Artist Spotlight: ARUP 3d Media Group
January 15, 2004 -- ARUP is one of the world's largest engineering organizations. The company maintains a close connection with major architectural practices of note and is known for its pioneering work providing advanced and economical solutions for buildings - which remains its core activity. Based in New York City, the 3D Media Group serves as a global resource within Arup to provide a gamut of 3D visualization services on projects for Arup as well as outside the company's framework.
The Group was formed in late 2002 by Robert Stava. As Creative Director, he handled the restructuring of the earlier Arup Visualization Team. Stava comes from an extensive 16-year career in advertising and multimedia and other lunatic fringe businesses, having worked as a designer, art director and 3D artist for such notable agencies as Young & Rubicam NY, J. Walter Thompson, Caribiner, and Multimedia Solutions Inc.
To date, the talents of the 3D Media Group – visualization/animation (and traditional design) – have brought new levels of realism and quality to major projects including the 2nd Avenue Subway, The Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor project, The Los Angeles Museum of Natural History and the new World Trade Center (under Studio Daniel Libeskind). It was also responsible for developing the entire presentation design as well as 3D animations and renderings for the Fulton Street Transit Center, a project which Arup won this July. SplutterFish's Brazil r/s was brought into the Arup 3D Media Group pipeline initially for the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor project. SplutterFish asked Stava to talk about Brazil's performance at the facility.
SplutterFish: What initially prompted the purchase of Brazil and were there specific areas where Brazil stood out against other products you were comparing?
Robert Stava: We can thank the Tappan Zee Bridge project for spurring us to purchase Brazil. The project manager had inquired how we might generate a much more realistic rendering of the bridge to wow the client. I had played around with assorted GI renderers – Brazil, Final Render, 3ds max 5 Radiosity, etc. I was mostly satisfied with Brazil, not so much for this project specifically, but because of its potential to be used on a variety of other projects in the future. Using Brazil we find we can set up scenes very quickly and logically to achieve photorealistic results – particularly with its custom shaders like chrome and glass. The glass, in particular, is amazing! Brazil works easily with HDRI and we found it to be much faster than Mental Ray or Radiosity both in terms of set up time and actual rendering time.
SF: In addition to the Tapanzee Bridge project, how has the adoption of Brazil impacted the type of projects Arup is taking on?
RS: Well, it has definitely allowed us to take the quality of our visualizations to a whole new level, which certainly has gotten the attention of our clients. In addition to the Tappan Zee Bridge we have used Brazil on the Second Avenue Subway Project and the Fulton Street Transit Center – both major projects here in Manhattan – along with a few others we are currently pitching.
SF: Since the Tapanzee Bridge already exists, what was the overall design role of the 3D Media group?
RS: For starters, we needed to develop an overview that identified the major sections of the existing bridge so that at public hearings, people could grasp the context of the bridge and its existing problems. We then needed to generate a flythrough that zeroed in on specific existing problem areas (deterioration). Following, we then provided a series of options (as sectional cutaways) to present Arup's approaches on how the bridge would be improved (adding lanes, rail line, etc.) In this instance, we used Brazil primarily on the still renderings and cutaways.
In the current phase (which will continue to take place well into Spring 2004) we are developing renders of alternate bridge designs (building an entirely new bridge) in the same context. Using CGI, we are developing assorted visualizations of how such things as elevating the Metro North rail line (so that it can branch and go across the bridge) would impact local historical sites, provide various perspectives of the bridge in different seasons, etc..
SF: What were some of the rendering challenges that Arup faced on the Tapanzee Bridge project?
RS: The primary rendering challenge on the bridge project was how do we create detail for a 3.1 mile bridge, down to every rivet and bird dropping, and make it look photorealistic. Using Brazil we set up one directional light, turned on the skylight, tossed in an HDRI map and hit the "Go rocket go!" button. In this case, using Brazil was very simple and the results were incredibly realistic looking renderings. Brazil also worked well with the Darktree shaders which we used extensively on the bridge.
SF: Can you tell us about any upcoming Arup 3D Media Group projects that that will be utilizing Brazil?
RS: Yes, we have plans to use Brazil on upcoming projects that involve renderings of a major airport terminal, a sports stadium, and architectural renderings for the corporate real-estate market. Arup's architecture group in London, Arup Associates, is also using Brazil to knock-out some beautiful renders.
SF: Are there any other comments you care to add here about Brazil?
RS: SplutterFish's on-line forums are very active and helpful, and the interactive chat support with their tech staff is genius. All in all, Brazil is an excellent renderer at a reasonable price point.
