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	fe1b
authors	Do, Ellen Yi-Luen
year	2001
title	VR Sketchpad. Create Instant 3D Worlds by Sketching on a Transparent Window
source	Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 0-7923-7023-6] Eindhoven, 8-11 July 2001, pp. 161-172
summary	This paper describes VR Sketchpad, a pen-based computing environment for inputting and locating 3D objects in a virtual world. Designer can use the transparency layers to quickly trace and extract any image underlay from other application software. The 3D scene generation has three levels of complexity: simple extrusion of any drawn lines of shapes (i.e., straight or curved wall and column extrusion), solid modelling from a given geometric object representation (spheres, cones and boxes), and complex configuration with objects from graphics library (furniture layout).
keywords	Pen-Based Interface, Freehand Sketches, Diagramming, Transparent Window, Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML)
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2006/11/07 07:22

_id	40a6
authors	Ennis, Gareth and Lindsay, Malcolm
year	2001
title	VRGLASGOW.CO.UK implementation of internet multi-user functionality to Glasgow's virtual city
source	Stellingwerff, Martijn and Verbeke, Johan (Eds.), ACCOLADE - Architecture, Collaboration, Design. Delft University Press (DUP Science) / ISBN 90-407-2216-1 / The Netherlands, pp. 135-142 [Book ordering info: m.c.stellingwerff@bk.tudelft.nl]
summary	The development of the Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) for the Internet has resulted in the emergence of a multiplicity of 3D web sites. The metaphor used by these sites varies enormously from virtual galleries to virtual cities and style varies from abstract to reality. Additionally these worlds are populated by virtual objects, some having reactive or interactive properties, including movement, audio, video, databases, artificial intelligence etc. Perhaps the most stimulating embodiment of these new environments are those that offer the participant the opportunity to meet and communicate with other visitors exploring the same virtual space/world. The Glasgow Directory is an established 3D web space, with around 10,000 visitors per year. The model represents approximayely 10,000 properties in the city and is populated by contextual information on its culture and socio-economic topography. This paper will describe the background to this VR space, and suggest a set of design criteria for successfully deploying multi-user software within this and similar environments. These criteria will take into account lessons learned by 'observing' and analysing how participants interact with the existing system under different conditions and also what benefits they perceive on entering the environment via the multi-user interface. These recommendations will hopefully be applicable to a wide spectrum of internet virtual environment builders and users.
series	other
email
last changed	2001/09/14 21:30

_id	3dcd
authors	Ennis, Gary and Maver, Tom
year	2001
title	Visit VR Glasgow - Welcoming multiple visitors to the Virtual City
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2001.423
source	Architectural Information Management [19th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-8-1] Helsinki (Finland) 29-31 August 2001, pp. 423-429
summary	The development of the Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) for the Internet has resulted in the emergence of a multiplicity of 3D web sites. The metaphor used by these sites varies enormously from virtual galleries to virtual cities and style varies from abstract to reality. Additionally these worlds are populated by virtual objects, some having reactive or interactive properties, including movement, audio, video, databases, artificial intelligence etc. Perhaps the most stimulating embodiment of these new environments are those that offer the participant the opportunity to meet and communicate with other visitors exploring the same virtual space/world. The Glasgow Directory is an established 3D web space, with around 10,000 visitors per year. The model represents approximately 10,000 properties in the city and is populated by contextual information on its culture and socio-economic topography. This paper describes the background to this VR space, and suggests a set of design criteria for successfully deploying multi-user software within this and similar environments. These criteria take into account lessons learned by ‘observing’ and analysing how participants interact with the existing system under different conditions and also what benefits they perceive on entering the environment via the multi-user interface. These recommendations will hopefully be applicable to a wide spectrum of internet virtual environment builders and users.
