Virgil Johnson

Because several people have asked...

I will start by saying that the field of visual impact studies is among if not the highest paying business in the world of visualization. And it is expanding.

So how to do you break into it?

Firstly do you have a very strong passion for drawing?
Visual impact studies call for the highest and most precise level of model drawing.
Nothing is ever guess work.
So if you are an artist and draw to make things "look good" this is not the field for you.

Visual impact studies call for a very high disciplined approach. Nothing goes into the model that is not precisely called for and defined and placed. Not a tree. Not a sign. Not the size of letters on the sign.
Everything is within the 1/10,000 of an inch that AutoCAD provides

Lighting. Not enough room here to tell you except to say you have to learn about film colors and finding the color palette in the photo. You need GI of course but nothing random about using it.
You are confined by the photos your work with. (You do not get to change anything because you feel like it.)

Documentation always. Your drawing is accompanied by volumes of documentation. Why you did what you did.
Someone is likely to review your work in an effort to discredit you and your work.
This is part of a legal process and by nature adversarial.

Learning?
Buy every book you can get and read it three times. Constantly study.
Buy all the software you can and buy the good stuff.
Buy the best computer, etc.
Practice practice practice (I am 59 years old and have been drawing a long time and I still take a couple of hundred hours each year to learn and practice new techniques - the learning never stops.)

TEACH! I taught modeling to engineers for years and did thousands of hours of teaching for various companies. You learn a lot and make contacts.
--to break into teaching start with the local (community?) college and set up courses in the continuing (adult)
contact local firms and ask about giving classes - do it cheap and get a reputation
one thing leads to another

...breaking into visual impact studies

Find people who are doing it. Contact engineering and architectural firms. Ask.
Contact attorneys and find who specialized in this field. (You will be surprised how big a field it is.)
Go down to the local (etc.)planning office and get copies of actual studies done.
Attend public hearings where these presentations are made.

Make practice drawings.
Don't spent a lot of time doing great art work - get technical and present something real with documentation
---be sure to include a letter of methodology
(you are not dealing with pretty pictures - you are creating hard nosed reality)
Actually do some simple field work in your own back yard. (I will cover field work a bit in another thread when I answer a camera question.)
NOTE!!! FIELD WORK IS HALF THE CHALLENGE TO VISUAL IMPACT STUDIES. THIS WILL BE THE HARDEST THING TO LEARN!!!!

Those caps above are there with good reason.


Virgil Johnson
Virtually Real, Inc.
Stone Ridge, NY
(845-687-9776)

Ernest Burden

Motivational speaking--written form?

__________________
Ernest Burden III
AcmeDigital
architectural rendering

Virgil Johnson

Yes big chuckle
I guess you could say that.

I got messages and calls from people who were really interested.
And I like to encourage everyone.

I have found great fun and success in this field and wish everyone the same.
I will try to help anyone who would like to do this work.
(and I do it for free!)

virgil

aaron-cds

I want to see if you practice what you preach . Do you have a website? I tried googling virtually real, inc. stone ridge, new york. I didn't find anything.

Are you doing drawings or cg? I'm confused. Show us some 1/10,000 work.

Huh?

__________________
Aaron Coon, Conceptual Design Studio

jackb602

Thanks for your posts. They're really interesting and useful. All of this information could make a great feature article for the site; would you consider writing one?

Also, a specific question. Does lighting need to be accurate for visual impact studies as well? If so, what software do you use for this. I heard somewhere that Radiance was still the only renderer allowable for accurate lighting studies. Is there any truth to this?

Jack

p.s. I couldn't find your site either.

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Built Light

alexg

I am confused here, what is Visual Impact Studies?
Is it like the accurate photomontage thing?

I have modelled precise 1/10,000 unit as in Acad in a number of projects before, and while doing that, I found out there are lots of errors in the dwg, and usually it is not me, but the architect's drawing that needs precision check.
From elevation to section, plan to detail there always a couple of milimeter miss. That is against their own dwg, not yet cross checked with engineering and mechanical.

