ARCHI21 has the pleasure to host their second ARCHI CHAT session.

When?  10 am SL (PDT) or 19:00 CEST  on 25 April 2012 

http://timeanddate.com/s/285g

Where?   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ARCHI21%20World/222/41/23

Who?  Guest Speaker :  Jacques Macaire of HUMANBE  http://www.humanbe.com

invites you to an open discussion with questions and answers based around recent case studies of sustainable development strategies, design projects and the employment of 3D immersive technologies such as Second Life in Eco-Digital Prototyping.

All are welcome to engage in the discussion with a specific focus on the where and why, the what and how of  sustainable development design.

These case studies focus on:

1.  ‘Eco-Positive Housing’ to withstand hurricanes and tsunamis
2.  ‘Eco-Rigid Airship’ – a new generation of sustainable transport
3.  ‘Eco-Education’ – consuming responsibly

We hope to see you on 25 April at 10:00 SL (19:00 CET) at ARCHI CHAT for a lively discussion in a collaborative knowledge sharing experience.  The discussion session will be streamed and recorded as part of the ARCHI21 Project.

Meeting point : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ARCHI21%20World/222/41/23

Time:  Check your time zone   http://timeanddate.com/s/285g

Contact: Moira Hunter aka Busy Link

Unity sent a survey this morning, and here’s what I wrote:

“Unity is more than games, and that fact will become increasingly apparent in the future.  As Unity diversifies, trying to be all things to all people in a single platform will grow very difficult to manage.  Imho, specialized divisions and product branches that can address the specific needs of various industries would be the best path forward.  I believe a realtime platform like Unity3D has the potential to transform visualization within AEC industries, but will struggle to address their specific needs with a singular promotional and tool-set emphasis on game design.”

What do you think?

To honor Mies van der Rohe’s 126th birthday, we published this realtime virtual tour of his Villa Tugenhdat.  The model was downloaded the model from Google 3D Warehouse (model and texture by MOF’s) then brought it into Unity3D and published to Flash player.

To bring your architectural models, BIM, CAD or plans into a realtime 3D walk-through, send us a note, and we’ll get back to you with a free estimate.

TO THE VILLA.

When?  10 am PDT 28 March 2012  http://timeanddate.com/s/27w5

Where?   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ARCHI21%20World/222/41/23

Jon Brouchoud, of Arch Virtual invites you to an open discussion with questions and answers based around 3 recent case studies of real world architectural projects that have made use of 3D immersive technologies in architectural practice and collaboration.

All are welcome to engage in the discussion with a specific focus on the pros and cons of adopting this approach with 3D immersive technologies.  

These case studies focus on:

1.   “Customer-Created Design” where senior citizens used Second Life to design their own retirement facility,
2.   “Virtual Dubuque” which is being used to invite community members to explore a new historic renovation project long before construction is completed.
3.  The new Rutgers School of Business building which has now broken ground in the real world.  This project was first modeled in Second Life, then brought into OpenSim, and finally into Unity3D.

We hope to see you on 28 March at 10:00 PDT at CritIMPACT for a lively discussion in a collaborative knowledge sharing experience.  The discussion session will be streamed and recorded as part of the ARCHI21 Project of which Arch Virtual is an Associated Partner.

Meeting point : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ARCHI21%20World/222/41/23

Time:  Check your time as the clocks change  http://timeanddate.com/s/27w5

Using video games to visualize architecture?  Why not?  That’s what Main Street MMO is all about.

Building an immersive, realtime 3D virtual replica of the city with game engine technology is just the beginning.  With it, we can bring architectural blueprints of new development projects to life, and show exactly what new or renovated buildings will look like when construction is completed – all set within a dynamic and ever-changing virtual simulation of the city.

As one example, we had the opportunity to work with the Gronen Restoration team in Dubuque, Iowa over the past several months to create a realtime 3D walk-through of the CARADCO Building in their Historic Millwork District.  Check out the video above to see a few of the features of this exciting new project, and be sure to visit a beta version of the virtual tour here: http://dubuque.archvirtual.com/caradco

Just imagine how far we can push game engines to serve as a community resource to help plan, visualize and promote buildings before construction starts?  Just imagine how a city could be re-invented within an environment where anything is possible?

We need your help!  Become a Main Street MMO backer, and help us build this exciting virtual frontier.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keystone/main-street-mmo-real-cities-in-realtime-3d/posts

If you think there would be interest in creating a virtual replica of your city’s downtown or Main Street area, let us know!  If you’re in the U.S., your city can become a backer of Main Street MMO at the $10k USD level and we will launch YOUR city as a realtime 3D MMO!  We will personally visit your city, and get the project started by modeling several city blocks, along with a website portal for your city’s 3D world. Your name or company logo will be displayed prominently as the Founding Sponsor of your city. From there, we will continue to grow your city’s MMO through community support in the form of partnerships and sponsorship.

These sim packages are designed to provide flexible, modern environments for learning, enterprise, and private development in OpenSim and are now available at a significantly discounted rate.

