Be Happy Happy Bubbalove. It's your Birthday! Don't cry over getting older. Look at Ozzy. Listen to him too - he doesn't want you to cry. And notice how Ozzy is not just getting older - he's getting better!

Regards, Ross

Perhaps. Maybe his 60,000 euros fee represents his hiring a big team & farming out processing to a big render farm. I agree that it doesn't make much sense as a sole animator. I also agree that while the results can be nice it certainly isn't a service many architects would ever use.

Did you notice the artist in his FAQ's notes his fees for a 3d animation can be upwards of 60,000 pounds. That's lots of meatballs baby! It seems reasonable that Falling Water is a portfolio piece that he likely spent many-many hours creating. I suspect he'd put it in the 60,000 pound category. So if your client wants something like that then how about quoting 75,000 pounds and contract him to do it for you?

Regards, Ross

Youngster? It's not my birthday.

Birthday Greetings Craig!

On this occasion of this special day you get a birthday song too...

After an extensive search for the most appropriate one for you, by my consultant team of professional birthday song locators, here's the one selected as a perfect match for you. (Hopefully it will put a stupid grin on your face). Craig's birthday song

Regards, Ross

Happy Birthday! I tried hard to think of a birthday song for you. I came up with one I hope you'll like. I figured anyone who'd lovingly model a electric pencil sharpener would probably appreciate the off-beat humour of The Crash Test Dummies. I chose one of their more interesting songs. This one's for you buddy! When I'm Swimming in Your Ocean

Regards, Ross

I have really enjoyed looking at the images. Thanks!

Regards, Ross

I don't know about drawings. Maybe head over to Walmart. You can probably pick up a dvd player for under $50. Then with the movie you can pause/review as needed to get a really good look-see. You'll also see what he saw. (Reproducing the actual set may be far more complicated than reproducing the 'feel' of the movie).

Regards, Ross

This will show you that graphics technologies are evolving in ways most of us could never have anticipated. Cool factor is 10+ --- be sure to watch to the end as some of the best examples of the technology are late in the clip.

Here's a video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NcIJXTlugc

My clients currently live a few thousand miles away from the site. They have rented a house across the street for the month of August so they can spend some time soaking up some of the nuances of the site to help make final decisions. I plan on visiting them and helping stake out the footprint so they can get a better sense of it. In the fall we will do the construction documents as they plan to build next year.

The sidings, colours etc have not been decided. What I'm thinking is that the primary siding be panels of ship-lapped boards. The owner has expressed an interest in using recycled barn boards. Most of what is available here would have been board sheathing that on a barn would have had wood shingles. The boards typically would have been fairly low quality with lots of knot holes and bits of bark etc. I think I can come up with a nice way of using such materials by creating modular panels that get hung of the building as rain-screen panels.

The roof is likely to be metal. Perhaps zinc or maybe just inexpensive barn roofing. There has been talk of doing the main floor as polished concrete. The large bank of storage along the main floor bedroom will likely have traditional shoji screens.

It is likely that we can get away with a horizontally structured railing system. The site is in a very rural area. To get a building permit we likely just need to submit a drawing showing the footprint, location of septic, the well, and the driveway. I spoke with the development officer and was surprised to learn that there are almost no regulations regarding what we can or can't do on the site. We could for instance cantilever a building out over a cliff if we wanted -- there is no applicable setback from the top of an oceanfront bank. There are some modest setback requirements from the property boundaries, road, and high-water mark but little else in regards to regulations (other than septic & water related ones). During construction it is likely the only inspections we'll have will be by the local power utility who won't power you up if things aren't to their standards. Its so easy-going here I sometimes feel like we are the wild west. Oh, but if you want to put up a windmill here you'll be buried in regulations & approvals.

Technically things like railings are required to be to our national building code but in a rural area there is zero enforcement. I would never do anything that would recklessly endanger a client -- in the case of this client they do not have young children so the climbing hazard of a horizontal railing system is not a very serious risk. I also add that unlike most people building houses here, this client has professional help including a structural engineer.

One other interesting thing, my client has a source for windows that are handmade using wood re-milled from old utility poles that have retired from service. If they are used that will be cool. Only once have I done a job that handmade windows --- they were beautiful.

Regards, Ross

Here, don't worry about your frozen cat. I'll throw it on the embers - It'll thaw out and be as good as new.

@unknownuser said:

I have just made £27,000 on a development property here in Yorkshire...

Good stuff! Sounds like you should buy us a round of drinks!

