The Symetry of Rendleman

One thing that's going to make Rendleman easier to render in 3D is its symmetrical design. The windows are going to be my unit of measurement because they're uniform. For example, the front of the building has three sections: the east wing has 18 windows, the west has 12, and the middle has 22. The facade has 12 large windows, but they're actually, twice the width of the normal windows, and the windows on the far left and right are actually 1 Rendleman window unit wide. This seemingly even number of windows is actually an odd number (11 large windows), but in order to place the doors in the middle in a symmetrical fashion, they split the 11th large window into two.
Additionally, we can deduce that the doors' width are two-thirds an RWU, and from the pictures, they're uniform around the building. The door height is equal to the height of the window above them, but the top row of the large windows have a different height: the same height as an RWU. Also observe that these large windows are squares, so 2 times the RWU width equals its height. I could be wrong about this seeing how if each RWU employs the Golden Rectangle (the ratio of height and width would equal 1.618:1), then each "square" would have a width of 2 RWU and a height of 1.68 RWU. But I just don't see that the height is .32 units shorter than the width: You would need three window widths to nearly equal the height if the Golden Rectangle was used (3:3.236). It makes sense architecturally/aesthetically to employ the Golden Rectangle (and the largest windows in the front may just be Golden Rectangles). But it doesn't work...the scheme of this building seem to be of 1:2 and not 1:1.68.
Style: I need my brain to cool down after that last bit. So, I'll make a note on style. Luckily, I'm familiar with Frank Lloyd Wright, and I can't help but see his Praire Style utilized in this building. Horizontal lines are emphasized over the vertical lines giving it a closer to the ground look: it basically matches the flat field in front of it. Although the materials are much more utilitarian and minimalistic than an earthier Wright building. Neo-Praire style?

The Challenge of Rendering Rendleman Hall

Yikes, has this been a challenge seeing how a) my car broke down b) there are very few decent pictures of Rendleman if you google it, c) I've been working late to get to get ready for the new Bodyworlds 3 exhibit at the Science Center (well, it's a convergence of projects). And so, like today, there wasn't enough light out when I left work. But, I do have enough to get something done.

I need to figure a couple things out:
a) I'm thinking that tonight, I'm going to do a rough sketch of Rendleman Hall in Google Sketch-Up (unfortunately, you can't import Sketch-Ups in to SL). But, this will give me a reference in which to work from. I should be getting a second monitor soon so that I can have both SL and Sketch-Up open at the same time (or at least jpg's of my sketches).
b) Scale is an issue as it relates to visual proportions. I don't need to get Rendleman Hall down to the last inch, but the idea is for SIUE SL users to visually get "it." Making sure I get the textures and look are important. At the same time, I want to make sure it's roomy enough for when people add things to it....
c) Rendleman Hall in SL will basically be an empty shell. (A thought just occurred to me, how far can you dig down in SL? It would be great to be able to do more with that space than within the traditional dimensions of the real life Rendleman Hall....) I want to make sure it's high enough and that the doors work (just something I want). I think the entrance is going to be the big challenge with it's transparent textures, geometry, and most of all, it's the most visually recognizable part of the building.

Update: 12:45 AM Here are the sketchups of Rendleman....not bad, seeing how I used a campus map pdf file that showed the outline of the building and three lo-res (200x100 at best) pictures:

Second-Life and Getting Acclamated

I've been toiling around Second-Life for the last three weeks (although I've visited SL several times over the last year on whims), and I'm very disoriented. It's not hard to get around. I walk, fly, or teleport to new places. If I need help, there are friendly people who will give me a hand (and I've had encounters with some people who wanted to get too friendly...). I don't think the graphics are great, but they're not bad either. But, I'm still feeling out of sorts, and I think I know why: my other experiences with MMRPGs'.

The biggest MMRPG I played was Star Wars Galaxies, and as far as MMRPGs go, it had a relatively high learning curve (this was before it was dumbed down after the new combat system was introduced and apparently, it was dumbed down even more with fewer character classes, but I digress). However, there were several control differences with SWG: the mouse had more character control than in SL. In SL, you have a mouse cursor and your character kinda follows it. In SWG, the mouse could really whip you point of view around. Oh, and flying wasn't much of an option either (I need to remap the flying keys in SL so that they make more sense).

The control scheme of SL is minor compared to its lack of spatial and experiential organization. True, SL's chaos can be a good thing because it's entirely user driven. There are some truly unique and far out environments in SL. In SWG, on the other hand, the worlds made sense in terms of city and planet layout (SWG had mutliple planets: Tatooine, FTW!). Cities were organized in such a way so that you could follow visual way points to a destination (from signs to roads to a really good HUD map system). Granted, SWG made sense to those who were fans of Star Wars, too. In SL, you're lucky if a square kilometer or even little plot of land has some sort of visual or organizational continuity (there are some, but not many). Plus, in SWG, your experience had some organization to it: were you an Alliance or Imperial supporter? What class was your character? How do you level up your character? This is missing from SL for good reason: it's the ultimate digital sandbox. I find it disorienting, but give me time, and I'll figure it out.