Tomorrow Challenge 2018 entry by User-35204214

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From the start I thought about making the material in a non-procedural way, so that I could capture the main characteristics of the building. I separated every piece of the geometry of the corten exterior, I divided them in a similar way taking into account the picture references. It was a challenge remodeling some parts of the building according to the plans so that it could be closer to reality, this included remodeling the structure distribution, the window frames, the glass for the windows and some inner walls that will be seen in the final frame. The next thing I did was to organize the pieces so that they wouldn’t look perfectly straight and lined up, for doing this inside 3DMAX I applied a noise modifier to each one of the pieces that I already had separated, that created the discrepancy between the pieces. I also applied a chamfer modifier with a small size in the piece so that the edges acquired some reflection.

Using the photographic references and the painting in photoshop, I painted, adjusted the color and the value of each one of the 40 panels approximately. When solving each one of the layers of the material, the diffuse layer, the reflectance base that is one of the most important and that showed values in the areas with more reflection of 0,2 in an approximate reflection index of the steel in outdoor conditions just like in the pictures. In its areas with less reflection and that are rusted the values were of 0,036 in a linear space. After solving the exact point of how much glossiness the material had, the values were of 0,4. Then, I painted many of the blended textures to create relief (BUMP). It was a big challenge painting all of this by using photoshop.

One of the main reasons I invested a lot of time in the material is because if you understand the material, you understand that under different light conditions it changes, its color changes and its reflections. Understanding the material gives you the possibility to illuminate without having to fake. Having a comprehension of the steel and reproduce it was a big challenge. Technically, the corten is a mixture of two materials. First, it is a steel that is a conductive, so its base reflectance is higher than a dielectric. In a second place, the rust that is a superficial layer in the material that protects it from the inner corrosion. Components like copper, chromium and nickel are the reason for its reddish color, which it can change its tonality according to how strong or weak is the rusting.

When finishing the material, I did some testing in different light conditions to verify that it would accomplish its initial purpose of being able to recreate a physically correct material that looked natural.

Tomorrow Challenge 2018 entry by User-41475373

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The main goal of the concept was to capture the building early in
the morning while it is “waking up”. Everything and everyone else is
still asleep. Some of the students are already in, while others are
just arriving. I believe that this scenario gives the opportunity for the
building to stand out and really catch the viewer’s eye. Surroundings
remain complementary and in contrast to the subject. Fog and vignette
are adding more depth and better pronunciation of the background,
middleground and foreground. Wet surfaces, puddles and reflections
are adding more drama to the scene. Overall I was trying to keep it rather natural and realistic, but with emphasis on art and story behind it.

Sofware used in this project was 3ds Max (modeling, texturing),
Vray (shading, lighting, rendering), Adobe Photoshop (textures,
postproduction). Resources worth mentioning were Evermotion.org
(3d assets, textures), Textures.com (textures), 3dwarehouse.com (3d
assets), mrcutout.com (cut out people), Pinterest and Google helped
with inspiration.

I hope you enjoy the image at least half as much as I enjoyed making it 🙂

Tomorrow Challenge 2018 entry by User-15411327

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I subscribe to Materia.nl Newsletter. When I researched the materials used on this Building I noted the colour range and weathering the material goes through over a period of 20 years. I have also attached images of various render outputs, that I use when compositing in Photoshop.

In the Image with the Markings, you can see that I have done a lot of deliberate lighting and object placement, I have lit up 3 windows on the right building to create a visual arrow, and again on the left to create a visual arrow, the three yellow circles, you can see where I have deliberately modelled triangular faces to lead the eye around the building, and finally the Swedish Flag colours have been used with predominantly darker blues on the base, and lighter yellows on the top of the building to further lead the eye across the building. I have not focused on the interior of the building, and am trying to establish a juxtaposition between old Sweden and New Sweden.

Tomorrow Challenge 2018 entry by User-48094309

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My process is to first imagine one’s
narrative while inhabiting a space.
I observe materiality, character or space, location, program, and activity levels. Then I project unique perspectives from imagined characters that potentially would inhabit the space. What qualities the space has and what sort of mood an image should project are informed through this imagined walkabout.
Next I dig in to how someone might directly interact with the space and create a scene setting narrative. In this case is the character an architecture student walking to class carrying modeling supplies, or something a bit more intriguing? What time of day will daylight accentuate architectural tectonics, or project a certain mood? What is the weather? How might that interaction change or shape the experience a visitor has of the place?
For this challenge image I decided to explore though the eyes of a crew of friends visiting one evening to collect and experience urban snowboard footage.
This narrative informed me about nature of the activity for the image. An urban snowboarding photo shoot, the rider would be either directly interacting with the building or using the handrail as a less direct assault on the architecture. The activity would need to take place at night. One hundred percent artificial and controlled lighting. What color of lighting would best accent not only the snowboarder but play with the architecture to give the shot a heightened level of dramatics? I played around with blues, greens, and purples but a saturated pink fill light gave the scene a carnival atmosphere and complimented the warmth of the corten facade. The use of three spotlights positioned in a way that the snowboarder’s path would be illuminated and defined from approach, to maneuver, to landing. The spot lights being positioned accented the steel window frames that give this facade depth.
I enjoying poking at architecture and visualizations in this way. Drawing from my own experiences and projecting imagined ones onto a built or natural environment to better understand a place or a space. I grew up snowboarding in the mountains and foothills of Utah in the American West. My friends and I would always be looking for places to jump off of and park benches to slide on. This project has been a fantastic exercise of really examining the mechanics of a photo shoot set within a beautiful architectural setting. How people interact and shape the architecture, as unexpected as that may be, is where I think architecture gets its’ value. By thinking through the eyes of a person visiting or experiencing the space I can begin to create atmospheres and narratives that will then inform design decisions and create more compelling visuals. Images that when viewed display an atmosphere and give a viewer a feeling of what it means to be in the scene.
I had difficulties with the snow, getting it modeled and displayed took a few iterations. I had never attempted that before, but with the help of the internet I came to a solution. In addition the lighting and activity within the building kept presenting problems. Too much light and my eye was drawn away from the action. Too little and the composition suffered.
If I was to redo this project, I would focus on the detailed modeling of props, form a better understanding of where and how snow would stack up in a storm event, and perhaps include some activity within the building. Even if it was just a lone cleaning person going about their work as the action unfolded outside. It seems like every project is never truely finished. There is alway room for tweaks, and having presented and discussed this image with friends there are a range of suggestions or opinions about how to better represent my wishes. Reaching out to others was a great way to zoom out and refocus on elements I had missed. Working in a collaborative enviroment on a project like this would be fascinating and I imagine the final product would be much stronger with an office of minds and talent collaborating on a direction.
Thank you for the opportunity Tomorrow, and to Ronen Beckerman for really making this project visible. It has been a great process for personal growth and brought up some new and exciting problems to be solved. I hope that I might be able to bring my experience, passion to work and learn alongside the team at Tomorrow on many future projects.

Warm regards,
E.

Tomorrow Challenge 2018 entry by User-41635684

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*This image was slightly corrected in the original image.*

I upload my final work once again on the last day of the Tomorrow Challenge.
It is a day of moist, soft blue nights. Various and sophisticated night view images were variously referenced.
Since then, it was the most important part of this image to unravel my feelings.
In this image I tried to avoid too gorgeous or too exaggerated directing and filled with a soft yet strong dark blue tone.
I hope that people who see the image feel the soft and moist air.
Expecting good results.