Regards, Ross

Indeed Kristoff -- maybe you should plan a trip up our way sometime.

Thanks for the kind comments guys!

I did the panels using Xara Xtreme Pro which is a vector illustration program. I suppose I could have done the same thing in LayOut. I love Xara because it seems more intuitive to me - I've been using it for many years. To me Xara & SketchUp are a very powerful combo. I typically use Xara to do all my post-production stuff on SU output. In this case I exported a multi-page pdf from Xara to email to the client. All the design work was done building the model. This is how the client saw it -- I didn't do traditional plans & elevations, just gave them unannotated views of the model so their eyes could explore and their imaginations be primed.

Here in Canada's Atlantic Provinces (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland) we do occasionally get hurricanes. More common are winter gales that come in off the North Atlantic. The wind can blow pretty good here. The coastal location for the house I posted will definitely be exposed regularly (three or four times per year) to heavy winds (65mph+). It won't be subjected to storm surge or ocean spray. Wood-framed wall construction here is typically 2x6's @ 16" OC. For this project we'll likely use plywood (vs. OSB) sheathing. The roof will be framed with TJI pre-engineered joist systems using hurricane clips to anchor them down. I significantly beefed up the structure of the overhangs from what Greg used on the Plat House. He gave it a thin crisp roof edge that we can't do safely here. Our typical construction here, even without hurricane clipping, seems to survive the local conditions pretty well. Large windows tend to survive pretty well too. Air infiltration of windows is a bigger problem for us than actual wind damage. In general our coastal conditions really aren't much different than Americans would have on the coast of Maine or Massachusetts.

With regards to the design, I should note that the room at the end with all the large windows is a library/office. At the other end is the master bedroom. The small out building at that end is a sauna. On the lower level are two guest bedrooms & a bath plus an art studio (under the library). It is a home for a medical research scientist and an artist. They are fans of modern design and intend to have it sparsely furnished. It is a home for the lifestyle they want. They want a place to slow down, read, listen to music, and just enjoy looking out at the expanse of the ocean. They will have lots of privacy in their location -- no window curtains required.

Regards, Ross

PS - I attach a pic showing the location. The site is at the top of the grassy bank just beyond the little fishing harbour. A very beautiful place to be sure.

How 'bout starting a campaign to get the public to donate 2L bottles of Diet Coke and packages of Mentos. By 2012 we should have gathered very large supply and could use the Mentos/Coke to power a rocket of our own design. Perhaps Mentos/Coke could be our sponsors and pick up the mission's expenses. Since building a traditional rover would be technologically difficult for us we could get our brave (but arguably stupid) volunteer Kris to climb inside a big clear plastic ball with his camcorder and his cell phone. He could take with him a Scuba re-breather system with a few oxygen tanks and some Depends absorbent undergarments. For the long trip there we could get a voodoo priest to put a zombie spell on him so for most of the trip outwardly he would appear dead (and breathe very little). When he hits the moon the ball might bounce a bit but eventually it would settle down and Kris could walk around filming. He could then send the video home with his cell phone. Unfortunately we won't be able to get Kris back. Fortunately he won't suffer in his slow death as the oxygen eventually is depleted. Of course we will think fondly of him while we're spending the prize money!

Seems do-able to me. Cool

posgted by Ross Macintosh

Csaba - you are right, Dr. Janos Fedak is the Head of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Prince Edward Island. The university is one of the really good things about our Island. It is a small, pre-dominantly undergraduate university with about 3,300 full-time students and 200 faculty.

In all seriousness - if any of you know young people, close to University age, it is well worth their considering coming here for an education. The quality of education is high, far more personalized than larger universities (with faculty who know their students by name even in 101 courses), and it has many international students. UPEI has the highest ranking in Canada for faculty awards.
An important aspect is the cost -- much less expensive to get a quality education here than in many parts of the world. Even factoring transportation costs getting to & from here it can be relatively inexpensive. (Note: The higher fees for international students reflects that they are less subsidized by government and not related to any attempt to profit from them).
Regards, Ross

And the last two...

More panels...

I live on a scenic island that is predominantly rural in character and low in population. It is its gentle character that makes it unique.

Come play on our Island!

Regards, Ross

I think it is a great feature in a park -- even with the relative scales all wrong. The textbooks we had as children had the scales all wrong too. One interesting addition would be to engrave the story about the correct scales into the top of the little wall around the sun. That way the viewers reading the words would have to revolve around the sun too. As they do they become informed about the relative vastness of space and have their imaginations further provoked.

Regards, Ross