keywords	Virtual, City, 3-D, Databases, Interaction
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	avocaad_2001_22
id	avocaad_2001_22
authors	Jos van Leeuwen, Joran Jessurun
year	2001
title	XML for Flexibility an Extensibility of Design Information Models
source	AVOCAAD - ADDED VALUE OF COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Nys Koenraad, Provoost Tom, Verbeke Johan, Verleye Johan (Eds.), (2001) Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst - Departement Architectuur Sint-Lucas, Campus Brussel, ISBN 80-76101-05-1
summary	The VR-DIS research programme aims at the development of a Virtual Reality – Design Information System. This is a design and decision support system for collaborative design that provides a VR interface for the interaction with both the geometric representation of a design and the non-geometric information concerning the design throughout the design process. The major part of the research programme focuses on early stages of design. The programme is carried out by a large number of researchers from a variety of disciplines in the domain of construction and architecture, including architectural design, building physics, structural design, construction management, etc.Management of design information is at the core of this design and decision support system. Much effort in the development of the system has been and still is dedicated to the underlying theory for information management and its implementation in an Application Programming Interface (API) that the various modules of the system use. The theory is based on a so-called Feature-based modelling approach and is described in the PhD thesis by [first author, 1999] and in [first author et al., 2000a]. This information modelling approach provides three major capabilities: (1) it allows for extensibility of conceptual schemas, which is used to enable a designer to define new typologies to model with; (2) it supports sharing of conceptual schemas, called type-libraries; and (3) it provides a high level of flexibility that offers the designer the opportunity to easily reuse design information and to model information constructs that are not foreseen in any existing typologies. The latter aspect involves the capability to expand information entities in a model with relationships and properties that are not typologically defined but applicable to a particular design situation only; this helps the designer to represent the actual design concepts more accurately.The functional design of the information modelling system is based on a three-layered framework. In the bottom layer, the actual design data is stored in so-called Feature Instances. The middle layer defines the typologies of these instances in so-called Feature Types. The top layer is called the meta-layer because it provides the class definitions for both the Types layer and the Instances layer; both Feature Types and Feature Instances are objects of the classes defined in the top layer. This top layer ensures that types can be defined on the fly and that instances can be created from these types, as well as expanded with non-typological properties and relationships while still conforming to the information structures laid out in the meta-layer.The VR-DIS system consists of a growing number of modules for different kinds of functionality in relation with the design task. These modules access the design information through the API that implements the meta-layer of the framework. This API has previously been implemented using an Object-Oriented Database (OODB), but this implementation had a number of disadvantages. The dependency of the OODB, a commercial software library, was considered the most problematic. Not only are licenses of the OODB library rather expensive, also the fact that this library is not common technology that can easily be shared among a wide range of applications, including existing applications, reduces its suitability for a system with the aforementioned specifications. In addition, the OODB approach required a relatively large effort to implement the desired functionality. It lacked adequate support to generate unique identifications for worldwide information sources that were understandable for human interpretation. This strongly limited the capabilities of the system to share conceptual schemas.The approach that is currently being implemented for the core of the VR-DIS system is based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML). Rather than implementing the meta-layer of the framework into classes of Feature Types and Feature Instances, this level of meta-definitions is provided in a document type definition (DTD). The DTD is complemented with a set of rules that are implemented into a parser API, based on the Document Object Model (DOM). The advantages of the XML approach for the modelling framework are immediate. Type-libraries distributed through Internet are now supported through the mechanisms of namespaces and XLink. The implementation of the API is no longer dependent of a particular database system. This provides much more flexibility in the implementation of the various modules of the VR-DIS system. Being based on the (supposed to become) standard of XML the implementation is much more versatile in its future usage, specifically in a distributed, Internet-based environment.These immediate advantages of the XML approach opened the door to a wide range of applications that are and will be developed on top of the VR-DIS core. Examples of these are the VR-based 3D sketching module [VR-DIS ref., 2000]; the VR-based information-modelling tool that allows the management and manipulation of information models for design in a VR environment [VR-DIS ref., 2000]; and a design-knowledge capturing module that is now under development [first author et al., 2000a and 2000b]. The latter module aims to assist the designer in the recognition and utilisation of existing and new typologies in a design situation. The replacement of the OODB implementation of the API by the XML implementation enables these modules to use distributed Feature databases through Internet, without many changes to their own code, and without the loss of the flexibility and extensibility of conceptual schemas that are implemented as part of the API. Research in the near future will result in Internet-based applications that support designers in the utilisation of distributed libraries of product-information, design-knowledge, case-bases, etc.The paper roughly follows the outline of the abstract, starting with an introduction to the VR-DIS project, its objectives, and the developed theory of the Feature-modelling framework that forms the core of it. It briefly discusses the necessity of schema evolution, flexibility and extensibility of conceptual schemas, and how these capabilities have been addressed in the framework. The major part of the paper describes how the previously mentioned aspects of the framework are implemented in the XML-based approach, providing details on the so-called meta-layer, its definition in the DTD, and the parser rules that complement it. The impact of the XML approach on the functionality of the VR-DIS modules and the system as a whole is demonstrated by a discussion of these modules and scenarios of their usage for design tasks. The paper is concluded with an overview of future work on the sharing of Internet-based design information and design knowledge.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	9de9
authors	Laakso, Mikko
year	2001
title	Practical Navigation in Virtual Architectural Environments
source	Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland
summary	The interest towards virtual reality (VR) and virtual environments (VE) is growing all the time. The applications being developed for VE run a wide spectrum, from games to business planning. This thesis concentrates on navigation in virtual architectural environments, movement in worlds that are very similar to our own. Navigation in a virtual world should be practical, intuitive and simple. Unfortunately, it is very often far from that - for some reason the usability issues in VEs have been usually left with little attention. Currently it is easy for a user to get lost and disoriented when traveling in a VE. This situation must change, navigating through virtual environments can no longer be considered a task reserved for the experts only. 3D-worlds and architectural applications for the common user require new, intuitive interface techniques. This thesis addresses issues related to both physical and cognitive aspects of navigation as well as theoretical models that bind them together. In the technology survey of this thesis, the virtual environment technology is presented. Different visual display systems, new input devices and some 3D user interface design aspects are described. The literature survey section discusses the main issues concerning navigation theory. The two parts of navigation, travel and wayfinding, are described in detail. The major challenges are discussed and some solutions and various research results are presented. A major part of the thesis consists of the description of HCNav, a new navigation system developed by the author. The system was constructed for use in the virtual room at Helsinki University of Technology. The purpose of HCNav is to provide a very intuitive and practical navigation interface. Three new experimental input devices, namely custom wand, data glove and speech recognition system, were tested. Another important part of the work is to evaluate the effectiveness of the HCNav system. A usability test was conducted to determine if the use of HCNav was actually improving navigation performance. Twelve subjects participated in a test where HCNav was compared with a traditional navigation software used previously in the virtual room. The experiment setup has been described and the results analyzed. The results are promising and show that the navigation methods adopted in HCNav are clearly better.
