If you want to see what innovation looks like, just look at the computer games industry. With the advancement of real-time interactive 3D graphics engines, low-cost, high-powered computer graphics hardware, and new types of input devices, the video game industry is transforming the way others are using these technologies. As a result, new trends and solutions are now being adopted by businesses and organizations outside of the gaming industry to streamline the understanding of complex projects and information and better the overall ability to make faster, more informed decisions. This class will give you a bird’s eye view of how others in government, military, and corporate businesses sectors are adopting trends and making use of technologies from the video game industry to create solutions that would otherwise not be possible with traditional industry tools.

In this class, students will learn how to use Revit software, the Live add-in, and Stingray game engine to create high-quality, interactive visualizations from 3D models. First, you will learn how to use the Live add-in to convert 3D Revit models to the game engine, Stingray. Once in Stingray engine, you will learn how to create immersive environments for your clients. In these environments, owners can explore, interact, and even edit their own projects. They can choose from various design options and view the costs associated with them. Students will learn a workflow that is simple, repeatable, and teachable, even for those unfamiliar with video games or programming. The benefits of using gaming in construction include increasing owner involvement, reducing the time and effort it takes to produce an attractive proposal, and facilitating bidding on smaller projects with a quality offering only affordable by larger projects today. Visualizations through Stingray game engine ultimately lead to winning more work. This session features Autodesk Stingray and Revit. AIA Approved

What would school look like if it played like a video game? Faculty at Boise State University created an experimental game-based learning management system and have been conducting and researching classes built on the principles of quest-based learning (QBL) using experiences points, badges, achievements, leveling, and student choice. The presentation demonstrates tools, pedagogy, and results of more than 2 years of design-based research into student success and satisfaction in QBL.

This class will walk you through how to prepare and deploy your Inventor/Fusion 360 3D models into a bespoke application for the HTC Vive and the Microsoft HoloLens. Creating interactions on the Vive and the HoloLens is more like video-game development than engineering, and that can be a tough barrier to cross for those who don't have a computer science background. You will leave this class with a basic understanding of how to create and deploy what is essentially a really boring video game that lets you walk around your Inventor/Fusion 360 3D models as if they were really there. We'll also cover how to optimize your designs in 3ds Max software for maximum performance, and we'll cover some of the limitations of the hardware. If you've ever wanted to see a full-scale 3D rendering of your designs that you can walk around and mark up, then this is the class for you.

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You’ve no doubt seen great training videos and course guides that made learning seem easy. Well it’s time for you to create these types of resources yourself—but where do you start? What kind of hardware, software, sound equipment, scripts, and cameras do you need to become your own video/training producer? In this class, we will answer these questions while passing along effective practices for using Camtasia software as our editing tool of choice. We will show you how to set up a video-capture environment and produce output for computers, Apple iPads, and television. We will cover storyboarding, audio/video capturing, using voice recognition, captioning, and basic voice-over editing. We will also discuss some techniques you can use to refine your training using video drafting to evaluate your technique, voice, and pacing. If you’ve wanted to start making your own training videos but weren't sure how to do it, this class will give you everything you need to get started.

Anthony Jones is one of the most sought-after artists, having done visuals for Hasbro, Inc., Magic: The Gathering, and God of War®. In college, he pursued his two greatest passions, film and video games. He became a programmer before discovering his love for concept art. He currently also teaches at the Otis College of Art and Design and at Red Engine Studios in Los Angeles, CA. In this class, Anthony Jones will break down his methods and thoughts when approaches a new design. He will discuss how important it is to have a solid foundation for your concept. He will also talk about how he has had success with past projects and what influences him to make the decisions.

