Modeling the Environment
Techniques and Tools for the 3D Illustration of Dynamic Landscapes

A single-source guide to harnessing the power of 3D visualization tools for analysis and representation of landscapes

Current technology allows designers to model environmental phenomena and space in new and exciting ways that go beyond the two-dimensional plane. The models, illustrations, and animations that can be created usher in a new paradigm of landscape representation that can become analytical tools as well as beautiful imagery. The text focuses on digital modeling methods that can be used to express rich environments using digital tools to develop, composite, and animate scenes.

This full-color book provides coverage of 3D visualization tools for land planning and landscape architecture. The methods and theories in Modeling the Environment present landscape representation around a core set of ideas—scene, object, terrain, environment/atmosphere, time/dynamics, and the composite—that centers representation on human experience. Supported by www.lab.visual-logic.com, a website offering tutorials and forums, the text shows you how to use Autodesk 3ds Max to create dynamic landscape environments while also referring to a range of other tools including Google SketchUp, Autodesk Maya, and AutoCAD Civil 3D. It also demonstrates how to integrate 3D visualization tools into existing workflows, and offers critical coverage of intelligent drawings and representations, giving you a glimpse at the future of the profession. This book:

• Includes sections intended to build upon one another in order to understand the environment as a composite representation of multiple systems interacting

• Shows how to integrate 3D visualization tools into existing workflows, as opposed to offering an entirely new workflow

• Emphasizes modeling, animation, and simulation as both design analysis tools and presentation tools

Modeling the Environment is essential reading for professionals in landscape architecture, urban planning and design, architecture, and related disciplines who are looking to be at the forefront of technology.

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Part 1: Introduction

Chapter 1: Overview of Media

Chapter 2: Digital Media Industries

Chapter 3: Digital Media

Chapter 4: Representation, Illustration and Simulation

Chapter 5: Design Practice

Part 2: Scene

Chapter 6: Diorama: Setting the Stage

Chapter 7: Arranging the Elements

Chapter 8: Composition & Views

Chapter 9: Movement in the Environment

Part 3: Object

Chapter 10: Object

Chapter 11: Overview Modeling

Chapter 12: Using CAD Linework

Chapter 13: Polygon Modeling

Chapter 14: Spline Modeling

Chapter 15: Materiality

Part 4: Terrain

Chapter 16: Terrain . Surface

Chapter 17: Terrain Construction

Chapter 18: Terrain Modeling . Meshes

Chapter 19: Surface Materials

Chapter 20: Distributions

Part 5: Atmosphere

Chapter 21: Lighting . Atmosphere

Chapter 22: Rendering and Lighting Systems

Chapter 23: Atmospheric Conditions

Chapter 24: Advanced and Realtime Lighting Systems

Chapter 25: Temporal Atmospheres

Part 6: Simulation

Chapter 26: Animation

Chapter 27: Linking . Controllers

Chapter 28: Animation Techniques

Chapter 29: Simulation . Rigid Bodies

Chapter 30: Simulation . Particles and Soft Bodies

Chapter 31: Scripting

Part 7: Composite

Chapter 32: Composite Imagery

Chapter 33: Composite . Scene States . Batch

Chapter 34: Illustrative Composite

Chapter 35: Animated Composite

Bibliography

Image Credits

Index

Bradley Cantrell is Principal and Partner at Visual Logic, Inc.; Partner at LND Digital Workshop, Digital Media Training and Consulting; and Associate Professor in the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State University. He is the coauthor of Digital Drawing for Landscape Architecture (Wiley). Natalie Yates is Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.