keywords	Virtual Environments, Navigation, Usability
series	thesis:MSc
last changed	2003/02/12 22:37

_id	avocaad_2001_18
id	avocaad_2001_18
authors	Aleksander Asanowicz
year	2001
title	The End of Methodology - Towards New Integration
source	AVOCAAD - ADDED VALUE OF COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Nys Koenraad, Provoost Tom, Verbeke Johan, Verleye Johan (Eds.), (2001) Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst - Departement Architectuur Sint-Lucas, Campus Brussel, ISBN 80-76101-05-1
summary	The present paper is devoted to the deliberation on the genesis and development of designing from the point of view of the potential use of computers in the process. Moreover, it also presents the great hopes which were connected with the use of the systematic designing methods in the 1960’s, as well as the great disappointment resulting from the lack of concrete results. At this time a great deal of attention was paid to the process of design as a branch of a wider process of problem-solving. Many people believed that the intuitive methods of design traditionally used by architects were incapable of dealing with the complexity of the problems to be solved. Therefore, the basic problem was the definition of a vertical structure of the designing process, which would make it possible to optimise each process of architectural design. The studies of design methodology directed at the codification of the norms of actions have not brought about any solutions which could be commonly accepted, as the efforts to present the designing process as a formally logical one and one that is not internally “uncontrary” from the mathematical point of view, were doomed to fail. Moreover, the difficulties connected with the use of the computer in designing were caused by the lack of a graphic interface, which is so very characteristic of an architect’s workshop. In result, the methodology ceased to be the main area of the architect’s interest and efforts were focused on facilitating the method of the designer’s communication with the computer. New tools were created, which enabled both the automatic generation of diversity and the creation of forms on the basis of genetic algorithms, as well as the presentation of the obtained results in the form of rendering, animation and VRML. This was the end of the general methodology of designing and the beginning of a number of methods solving the partial problems of computer-supported design. The present situation can be described with the words of Ian Stewart as a “chaotic run in all directions”. An immediate need for new integration is felt. Cyber-real space could be a solution to the problem. C-R-S is not a virtual reality understood as an unreal world. Whilst VR could be indeed treated as a sort of an illusion, C-R-S is a much more realistic being, defining the area in which the creative activities are taking place. The architect gains the possibility of having a direct contact with the form he or she is creating. Direct design enables one to creatively use the computer technology in the designing process. The intelligent system of recognising speech, integrated with the system of virtual reality, will allow to create an environment for the designer – computer communication which will be most natural to the person. The elimination of this obstacle will facilitate the integration of the new methods into one designing environment. The theoretical assumptions of such an environment are described in the present paper.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	5ac1
authors	Bourdakis, Vassilis
year	2001
title	On Developing Standards for the Creation of VR City Models
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2001.404
source	Architectural Information Management [19th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-8-1] Helsinki (Finland) 29-31 August 2001, pp. 404-409
summary	The paper is an inclusive summary of research work on creating VR city models carried out over the last six years in the UK and Greece aiming to put into discussion the guidelines/ rules developed by the author. The paper is structured in three sections referring to the main stages in terms of either technical expertise and problem solving or conceptual structuring of information: creation of 3D city models, CAAD versus VR in digital city modelling and finally utilizing digital city models. The expected outcome of the work presented is the establishment of a body of knowledge that will facilitate the development of standards and guidelines for the creation of city models. There are obvious advantages in having a compatible set of city 3D models. On the other hand, there are different rules to be followed and issues to be solved, according to the scale of the model, level of detail that is needed—all these rules relate to the projected use of the model.
keywords	Digital City Models, 3D Modelling, Virtual Reality, Urban Planning
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	51a0
authors	Conti, G., Ucelli, G. and Maver, T.
year	2001
title	JCAD-VR: Java Collaborative Architectural Design Tool in Virtual Reality - A Java3D based scalable framework for real-time, multiplatform VR environments
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2001.454
source	Architectural Information Management [19th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-8-1] Helsinki (Finland) 29-31 August 2001, pp. 454-459
summary	This paper proposes a framework that provides the architect with a tool that uses Virtual Reality (VR) as part of the design path. It offers the possibility to deploy a system capable of assisting the design profession during the early stages of the design process. This way VR becomes the means for a new experience where the architect can, free from constraints of the 2D world, create and manipulate the space she/he is designing. The idea upon which JCAD-VR is being built is that all the users present in the virtual world have to be able to share the same virtual environment in a “transparent fashion” where the user interface, instead of the traditional menu/windows based layout, it is part of the virtual world itself. The aim is to provide the designer with a tool for creating 3D-shapes in a shared VR environment, thus allowing the design to be shared as it evolves.
