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:

Computer graphics are often the instrument of choice for explaining events to a jury. Graphics are a great choice because they can show events over time by animating a situation to help clarify it. Models have their advantages as well, and will often complement the computer graphics that need to be done. One of the biggest advantages of a physical model is that it will often sit in front of a jury long after the CG has stopped playing. Depending on the size, a model can sometimes be put into a jury’s hands, which has the effect of reinforcing a point with tactile clarity. One more subtle quality of a physical model is that jury’s can see what they are looking for from different vantage points, views that the authors of the computer graphic may have missed. Computer graphics are always going to be a big part of complex court cases but models are making a resurgence as a necessary tool to help explain a scene or a medical condition to a jury. Most jury’s can instantly relate to a model on a very visceral level.  I have been called to act as an expert witness but I usually don’t know anything about the case. I get deposed on the quality of the information I used to build the models and on the accuracy of the model itself. I have also  sat in front of a jury to explain some of the model making processes. I figure if the legal experts can explain the case to me, I can find a way to show it to a jury. The images below show a medical model of the structure of a foot, a rollover accident model, a patent infringement model of a soda can top which is 4 feet in diameter and a model used in a mining case showing a waste cell and its component materials.

Craig Martin

Build a highway and they will come? Usually the problem is that they are already here and there isn’t enough room for all of them. How do you tell people that you have to disrupt their commute while you make the Highway better then ever? Milwaukee has faced this problem for years and hired us to help solve it. When bad news has to be delivered, good communication is the answer. As our client Jeff Bauer with CH2M Hill says “The models will be taken to many public informational meetings over the next several years. The models are excellent tools to help everyone better understand what the proposed roadways will look like when the projects are complete.”

Models of highways and roads are the best way to show the inevitable and to give the public the information they crave. Milwaukee is updating several sections of their highway system and we are currently working on the fourth model showing the improvement being made. Now with the economic stimulus, many roads are being built or improved. Because changes are happening so fast it is critical that planning and communication keep up with the pace of change.

So we just finished this project.  It is a model of the Sun, showing the interior layers (or what we believe them to look like).  We built this model for the Space Science Institute and it will be displayed in a traveling exhibit, shown in Libraries around the state of Colorado, and possibly the country.  It was a fun, quick project that turned out really well.  Just thought you might like to see what we have been up to.  Of course we had to add a couple of pics with our model in space!!  Enjoy!!

Howard Williams – Director Sales/Marketing

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I enjoy seeing residences that take sustainable design and combine it with good architecture.  Especially when the sustainable residence serves a purpose, like helping to sustain the surrounding environment.  Check out this posting by Inhabitat.  It’s a beautiful home in the middle of New Mexico’s ranch land.  This development helps protect over 10,000 acres of previously used ranch land  from becoming another suburbia wasteland.  Preserving the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape for all to enjoy.  Howard Williams – Director Sales/Marketing

A few years ago Archetype 3D built an architectural model of a residence in Arizona.  Similar style architecture and another great example of building with the environment in mind.  Check out some pictures:

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I recently posted photos of a 3D scoreboard model we created. Well, my client James Keppel of 33 Thousand Feet has just provided me with photos of the real thing. It’s an impressive structure and the dominant feature of the arena. It is also a reminder that model making isn’t just for fun. We help designers, engineers and developers create and sell actual projects.

The real scoreboard is located at the HP Pavillion at San Jose – home of the San Jose Sharks.

One fascinating part of model making is never knowing what we are going to build next. James Keppel of 33 Thousand Feet Inc. has a cool company that designs environments and creates branding. He hired us to make a 3D model of a scoreboard for a hockey arena. The exterior panels had to be removable to show the interior structure, catwalks, and maintenance areas. Our model was about a 2′ diameter and could be hung from a single point. To accomplish this, the model structure had to actually be structurally sound, something we are not concerned with when building most architectural models. I had no idea of what went on inside one of these giant signs, but I found out how complicated they are.

Craig Matin – President – Archetype 3D

Does anyone still make kit models? I built so many as a child but I was always wondering who made these cool parts that fit together so nicely. So now I am a 3D model maker which I describe as “Building the kit – and then assembling it”. So here are some of the kit elements of our current project the Vail Ritz Carlton Resort Model. Realize of course that I personally had little to do with making this model. Mike Johnson and Lydia Brown are my key managers / model makers  and Micheal Steinkoenig and Austin Hein did much of the construction. I just take the credit.

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Who out there had a tree house as a child?  Raise your hands!  I know I sure did.  My dad built one for me that I am sure is still standing today, some 20 years later.  It was amazing: built- in ladder, trap door,  screened- in windows all the way around, vaulted ceiling, the list goes on.  It was just what a boy needed to feel like the master of his domain.  My friends and I even had camp-outs in it during the summer (although I remember running inside in the middle of the night more than once, scared someone was going to get me!).  I Just read this article on treehugger.com about tree houses and it brought back a flood of memories and desires to live like the Swiss Family Robinson for the rest of my life.  Treehugger has a slideshow titled 8 Tree Houses Fit for Treehuggers that you should check out.  These are amazing homes and getaways that, I’m sure, would do us all some good!

Archetype 3D did a 3D model for the Children’s Botanical Garden in Kansas recently, designed by EDAW, Inc. (www.edaw.com).  It was such a fun project that really turned out well!  It’s great to know that designers are still staying in touch with the child inside and are designing around the beautiful environment we live in!  – Howard Williams, Director Sales/Marketing

Check out some pictures of our model:

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Now when someone asks you to build a 3D model of a wind turbine, you would think that they would want it motorized. No such luck on this project although a small fan in front of the model gets the turbine blades rotating very effectively. I am thinking of building another one for our display room here at the shop. Of course I would hook it up to a solar cell and let the sun rotate the blades in an absurdest attempt to be green.