In the last few lessons we explored many different methods of 3D modelling. Each one of these methods allowed for the 3D visual reconstructions of real life objects or structures. These reconstructions allow for not only preservation but also the study of various aspects of the nature of the structures. Furthermore after learning about these approaches it is clear that each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Manuel Modelling
Manuel Modelling was explored through use of a sketchup. In this program we had to create the shapes ourselves. We were able to create visualizations of certain Carleton buildings although the overall quality was not extremely high. This is due to the fact that although the program was very intuitive and easy to use, the options available were somewhat limited and therefore intricacies were hard to add. Furthermore, it is sort of time consuming to add details to a model and although it was okay since we were only recreating one building if we were to model entire campuses or cities it would take far too long.
Procedural Modelling
We explored procedural modelling through the cityengine. This program started by procedurally generating a random city which it called “International City”. This program seemed to be really useful when it came to modelling a large number of buildings and larger objects. However it does have some shortcomings. The biggest for me personally was that the program was very difficult to use. I kept on crashing and although this may be be cause of my inexperience it probably wouldn’t be helpful even for a veteran. Furthermore the fact that the buildings are randomly generated means that they will probably not reflect reality. Also, although one can generate a city just with a click of a button someone actually had to create the code and brush up on the buildings in that city. One advantage though is the possiblity of study historical buildings and their change over time.
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry was explored through the program photoscan. This program takes a bunch of photos of an object from different angles and turns it into points. These points are later meshed together to form solid shapes without holes which should represent the original object from the photos. From my personal experience, this did not work out perfectly. There were certainly flaws in the object upon completion and although it was really easy to use I didn’t really feel like I had much input into the creation of the object as the photos were already taken before hand and all I did was press some buttons. In terms of pros this method is really good for creating a really close and accurate depiction of objects. However, each creation would require a lot of photos.
Project
In terms of projects I saw that the modelling of ancient roman cities by Marie Saldaña really showed the capabilities of the scope of procedural modelling. She created a huge city and showed the change over time with just code on how the buildings should be created.
I noticed that you talked about advantages of procedural modeling, but there has to be some limitations of procedural modeling right? I remember Marie wrote in her post that a shortcoming of procedural modeling is the fact that there aren’t many ways to procedurally model unique details in models, it also takes a lot of processing power and resources. Also procedurally modeling isn’t suited to education, it mainly focuses on Civil Projects like city layouts.