident as programmers, and users' skills adapt to the search for more enabling, creative and easier tools, procedures and interfaces freeing responsiveness to consumer wishes. Reflection from clients and practitioners brings hope that a more informed dialogue is enabled through computer supported designing. The beginnings of CAAD support to community groups acts as a facilitator. Contacting and working with community groups follows effective 'Community Development' precedents established in the Liverpool of the sixties; to contact, activate, enable and provide necessary skill supports for community-driven striving for resolution of housing problems. Results of this, ploughed back into CAD teaching for Environmental Planners, brings increased awareness and visualisation of environmental, architectural and human issues and promises to begin a new cycle of more informed participation for citizens, architects, planners and consultants.
series AVOCAAD
last changed 2005/09/09 10:48

_id 4ec6
authors Richens, P.
year 1997
title Computer-aided Art Direction
source F. Penz and M. Thomas (Eds.) , Cinema & Architecture: Méliès, Mallet-Stevens, Multimedia, British Film Institute, London
summary Computer-aided design for architects began to be possible about 25 years ago; in the last five it has become commonplace. In a few years time, it will be as ubiquitous as the word-processor is today. But the construction industry as a whole is not a sophisticated user of Information Technology. The state of affairs in the film industry is quite different; computer graphics of the utmost sophistication plays an increasingly important part in the production of film, but very little in their design. Is it possible that an opportunity is being missed? This paper is written from the standpoint of a designer of architectural CAD software, and seeks to explore the extent to which computer graphics techniques, which have proved useful in architecture, could be used in Production Design, and the simulation of Cinematography. Several experiments, using commercial software of the sort that architects find useful, have lead to the realisation that much is possible, but that a full realisation of the benefits would require software specially adapted to the task. The bulk of this paper describes the nature of this adaptation; it is in the nature of a preliminary specification for software for Computer-aided art direction. The initial investigation centred on the needs of film students; it has since broadened to look at the needs of established practitioners.
series other
email
more http://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/research/pubs/pdfs/rich97a.pdf
last changed 2003/03/05 13:10

_id e43a
authors Richens, P.
year 1997
title Beyond Photorealism
source Architects’ Journal, 12/6/97
summary Computer rendering has come a long way in the last twenty years. But is it going in the right direction? Is the glossy photo-realistic image the only goal worth pursuing? And does the process of making it contribute enough to the design, or the ongoing dialogue with the client? There certainly are alternative modes of image-making. Frank Lloyd Wright, according to legend, could conceive a whole building in his head, and set it down rapidly, in plan and section. He would leave these drawings overnight to his assistant, who would set up a perspective. In the morning, FLW would spend an hour or two completing the rendering, ready for a lunch-time meeting with his clients. Today, many architects use their computers in the same way as FLW used his night-staff, to set-up an outline perspective, over which a rendering is produced by hand. Students, we observe, will often attempt to complete the rendering using a paint program such as Photoshop to apply textures and entourage in a kind of electronic collage.
series journal paper
email
more http://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/research/pubs/html/rich97c/
last changed 2003/05/15 21:45

_id 730e
authors Af Klercker, Jonas
year 1997
title Implementation of IT and CAD - what can Architect schools do?
source AVOCAAD First International Conference [AVOCAAD Conference Proceedings / ISBN 90-76101-01-09] Brussels (Belgium) 10-12 April 1997, pp. 83-92
summary In Sweden representatives from the Construction industry have put forward a research and development program called: "IT-Bygg 2002 -Implementation". It aims at making IT the vehicle for decreasing the building costs and at the same time getting better quality and efficiency out of the industry. A seminar was held with some of the most experienced researchers, developers and practitioners of CAD in construction in Sweden. The activities were recorded and annotated, analysed and put together afterwards; then presented to the participants to agree on. Co-operation is the key to get to the goals - IT and CAD are just the means to improve it. Co-operation in a phase of implementation is enough problematic without the technical difficulties in using computer programs created by the computer industry primarily for commercial reasons. The suggestion is that cooperation between software companies within Sweden will make a greater market to share than the sum of all individual efforts. In the short term, 2 - 5 years, implementation of CAD and IT will demand a large amount of educational efforts from all actors in the construction process. In the process of today the architect is looked upon as a natural coordinator of the design phase. In the integrated process the architect's methods and knowledge are central and must be spread to other categories of actors - what a challenge! At least in Sweden the number of researchers and educators in CAAD is easily counted. How do we make the most of it?
series AVOCAAD
last changed 2005/09/09 10:48

