3D Basecamp 2008 was integral in my training on Google Sketchup.  I taught myself the program completely from playing around and watching Youtube videos.  Recorded videos from 3D Basecamp 2008 allowed me to see someone using the program live and demonstrated skills and techniques not readily available.  Whenever I teach a Sketchup class I tell all my students to immediately go to the 3d Basecamp website and watch the videos.  There are over ten and they are all over an hour.  The benefit I say is that it will answer plenty of questions you have and bring up things you didn’t even think of.

Sketchup has so many shortcuts and multiple ways to accomplish one task.  3d Basecamp helped streamline my process.  This first Basecamp was aimed at more of the beginning side.  3d Basecamp 2010 is aimed more at the Sketchup Power users.  There is an application for attending!  I actually had to send the registration team an example of something that I modeled.

Sketchup Blog describes  “This time, we’d like to welcome SketchUp experts – ninjas, gurus, fanatics, la crème de la crème – to join us. We want to see what will happen when everyone in attendance is a SketchUp master.”  They are hoping for an “unconference” in which there is tons of user participation and discussion.

I applied.  After closely reading the guidelines of the application I failed.  I was supposed to send a link to an Image’s direct URL.  I sent them to one image on my Flickr page.  Oh well.  The conference is in Boulder, CO.  I live in Washington, DC.  Also it is the first 3 days of September.  I am getting married August 21st.  A lot of variables that don’t add up.

Either way I am sure Google will be recording these sessions for future use and learning goodness.  I hope to see some really great tricks that I can incorporate into my workflow.  For those that are interested in the 2008 library of knowledge go here.

Google Sketchup is a big portion of my life.  I use it every day at work and has gotten me to the position I am in.  I am certainly an advocate of the program and I hope that more people open their eyes to how powerful it is.

If you are up for the challenge and want to go to the conference, applications start here

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I have been attempting to learn 3ds Max for about a year.  That program is pretty daunting and I keep putting it aside for too long.  When I try to jump back in I have to learn all over again.  Recently I have been going by Direct Dimensions in Owings Mills, MD.  This a premiere laser scanning company that is at the top of the industry.  They describe themselves: “Direct Dimensions, Inc. (DDI) provides unique solutions to complex modeling and manufacturing problems. We specialize in the on-site application of digitizers, laser scanners, and the conversion of complex three-dimensional data into 3D computer models.”  I must say that with all the historical projects they do it is right up my alley.

I was there yesterday and I found that they have about Four Programs they use inside their workflow.  Pointools, Solidworks, Z-Brush, it is a little scary.  Their team is made up of mostly hungry 20 somethings who seem eager to put the time in the office.  I am hoping that Plugins like this for 3ds Max will allow me to learn a workflow that can actually be in one program!  This is unfortunately not reality.  I am using only the lowest level of modeling in Sketchup.  I still need Kerkythea and GIMP to give me any hope of having realistic models.

One promising thing that I did learn is that 3dx Max 2011 can directly import files from Sketchup.  At the very least I can now skip the modeling portion in 3ds Max and jump directly into Rendering and Animation.  This is a big step for me and I expect everyone will start seeing some high quality stuff in the near future.

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Everyone needs to watch this video.  Historypin sounds like a really cool concept.   Here is an excerpt from from their website better explaining exactly what it is that they do:

“Historypin is a like a digital time machine that allows people to view and share their personal history in a totally new way.

It uses Google Maps and Street View technology and hopes to become the largest user-generated archive of the world’s historical images and stories.

Historypin asks the public to dig out, upload and pin their own old photos, as well as the stories behind them, onto the Historypin map. Uniquely, Historypin lets you layer old images onto modern Street View scenes, giving a series of peaks into the past.

If you want to find out more about Historypin or We Are What We Do, visit www.wearewhatwedo.org or contact historypin@wearewhatwedo.org”
GOOD LUCK HISTORYPIN!

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I was brought onto this game after I had mastered Sim City.  I had created the ultimate city and was now ready for a new challenge.  Let’s create a city in Ancient Rome.  I had a blast.  I wasted countless hours developing the ultimate city state.  With a little help from some online gaming websites I had figured out the perfect formula.

Soon I branched out to other games like Sid Meier’s Civilization.  I am currently working with Rob Cloutier, a 3d designer who worked on the game.  Please visit his website www.3dhistory.com to see some of his work.  He’s very talented.  Civilization took the history angle to a new level.  Now I was starting multiple cities and managing entire military campaigns.  Beneath the framework of fun, a lot of educational building blocks came into place.  You had to elevate from the stone age to the bronze age, by discovering certain aspects of science.  You could only progress in your building by collecting more natural resources.  Pretty tremendous all around.

