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DO anyone know what software LTL architects use?

jlxarchitect

I wonder what kind of software LTL architects using to create their quick, clear and impressive 3D image? It definitely is not 3DMAX. Sketch up? No way.


sEE the image for yourself:
http://www.ltlwork.net/parktower5.html

 
Nov 24, 04 10:49 am
el jeffe

did you send them an email asking?

Nov 24, 04 10:59 am  · 
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alphanumericcha

I certainly don't know - but i will guess sketch-up then photoshop.

or maybe god forbid HAND DRAWN then photoshop.

Nov 24, 04 11:04 am  · 
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design geek-girl

A professor of mine gave a little talk about the value of hand drawing, and if I'm not mistaken, he did mention LTL being one of the firms who still, at least partly, work by hand aka rock it old school.

Nov 24, 04 11:09 am  · 
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chico

From what I understand, the drawings go through multiple phases. Computer model, pencil drawing, ink drawing, and photoshop work. Their first drawings were constructed by hand and inked & photoshopped. Their newer work carries this technique through, but using computer generated models as the first step. The modelling software is probably irrelevant, as most of the models are fairly simple,

Nov 24, 04 12:27 pm  · 
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JG

chico is correct.

Nov 24, 04 12:29 pm  · 
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taboho

ditto chico... i've heard the same and have tried doing similar drawings. It's really not that much more time consuming than simply constructing a hand perspective or a nicely rendered image. I think the key is to use the computer model as a massing model rather than to plot out all the lines.

Nov 24, 04 12:30 pm  · 
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spaghetti

yup! I did this a lot in school:

-use viz or whatever to create the general forms/spaces.
-print a rendering/perspective view
-trace lines/outlines/borders/hatch as necessary by hand, preferably using a straightedge/mayline
-scan into photoshop and alter away

redo process as necesary

Nov 24, 04 12:55 pm  · 
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spaghetti

lewis taught at cornell, by the way, where im from (although im not in architecture)

Nov 24, 04 12:56 pm  · 
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newstreamlinedmodel

For Mark Tsurumaki, architecture is but a sideline to his true profession of NINJA MASTER. He draws that shit by hand. Just sits down and busts it out. I even once saw him do one of those big perspectives with ONE HAND while beating the crap out of a gang of triad thugs with the other.

He usually only uses his skills for self defense and to fight for justice and stuff like that but it does seem to piss him off when punk ass computer fools start speculating about what sort of software he uses to do his drawing so watch your self. When he starts doing that thing with his eye brow just forget about it and run.

Nov 24, 04 1:18 pm  · 
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spaghetti

yes, i agree, they are ninja masters

Nov 24, 04 7:27 pm  · 
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construct

they are done by hand....i talked to them for a delineation class i was in....it passes through all three of them adding things and being scanned into photoshop. if you want to know more in depth, call up and talk to them...they are the ones doing it...not us. :)

Nov 25, 04 12:20 am  · 
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sameolddoctor

i am pretty sure too that its Finaltoon or another cartoon shader...and man, if they do it by hand and then photoshop it - hats off to them!!!

Nov 25, 04 3:30 am  · 
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Jordan Lloyd

Ive studied these drawings since I first saw them about 2 years ago. I'm pretty sure its a CAD image traced over in pencil/ink, then rescanned in, and modified in photoshop. The shading techniques in my opinion are not generic of rendering software packaging Ive looked at.

Must take a considerable amount of time to do it, but they are stunning drawings!

Nov 25, 04 8:42 am  · 
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spaghetti

trust me.. they use hand drawings over cad renderings.

yup time consuming, but they can do it pretty damn fast... i think they have straight edges surgically attatched inside their fingers. also, they can measure angles on sight. they are not humans, but a level above.

Nov 25, 04 11:22 pm  · 
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psycho-mullet

I spoke with them a few years back over dinner after a lecture and at that time they said it was something like:

-Form Z.
-Print.
-Trace by hand.
-Scan.
-Photoshop.

No finaltoon.