Each full sim package is just $60 USD, and is delivered as an opensim OAR file. Payments must be made via PayPal, and orders can be placed by sending an email request to jbrouchoud@gmail.com

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Introducing Main Street MMO: Real cities, in realtime 3D.        

There are so many incredible sci-fi, war games and medieval adventures available today, with amazing complexity, detail and realism.

Main Street MMO seeks to combine the fun and interactivity of video games with real cities to promote local businesses, showcase city initiatives, visualize architectural designs, and a lot more.

We need your help!

Here’s a link to our Kickstarter page where you can pledge your support for our project:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keystone/main-street-mmo-real-cities-in-realtime-3d

As a founding supporter of Main Street MMO, we will engrave your name in a cornerstone, add your name to the credits, name an NPC after you, or even kickstart an MMO of your city (other creative award ideas are welcome! =)

Even if you can’t afford to back the project financially, please consider sharing this within your network to help raise awareness!  Your tweets, facebook updates, and blog posts are the stuff a successful Kickstarter project is made of, so please help us spread the word!

We’re just getting started! For the past year, we’ve been partnering directly with local businesses in our premiere city of Dubuque, Iowa to determine which features they feel would be most useful in a technology like this, and have compiled a list of features and functionality we believe will take this project to a new level, but we need your help!

Please consider backing Main Street MMO! Your support is very much appreciated. If you think your city would be interested in something like this, or if you have ideas for new features we should add, please get in touch with us!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keystone/main-street-mmo-real-cities-in-realtime-3d

Thanks SO MUCH @openingdesign @epredator  @pbroviak  Derek Barrett @samdriver and @moirah for stepping up as our first backers!  We can’t thank you enough for your support! 

Introducing Virtual Dubuque, a premiere development of our new Realtime Cities initiative by Arch Virtual, built with ArchTech Engine.   This new community resource will provide free and easy to access windows into interactive, customizable 3D models of cities.  To learn more about how we can build a realtime model of your city or architectural project, send us a note here.  We’re currently seeking development partners to build new features, create custom content, and build out additional architecture and cities around the world, so please send us a note to learn more.

Over the past year,we have been partnering with local businesses and organizations in Dubuque, Iowa to develop features and sponsored content, including a project in the Historic Millwork District for a local real estate developer (coming soon!), as well as the Masonic Temple, where international members of Demolay will be working with industry pioneers in developing a world-class learning environment, using Virtual Cities as its core platform.

“We’re harnessing the same technology used to make the latest iPad apps and XBox 360 games, but we’re not making a game, we’re building dynamic and ever-changing models of cities that are designed to serve as true community resources that can be easily accessed directly from a website,” said Jon Brouchoud, Founder of Virtual Cities.

Using ArchTech Engine and the Unity3D platform, we’re now able to transforms buildings, geography and entire cities into realtime 3D environments that are easily accessible, and can be embedded on your website, or deployed to a tablet.  These interactive models can be geo-referenced to real-world coordinates, dynamically linked to databases, and layered with interactive content.

As visitors explore virtual cities, links to websites and additional information about nearby buildings, parks, and businesses appear automatically.  For example, when you approach a restaurant, you can click through to read their menu.  If you’re near a historic building, you can learn more about its past.  Businesses and organizations can customize and enhance their space in the virtual model, layering it with more information or interactive features.

Proceeds from sponsorship and custom content are then re-invested in the ongoing development of the city model, enabling Realtime Cities to add more features, build new parts of the city, and refine models with more detail.

But a virtual replica is just the beginning.

“If you’ve ever experienced the Voices Gallery in the Millwork District of Dubuque Iowa, for example, you’ve seen how a building can be completely re-imagined into a destination that celebrates the unique architectural character of a place, yet transcends it to become something completely unique,” said Brouchoud.

“That’s really what Virtual Dubuque, and the Realtime Cities initiative is all about.  A replica of the city as it is now will certainly have interesting use cases, but I’m looking forward to seeing how cities can be re-imagined within an environment where anything is possible.”

I am very excited to announce the launch of our new ArchTech Engine, a technology that transforms buildings, cities and geography into realtime 3D environments that are easily accessible, and can be embedded on your website, or deployed to a tablet.

These interactive models can be geo-referenced to real-world coordinates, dynamically linked to databases, and layered with interactive content.

Transform your architectural drawings and 3D models of almost any format (including CAD and BIM) into information-rich applications that are perfect for architectural visualization, and city planning, as well as learning environments, military simulations, historical recreations, training environments and more. Students can interact within a more memorable learning environment, and achieve much greater retention over reading a textbook. All within a web browser or tablet.

Your application can be customized to suit your project’s specific needs. Make it multiplayer with voice and video communication or a single player experience and add non-player characters or an entire crowd of people to bring it to life.

To learn more about Arch Tech Engine, or to get started on your own project, visit www.archtechengine.com   Arch Tech Engine is built on the Unity3D, and was developed in partnership between Arch Virtual and Tipodean Technologies.