Eventually you can find a way to reshape a lot of the historical landscape.  I actually conquered the planet Earth with the United States.  It was pretty awesome.  USA! USA! USA!

Shawn Graham at Electric Archaeology has taken this to a new level.  Many of these games allow for modification of your own campaigns.  Shawn has added campaigns to Civilization IV and Caesar IV and began using them as teaching tools for his students.  He believes that he can edit parameters of the game to help teach his students different aspects of Roman History.

“I want to use Caesar IV as a simulation to explore Roman economics. The idea is, I’ll get my students to play this scenario, and in playing it, it highlight/contrast game mechanics with the current understanding of how the Roman economy works (if you think modern economic thought is dry, you ain’t seen nuthin’ till you’ve read the ancient version… gaming economics ought to be way more fun for my students!)”

As great as it is to use Video Games to teach history, it is also fun to just ride around cause havoc.  My friend Doyle just bought Red Dead Redemption.  The game is Grand Theft Auto set in the Wild West.  I played for about 10 minutes and was immediately hooked.  Correlating with all 3d history, video games give us not only a chance to see the past, but to interact with it.  Due to the lowering attention span of our youth and the increasing amount of technology in schools, I would not be surprised to see video games being used as a teaching tool 10 years from now.  Educational games are already out there, let’s just bridge the gap.

All of this has gotten me wanting to play some games.  I am going to dust off my copy of Age of Empires!

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As you might notice from the Flickr sidebar, I work in the hospitality industry.  My day to day includes a lot of creating models of ballrooms and event setups.  I am happy to add this nice chair to my collection.  Some rich bride will love to see this around some banquet tables!

So free models on Memorial Day.  Thanks to all our armed service members past and present!

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There are a lot of great quotes that really illustrate exactly why I like to use Sketchup.  Hathorn says that he will go around the town with his students and they will point out buildings they are excited to recreate.  The seniors in High School think it is “cool to sketch it up.”  Each student knows that they are preserving their city’s history while learning a fun, free program.  One student’s quote really hit home, “I can go on any computer in the world and see something I created.”  That is something you can sell to students.  Their classwork is going to put into an international database.  Anyone can see it.  Truly empowering.

I recommend anyone interested in Sketchup in the classroom check it out.  There is some words on using it with Geography classes as well as Design and Production classes.

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King Tut or Tutankhamun (1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled c.1333 BC – 1323 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom.  King Tut was discovered in 1922 by archaeologist Howard Carter.

Recently it was discovered through DNA evidence that Tut was the son of Akhenaten and his sister/wife.  Exciting and gross, but hey that’s Egypt! Certainly not as fun as Ramses II having over 100 children.

Malcolm’s List is as follows

1) KV62 (Actual Tomb: Valley of the Kings)

2) The Egyptian Museum: Cairo

3) Luxor Museum

4) Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs (Traveling Exhibit – NY)

5) Highclere Castle – Hampshire, UK

6) Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs (Traveling Exhibit -Denver)

7) Tutankhamun Exhibition Dorchester

8 ) Hull Hands on History Museum – Hull, UK

9) Las Vegas Natural History Museum

10) King Tut Virtual on Heritage Key

There are some really excellent places on here.  Unfortunately as I have previously posted about…..I have not been to Egypt and have no idea when I will be able to go there.  Just as much, won’t be making it to England anytime soon.  A great alternative is the traveling exhibit here in the United States.  I know a few people who saw it and they loved it.  It is going to be at a few new places before it is gone for good.

One cool site is the new Exhibit in Las Vegas Natural History Museum.  This exhibit is utilizing EON Reality’s touchscreen technology.  Here are a few clips

“EON Reality, Inc., the world’s leading interactive 3D software provider, today announced that Las Vegas Natural History Museum in Las Vegas, NV, has selected EON Reality’s burial chamber of king Tutankhamun simulation and touchscreen technology for their interactive Treasures of Egypt exhibition.

Visitors have the unique opportunity to explore the burial chamber of king Tutankhamun in a 3D 21″ touchscreen environment. The Treasures of Egypt exhibit is a permanent exhibition.

“We are thrilled to be able to show the burial chamber of king Tutankhamun in a 3D environment where the visitors can interact and walk around in real-time. This gives the visitor a much better understanding of how it actually looked like inside the king’s chamber,” said Marilyn Gillespie, Executive Director at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum.”

