My Images of the day

[Paul Russam]

I've been away from here for a while as I mentioned in this post:http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=16779

So I've got a bit of catching up to do both with replying to your messages and posting some of my own, below you find a number of links to Picasa albums, I'm trying to produce some images (no matter how ropey) each day.

2009-01-30 - Picasa Link - 11 Images
1 Image of a church we’re extending and a bunch of images showing the roof structure of another church (yes that one)

2009-02-02 - Picasa Link - 4 Images
A building we’re converting to a nursing home, this is the existing building, I’m in the process of building the proposed interior.

2009-02-03 - Picasa Link - 6 Images
Old school building in Dublin we’re converting to multi-use (class rooms, offices, bedrooms etc). This model will eventually be finished down to the plug sockets and light switches.

2009-02-04 - Picasa Link - 5 images
The same project as above.

2009-02-06 - Picasa Link - 9 Images
That church! This is the first attempt at a proposed stair to the choir gallery, it had too many problems and was redesigned (see later)

2009-02-09 - Picasa Link - 21 Images
That church again! (This will be a reoccurring theme) Finally got the back of the exterior model started, I’ve also got some photos of the real thing in here.

2009-02-10 - Picasa Link - 16 Images
TCA. More of the external model, the sanctuary this time.

2009-02-11 - Picasa Link - 5 Images
TCA. The exterior is finished! Just the ground to do now.

2009-02-12 - Picasa Link - 14 images
TCA. Ground, railings, walls etc. done.

2009-02-13 - Picasa Link - 19 images
TCA. Back to the stairs, not quite there yet.

2009-02-16 - Picasa Link - 39 images
TCA. Lots of small stuff today, so no real progress to show, so I thought I’d post a bunch of images of the whole model. Those of you that remember the model will notice that I’ve now got the whole interior done, no more massive opening in the model where the front door should be.
This is also the proposed design, you will only have seen the model of the church as is before.

2009-02-17 - Picasa Link - 14 images
TCA. The stair AGAIN! This time its finished (well sort of) The stair lift is most definitely going, I think we’re going to propose a catapult instead.

Below is a link to a 280Mb QTVR of the interior of the church, there are around 50 clickable hotspots within the file, wherever you see a red figure you can click and jump to that POV, also there are ones high up that look like round arrowy things.

Forgive the initial hotspot, its not quite finished yet. I'm planning to add a load of hotsopts of the outside (planning anyway)

You'll be downloading this from my Dropbox so I have no idea how fast it'll download or how many can download it before Dropbox has a hissy fit.

I would recommend that you right-click and 'Save link as' otherwise you browser will almost definitely try and open the file in a new window.

Let me repeat - 280Mb, you've been warned!
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/373226/1287-QTVR-V2.mov

I'm going to try and post something every day, If I haven't done anything! then I'll post some images of older projects.

[Paul Russam]

2009-02-18 - Picasa Link - 7 images
A lot of work but not much to show today, I'm in the process of building and locating all the radiators, sockets, light switches, furniture etc. This is not what we'd normally do but its necessary on this particular job.

2009-02-19 - Picasa Link - 34 images
Lots done today but not much to show for it so here's an project I did a while ago.

[Paul Russam]

2009-03-04 - Picasa Link - 61 images
Slow day today so did some mucking about with styles, here are 9 views done in 6 different styles.
I was especially impressed with the last style so did some closeups.

I also tried a quick anim test with the last style, not bad, I was expecting the sketchy lines to jump around a bit but it looks fine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJpf1Rn0XoE

[Dave R]

Very nice work, Paul. I like those images. the styles work well for that model. the shot up the steeple is very dramatic.

[Paul Russam]

Thanks Dave.

Here's today's meager effort.

2009-03-05 - Picasa link - 7 images

Just starting this one, the boss appeared at about 2pm and said 'build this' whilst handing me a piece of paper with about 6 lines on it. Its only an initial concept to show the client as to what could be possible on the site.

[Dave R]

Looks good Paul.

Six lines ought to be fairly straightforward. Now if he added a circle or a triangle...

Actually, I think I know what you mean.

[Paul Russam]

What I got was a rectangle (4 lines) 2 'stickyout' bits (another 4 lines) and whilst he was putting his coat on to go to a meeting I got "Make it 19mx36m, chop the corners off, make the roof 22.5 degrees, a 1.8m center isle and 1.2m side isles" and then as he was passing through the door "stuff some column/frames in, I'll look at it in the morning" SLAM!

Alll in all a rather typical day....

[Daniel]

Fantastic modeling, Paul.

[kwistenbiebel]

Hi Paul,

fantastic modeling. Great detailing.
I enjoyed playing around with that model you posted 2 years ago of the church.
That was the ultimate model to test render software on.

Keep up that good stuff.

[troyhome]

I'm so impressed! keep it up.

[Paul Russam]

2009-03-09 - Picasa Link - 8 Images
Version 2 of the church I posted on Friday.
Changed everything, shown to client, loved it, changed everything.