keywords	Collaborative Design, Virtual Reality, Java 3D, Distributed Environment
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

_id	7f13
authors	Gatermann, Harald
year	2001
title	First step to augmented reality: Combining vrml and pano-photos
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2001.219
source	CAADRIA 2001 [Proceedings of the Sixth Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 1-86487-096-6] Sydney 19-21 April 2001, pp. 219-230
summary	VRML as a world-wide standard for describing 3D-geometry is enhanced by using panorama-photography for realistic backgrounds - other than in quicktime-vr it is possible to move around by using several vrml-nodes.
series	CAADRIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:51

_id	avocaad_2001_03
id	avocaad_2001_03
authors	M.K.D. Coomans, J.P. van Leeuwen, H.J.P. Timmermans
year	2001
title	Abstract but Tangible, Complex but Manageable
source	AVOCAAD - ADDED VALUE OF COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Nys Koenraad, Provoost Tom, Verbeke Johan, Verleye Johan (Eds.), (2001) Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst - Departement Architectuur Sint-Lucas, Campus Brussel, ISBN 80-76101-05-1
summary	In the VR-DIS research program, an innovative design-information modelling technique has been proposed that is based on features. In this modelling technique, the designer is invited not only to model the form and spatial aspects of his or her design, but also to model the structure of the data behind the design. The designer is offered a way to control how abstract design data is structured and stored. In this way, the designer is given the power to model concepts like conformity, contrast, and scale on the formal data level, and this for both graphical and non-graphical design characteristics. Further, the designer is invited to input formal descriptions of own design concepts, and use these personal concepts during the design process. With this new information modelling technique, we expect that the designers will be better capable to handle the complexity of linking diverse kinds of information involved in a design process. This new way of computer aided design offers a unique design freedom: any design concept becomes addressable. On the other hand, this technique also puts the responsibility for the content of the CAD database entirely in the hands of the designer. In order to be able to enjoy the design freedom fully and at the same time handle the responsibility over the design database, a computer tool is needed that shows the precise content of the database, and that is easy and quick to interact with. Only with such a tool, the designer will be capable of keeping the complex data model in pace with his or her design reasoning. To realise this requirement, a “feature browser” has been developed with a 3D graphical user interface. It shows the data objects as 3D blocks, mutually linked by rubber-band arrows that closely reflect the database structure. The whole forms an interactive 3D graph. The intuitiveness and user friendliness of the interface was improved by adding features like the visualisation of the browsing history, the visualisation of link-semantics, and animated visual feedback effects. The hardware part of the interface is worked out as a Fish Tank VR set-up. This hardware configuration improves the experienced realism of the displayed 3D objects up to a feeling of physical presence. The interface as a whole therefore provides a highly attractive display of the abstract design data; abstract but tangible. It is a tool in which complex data structures can be explored and controlled: complex but manageable.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	6473
authors	Caneparo, Luca and Robiglio, Matteo
year	2001
title	Evolutionary Automata for Suburban Form Simulation
source	Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 0-7923-7023-6] Eindhoven, 8-11 July 2001, pp. 767-780
summary	The paper outlines a research project to develop a dynamic simulation of suburbanization processes. The approach to simulating suburban form relies on modelling different interacting processes on various scales. Two layered models are implemented, the Socio-Economic and Zoning model and the Suburban Form model, respectively by means of cellular automata and genetic programming. The Socio-Economic and Zoning model simulates exogenous factors and endogenous processes of large-scale suburban dynamics. The model approximates the area by means of a rectangular grid to the scale of hundred meters. The Suburban Form model uses a smaller grid, to the scale of meters, and is three-dimensional. The resulting dynamic, 3D, fine-scale model will create scenarios of suburban growth, allowing evaluation of their consequences on built environment and landscape.
keywords	Urban Morphology, Model Based Design Support System, Urban Design, Landscape, Genetic Programming, Cellular Automata
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2006/11/07 07:22

_id	ec4d
authors	Croser, J.
