Magnus_Alexander

Welcome, Alex #2! I know you're not really asking for others' thoughts about architecture, but looking back at things, I wish I would have been able to talk to someone in the industry before I got into it, so I'll say something anyhow. First of all; architecture is a labor of love. If you don't absolutely, unconditionally love what you're doing, you're eventually going to develop some issues with the profession. You'll get worked to the bone in school, and spend plenty of sleepless nights in studio, and it really doesn't change once you graduate either. Additionally; if you view education for what it is: an investment in yourself, it's a high risk investment. It demands a lot of your time, and the financial payoff is not what you would expect for something so demanding. A lot of people have a misconception that architects are loaded and live lavish lifestyles, and yes, there are a few out there that do; but for every 1 architect living that lifestyle there are probably 10,000 that are struggling. More things to consider: the competition can be fierce, and if you don't take criticism well, you'll have to learn to quickly, because everyone has an opinion (with an ego to match). That being said, I'd like to show some positivity: I think the foremost would be the respect and status of the profession. Architecture is one of the 3 regulated "professions," the other 2 being the medical field, and law. I think since we are lumped in the same category as doctors and lawyers this is why people think we're rich, haha. Another thing is in reference to what was mentioned by sandman; architects are the jack of all trades. You're still young, and although you seem passionate about architecture, you might change your mind later. The good thing is that you will most likely develop such a varied skillset that you can get involved in other professions with relative ease. Or perhaps you want to stay in architecture, but want to just implement other facets of design such as graphic design, industrial design, etc. If you like to build things, or just design things in general, you're bound to find something that will make you happy. The real benefit of going to school for architecture is the work ethic and design process that you walk away with. Most schools don't really focus on software and don't care what you use, but all schools are concerned with getting you to think about design in a deeper, more meaningful way. I feel that the various strategies and processes that I learned in school help me in many other facets of life, and I'm not sure if you get that in other professions. I hope this is insightful, and good luck jumping in; don't forget your parachute.

haha.... it's telling a story: "I spent all my money on this barcelona chair and a bottle of champagne, but I spontaneously combusted sometime after kicking my shoes off, but just before I was able to enjoy the champagne."

http://www.easy3dsource.com

it seems to load just fine for me... I haven't gone browsing through it, but the home page did load..

also check out http://www.easy3dsource.com

I just want to chime in and say that people should use the word "kerfuffle" more often.

I also disagree with this... if there's an issue with bloated code, that's on behalf of the designer. If you have a good feel for what you're doing you can create extremely optimized code; it's just a matter of understanding. Dreamweaver's great benefit is that it provides a great interface for you to see what you're doing as you create the code. If you use code view and design view in conjunction with each other, you should have no problems; and you'll increase your understanding of how the code generates what you actually see in your browser.

Thanks for the compliments. Here's an updated image; added many small details and lights. I've shown this image to a couple people and they seem to get confused; due to the darkness of the sky, people think this is a night time rendering. If you look at the shadow position you can see that the sun is very high in the sky. I've tried messing with the vray sun multiplier to get a lighter sky (the vraysky is the background / environment) but that just makes the image look oversaturated. Any ideas on how I can lighten up the background within the 3d software (not in post)? I'm using a vray physical cam, and I've played with the settings quite a bit, but that doesn't change the ration of dark sky : overexposure...

I recently read an article on tomshardware.com (if you google "toms hardware build your own render farm" you should find it) that mentions that it could have an effect on your work. There could be slight differences in frames that are calculated by different types of processors, which will result in some noise once you composite your animation. I don't personally have experience with this myself though; so I can't speak first hand...

here's an updated rendering. I fixed the seam that was going on at the top left, although I found unwrapping the uv's to be a pain, so I just manipulated the map while still using the box modifier... there's now a seam at the bottom of that structure, but it's hidden well enough that I'm not distracted by it. I have yet to model the interior of the shops; that's the next task. Any other thoughts?

I have read that walkthrough you wrote about your cgarchitect award images, but I was wondering; do you typically add various texture effects like your concrete stains in post; or do you unwrap your UV's? Either way; great work!

Are you piecing this together yourself or did you customize through a retailer like dell? Overall the specs are pretty slick... and I got excited because I recently maxed out my ram to 8GB; way to put me to shame...

Thanks for the feedback. I was wondering if you know of a better way to work out that spot to the upper left part of the image where the texture loses it's continuity. The surface is a continuous surface, but the texture always jogs at the point on the fillet. I have a box projection UV map applied to it, which I'm sure is the reason for the glitch; is there a better way to make the texture continue? Thanks in advance...

Here's an updated rendering, although the render settings haven't been tweaked for the highest quality. I plan on adding entourage and then going to pshop for some post work. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

we all already knew that just by looking at your avatar picture, hahaha.... sorry, I couldn't resist...