Nov 25, 04 11:50 pm  · 
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construct

good...hopefully people are catching on...its by hand....there have been several of us that have talked to them directly about it...its how they do it...they are good at it...don't discredit them by thinking otherwise and hoping its finaltoon....they are better than you at drawing by hand...it is a very interesting/impressive design process that led them to the style of their drawings.

Nov 26, 04 1:32 am  · 
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HAL9000

sketch-up --------- photoshop. period

Nov 28, 04 3:50 am  · 
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construct

why do you not get it? its a simple model....then its traced and detail is added BY HAND...thats how they design their buildings.

Nov 28, 04 4:02 am  · 
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Marc Pittsley

Why do so many people have trouble believing that these drawings could be done largely by hand?

This is a technique that was/is also done at DS+R. I don't know the folks at LTL personally, but at least one of them worked for D+S, and all three partners went to Princeton. Given that much of Diller + Scofidio's work was explored through beautiful, elaborate pencil drafting that showed not only the rendered architectural product but also the process (smudges, construction lines, etc.) by which it was constructed (I'm thinking of the Slow House, their installations from the eighties, the housing project in Japan...), is it so hard to imagine an evolutionary lineage of not only the aesthetics of representation but also of production techniques?

I'm sure this lineage can be traced back even further (to Cooper Union under Hejduk, perhaps), and down other respective branches (other practitioners), but I'm not knowledgeable enough to do so.

This is not at all to denigrate LTL's work by saying that is derivative; I don't believe that at all. On the contrary, I find it incredibly thoughtful and uniquely their own. But, from my perspective, there appears to be a relationship to--and evolution of--what has come before.

Nov 28, 04 10:46 am  · 
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chico

Pamphlet Architecture n 21, Situation Normal...

Pretty much settles any doubt about the hand-craftedness and excellence of their drawings. The opening essay also describes in part the meaning behind their technique and its relevance to their work.

The drawings in Situation Normal all precede the use of computer generated models as a component of the final drawing (which has become part of their more recent drawings).

Nov 28, 04 12:10 pm  · 
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Suture

There is absolutely NO POSSIBLE way that those drawings could have been done by hand! Surely a pencil, paper and creativity are not enough to produce Architecture today.

I even heard that Gaudi had a beta-version of a Darwinian recombinant Maya script. That is what allowed him to shape his forms. The models and drawings were just a ruse to hide his render farm technology from his peers.

and Kiesler also had a hacked copy of Rhino when he made his endless house

and Corbu was the first frenchman to deploy Catia and 3D scanners in the making of his Ronchamp roof.

even the Egygptians had a CNC mill that allowed them to make thier pyramids.

Fear not! with the latest new program, one can put all the above to shame. The latest Form-Z, Maya, Rhino, Catia is a new program that instantly gains entry into the Cannon of Great Architects to those who purchase it. For $3,599 "Hyper Bole V1.0" will be shipped out to you with a free 8"x8"x8" 3-axis full scale laser modeler. Batteries not included. No talent required for assembly and use. Make sure to not be left behind-your past firm probably already has it and so does that student who sits next to you in studio.

so as everyone can see, without the shiny gloss of computers and 3D programs we have nothing. Architects are nothing but the latest version of programing trickery. Just keep tapping on the buttons, make shiny, animate, fracture, fold, script, set techno music in the background, section, add cool SwissBT slanted fonts, overlay and make transparent, add premiere transitions, put in powerpoint...and surely great Architecture will magically just drop out.

A pencil, paper and creativity are not enough!!! They were never enough.

And does anyone know when AutoCad and Microstation will have that "blob-ify" command button???

Nov 28, 04 12:39 pm  · 
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Suture

What i meant to say is:

LTL uses both hand drawing techniques and more recently, the computer as tools in making their impressive renderings. Both techniques can and should co-exist as part of the process of making Architecture.

Nov 28, 04 12:48 pm  · 
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alphanumericcha

The new version of squiggle I hear has that blob sequence. First "fill-up" then "twist" then "suture".

Your previous post at 9:39 was one of the funniest things you have shared with us...

Ps. I thought the Chinese invented Maya not the Spanish, how else do you think they could crank out that swell great wall.

Nov 29, 04 8:48 am  · 
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