Edwin Davis building & ways in which my application could be improved

I have just finished my final building the Edwin Davis building see below:

I have also been thinking about ways in which my application could be improved.

If the technology would allow for the accessing of the device’s compass this would definitely improve my application. My goal was to allow users to see the buildings in their original locations and the gps allows that to happen but the compass would give users the buildings orientation in relation to their direction of sight.

Cecil Finished

I have just completed my recreation of the Cecil Theatre and it has been an easier experience than the first time I tried it. I believe my modelling skills have improved and I have created it at a size that can be interacted with using the software without the problems I encountered in my earlier development.

Although I did have one problem when trying to use 3ds Max's text to create the Cecil sign, for some reason it displayed all text as outlines with no option to change it and this was a problem for days, until on one occasion without changing any settings it just worked, don’t you just love software glitches! But at least it all worked in the end. This is my favourite building so far and I particularly like the posters and notices on the wall, to me they add to the buildings character. I have again used shop front images in my design and I am extremely happy with the end result, see below:

Promotional Video Blog

I have been working on some ideas for my YouTube promotional video. I started by brainstorming out ideas, see below:

I then created mood boards, see below:

I took my idea and tried to develop it into a storyboard, see below:

I then wrote an audio script for the narration, see below:

You Tube Video Audio Script

60 years ago,

1941,

The German Luftwaffe launched the sustained strategic bombing of the United Kingdom known as the Blitz.

A northeast coastal town suffered more than most

With over 80,000 buildings damaged or destroyed Hull lost parts of its heritage

Lost but never forgotten

In 2011 we will remember

(We’ll meet again Vera Lyn music)

Royal Institute Building

I have been working on the royal institute building and I have sourced some good reference material for this building, see below:

I have found photos and postcards, one of which gives me an indication towards the colour of the building, it looks like the stonework is white or a very similar light colour and I have based the colouring of my recreation on this postcard. From the postcard you do not get a clear indication of the colour of the doors and window frames so I have chosen a colour that is similar the colour of the doors and windows at the Ferens Art Gallery, I chose that building as a reference point as it has similar architectural features to the royal institute.

This is my 3d recreation of the Hull Royal Institute, see below:

Cecil Restart

I have now restarted the Cecil theatre and I hope it goes better this time.

No Compass

After extensive searching, there seems to be no way of accessing the device’s compass through action script. This is a major blow for my application, as it is an integral part of the way users can accurately line up the 3d recreations with the specific locations. There does not seem to be a solution that will provide users with the same accurate information but there are alternatives that will minimise the problem that this has caused.

You can access the Android device’s compass when developing for Android directly, and the iPhone also allows this but unfortunately developing for Android using Adobe Air does not allow the functionality that I had planned for and needed to make my application as intended.

If the technology is not available on the platform that I have chosen then there is very little I can do, but I will strive to provide the user with the best possible experience available within the realms of the technology. As this is a relatively new platform I could not have foreseen this problem, especially as it seems possible to access all of the devices other functionality but I will not let this phase me, all I can do is provide the best product I can and I will strive to do this.

Prudential Building

I have just finished the Prudential Tower building and this has been the hardest building so far. The Prudential building is the most different looking of the 5 buildings that I have chosen to recreate, it has a very different architectural style and this has had its own challenge. The prudential building features an 8 sided tower which has caused me great difficulties from a modelling point of view. I have been using a method of creating lots of polygons and pushing and pulling them to create reassesses for doors and windows using the extrude tool, but for some reason I was not able to divide the tower into the sections I needed in the same way as you can on a square object. This puzzled me for days until I came across the tessellate function which then allowed me to split smaller areas into more polygons, giving me the flexibility that I needed.

The archways where a challenge that I have not encountered before but with a little bit of guidance from James Field regarding the booleon function in 3ds max I’m happy with the end result. I also struggled with the texture of this building as when viewing the source material (see below), it was very hard to determine what the building actually looked like, so I have made my decisions based upon similar buildings in the vicinity of the prudential building’s original location, this could be changed if any evidence comes to light to point me in a different direction. Please see the finished building below.