Nice work!
As you wanted C&C:
Many of the shiny surfaces are just a bit too perfect? Particularly the shelf on the left side.
And the floor could need a different bump map, as well as spec map etc.
It looks like you used the texture for bump too?
Try to use the high-pass filter in PS or similar. You really don't want all that darker wood to be lower than the lighter?

I have to agree with Jeff here about the South African architects apparent "lack of talent"

I'm afraid I don't have the time neither to further develop this for free, but feel free to use my basic model. I did add a few stairs on it too. It's a component rotate/repeated 5 times, so it should be easy to detail and work on further. It's not in any scale..

THC.skp

I don't think this building was supposed to function as anything else than as a 3D "menu"?
But it might be better with a building that could have been functional if built?
All those stairs and levels around everywhere would certainly not be allowed in this country anyway...

What is most confusing here is that you describe this as a complex major task that an average architect isn't able to do (!) - although it sounds pretty simple and straightforward. A "superadded water feature" - I have no idea what that is...
What it sounds like you're looking for is something like this, although not very complex?

Will there be a version for Opera too? And Chrome?

Power, speed, workflow, fun, ease-of-use, extensibility/plugins.
Just a few reasons...

He certainly has managed to get through in the media anyway I've been reading about this camera/technology everywhere for the last couple of days.
I don't think it will catch on if he is only going to produce cameras himself, instead of licensing the technology. And choosing a p&s as the first camera is probably not such a good idea neither? Most p&s photos are sharp all the way from quite close to far away already.
I shoot mostly with fisheye and ultra-wide (7-14mm on 4/3), so I rarely get any "nice bokeh" anyway ...

@gaieus said:

Here I can opt out of this whole VAT thing. I cannot reclaim VAT but I do not even have to charge (so basically can be 20% more competitive than others charging VAT). This is up to about € 20,000 turnover a year only though.

Well, as most of my clients can deduct the VAT I have to charge it doesn't usually matter
The limit here when you start having to charge (and deduct) VAT is around $10000 annually I believe. But once you're in it's hard to get out again We have 25% VAT BTW

@tig said:

If you buy from Google.com direct they'll charge VAT if your address is within the EU based on the Irish rate [Google's EU HQ is in Dublin]... unless you have a local EU VAT reference code when it's deducted and you have to pay it direct to your own revenue office if applicable - talk about complicated

Lucky that we're not a member in EU then We're supposed to pay VAT when buying downloadable software abroad, but I doubt that many people contact the tax collector and asks if they can pay BTW, as a company/freelancer you get the VAT back anyway, but you're still supposed to pay it in the first place!

But the price for SU is the same all over the world, isn't it still?

Well, it isn't only the taxes...
If you get a box shipped from abroad you'll have to pay the VAT anyway on top of the price...
Like so many companies do, including Adobe, Autodesk, Maxon, Realviz etc, Eos (who makes Photomodeler) thinks that Norwegians (and other Europeans) are so much more wealthy (or stupid?) than Americans and Canadians that they can charge us much more for the same piece of software, even when downloaded from the same server
Even Realviz, the French company that made ImageModeler, which was bought by Autodesk, used to charge much more from Europeans than from USA/Canada. I had a dispute with them because I found a webshop in US that sold it to me for the US price. As all packages were shipped from Realviz/France anyway they "spotted" me, but after a few emails I ended up paying the US price anyway.
AFAIK SketchUp is still the same price worldwide? And so is PhotoScan - which is great

Here's a little update on the roof, with a few curves finalized and filled in with Bezier meshes. It is actually a lot faster doing it than describing how it's done..

Lots of interesting reading

BTW, for those who wonder about the new version of Photoscan, the problem with axes not aligned with the SU axes is now solved. No more problems with Sun/shadows and orbiting
Regarding the unusually high price, $999, it is expensive for a SU plugin, but it is pretty cheap for a photogrammetry program. The only(?) currently freely available competitor today, Photomodeler, costs almost twice as much here in Norway (cheaper in US/Canada though - I had a friend in Canada buy it for me...) for the base version. With Scanner module (similar to Image-based surface matching in PhotoScan) it would cost $2600 in USA, and ~$4300 here (incl 25% VAT & freight from Denmark)

By using any sketchy effects I think you'll get a lot of flicker, because SU won't draw the same distortions when you move the camera slightly. I once did a cubic/spherical pano with Sketchy edges, and then I had a hard time stitching it because of those different sketchy edges.
I would render several passes, one with materials but no edges.
One with edges (and profiles?)
And maybe one with shadows (hide any roofs etc, or turn off shadowcasting on some objects obstructing the sun)?
Multiply edges on top of color, and apply filters on edges layer, like blur + levels, which can give very nice smooth edges with "soft junctions", and alpha/color.
I use Vegas, so I don't know what these things are called in AE/Premiere.

I had to look up what revision clouds are, and found this:

Better be careful with them
It is impressive how you create new plugins all the time! Looks like it is just to whisper a wish and within a couple of hours it's ready
Great

Nothing prevents you from adding the distortion to any objects you like, for instance to the furniture. How perfect it will look depends on how much work you want to put into it.
Using Viewlock makes it a lot easier. You could even make 2 tables next to each other that slants different ways, but still looks like they are with flat/horizontal tops. AFAIK the original Ames room contained a channel where a ball was rolling "upwards".

Apart from Fredos Scale tool I can only think of SketchyFFD that may help you (apart from Amorph and hand-editing).
AFAIK SketchyFFD only works on lines and faces (no groups or components), and you can only have one FFD in a model.
But I can't really see why you think that Amorph can't do it? Or using construction lines from camera through points (Amorph can make these too BTW by selecting a line etc and using the slice tool). With these tools you should be able to deform any objects inside the room, as well as the room itself. It may be a little tedious though if you want to have a lot of details, like long tables with lathed legs etc...

I noticed that you started a new thread, but chose to post in this old one..

You decide what number of teeth you want. My examples were just using "easy" numbers.
You may just as well have 17 teeth. Simply 360/17=21.17647 degrees. Divide by 2 to get half of it on each side of the center line.
You could also make a 17-side polygon and use lines from its center through perimeter points as guides.
Just make sure that the top edge is horizontal (if you're following my examples).

Nice video
Any idea why YouTube videos can't be viewed at full screen on this forum?

Thanks to Alans new and better plan I had to waste some more time on this

Here's a short tut of the first steps of making it with Amorph.

If you don't like math you could do it like this, using SUs inferencing, protractor/construction lines and components.
The only math involved is dividing 360 on the number of teeth required.

Here is my go at it. I love a challenge, and hate to give up
It was lots of work, and quite a lot of hand editing.
Without Amorph Bezier curves and view locking I don't think I would have tried.
It could still need some tweaking, and I just noticed that the rotunda is not in the middle of the room on the plan !
Used TIG's LatticeMaker to make the frames/glass - it took almost 2 hours in all!