Whether we use a pencil or the latest technology, as digital artists we still need to develop creative to give our clients an advantage over the competition. Clients sell the same product to the same clientele—how do we help them differentiate? We have technology converging in many ways (architectural visualization, video games, real time)—how do we find the best way to make use of this convergence? Ultimately, as a creative agency or architectural visualization firm, we need to look for ways to show off products and environments that are visually more compelling so that they become the catalyst of this differentiation. Products such as 3ds Max software, Maya software, NVIDIA mental ray software, Revit software, AutoCAD software, and new emerging real-time technologies like Showcase software help with this problem, but that’s just the beginning. In this roundtable we will talk about why we follow these trends and where these new technologies will bring us. Is it all a fad? Will we find a real practical use other than entertainment? Will our clients end up showing us the way?

Today clients expect to be "wowed." This means that you as a designer need to find ways to do more with your work and help your audience or clients better understand your designs and intentions. Generating compelling, interactive 3D in presentations is a way to really engage and help clients and stakeholders visualize spaces and designs, and in turn help you win more work. We'll use real-life project examples to show you how to effectively integrate a workflow that takes advantage of your existing Autodesk® Revit or AutoCAD® Civil 3D® software models to create an interactive walkthrough that is as easy and smooth to navigate as a modern video game and can be used for client, real estate, or town board presentations. We will discuss some of the challenges that designers may encounter when getting started, but how ultimately, anyone can take advantage of technology to produce professional presentations that can help build more business. Learn about available options for gaming engines to get the most value from your project intelligent models.

In this class, we will demonstrate the differences and similarities between rigging for games and rigging for film. We will cover the challenges associated with each area and what can be done to overcome such challenges.

Game engines are known for their innovative graphics and physics. That would make it seem like game engines are only beneficial to architects. This is just not the case. Game engines provide a wide range of benefits to engineering firms, and this class will explain how to get started using them in a way that is easy, fun, and affordable. Game engines could be used to help QA/QC a project, or to help visualize engineering analysis 3D models, or for real-time interactivity using virtual reality (VR), or even as an interactive game that shows construction sequencing animations, and much, much more. The possibilities are endless. Game engines are fun to use, so it’s time to use them in your engineering firm!

You've heard the stories of humble startups who create a hit game that brings them fame and fortune. Although many of your students will sign on with larger companies when they graduate, some of them will go off and create amazing work on their own or with small teams. Learn how you can incorporate the entrepreneurial spirit and skills in your curriculum and help your students be prepared for whatever path they choose.

In this intermediary class I will discuss the theory behind my workflow for shading and texturing environments, props, and characters. These techniques can be used to texture any high-resolution object, whether for visual effects, animated films, video game cinematics, or even architectural work. We will discuss shaders, as well as available methods for applying textures to your models. We will also cover pattern creation methods, from procedurals to hand-painted textures to photo manipulation. We will focus on how to efficiently shade thousands of individual objects without having to spend a lot of time UV shading everything (although we will touch on UV shading). Many of the examples will use 3ds Max software, Mudbox software, Chaos Group's V-Ray rendering engine, and Adobe Photoshop—but you can apply the principals discussed to the 3D app, paint application, and renderer of your choice.

Games and applications, especially those on continually evolving mobile devices, now occupy an increasing percentage of a student's day. At the same time, performance in math and engineering for that same demographic is dwindling at an alarming rate. To compete in the future and secure promising opportunities, the latter (but not necessarily the former) must change. This class will offer ways to increase class engagement while using—and building—the types of games and applications almost certainly found in nearly every student's pocket.

In this intermediary class I will build upon the theory presented in my class, Shading And Texturing Workflow, with a practical example that involves shading and texturing a high-resolution photoreal robot. The techniques presented can be used to texture any high-resolution hard-surface object, whether for visual effects, animated films, video game cinematics, or even architectural work. We will focus on how to efficiently shade thousands of individual objects without having to spend a lot of time UV shading everything. Blended box maps, projection paint, curvature maps, occlusion maps, and the building of a library of materials are just some of the topic that we will cover. I will use 3ds Max software, Chaos Group's V-Ray rendering engine, and Adobe Photoshop for this example, but you can apply the principals discussed to the 3D app, paint application, and renderer of your choice.

