Working from drawings or floor plans with dimensions would be much easier. If I can create the city from images from a variety of different angles from different locations and directions at various elevations, maybe it's not as important to have the specifics.

It is a lot of work but the end result should be worth it. Almost like going back in time to Detroit to wander around the city with a camera that was not available at that time. And to get shots from angles and elevations that were not possible at that time.

Time will tell. My creation should be memorable. I'm hoping so. At the very least it should be a demonstration of my skills not only with Maya but also building and organizing a large assembly.

I'm not familiar with Detroit. Are there a lot of hills, and are you modeling them too, or are you putting all the buildings on a flat grid?

That's a great question, Glatt.

The Campus appears to be reasonably flat so I've placed them on the grid at the same elevation.

If there is a map that shows the contours of the landscape I'd be interested to have it so that adjustments could be made to the placement of the structures.

I suppose that the elevation map would not have changed much in the past 100 years so there is likely something available to use that was created recently.

Here's a clip I just made. The quality on Youtube is lower than what is produced here at my office but it's still something to see.

Cool, now you can 3-D print the whole city. :cool:

A full scale 3d print key chain of Detroit. That's got potential. :)

:haha: Never lose your keys.

Those detailed railings on the roof deck look impressive.

Thanks Glatt. This is the level of detail that seems to make the models more appealing. It's my goal to have all the buildings in the Campus Meritus with the same detail so that close up shots will still seem semi realistic.

My modeling speed and ability has increased since finishing the city hall and I'm hoping that it will be possible to complete the other buildings in about 1/4 the time.

Approximately half of my time now days is spent trying to find a viable market for this type of work so the progress is still not as quick as I'd like it to be.

Feedback on the Detroit project has been very positive and we're thankful for it.

I was a little fuzzy on who had friended me with all the cool animations on FB. I should have known. Are you teaching yourself all this, or is it part of a formal education process?

I need to be more clear that it's me on FaceBook even though the name is different.

This is all self-youtube-DVD course education on Maya. My previous experience is quite helpful with some things but it's still a new software and my skills are developing a bit more by the day.

Immersion learning it may be called.

As it was circling the building I was thinking how many drawings it would take to make a minute of animation the Disney way. :mg:

That's an interesting thought Bruce. My guess would be 1440 ( 24fps x 60 seconds ).

But the volume of drawings would not be the only challenge. Transferring the detail from one frame to another in a slightly different perspective seems pretty difficult too.

Or where those old cartoons 2d?

Here's a good video about their process. Wow, so much work. But the end result was so captivating.

3:17 of the video - 250, 000 celluloids required for Snow White. All of those hand drawn.

I've recently found a site that caters to artists that create visualizations for architects. The examples seen on this site are what I hope to be able to produce in the coming months ( or maybe years? ) It's a cool place to look through whether you are interested in creating renderings and animations or not.

http://www.cgarchitect.com/

There are more renderings than animations here but those animations are pretty good.

This one is one of the better examples.

Take a look for yourself. It's pretty amazing. It's not of Detroit but still amazing. :)