Visit ARUP at
http://www.arup.com/.
January 15, 2004 -- ARUP is one of the world's largest engineering organizations. The company maintains a close connection with major architectural practices of note and is known for its pioneering work providing advanced and economical solutions for buildings - which remains its core activity. Based in New York City, the 3D Media Group serves as a global resource within Arup to provide a gamut of 3D visualization services on projects for Arup as well as outside the company's framework.
The Group was formed in late 2002 by Robert Stava. As Creative Director, he handled the restructuring of the earlier Arup Visualization Team. Stava comes from an extensive 16-year career in advertising and multimedia and other lunatic fringe businesses, having worked as a designer, art director and 3D artist for such notable agencies as Young & Rubicam NY, J. Walter Thompson, Caribiner, and Multimedia Solutions Inc.
To date, the talents of the 3D Media Group – visualization/animation (and traditional design) – have brought new levels of realism and quality to major projects including the 2nd Avenue Subway, The Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor project, The Los Angeles Museum of Natural History and the new World Trade Center (under Studio Daniel Libeskind). It was also responsible for developing the entire presentation design as well as 3D animations and renderings for the Fulton Street Transit Center, a project which Arup won this July. SplutterFish's Brazil r/s was brought into the Arup 3D Media Group pipeline initially for the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor project. SplutterFish asked Stava to talk about Brazil's performance at the facility.
SplutterFish: What initially prompted the purchase of Brazil and were there specific areas where Brazil stood out against other products you were comparing?
Robert Stava: We can thank the Tappan Zee Bridge project for spurring us to purchase Brazil. The project manager had inquired how we might generate a much more realistic rendering of the bridge to wow the client. I had played around with assorted GI renderers – Brazil, Final Render, 3ds max 5 Radiosity, etc. I was mostly satisfied with Brazil, not so much for this project specifically, but because of its potential to be used on a variety of other projects in the future. Using Brazil we find we can set up scenes very quickly and logically to achieve photorealistic results – particularly with its custom shaders like chrome and glass. The glass, in particular, is amazing! Brazil works easily with HDRI and we found it to be much faster than Mental Ray or Radiosity both in terms of set up time and actual rendering time.
SF: In addition to the Tapanzee Bridge project, how has the adoption of Brazil impacted the type of projects Arup is taking on?
RS: Well, it has definitely allowed us to take the quality of our visualizations to a whole new level, which certainly has gotten the attention of our clients. In addition to the Tappan Zee Bridge we have used Brazil on the Second Avenue Subway Project and the Fulton Street Transit Center – both major projects here in Manhattan – along with a few others we are currently pitching.
SF: Since the Tapanzee Bridge already exists, what was the overall design role of the 3D Media group?
RS: For starters, we needed to develop an overview that identified the major sections of the existing bridge so that at public hearings, people could grasp the context of the bridge and its existing problems. We then needed to generate a flythrough that zeroed in on specific existing problem areas (deterioration). Following, we then provided a series of options (as sectional cutaways) to present Arup's approaches on how the bridge would be improved (adding lanes, rail line, etc.) In this instance, we used Brazil primarily on the still renderings and cutaways.
In the current phase (which will continue to take place well into Spring 2004) we are developing renders of alternate bridge designs (building an entirely new bridge) in the same context. Using CGI, we are developing assorted visualizations of how such things as elevating the Metro North rail line (so that it can branch and go across the bridge) would impact local historical sites, provide various perspectives of the bridge in different seasons, etc..
SF: What were some of the rendering challenges that Arup faced on the Tapanzee Bridge project?
RS: The primary rendering challenge on the bridge project was how do we create detail for a 3.1 mile bridge, down to every rivet and bird dropping, and make it look photorealistic. Using Brazil we set up one directional light, turned on the skylight, tossed in an HDRI map and hit the "Go rocket go!" button. In this case, using Brazil was very simple and the results were incredibly realistic looking renderings. Brazil also worked well with the Darktree shaders which we used extensively on the bridge.
SF: Can you tell us about any upcoming Arup 3D Media Group projects that that will be utilizing Brazil?
RS: Yes, we have plans to use Brazil on upcoming projects that involve renderings of a major airport terminal, a sports stadium, and architectural renderings for the corporate real-estate market. Arup's architecture group in London, Arup Associates, is also using Brazil to knock-out some beautiful renders.
SF: Are there any other comments you care to add here about Brazil?
RS: SplutterFish's on-line forums are very active and helpful, and the interactive chat support with their tech staff is genius. All in all, Brazil is an excellent renderer at a reasonable price point.
Visit ARUP at http://www.arup.com/.