archetype3d.com

Wow, my Hawthorne tree out front has a few yellow leaves on it. It is getting close to the time to watch the Elk bugling and rutting in Rocky Mountain National Park. The local stores have isles of costumes and scary decorations. It must be fall and time to start marketing to the passionate skiing community. I am amazed at the fervor and dedication some people express about skiing.

The first year I came to Colorado I hiked up to St Mary’s Glacier in the middle of July. I was shocked to see hikers, carrying skis, coming down the trail. When I got to the glacier in 80 degree weather, I watched people herringbone up the snow for half an hour in order to experience about 30 seconds of heart jumping skiing.

Passionate skiers going to winter resorts are still going to want to see marketing models this year. I recommend that 3D model requests get sent in as early as possible. I look forward to hearing from our stalwart clients and I am excited about the possibility of attracting some new resort communities to our architectural scale models.

Any resort developers and sales people please comment and let me know how the season is shaping up. There is good news in some sectors and it would be great to hear if you are seeing some heated up activity on the horizon.

Also, if you have any fun ski related stories to share, either contact us or use the comment section at the bottom of this post!  We’d love to trade stories with you.

Below are just a few samples of 3D models we have created for ski resort developers:

It is sad to realize your limitations. Recently I’ve been seeing my limitation in tennis when I can’t get past the semi-finals in a tournament. In model making my limitation is time. My clients are under a deadline and I am working within their framework to get a project out. Most of our complex architectural scale models take four to six weeks to complete. I have never had the client or the passion to take thirty years to build a model. Here is a 3D model worth mentioning:

Alec Garrard’s masterpiece – the model of Herod’s Temple.

To see more images and read the story about how this retired farmer built this magnificent project, click here to the slide show about Alec Garrard’s model of Herod’s Temple.

Alec hand-baked every tile and stone before adding them to his diorama. My 3D models might look like stone construction but they certainly aren’t built stone by stone. We created a representative three dimensional Mayan temple once for Disney’s Coronado Springs resort but we cheated on the individual stones and we completed the model in five weeks.

The passion for creating unique things is what brought me to model making in the first place. I love to see others who are willing to spend their lives working towards their passions. If you find unique characters like Alec Garrard please let me know (you can comment below or contact me directly). These are the people who make this world an interesting place to live.

Craig Martin – President – Archetype 3D

Model making is what we do. In fact we belong to the Association of Professional Model Makers (APMM) www.modelmakers.org . There was a time not too long ago when people would hear that term “model maker” and know exactly what it is we do. Those days are no longer. For awhile my shop also did computer graphic work and the word “model” became a much different thing. A model – all of a sudden – was a 3D form built in computer space. I had to distinguish between virtual models and physical models. I closed the department that built virtual models a few years ago. We now build only physical models yet many conversations with clients must still start with a definition of terms.

“I am building a development and would like a model” says a client. I say “Great, I am sure we can help you with that”. Then he says  “I need to be able to fly over the site and then swoop down through a window to pan the interior”. “Ah, I guess you are looking for a virtual model, We build physical models”. “Physical models?”  Yes” I say, “Scale models that you put in your showroom to allow people to see your project in miniature”. “Oh, you mean like a diorama?”

Diorama? Now we have a problem. I refuse to substitute the word diorama for the word model. The actual history of the word diorama is interesting as it started as an elaborate theatrical experience invented by Daguerre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diorama. but the modern version of the word conjures up, in my mind, shoe boxes with dirt inside and a few army men to represent a civil war battle done in elementary school. (No offense to all the elaborate dioramas built for fun and competition by exceptional model makers – it’s just, the ones I built were done with Nuns watching over my work). A diorama often recreates a scene, usually it’s the model makers interpretation of a historical event, or an imaginative snapshot from the model builders imagination. I mainly build models that represent the future, a development that has not been built yet or an industrial design that is only a dream. I have built historical models for museums including the historical water drainages in Yellowstone National park and the Historical Camino Real Trail. But even these models cannot be defined as Dioramas.

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The Yellowstone model being built and details of Yellowstone park and the Tetons

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The Camino Real trail model as a topo and painted with labeling (this model also had an interactive LED system.)

I am a model maker. My company is listed under “Model Maker” in the phone book. There was a time when most people would be able to read that and understand what I do for a living. Of course then as now I still get the occasional young, sweet voice on the phone asking “Can you make me into a model?”  Sure, honey, come on by and I’ll see what I can do.

Craig Martin