_id 0992
authors Belibani, R. and Gadola, A.
year 1997
title On Digital Architecture
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1997.x.r1n
source Challenges of the Future [15th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-3-0] Vienna (Austria) 17-20 September 1997
summary One of the main aims of this research was to highlight the influence of computer as a designing tool. Their wide acceptance as drawing tools might occult the importance of their role in architectural design. We will try to apprehend, with the help of synthetic images, that computers mark a historic step forward in drawing and representation, as well as a major progress in the understanding of creative processes.

Together these features offer a broader horizon to architectural design. New source of inspiration can be found in virtual reality that makes visible what does not really exist, permitting design to suggest itself with its primordial image. We mean a kind of architectural imprint, where the first three-dimensional lines suggest in some way the designer with their shape, and encourage the definition process.

Through the visualisation of some images, it is possible to show the modifications of language and style, to examine the transformation modalities of the design process and to propose an essay of the new methods to communicate architecture.

series eCAADe
email
more http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ecaade/proc/belibani/belibani.htm
last changed 2022/06/07 07:50

_id 0024
authors Breen, J. and Dijk, T. van
year 1997
title Modelling for eye level composition; design media experiments in an educational setting.
source Architectural and Urban Simulation Techniques in Research and Education [Proceedings of the 3rd European Architectural Endoscopy Association Conference / ISBN 90-407-1669-2]
summary In order to simulate the visual effects of designs at eye level, it is necessary to construct models from which (sequences of) images can be taken. This holds true for both Optical Endoscopy and Computer Aided Visualisation techniques. In what ways can an eye level approach stimulate spatial awareness and create insights into the workings of a design concept? Can Endoscopic methods be used effectively as a creative environment for design decision-making and teamwork and even to stimulate the generation of new design ideas? How should modelmaking be considered if it is to be of use in an ‘impatient’ design process, and how can students be made aware of the opportunities of both direct eye level observations from design models and of the more sophisticated endoscopic imaging techniques? This paper explores the theme of eye level modelling by focusing on a number of formal exercises and educational experiments carried out by the Delft Media group in recent years. An attempt is made to describe and evaluate these experiences, in order to draw conclusions and to signal possible new opportunities for eye level composition for the benefit of both design education and practice...
keywords Architectural Endoscopy, Endoscopy, Simulation, Visualisation, Visualization, Real Environments
series EAEA
email
more http://www.bk.tudelft.nl/media/eaea/eaea97.html
last changed 2005/09/09 10:43

_id cbe5
authors Burry, Mark
year 1997
title The Cost and Value of Animation for Architectural Designers
source AVOCAAD First International Conference [AVOCAAD Conference Proceedings / ISBN 90-76101-01-09] Brussels (Belgium) 10-12 April 1997, pp. 135-144
summary As computers laboratories or studios in architecture schools provide greater access to fast machines and sophisticated software, the opportunity for computer aided animation increases I dimension. Previously the domain of the most enthusiastic, it has now become a relatively simple task to move from 3D to 4D. If the impediments to a common access to these new possibilities (for architects) are no longer a matter of the cost and availability of hardware and media, what measures the extent to which we can value the contribution of animation to studio-based design? This paper reports on our progress in establishing some practical and theoretical benchmarks comparing the cost with the value of computer aided (or mediated) animation.
series AVOCAAD
last changed 2005/09/09 10:48

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