What is it with me and churches? Here I am an Englishman whose opinions on ANY religion is totally unprintable, living in Northern Ireland, working on church after church after church.

I think someone is sending me a message and I think whoever that someone is has a very sick sense of humor.

[shareck]

The church inside and out looks just awesome. So much detail. The ornaments on the pillars, chandeliers, railings. This is just unreal.

[Bryan K]

Old churches represented the epitome of architectural design and engineering in their day that was also accessible and usable by the average person.

A worthy subject.

[Chris Fullmer]

Absolutely incredible Paul. I love your work as always,

Chris

[Paul Russam]

Here's an update on the church.
Work on site started recently with the builders doing a bit of remodelling with a couple of mini excavators, here's a shot taken before they got going:

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and here's one taken on Friday.....

A bit of a difference don't you think?, here's a couple more from Friday:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Whilst the builders were busy gutting the place they made a bit of a discovery. We always knew that under the raised area of the altar there was a tiled floor, we assumed that it was in poor condition, it having being covered up, but were we in for a surprise.

Before:

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And after the raised area was removed this is what we found!!

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Not bad eh? A bit of a wipe with a wet rag and hey presto...

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After a bit of work in PS 'de'distorting the photos I knocked these out as textures:

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And here's the results in SU:

We're about to start working up some concepts that retain the floor whilst still raising the altar/lectern/priest's up about 450mm. I personally think we should suspend the lot on trapeze wires from the ceiling but I think the Monsignor may baulk at the idea of flying over his parishioners!

Here's a link to the Picasa album containing the above images along with a few more for good measure.
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Paul.Russam/IOTD20090928?feat=directlink

[Ecuadorian]

You're a genius, Paul.
And I guess you must be kind of a hero to your client for being able to show these proposals in full-detail via SketchUp.

[modelhead]

The tiles you have made are an amazing gift Paul...thank you!

[solo]

Holy shit!! (pun intended)

That looks awesome, those tiles.. , fantastic stuff, I'm gonna be watching out as this progresses.

[linea]

What a find! I think we all dream of discoveries like that. Fascinating work Paul.

[pilou]

Astonished thread!

[Paul Russam]

Here's the first bash at a revised altar area. Apart from some cursory glances no one here's really seen it yet so your the first! I doubt this concept will survive much scrutiny so expect a second version soon.

This is a massively cut-down version of the model with only the bare essentials to enable us to come up with a new altar area.

The floor between the altar and pews is still the old design hence the large gaps, The altar area is no more than a massing model, hence the sharp edged steps.

[Paul Russam]

I'd forgotten that I'd been having a go with Twilight Render using the church as a tester before the revised design reared its head.

Here's some images I knocked out using Twilight, since I'd abandoned rendering when I abandoned 3D Studio Max in 2004 I had to relearn some things but I've go to say TW is good and fantastically easy to use. My only problem in getting better out of my models is me at the moment.

I was trying to get a highly reflective marble with this one and accidentally ended up with a polished steel floor, not what I intended but that's why their called test renders.

[Stinkie]

Marvellous work.

[watkins]

Dear Paul,

I know that this sounds a bit wacky, but have you thought of a using glass floors in your design so that the mosaic is still visible? Yea, I know, wacky!

Regards,
Bob

[Paul Russam]

Bob,
I had thought of it but as I'm 'just' the 3D guy and 'not' an architect my opinion doesn't carry much weight around here when it comes to design ideas.
But...... I do plan on putting my ideas on the table.

1. Replace the existing full depth floor with glass and lighting it from below but then I thought about how you would clean the covered area or replace the lights.

2. Have the risers of the steps in glass block with lights behind and either marble or timber as the goings/level areas, again maintenance would be a problem.

3. Marble risers with a new mosaic design for the goings/level areas, could be too fussy.

We'll see, its early days for this one but time's a ticking as a design will have to be resolved soon.

[sepo]

Amazing work....and materials in some renders are fantastic. I like oak very much...

[Stinkie]

I'm wondering how big this model is. 80 - 90 MB?

[JuanV.Soler]

how clean and, neat
.thanks very much
Paul Russam

[Paul Russam]

Thanks for all the nice comments, they truly make a difference.

I'm wondering how big this model is. 80 - 90 MB?

The model is about 50-60mb at the moment, it was smaller but I went through it recently and 'upped' the detail on some of the parts that were bugging me, the round tops to the column bases, the roses at the end of the beading around the arches etc.
I've probably overdone the textures on the new floors as they make the altar walls look a bit blurry in comparison. I'm tempted to remake the textures as higher res but that's just the sadomasochist in me talking

[Elibjr]

My God,
I feel so inadequate now. This is beautiful. How long did it take you to model this? What settings did you use in TW and how long did it take this thing to render?

Looking at the sanctuary, this place looks like it would be dark at night. Is there any thought to update the lighting?

I would say that you have mastered this software. Amazing and inspiring. Thank you Mr. Russam!