year	2001
title	GDL Object
source	The Architect’s Journal, 14 June 2001, pp. 49-50
summary	It is all too common for technology companies to seek a new route to solving the same problem but for the most part the solutions address the effect and not the cause. The good old-fashioned pencil is the perfect example where inventors have sought to design-out the effect of the inherent brittleness of lead. Traditionally different methods of sharpening were suggested and more recently the propelling pencil has reigned king, the lead being supported by the dispensing sleeve thus reducing the likelihood of breakage. Developers convinced by the Single Building Model approach to design development have each embarked on a difficult journey to create an easy to use feature packed application. Unfortunately it seems that the two are not mutually compatible if we are to believe what we see emanating from Technology giants Autodesk in the guise of Architectural Desktop 3. The effect of their development is a feature rich environment but the cost and in this case the cause is a tool which is far from easy to use. However, this is only a small part of a much bigger problem, Interoperability. You see when one designer develops a model with one tool the information is typically locked in that environment. Of course the geometry can be distributed and shared amongst the team for use with their tools but the properties, or as often misquoted, the intelligence is lost along the way. The effect is the technological version of rubble; the cause is the low quality of data-translation available to us. Fortunately there is one company, which is making rapid advancements on the whole issue of collaboration, and data sharing. An old timer (Graphisoft - famous for ArchiCAD) has just donned a smart new suit, set up a new company called GDL Technology and stepped into the ring to do battle, with a difference. The difference is that GDL Technology does not rely on conquering the competition, quite the opposite in fact their success relies upon the continued success of all the major CAD platforms including AutoCAD, MicroStation and ArchiCAD (of course). GDL Technology have created a standard data format for manufacturers called GDL Objects. Product manufacturers such as Velux are now able to develop product libraries using GDL Objects, which can then be placed in a CAD model, or drawing using almost any CAD tool. The product libraries can be stored on the web or on CD giving easy download access to any building industry professional. These objects are created using scripts which makes them tiny for downloading from the web. Each object contains 3 important types of information: · Parametric scale dependant 2d plan symbols · Full 3d geometric data · Manufacturers information such as material, colour and price Whilst manufacturers are racing to GDL Technologies door to sign up, developers and clients are quick to see the benefit too. Porsche are using GDL Objects to manage their brand identity as they build over 300 new showrooms worldwide. Having defined the building style and interior Porsche, in conjunction with the product suppliers, have produced a CD-ROM with all of the selected building components such as cladding, doors, furniture, and finishes. Designing and detailing the various schemes will therefore be as straightforward as using Lego. To ease the process of accessing, sizing and placing the product libraries GDL Technology have developed a product called GDL Object Explorer, a free-standing application which can be placed on the CD with the product libraries. Furthermore, whilst the Object Explorer gives access to the GDL Objects it also enables the user to save the object in one of many file formats including DWG, DGN, DXF, 3DS and even the IAI's IFC. However, if you are an AutoCAD user there is another tool, which has been designed especially for you, it is called the Object Adapter and it works inside of AutoCAD 14 and 2000. The Object Adapter will dynamically convert all GDL Objects to AutoCAD Blocks during placement, which means that they can be controlled with standard AutoCAD commands. Furthermore, each object can be linked to an online document from the manufacturer web site, which is ideal for more extensive product information. Other tools, which have been developed to make the most of the objects, are the Web Plug-in and SalesCAD. The Plug-in enables objects to be dynamically modified and displayed on web pages and Sales CAD is an easy to learn and use design tool for sales teams to explore, develop and cost designs on a Notebook PC whilst sitting in the architects office. All sales quotations are directly extracted from the model and presented in HTML format as a mixture of product images, product descriptions and tables identifying quantities and costs. With full lifecycle information stored in each GDL Object it is no surprise that GDL Technology see their objects as the future for building design. Indeed they are not alone, the IAI have already said that they are going to explore the possibility of associating GDL Objects with their own data sharing format the IFC. So down to the dirty stuff, money and how much it costs? Well, at the risk of sounding like a market trader in Petticoat Lane, "To you guv? Nuffin". That's right as a user of this technology it will cost you nothing! Not a penny, it is gratis, free. The product manufacturer pays for the license to host their libraries on the web or on CD and even then their costs are small costing from as little as 50p for each CD filled with objects. GDL Technology has come up trumps with their GDL Objects. They have developed a new way to solve old problems. If CAD were a pencil then GDL Objects would be ballistic lead, which would never break or loose its point. A much better alternative to the strategy used by many of their competitors who seek to avoid breaking the pencil by persuading the artist not to press down so hard. If you are still reading and you have not already dropped the magazine and run off to find out if your favorite product supplier has already signed up then I suggest you check out the following web sites www.gdlcentral.com and www.gdltechnology.com. If you do not see them there, pick up the phone and ask them why.
series	journal paper
email
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	7e02
authors	Elger, Dietrich and Russell, Peter
year	2002
title	The Virtual Campus: A new place for (lifelong) learning?
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2002.472
source	Connecting the Real and the Virtual - design e-ducation [20th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9541183-0-8] Warsaw (Poland) 18-20 September 2002, pp. 472-477