At Eidos-Montreal, the art team is passionate about architecture and it shows in our games.  Deus: Ex: Mankind Divided features some of the richest environments eaver built in a video game.  In this talk, you are invited to take a peek behind the curtain.

Hubert Corriveau, Environment Director will explain the process by which Eidos-Montreal typically builds an environment using Autodesk 3ds Max. He will dive into the details such as the challenge of designing an extremely dense, narrative driven and gameplay-heavy environment while trying to stay as close as possible to real-life architectural constraints. He will also approach how to deconstruct an environment into lightweight visual modules to be able to polish them by adding unique visual elements: clutter, decals and more. How to then re-organize the modules into large, memory-intensive environments, and finally the limits of current real-time technologies and their workaround.

 

In this intermediary class I will show practical examples of my workflow for producing concept art. My workflow combines both 2D painting and 3D rendering to produce the most detailed images possible in the shortest amount of time. I have split up my image-making process into 20 stages, starting with rough 2D sketches and photobashing. I then move on to rough 3D and then a more detailed 3D stage, followed by a final 2D stage of painting tiny details and compositing the final image. Whether or not you're a concept artist for visual effects, animated films, or video games, you'll gain insight into techniques that can help your own process. We will primarily use Adobe Photoshop, 3ds Max software, Chaos Group's V-Ray rendering engine, and Red Giant Software's Magic Bullet—but you can apply the principals discussed to the software of your choice.

3D models help us to create better-quality products, but also help us to visualize our designs in various ways: 3D images, videos, games, 360 panoramas, virtual tours, augmented reality, virtual reality, and so on. All these are digital and are able to reach a big audience. Sometimes we need to step out of this digital world and go back to the basics! Brick Reality is a partly 3D printed and partly Lego build of a 3D road design. This class will show you how an InfraWorks model was made and turned into visualizations and a 3D-printed/Lego model.

3ds Max software is a mature, 3D digital content-creation package. It is widely used in the video game industry by numerous TV and VFX studios, and it’s a standard in design and architectural visualization. It’s the perfect outlet to let you explore and express your creativity and design intent. In this session, we’ll first explore best practices for importing design data into 3ds Max. Next, we’ll take a look at workflows for embellishing, adding details, and bringing your designs to life. Finally, we’ll use the flexibility of 3ds Max software’s powerful artist tools to achieve a look and feel that is truly your own. Take the lead, convey your vision, and tell your story with 3ds Max!

3ds Max software is a mature 3D digital content creation package, widely used in the video game industry and by numerous television and visual effects studios. And it is a standard in design and architectural visualization. With the recent addition and democratization of the Arnold renderer, creating stunning imagery and video has never been more accessible. Arnold now brings the visual quality of Hollywood blockbuster movies back home to 3ds Max. In this session, you’ll learn how to import any CAD models in 3ds Max. Then, we’ll show how to create and edit shaders and build realistic lighting setup in an interactive environment. Next, we’ll see how to capitalize on out-of-the-box features to bring your designs to life, such as 3ds Max Fluids to simulate physically accurate liquids and nCloth to generate realistic fabric type objects. Last, we’ll look at flexible techniques for final project delivery. You might also have a chance to see what's coming next! Take your viz game to the next level with Arnold and 3ds Max. Brute force for all!

3ds Max software is a mature 3D digital content creation package widely used in the video game industry, at numerous television and visual effects studios, and as a standard in design and architectural visualization. With the recent addition of the Arnold renderer, creating stunning imagery and video has never been more accessible. Arnold now brings the visual quality of the Hollywood blockbuster movie back home to 3ds Max. In this session, we’ll explore techniques and workflows for bringing your Revit projects to life. First, we will see how to go from Revit software to Arnold in just a few minutes. Next, we’ll use tools such as Civil View, Populate, and Pflow to help tell a story. Then we’ll take a look at the brand-new Fluid system in 3ds Max that can create stunning water features in no time. And lastly, we’ll dive into some compositing workflows using Arnold AOVs. You might also have a chance to see what's coming next! Take your visualization game to the next level with Arnold and 3ds Max. Brute force for all!