NPOWER Software - Advanced Modeling Plugins for 3DSMAX and RHINO

Our most exciting projects undoubtedly revolve around the adoption of new technologies. We strive to make innovation integral to our creative work by devoting time toward R&D and always encouraging collaboration, especially with those outside of our discipline. On the Avra Verde project in Arizona with Rick Joy, we expanded our photographic repertoire by shooting on location, large format, extremely high dynamic range (HDR) images. The incorporation of image based lighting was deemed essential to the success of the product because it digitally provided us with the most direct atmospheric translation of this unique desert environment. Similarly, the FutureGen work we designed for the US Department of Energy utilized HDR lighting, but here it was attained through entirely different means. The sun, sky and topographic data were digitally created since the sites chosen were based on general climatic conditions and not specific geographic locations. To assist with light and terrain creation, we contacted VFX supervisor Rob Nederhorst whom I had met the year before while working on a CG / live-action commercial. Through the use of LIDAR data and Rob’s Terragen assistance, we were successfully able to develop both arid and non-arid landscapes complete with the light qualities generally associated with each. Beyond the technical improvements to our workflow, FutureGen was fulfilling because we were asked by the DOE to produce functional and aesthetic solutions for a building typology (near-zero emission power plants) that lacked a design precedent. The challenge was to address power’s negative infrastructural image and produce environmentally responsive, architectural propositions to better represent these state-of-the-art facilities. As for March’s current endeavors, we recently started work on an exclusive resort project with Chris Blackwell (founder of Island Records and Palm Pictures) in Jamaica. Additionally, we have shifted some of our focus back toward production design and just completed a collection of digital sets on a commercial project.

From the imaging side, our efforts toward photo real always result in an articulated model and a project specific folder dedicated to material exploration. Architecture is experienced across scales and expressed through details; thus, it is common for us to be modeling 1/4 inch joints with 1/8 bevels while developing high resolution shaders layered with custom maps. Aside from an awareness of construction detailing and an understanding of material behavior, good lighting is essential. As referenced earlier, image based lighting has become our standard for direct and diffuse light as well as the use of photometrics for fixtures. V-Ray is our current renderer, we follow a linear workflow to correct for non-linear monitor display and we render through “physical cameras” to utilize exposure control. As the latter indicates, the closer the work gets to “reality”, the more beneficial our research and understanding of photography becomes. We utilize photographic techniques for backplate generation (tone mapping), lighting data calculation (HDR capture), composition and post production. Essentially, our photo real workflow is the cumulative processing of these separate elements into a convincing whole.

The tools at one’s disposal definitely affect the way one designs. Advanced 3D software has created the current trend toward organic architecture simply because it has allowed for more fluid form generation. In my opinion, the abilities to sculpt and script digital form have increased one’s representational capabilities but a good designer remains one who can self-edit; I value the abilities to see and think critically over the ability to compute. Students today exploit organic architecture’s seductive nature because software has made it accessible and many view it as being progressive. My favorite example of “conceptual architectural form” to date, however, is Eero Saarinen’s TWA terminal at JFK Airport which was completed in 1962. Fluid form might be fashionable but is not new; advancements in CAD, materials, engineering and construction, however, have made it much more viable. 3D software’s major contribution is less about the grand formal gesture and more about customization at the detail level. Along these lines, the more advanced parametric applications have created intelligent models where related shapes, surfaces and solids can be manipulated though their built-in relationships. Where standardization once ruled, the components that constitute a building can now be designed and fabricated as one-offs. The combined use of modeling software and computer controlled milling has reengineered the science behind building design. As a result, the architect now has more control at the experiential level and can once again participate in the process as both designer and builder

Domus, Detail, Metropolis, Architectural Record, Frame & Mark, Praxis and Seed are some publications I would recommend. I prefer having printed resources so I maintain a collection of design books and monographs at home and at work. Browsing bookstores is great for visual stimulation and for an entire day of inspirational “shopping” I highly recommend Hennessey + Ingalls in Santa Monica and William Stout in San Francisco.