__________________
Alex G
www.3da.net.au/www.3designarchitect.com

Virgil Johnson

Quickly before I go out the door.
Why would I have a website?
If you are a law firm specializing in environmental impact studies you already know who does what.
In the very unlikely event that you don't you ask your colleagues or planning boards or other experts who already has a track record and has those little books already placed in the public domain.
They are not exactly shopping for pizza in the yellow pages.
If you to find out if Virtually Real, Inc. exists why not just look in the phone book.
The 1/10,000 of an inch comes from as most people who draw know from AutoCAD which at the lowest setting draws to four decimal places.
Brian Smith said somewhere in effect there are some things that ACAD does well and drawing accuracy is one of them
I take advantage of that as much as possible.
I make computer models to create visualizations of how things will look (from certain viewpoints) when built.
The model also contains all the information as to camera placement and intervening and background objects.
These models are often used to negotiate changes in projects to make them more acceptable.
Examples of projects?
Since I just did this for someone yesterday I will use the same.
Many many cell tower projects. Along the NYS Thruway are towers I drew.
More high profile stuff...
The 100 year study of the Tilcon Mine at New City (NY) - just north of NYC.
The proposed Hilton Garden Inn at Rye, NY
The Town of Bedford (NY) water treatment plant.
The Kingston Business Park (NY)
I can give you hundreds - want more?
virgil

Virgil Johnson

Hi Jack,

Lighting is not too critical for some aspects of visual impact.
Often pretty good is good enough since massing and intervening objects are more important.
(I will try to get a posting up about that.)

In some cases it is.

For example.

Often we had to draw cell phone panels to be placed on buildings.
Owners want to know how it will change their buildings.

To get accurate lighting color each viewpoint was photographed first for reference markers and then an actual panel was held to the correct height and azimuth and tilt and photographed.

This panel photo now contained the correct color and lighting and was used as a template to color the model after it is drawn.
Remember that each time of day and each day and each location ( radiosity exists in nature) provides different lighting.
Also each type of film and different film temperatures and each camera (we always use two) provide differences.
By having the actual photograph of the panel we had the photorealism that was needed for this type of impact study.

Make sense?

Want to find Virtually Real? use the phone book others here have

v

Virgil Johnson

Visual impact in a nutshell is taking an existing site photo and creating a photo to show what it will look like changed.
Sometimes this is very photorealistic.
Sometimes not.

You have to remember the goal is to make an accurate presentation as to scale and placement and rotation.
In projects of size the process of drawing and redrawing with attendant changes can go on for months.
This occupies a lot of time and money.

An example.
I drew the model for the proposed Hilton Garden Inn at Rye, NY.
This is a very controversial site. Woodland/wetlant in the middle of a very affluent neighborhood just at the CT line.
The opposition was incredible rich people = lawyers of their own.

It took months of drawing drafts and changes until the presenting attorneys felt confident enough to make the visual impact study at a public hear.
Each change brought in the developer and the banks and the accountants and the engineers and the architects and the surveyors and the visual impact people.
Costly. Wearing.
In the end we produced a building that looked pretty good. We ran out of time for more "pretty" work before the meeting and the developer was running out of patience and money.

The accurate drawing was not so much in the structure itself but in the changes.
Again were the cameras right.
Was the building located correctly.
What was the actual size of the new berm.
The tree and shrubs to be planted were place where? and how big?
Changes to the road and where is the sign now?
All these changes are now written in stone once accepted by a planning board and must be adhered to.

We could not control the drawing for the building.
But we could control our drawing.

Hope this answers your question.

virgil

quizzy

Heya Virgil,

I think Aaron just would like to see (as in images) what is different about your aproach and the aproach of many on this forum. Could you maybe show us some differences between visual impact and non-visual impact studies??

__________________
Michiel Quist

http://www.3idee.nl