3DFestival/AVC 2004 Trip Report

3DFestival/AVC 2004 Copenhagen, Denmark

By Jeff Mottle (jmottle@cgarchitect.com)


Bella Center

Over 40 hours of total travel time, four days of sessions, mix in some of the best CG people in the industry and too many party ‘till you drop nights in Copenhagen and you have all the ingredients for the whirl-wind that is called 3D Festival.
3D Festival and the AVC conference took place this year at the Bella Center just outside the heart of Copenhagen’s city center from May 3 to 6. The show attracted some 5000 delegates and proved to be one of the most successful events to date. 2004 also marked the second year for the AVC (Architectural Visualization Conference), a two day conference within the 3D Festival, packed with sessions about all areas of architectural visualization.

This was my first time attending 3DFestival and I have to say it was one of the best events I’ve been to in a long time. As a long time veteran and well seasoned attendee of SIGGRAPH, I have seen my fair share of CG sessions and conferences, but the smaller scale and more focused sessions both in the areas of architectural CG and Entertainment/Gaming made this a much richer experience. As with most events like this, it is virtually impossible to see and do everything you want to within the confines of the four days, so you really have to pick and choose the sessions you want to attend. I spent most of my time in the Architectural sessions which were well represented by some of the best in our industry.



The AVC conference opened with Alex Morris of Hayes Davidson, and AVC conference chair, where he took us back to the roots of architectural illustration and revealed some of the techniques used by the first and most influential illustrators and artists who depicted architecture. Following Alex, I presented the findings of the 2004 Architectural Visualization industry survey that took place in April and spoke a bit about the future of our industry. Those of you that were wondering where the future of Real-Time might be headed, were treated to Kim Baumann Larsen’s presentation on real-time models, GI and multi-textures. There are a number of new engines on the market that have opened the doors to creating very realistic models that can be explored in real-time. Kim’s session revealed the work that goes into creating these models and how they can be used in practice.


Kim Baumann Larsen of PLACEBO EFFECTS

That wrapped up the morning sessions and after break for lunch were follow by two more sessions. Jonathan Ward of NBBJ UK, presented his ideas for a new approach to the design process as it pertained to the use of 3D. Architecture is about 3D spaces, but the end legal deliverable are almost always a set of 2D drawings. Jonathan challenged this traditional thinking with a solution that revolves around design and the 3D model as the source for all deliverables within the design process. His session was touted as one of the best sessions in the AVC conference and was praised by many attendees at the show. The last session for day one wrapped up with Eric Anton of Arte Factory discussing several of the projects he and his company had recently been working on, including the Beijing Olympic Stadium. Unlike many visualization firms Artefactory works with architects throughout the design process to not only design and visualize complex structures that aid and facilitate discussions, but also generate the final presentation graphics.


Jonathan Ward of NBBJ UK



Day two of the AVC conference started with Joseph Kosinski of KDLAB presenting some of the most impressive visuals of the conference. While not strictly an architectural visualization company, KDLAB has produced some very impressive and artful cinematography and lighting that is often lacking in many animations. Jonathan presented several of the things to keep in mind when animating spaces through the presentation of his works on recent Nike commercials spots and several of his recent short films.

Knut Ramstead of Selvaag BlueThink presented a very interesting session dealing with the introduction of 3D in all phases of the design process and showed attendees his work on a recent large scale development at Tjuvholmen in Oslo.


Knut Ramstead of Selvaag BlueThink

The last day of the AVC conference wrapped up with Jan Rybar of imagesFX presenting us with techniques to improve the look of architectural glass using Vray. There was one last session I unfortunately missed that was put on by Eric Hanson of Digital Domain. I was able to catch his session the following day during the Entertainment session track which I was told covered some of the same topics. The session discussed the use of architectural in the Entertainment industry and the cross over between the two genres. Many examples and explanations of the mixtures of live action and digital sets and work with miniature sets were also expanded upon and proved to be a very interesting session.

Copenhagen

3DFestival has a definite European flare and many of the attendees and speakers are from the surrounding European 3D community. The small scale and mixture of all 3D genres made for an excellent show and many opportunities to mingle with people from all walks of the 3D industry. This was my first 3DFestival and AVC conference, but it will definitely not be my last. The show, the location, and the people make this one of the best 3D conferences around and should not be missed

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