summary	472 eCAADe 20 [design e-ducation] Modeling Real and Virtual Worlds Session 13 In the early spring of 2001 a collection of German universities founded a virtual faculty of architecture, which was named „Liquid Campus“. Current thinking about future forms of education in the field of architecture combined with over 4 years of experience with net-based design studios, led to questions about the future of existing universities, their buildings and their use. This problem was put to 43 students in the form of a design exercise to create a place for a virtual university. In the current situation, in which the administration of knowledge is more and more located on the internet, and even the so-called meeting places themselves can be virtualised through the help of video-conference-software, the exercise was to design a virtual campus in the framework and to carry out this design work in a simulation of distributed practice. Initial criticism of the project came from the students in that exemplary working methods were not described, but left for the students to discover on their own. The creation of a concept for the Liquid Campus meant that the participants had to imagine working in a world without the face to face contacts that form the basis (at present) of personal interaction. Additionally, the assignment to create or design possible links between the real and the virtual was not an easy task for students who normally design and plan real physical buildings. Even the tutors had difficulties in producing focused constructive criticism about a virtual campus; in effect the virtualisation of the university leads to a distinctive blurring of its boundaries. The project was conducted using the pedagogical framework of the netzentwurf.de; a relatively well established Internet based communication platform. This means that the studio was organised in the „traditional“ structure consisting of an initial 3 day workshop, a face to face midterm review, and a collective final review, held 3,5 months later in the Museum of Communication in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In teams of 3 (with each student from a different university and a tutor located at a fourth) the students worked over the Internet to produce collaborative design solutions. The groups ended up with designs that spanned a range of solutions between real and virtual architecture. Examples of the student’s work (which is all available online) as well as their working methods are described. It must be said that the energy invested in the studio by the organisers of the virtual campus (as well as the students who took part) was considerably higher than in normal design studios and the paper seeks to look critically at the effort in relation to the outcomes achieved. The range and depth of the student’s work was surprising to many in the project, especially considering the initial hurdles (both social and technological) that had to overcome. The self-referential nature of the theme, the method and the working environment encouraged the students to take a more philosophical approach to the design problem. The paper explores the implications of the student’s conclusions on the nature of the university in general and draws conclusions specific to architectural education and the role of architecture in this process.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	d146
authors	He, Jie
year	2001
title	CAD Study in Visual Analysis of the Visual Sustainability for China Urban Natural Landscape Planning
source	Chinese University of Hong Kong
summary	In this thesis a GIS-based CAD system prototype of evaluating visual quality of urban natural landscape environment is presented. This prototype is an indispensable component of the integrative Visual Sustainability research, and offers a calculable and visualizable technique to urban visual natural landscape assessment. This scientific method provides precise data to estimate the visibility of natural landscape in urban construction actuality. Furthermore, it can also work out supporting information for maintaining and protecting valuable visual landscape resources in further planning. Introduction of this methodology intends to improve the natural landscape cooperation in China urban planning through visual protection. Combining with popular CAD software such as AutoCAD and Microstation, the research team uses ArcView GIS software and its 3D Analyst extension to accomplish a set of research procedure, which includes data modification, model making, viewshed and view sensibility analysis. In addition, this system can create simultaneous 3D scenes or hire other information media as reference tools for professional analysis, design consultation and intercommunication. The core technologies of this proposed system are viewshed calculation and overlay analysis. In viewshed analysis, human visual characteristics are simulated by a series of ergonomics parameters of viewpoints. Viewshed of each viewpoint can be calculated into vector data and mapped by polygons identifying which region is visible and which is not. Overlay function of the proposed system is used in visual sensibility analysis to achieve the division of higher visual sensible area which indicates the common visible area from different viewpoints. Additionally, viewshed maps and visual sensibility results can add more information to mark out the areas that can satisfy certain visual parameters such as appropriate visual angle or visual distance. These overlaying results can visualized the visible areas into hierarchical visual perception quality categories in order to define the visual landscape significance of particular planning regions. A case study was operated to evaluate this system. The case is in Zhongshan city, Guangdong Province of China. Jinzishan hill region is the study site that picked by collaborating discussion of research team and the local government. It is located on the edge of urban built-up area. Jinzishan massif is the prominent landscape element of the surrounding environment. There are three topics in Jinzishan visual perception in this paper. The first topic is the visual quality evaluation of the intersections of its surrounding road system. The second is the integrated visual perception of two main roads called Qiwandao and Bo‚Äôailu. Finally is the analysis of the hill skyline visual quality in surrounding area. The analysis results in GIS vector data can be converted into popular data format and combined with other spatial information for practical application. And comments for future urban planning are collected and analyzed by professional responses to the computer-generated information investigation.
keywords	Natural Landscaping; Computer-Aided Design; Landscape Architecture; City Planning; Geographic Information Systems
series	thesis:MSc
email
last changed	2003/02/12 22:37

_id	avocaad_2001_07
id	avocaad_2001_07
authors	Stefan Wrona, Adam Gorczyca
year	2001
title	Complexity in Architecture - How CAAD can be involved to Deal with it. - "Duality"
source	AVOCAAD - ADDED VALUE OF COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Nys Koenraad, Provoost Tom, Verbeke Johan, Verleye Johan (Eds.), (2001) Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst - Departement Architectuur Sint-Lucas, Campus Brussel, ISBN 80-76101-05-1
