Chaos Group

The evolution of digital visualization over the last decade has enabled designers to articulate powerful visions of space, manipulate components, isolate significant moments and generate provocative renderings of a given space at a given time. Often, the generative process of digital modeling remains exclusively in the hands of the creator with the potential of these virtual environments to be frozen in the presentation of a static image or a scripted animation. In this way, there has been an inherent disconnect between the intelligence embedded within the dynamic process of generating 3D virtual environments and the presentation of static CGI images which are meant to represent them. In this course we are blurring the line between process and product where the virtual model acts as both a generative design tool as well as a dynamic interactive simulation that is able to exhibit changes in geometry, object lighting and material quality of the virtual environment in real time. In this manner the audience can become the designer and the designer the audience. We are unfreezing still images and bringing virtual environments to life. In this course we are exploring the capabilities of the V-Ray real time rendering technology to increase speed and efficiency of visualization, providing students with the tools and optimal modeling procedures necessary to formulate a conceptual design strategy, construct a virtual model and produce a provocative rendered simulation.

Students are receiving focused instruction in advanced modeling techniques, optimization of geometry, organizational strategies for creating efficient digital models and operate across a variety of different software platforms including Rhino and 3D Studio Max. Students are approaching this course as a laboratory to explore new ways of working cross-platform and document their own unique generative procedures. These software platforms and their various tools are introduced through a variety of completed projects, providing illustrative examples of each software respective capability and allowing students to choose which tools are the most useful in achieving their specific goals.

Fast Forward is utilizing the V-Ray real time rendering engine for 3d Studio Max which incorporates object lighting and material qualities into the virtual modeling interface. This new ray tracing technology allows immediate interaction between the creator and the digital environment by following the user’s actions while working on the virtual model and progressively generating a photorealistic preview of the scene. Multiple design propositions can be tested and evaluated without the need to render still images, thereby allowing for greater speed and efficiency. The course includes instruction in V-Ray material application, lighting, atmospheric manipulation and post production/compositing techniques of representation to produce renderings that slide back and forth across the spectrum of design from the production of conceptual images to the refined visions of photorealism. Lectures are guided by a series of focused tutorials in optimized modeling and professional visualization techniques as well as a variety of internet based resources including instructional videos and premade materials and textures. These resources are providing the tools and shortcuts necessary to acquaint students with an established baseline for visualization, allowing the course to quickly Fast Forward into the realm of an interactive virtual reality.

Project Requirements

While engaged in this course we are progressing beyond the production of static images into the realm of parametrically controlled virtual environments that serve as versatile tools of design and visualization. Students are working on one project that is divided into Thematic Development, Digital Generation, and Exponential Learning.

1. An interactive virtual model whose geometry, material qualities and atmosphere can be manipulated and updated in real time using V-Ray RT to switch back and forth between moods and concepts.

2. Three still image renderings which are manipulated by various post production techniques to serve as evocative sketches and propositions for developing the mood, lighting, and material quality of the interactive model and exceed the capabilities of the rendering software alone.

3. A video documentation of each group’s generative process which explains how to navigate through and manipulate the virtual environment in real time.