Building Library of Local Content For Photo-based ... · Photo-based Architectural Visualization...

Online Educa Berlin 2008

Building Library of Local Content

For

Photo-based Architectural Visualization

In Africa

By

Arc. Victor Ejiofor Ugwummadu, Artarc Ltd, Abuja, Nigeria. Email: [email protected]

Prof. Olu Ola Ogunsote, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. Email: [email protected]

Dr. (Mrs). Bogda Prucnal-Ogunsote, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria. Email: [email protected]


This presentation examines the feasibility of building a

library of open platform local content for photo-based

architectural visualizations in Africa through collaboration

and networking. It proposes the development of a dedicated

website that encourages contribution of images mostly by

members of the local community but also by other

communities with collections suitable for the proposed

website.

Summary


Areas of application of visualizations for architectural presentations include

mainly:

. the classroom and

. in architectural professional practice in Nigeria.

The Nigerian film industry (Nollywood), advertisement, and video games

also use visualizations for architectural presentations. Photo-based

architectural visualizations use photographs of people, trees, cars,

backgrounds and other objects to enhance the reality of architectural

renderings.

Many of these visualizations however inadvertently promote

inappropriate architectural styles, imported building materials and

foreign cultures by portraying buildings and spaces without local

context. This is partly due to the use of foreign content in

portraying people, plants, materials and environments. The

inadequacies of generic content are most obvious from skin color,

clothing and fashion, vehicle plate numbers, plants, backgrounds

and building materials.

Introduction

Plate 01


Photo-based Architectural Visualization

Plate 02


Types of photo-based media content required for visualizations include:

. People (preferably famous people and recognizable nationalities),

. Cars with local registration numbers,

. Landscapes,

. Famous buildings and backgrounds,

. Trees, shrubs and flowers.

These can be in the form of still images or video clips. Non photo-based

media content include 3D models, audio content and animations of 3D

models. These content often require some professional expertise to

produce compared to photographs and were therefore excluded at this

preliminary stage of library conceptualization.

Types of photo-based media content for architectural

visualizations


The spectacular impact of local content on customizing architectural visualizations is

demonstrated using a few examples from Nigeria (plates 3 to 5).

Generic versus customized media content

Plate 03: Generic versus African images of casual people.


Plate 04: Generic versus African images of business people

Plate 05: Generic versus African images of famous people.


Current sources of 2D local content include:

1. Private photographic libraries,

2. Exchange of photographs with friends and professional colleagues,

3. Photographs scanned from magazines;

4. Image downloads from the Web,

5. Frames captured from movies with video editing software and

6. Images obtained from baking materials using software such as tBaker.

Variations of this content can be produced using photo montage, for example by

replacing the head of a man in a suit with the head of a local man (plate 06).

The current sources of local video clips are similar.

Global and local sources of architectural media content

Stage 1 Stage 2Stage 3 Stage 4

Plate 06


Example of websites with architectural media content

While many of the websites offering content for visualizations are purely commercial,

some offer totally free content with the rest proposing one form of barter or other. The

use of context sensitive advertising using Google technology is common, and the

promotion of online communities and Web 2.0 technologies is prevalent even on purely

commercial websites. This presentation discusses selected websites that have

successfully built libraries with architectural content used for visualizations.

Ultimate 3D Links (3dlinks.com)

This site offers free and commercial 3D objects

as well as a host of other services.

Africa Guide (africaguide.com)

This site contains photographs of wildlife, birds, people

and flora from Africa. It is possible to view by individual

country. Visitors are encouraged to contribute

photographs to the site.

African Photos (africanphotos.gm)

This is a community of free photographs from Africa.

The photographs are organised by country and by location

with a large number from Gambia. Users can comment on

the photographs.Plate 07


ArchNet (archnet.org)

This is an online community for architects, planners, urban and interior designers, landscape

architects and scholars with a special focus on the Islamic world. It has a digital library with

publications, images and a gallery. Users can contribute images to the library.

Archvision (archvision.com) This commercial

site offers 2D and 3D Rich Photorealistic

Content (RPCs) for visualizations. The library

contains people, trees, flowers, vehicles,

environments and other objects. There are a

few free RPCs but most are only available

through purchase or by subscription with a

30-day free trial period.

Arquitectuba (arquitectuba.com.ar) This website

contains resources for Architectural design

including blocks, construction details, software

and manuals. The organisation of this complex

multilingual website makes access to resources easy.

Biometrics (bionatics.com) The EASYnat software can be downloaded from this

commercial site for use with various 3D modeling and CAD software. EASYnat provides

realistic plant simulation with customisation. Although there are a few free plants, access to

the more than 300-specie nursery is mainly through purchase of credits.

Plate 08


ArchiDOM (archidom.ni) This multilingual site is

popular for the large number of 3D objects

which are provided free for architects, interior

designers and artists.

Archi Planet (archiplanet.org) This website uses

MediaWiki software to manage the creation and

editing of web pages with text, photographs and

Videos of buildings by users.

Flickr (flickr.com) This is a very popular

photograph and video hosting website with

billions of images. It has powerful editing,

management, sharing and blogging tools.

Free Drawings (freedwg.eu) This site does not contain photos but rather drawing blocks that

can be used in architectural designs. However, the website design makes it easy to find

specific blocks which are organised in categories.

Great Buildings (greatbuildings.com) This is a leading architecture reference site featuring

more than a thousand buildings and hundreds of leading architects. The site provides

photographs of the buildings and in some cases walkthrough 3D models. It is possible to

search by building name, architect or location.

Plate 09


The Proposed Website

There are already many sources of 2D content for architectural visualizations on the

Web. The proposed website should not be a duplication of theses sources, but rather

provide a central point for accessing these resources while developing new collections

through contributions by users of the website. It should however be fully engaged in the

production and distribution of local content independently of image contributions. The

ability to search for images using keywords is crucial. Images can be collaboratively

tagged to make searching faster, intuitive and accurate. Images should be organised by

various categories for browsing. Software for uploading and downloading photographs

should be based on leading industry standards, for example Picasa. Interaction

amongst users and contributors will be encouraged through blogs and chat rooms.


Funding Options

Funding support and policy guidelines should come from professional associations such

as the International Union of Architects (UIA), the Commonwealth Association of

Architects (CAA) and local professional associations. In Nigeria, the local architectural

professional associations are the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON),

the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), the Association of Architectural Educators in

Nigeria (AARCHES) and the Association of Consulting Architects (ACA). The website

should however be run by an independent market-oriented firm and it should promote

local manufacturers on a commercial basis. A model commonly found on existing

websites is the promotion of both free and Commercial content. Commercial content

can be priced using units and image Download can be by subscription or by purchasing

bulk units.


Conclusion and Recommendations

The enhanced realism of visualizations produced using customized local content

is obvious and impressive. The collection and management of photographs for

such visualizations is however very time consuming. Meanwhile, there are

numerous private libraries containing local content and the owners are often

willing to share with others. The development of a website that will be a

Marketplace for local 2D content and a showcase for visualisations will encourage

interaction between professional visualization architects and make sharing easier.

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