summary	“Complexity “ is for us a very ambigous notion. It may be understood in two contexts.1.Thorough solution of a problem.Complexity means full recognition of design area, followed by appropriate work. That work must be thorough and interdisciplinary – if necessary, separated to different co-operatives. These trade designers reqiure a branch coordination and – the most important- all of them must have a „common denominator”. Such as a proper CAAD platform and office standards. That will reduce costs of changes, improve an interplay between designers and somtimes enable to face up a new challenge.Nowadays architects are no longer “solitary” individualists working alone – they must concern a team – they become a member, a part of a huge design machine. “Import/export”, compatibility, interplay – these words must appear and we have to put a stress on them. How to organize work for different trade-designers? How to join in common database architectural design ,engineering design, HVAC design, electricity design, technology design, computer network design and all other trades ?...A key to solve this range of problems is in good work organization. Universal prescription does not exist, but some evergreen rules can be observed. We are going to present a scheme of work in CAAD application ALLPLAN FT v.16 with a Group manager , which starts to conquest polish market and is widely spread in Germany. “Golden rules” of ALLPLAN FT There is one database – it is placed on server. It includes all projects. There is a well-developed office standard. It must be created at the beginning of collaboration, although it is possible to improve it later. It consist of hatches, fonts, symbols, macros, materials, pen-widths, and – the most important –layers . A layer set – predefined structure divided into functional groups – e.g. drafting, text, dimensioning, architecture, HVAC, engineering, urban design, etc.That stucture is a part of an office standard – all workers use a relevant part of it. No name duplicates, no misunderstandings... If however design extends, and a new group of layers is required, it can be easily added, e.g. computer networks, fireguard systems. Administrator of ALLPLAN network defines different users and gives them different permitions of access. For example – an electrician will be able to draft on layer “electricity”, but he won’t modify anything at layer “architecture – walls”, and he won’t even see a layer “engineering- slabs”, because he doesn’t need it..At the same time our electrician will be able to see , how architect moves some walls and how HVAC moved and started to cross with his wires. Every user is able to see relevant changes, after they are saved by author. Two different users can not access at the same time the same file. That excludes inconsistent or overlapping changes . All users operate on a 3D model. While putting some data into a model, they must remember about a “Z” coordinate at work-storey. But at the same time all create a fully-integrated, synchronous database, which can be used later for bills of quantities, specifications, and – of course – for visuaisation. That method can be described as “model-centric”. To simplify complex structure of architectural object -ALLPLAN offers files. Usually one file means one storey, but at special designs it might become a functional part of a storey, or whatever you wish. Files connected with layers easy enable to separate certain structural elements, e.g. if we want to glance only at concrete slabs and columns in the building – we will turn on all files with “layer filter” – “slabs” and “columns”. ALLPLAN is of course one of possible solutions. We described it , because we use it in our workshop. It seems to be stretchy enough to face up every demand and ever-increasing complexity of current projects. The essence of the matter, however, is not a name or version of application – it is a set of features, we mentioned above, which allows to deal with EVERY project. The number of solutions is infinite.2. Increasing difficulties during design process. It may be associated with more and more installations inside of new buildings, especially some “high-tech” examples. The number of these installations increases as well as their complexity. Now buildings are full of sensors, video-screens, computer networks, safety-guard systems... Difficulties are connected with some trends in contemporary architecture, for example an organic architecture, which conceives “morphed” shapes, “moving” surfaces, “soft” solids. This direction is specially supported by modelling or CAD applications. Sometimes it is good – they allow to realize all imaginations, but often they lead to produce “unbuildable” forms, which can exist only in virtual world.Obstacles appear, when we design huge cubatures with “dense” functional scheme. Multi-purposed objects, exhibition halls, olimpic stadium at Sydney – all of them have to be stretchy, even if it requires sliding thousands pound concrete blocks! Requirements were never so high.The last reason, why designs become so complex is obvious - intensifying changes due to specific requirements of clients/developers.We could say “ signum tempori” – everything gets more and more complicated , people have to become specialists, to face up new technology. But how CAAD can help us with it? How?! We have already answered that question. Sometimes CAAD is the only way to imagine and sketch something, to visualize something, to compute a construction , to prepare a simulation... So that human must “only” interprete ready solutions. Sometimes CAAD help us to notify a problem. It works exactly in the same way, as spy-glasses does. For example – without a real-time visualization we we would have never realised (until finished!) some strange interference of solids, which have occured in the upper roof part of our new appartment-house.ConclusionsTemporary CAAD is an integral part of design process – not only as a tool, but sometimes as an inspiration. It helps to organize our work, to define problems, to filter relevant elements and to render our visions. It becomes an integral part of our senses – and that will be a real complexity in architecture...
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	cf2003_m_026
id	cf2003_m_026
authors	WYELD, Theodor G.
year	2003
title	An Object Server System for 3D Digital Design Collaboration
source	Digital Design - Research and Practice [Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures / ISBN 1-4020-1210-1] Tainan (Taiwan) 13–15 October 2003, pp. 235-248
summary	Moving through and between computer generated 3D objects we experience a 'virtual world'. Virtual Worlds have created a dream-like landscape. They also have facilitated a paradigm shift for architects working with CAD tools where they now desire to “design three-dimensional spaces in an immersed way” (Strehlke and Engeli 2001). Architects are already working in computer-moderated collaborative networked organisations. A 3D Virtual World offers a different kind of collaboration. To understand how architects might design in an 'immersed way', three experiments are described. The experiments attempt to investigate how participants experience the 3D spaces within which they collaborated. In particular, the last experiment makes use of 'shared objects' in the scene. The software chosen to create these Virtual Worlds was VRML and JAVA due to their flexibility and rapid prototyping. Where VRML differs from most CAD languages is in its openness. This paper describes an object sharing client-server architecture based on a simple multi-user system providing navigation in CosmoPlayer 2.11 ported through Netscape. The Object Server System allows multiple clients, as avatars, and objects to be manipulated in a 3D Virtual World. The system updates the transforms of the objects explicitly allowing their transform values to be shared across multiple browser sessions.