If you want to try to see the 3d Environment from the get go, check out the recreation at Heritage Key.  http://heritage-key.com/king-tut-virtual .

King Tut’s treasure trove is one of the greatest wonders our world has today.  One of way or another I will see it before I die!

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“Situated on Kasubi hill, within Kampala, Uganda, the Kasubi Tombs site is an active religious place in the Buganda Kingdom. To the Baganda the Kabaka is the unquestioned symbol of spiritual, political, and social state of the Buganda nation. As the burial ground for the previous four Kabakas, therefore, the Kasubi Tombs is a place where the Kabaka and others in Buganda’s complex cultural hierarchy frequently carry out important centuries-old Ganda rituals.”

As one of the most active religious centers of the Kingdom the destruction of these tombs was devastating.  Thankfully, a little over a year ago the team from Cyark traveled to Africa to scan and preserve this UNESCO Heritage Site.  In conjunction with their team I am going to create a 3d Model to help better the process of them recreating their sacred site.

Updates will most certainly follow

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“Going on holiday these days just isn’t as simple as picking the best package deal and jetting off to the sun – it’s a delicate process of placating the wallet and the conscience, while at the same time selecting an experience that’s going to at once be both fun and stimulating.

With these considerations in mind, which are the most innovative and enticing options out there for travellers looking to indulge in a spot of cultural tourism? Are particular new destinations about to usurp the traditional travel hotspots, by offering new thrills and unseen attractions? Or should we all just be satisfied spending our vacations making the most of the abundant heritage treasures on our doorstep?

What’s the future of tourism?”

I have left the United States….once.  Montreal for my spring break Sophmore year of college.  I did not take any culture in.  I did not do much other than enjoy the lower drinking age.  I have been around most of the East Coast and have gone out to the Rocky Mountains a few times visiting family.  Have I ever truly been a tourist?  I don’t think so.

I think to truly be a tourist you really need to be a fish out of water.  Someone needs to be able to look at you/talk to you and just know, that person does not normally belong here.  Going around the United States I shared something in common with everyone.  We are all American and despite what a lot of people like to pretend, I think most of America is really alike.

I had my first opportunity this past summer to leave the country….for real (barely driving over the border of Canada doesn’t count).   My uncle is an international pilot for Delta and had the opportunity to bring me along on one of his trips.  Cairo, Egypt.  The Pyramids, King Tut, the Nile, the Great Sphinx….everything.  The only catch was that I had to fly standby.  “Shouldn’t be a problem,” he said.  “The loads are really light, you’ll probably get to sit in first class.”  I was confident and excited.  I took the bus up from Washington, DC to New York City for the flight.  At 10:30 pm I found out that the flight was overbooked and I was not going to Cairo.  I was crushed.

I was stranded in Manhattan that night.  I was able to call a friend of mine and crashed at his place.  I spent the next day wandering the city.  This was my first time in New York City alone.  I spent the next few days exploring. I went to a few museums.  I saw all the sites that people talk about.  Even a few “hidden gems” that only the locals know.  It all didn’t matter.  I was ready to be on vacation.  I was ready to be a tourist!

I wanted to stand in the crazy streets of Cairo and look over the horizon and see the pyramids.  I wanted my own picture standing in front of the Great Pyramids.  Maybe even ride a camel.  This was lost.

A lot of of the thrill of being a tourist is knowing that every moment could be a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get to Cairo.  That might have been my chance.  As someone who works in 3d visualization and technology, some people think that in the future we might be able to mimic the experience of being at these sites, or even feel like you are there.  I really don’t know how it will be possible to imitate the heat of the desert sun while standing under the mammoth size of the Great Pyramids.  If they figure it out…congratulations Scientists.

Cultural Experience is something that can bind us together.  There are plenty of places around the world that have been identified as Iconic symbols.  Wonders of the World that people will remember for a lifetime.  The Grand Canyon, Mt. Everest, the Great Barrier Reef, Machu Piccu….the list of Famous sites is very long.  With globalization and the internet we learn more about brand new attractions everyday.

Global Tourism allows everyone to share that one singular moment of awe.  There is a book “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” for a reason.  Life is about experiences.  Walking around the antithesis of your normal surrounding is one of the main reasons for traveling.  Money comes and money goes, people save, and even if it is one trip, everyone dreams of that experience.   I do not think that Tourism will really change.  Traveling has ALWAYS been expensive.  Somehow college students find away to travel across Europe with a backpack and a fistful of dollars every year.  There is something deep inside us that craves new experiences.  Curiosity and desire finds a way to take over.

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