archetype3d.com

I ran across this website, recently, for an unbelievable 3d model call the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg Germany. If you click on the video below,  it will shows many features of this impressive 3D model project.

I have also attached a few photos below. What is interesting to me is that this is not a museum diorama or an educational tool. They have combined elements of Germany, Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland, America and pure fantasy. Obviously it was created for the fun of building architectural scale models and is sustained as a huge tourist attraction.

The quick shots they show of the computer controlled cars boats and planes moving along have me excited to create similar 3D  effects on my models. I also am impressed with the lighting details and the day to night environment. I have found very little history of this project except that it was started in 2000 by two brothers Frederick and Gerrit Braun. The layout is so large  that they have hired 160 staff members to show people around the model.

I would enjoy hearing any feedback from people who have seen this 3d model. Video and photos never do justice to a model so I will need to plan another trip to Europe with a Hamburg stopover.

Feel free to post a comment below or contact me directly, with your personal experiences of Miniatur Wunderland or other great places like this one.

Craig Martin

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

Now is the time to get a deal on a 3d model!

Is your project the one that can use this opportunity?

Banks are still reluctant to provide financing.  Developers are waiting out this current crisis. All over the country model making is slowing down, even for us. We have chosen to help our clients, by coming up with dramatically reduced pricing for their architectural scale model projects.

Once the market and money begin to flow again, there will be a backlog of projects ready for marketing 3d models.  Established model shops will be overwhelmed with projects that need good marketing materials. There may be fewer reliable shops available and with demand, prices for 3d models will invariably rise.

For the few people that have the money and commitment now, your marketing model could be in place before the rush at a much reduced cost to you. Your project could be placed in your office, enticing investors, bankers and the general public to join your vision right now.

I am working hard to accommodate tight budgets for the projects we have going on right now and I will continue to work with my clients in order to help you with your projects, as well as keep my talented craftsmen busy and keep Archetype 3D productive throughout these difficult times.

Are your plans ready?

Are you committed to your project?

Do you have some marketing capital?

Call and let us help you beat the development rush!  And, enjoy substantial price reductions, too.

Model building advice can come from some strange corners. I was watching one of my favorite TV shows “Burn Notice” the other night. The show is basically a spy handbook with really cute acting. Jeffrey Donovan plays Michael the hard nosed killer one moment, then switching to the inept dufus with seamless style. The same is true of his love interest Gabrelle Anwar as Fiona. I have learned so much from this show. In fact, when I retire from model making I feel quite qualified to join the CIA. I know how to evade a pursuer depending on the car I’ve stolen and the terrain ahead. I know how to identify and defeat any system of bugs as well as how to compel an asset to give me the information I need without him realizing it.

One of the shows used a product I work with every day. Micheal and Fiona sealed the bad guys into a room using Crazy Glue. They did this very quickly using huge gobs of glue in the door seam. Two things I know about using large amounts of Cynoacrolite adhesive. 1. keep your eyes out of the way because the fumes will sting like hell and 2. It is going to take a long time for the glue to set up unless you kick it off with an accelerator. There are many products available to kick off the glue but they can cause foaming if there is a lot of glue and they can spoil a nice paint job if they drip in the wrong place. What Micheal and Fiona did was use CANNED AIR to set up the glue quickly.

I haven’t proven that this will seal a door against a determined opponent but I have no reason to doubt it since I believe everything I see on TV or the internet.

Craig Martin

Model making is an easy job. We get a set of plans from an architect or designer and we decide on a strategy and we start building until it exists. Assuming you have the skills to build, the knowledge of materials, the ability to visualize the final product and the willingness to experiment to solve problems, anyone can do this. The only real wild card is the designer. Your deadline and his are usually about the same time. You are not going to get your model done before your deadline, why should he? You’re going to find better ways to build the model as you progress and he is going to figure out better design features while you’re building it. Stay on your toes and expect the unexpected and everything will be fine. Here are a couple of fun model examples which experienced some crazy changes along the way

Craig Martin - President - Archetype 3D

Craig Martin – President – Archetype 3D

What if you have skills but nobody wants what you do? This is a great fear right now in many industries. You have skills and tools and expert people who work hard but nobody is interested in your product. The one law that no business can overcome is the law of economics. Last year was a banner year for us and was the right time for our company to move and set up a new shop. I take comfort in the fact that every expert was fooled by this economic down turn so I shouldn’t be upset that I didn’t see it coming. Today my people are busy and we have enough work making 3D architectural display models at this moment. Now is the time to turn Zen Buddhist, live in the moment. Life is good right now, I am breathing, I am living in a cozy home with a beautiful woman. I have a daughter in college studying medical research. Empirically, my life is perfect at this moment. The fact that clients aren’t calling as often and that I have to scrounge every day for work is no different than when I started this company in 1984. The fact that I didn’t have to put out much effort to find work during the last few years was a luxury and was the exception. My anxiety comes from a false vision that things would be easy from here on out. Just when we start to get settled, the universe has a way of stirring the pot. So now I am talking directly to the Universe. “Hey Universe! Would you like a nice architectural 3D model or industrial display piece? How about a model of a satellite to get people interested in what you’re made of? Come on Universe, we have great people, a great location and great skills. I look forward to hearing your reply”

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