keywords	collaboration, multi-user, object sharing
series	CAAD Futures
last changed	2003/09/22 12:21

_id	ga0118
id	ga0118
authors	Annunziato, Mauro and Pierucci, Piero
year	2001
title	Learning and Contamination in Virtual Worlds
source	International Conference on Generative Art
summary	The most recent advances of artificial life scientific research are opening up a new frontier: the creation of simulated life environments populated by autonomous agents. In these environments artificial beings can interact, reproduce and evolve [4, 6, 15], and can be seen as laboratories whereto explore the emergence of social behaviors like competition, cooperation, relationships and communication [5, 7] . It is still not possible to approach a reasonable simulation of the incredible complexity of human or animal societies, but these environments can be used as a scientific orartistic tool to explore some basic aspects of the evolution [1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14]. The combination of these concepts with robotics technology or with immersive-interactive 3D environments (virtual reality) are changing quickly well known paradigms like digital life, manmachineinterface, virtual world. The virtual world metaphor becomes interesting when the artificial beings can develop some form of learning, increasing their performances, adaptation, and developing the ability to exchange information with human visitors. In this sense the evolution enhances the creative power and meaningful of these environments, and human visitors experience an emotion of a shift from a simplified simulation of the reality to a real immersion into an imaginary life. We may think that these realization are the first sparks of a new form of life: simulated for the soft-alife thinkers, real for the hard-alife thinkers, or a simple imaginary vision for the artists.
series	other
email
more	http://www.generativeart.com/
last changed	2003/11/21 15:15

_id	cd0b
authors	Meloni, Wanda
year	2001
title	The Slow Rise of 3D on the Web
source	Computer Graphics Worlds - July 2001, p. 22
summary	Consumer, commercial, and educational applications on the Web have been slow to take advantage of 3D, although for years it has been viewed as a boon for the graphics industry. Over the last 18 months, the situation has begun to look more favorable for the graphics industry, reports M2 Research's Wanda Meloni. Meloni says changes in the market and in technology have fueled the rise of 3D on the Web. The increase in broadband connections from 2.7 million users in 1999 to 8 million users in 2000 means that the market of consumers who have Internet connections fast enough to view and interact with 3D content has grown considerably. Also, 3D players are no longer limited to a proprietary format now that new game consoles from Nintendo and Microsoft will offer Web-based real-time 3D multiplayer gaming; in addition, 3D graphics technology will now be embedded into applications for Internet appliances and handheld devices. M2 Research estimates that the number of Web media players that are 3D-enabled will rise from 17 percent currently to 32 percent by the end of the year, as 3D player vendors offer more direct support to 2D players such as RealPlayer and Shockwave. Still, content production will remain a major hurdle because millions of Web authors are not using 3D. Meloni says creative professionals and digital designers will need a new set of 3D tools that will work seamlessly with current Web content in video, 2D graphics, and audio.
series	journal paper
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	5d55
authors	Billger, Monica and d’Élia, Stefano
year	2001
title	Colour appearance in virtual reality: a comparison between a full-scale room and a virtual reality simulation
source	AIC Colour 2001, The 9th Congress of the International Colour Association, Rochester, NY.
summary	The main goal of our project is to make VR applications usable for the planning of light and colour. To enable reliable simulations, we both need to develop better rendering methods and carefully study the appearance of light and colour in real rooms and in virtual environments. Assessments of real rooms are compared to simulations of the same rooms in immersive Virtual Reality (3D-cube). In this paper, we will present the outcome of a pilot study and discuss specific problems associated with the prospect of comparing reality to Virtual Reality. We will account for the experience of the room and go into details on the experience and perception of light. Indeed, the problems of getting enough light in the 3D-cube and of simulating the light situation of a real room affect colour appearance.
keywords	Virtual Reality, VR, 3D-cube, Colour Appearance, Light Perception, Visual Assessments, Simulations
series	other
email
last changed	2002/09/05 09:58

_id	bbfa
authors	Donath, D., Beetz, J., Grether, K., Petzold, F. and Seichter, H.
year	2001
title	Augmented Reality Techniques for Design and Revitalisation in Existing Built Environments
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2001.322
source	Reinventing the Discourse - How Digital Tools Help Bridge and Transform Research, Education and Practice in Architecture [Proceedings of the Twenty First Annual Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture / ISBN 1-880250-10-1] Buffalo (New York) 11-14 October 2001, pp. 322-329
summary	Building activity in Germany is moving increasingly toward combined newbuild and renovation projects. Essential for effective computer-aided planning within an existing context is not only the use of on-site computer-aided measurement tools but also an integrative cooperation between the different disciplines involved via an information and communication system. Interdisciplinary cooperation needs to be tailored to the integrative aspects in renovation and revitalisation work. Economic factors determine the viability of an architectural project, and reliable costing information is vital. Existing IT-approaches to this problem are not yet sufficiently exploited. In ongoing research at our university (collaborative research center ”Materials and Structure in the Revitalisation of Buildings”) methods and techniques of revitalisation are being investigated. A special branch of the collaborative research center is investigating possibilities of computer-aided building measurement and communication platforms for professional disciplines (www.uni-weimar.de/sfb). The aim is to develop a general approach to the revitalisation of buildings. This paper discusses possible application areas of AR/VR techniques in the revitalisation of buildings from the point of view of the user and are based on the real project “Cooling factory Gera”. Based on the necessities of revitalisation projects, technical requirements are developed. The project is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (DFG).
keywords	Augmented Reality, Architecture, Modernization, Measurement
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

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