!!!!!!!!! IMPORTANT TEST REMINDER !!!!!!!!!!!!

HI ALL,


THIS IS TO REMIND YOU THAT THE ARCH1101 TEST WILL CLOSE AT 11:59pm WEDNESDAY JUNE 20TH. 


YOU MUST ACHIEVE 80% TO PASS THE TEST AND TO PASS THE COURSE YOU MUST PASS THE TEST.


WE NOTICE A FEW OF YOU ARE ON 14 OR 15. THIS IS NOT CLOSE ENOUGH, YOU NEED 16 TO GET TO 80%.


JUST SO WE ARE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR, THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS.


CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE ALREADY PASSED.


CHEERS

HARBOUR CRUISE 2012

HI ALL,


THIS LOOKS LIKE IT WILL BE A LOT OF FUN, AND A GREAT WAY TO MEET MORE OF YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS FROM AROUND THE FACULTY.





YOU CAN FIND A LINK TO THE EVENT ON FACEBOOK HERE:


http://www.facebook.com/events/465417983484473/475280895831515/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity


CHEERS

END OF SESSION PARTY

Hi All,


Sorry for the late notice but it was more difficult than expected to organise a venue.


So here are the details;


Date: Thursday 14th of June
Time: From 5pm
Venue: UNSW Roundhouse http://www.unswroundhouse.com/

Happy Hour goes from 5-6pm and in this time Jeremy, Hank and Russell will buy the first 100 students a drink.


As discussed with the Student Reps we thought it would be a great opportunity to get dressed up ... so Gentlemen can wear suits and ties while Ladies can wear ball gowns. Or just your fanciest going out outfits.


(note: this is totally optional, but could be good fun!)


Cheers, see you there ... and good luck with your exam tomorrow morning!


Russell
Jeremy
Hank

EXP3 Due Date: ENGINEERS ONLY!

Hi All,


Following the final Student Rep meeting for the session I can confirm that the due date for EXP3 for students studying Engineering with Architecture, ONLY, is the 25th of June, by 5pm.


This extension is due to timetabling of their exams.


Cheers

Congratulations, William Craft!

Hi All,


Congratulations William, you were first to successfully complete the ARCH1101 test!


19/20 ... well done! The answer to the question you got wrong is in the first lecture.


Cheers


Jeremy and Russell

Excellent work from EXP2

Hi All,


When you get a moment, take a look at the work from these students for EXP2 this year:


http://taidanhlien.blogspot.com.au/


http://jsimagine.blogspot.com.au/


http://www.jeffreychooblog.blogspot.com.au/


http://andrewbest83.blogspot.com.au/


http://3dliu.blogspot.com.au/


It looks like they are all going well in EXP3 also; great work guys!


Cheers

ARCH1101 test

Hi All,


The ARCH1101 Test will go live at 4:00pm, Friday June 1st, and will close at 11:59pm Wednesday June 20th.


The test will be accessible from the ARCH1101 Blackboard Module; under the ARCH1101 Test tab.


Follow this link to sign in to Blackboard: https://lms-blackboard.telt.unsw.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp


A friendly reminder ... you must achieve 80% to pass the test, and you must pass the test to pass the course.


Cheers, and good luck!


Russell and Jeremy

CryENGINE3 supplementary tutorials

Hi All,


In the last post I showed how to move the elevator in a series of steps. Ros Kember shows how to do this in a more sophisticated way on her blog:


 http://arch1101-2012rk.blogspot.com.au/

Ros uses entities called tag points. The advantage of this approach is that once you have the tag points defining the destination of the elevator you can move them around wherever you like and don't need to change anything else.


Another advantage is you don't need to understand the series of numbers you need to add together to make your elevator move to specific points ... you simply move the tag point to that destination.


The key point to take away from this is that sometimes a little bit of extra effort at the start makes everything after that a bit easier.


Ros also shows how to remove the Heads Up Display (HUD, showing the health and mini map, etc) and the Display Info data that usually appears at the top right. This will make your screen captures much cleaner.


Vinh, Jules and Jacky also have tutorials on their blogs; so please make sure you check them out ... and take a look at some of the student work going on at the same time.


Cheers

Flowgraph: MoveEntityTo Daisy Chain

Hi Guys,


This is in response to Bronte's question on the forum. The image of the flowgraph below shows how you can daisy-chain MoveEntityTo nodes to get a sequence of movements.

Cheers

Written Tutorials By ARCH1101 Student Andrew Best

Hi All,


Andrew has very generously offered to share the notes that he took while doing the video tutorials for CryENGINE3. He has included notes for the tutorials I made, and some for the videos by Heder Pinto (from Eat3d).


Great stuff, and well worth a look. You can download the PDF from the brief page for EXP2, here: http://russelllowe.com/arch1101_2012/experiment2/brief/brief_exp2.htm


It's in the section on "Resources For Students".


Thanks Andrew!


Cheers

Voice Recorder left at the Lecture

Hi All,


If you left your voice recorder at the lecture today send me an email, with a description of it, and we'll arrange a time/place for you to pick it up.


Email me from your official student address.


Cheers

Materials in CryENGINE3 tutorial

Hi All,


Take a look at Rosamond Kember's blog ... she's just posted a couple of tutorials on materials in CryENGINE3.


Ros recommends a couple of adjustments in the material settings which are really easy to do and, as you'll see, make a major difference to the quality.


http://arch1101-2012rk.blogspot.com.au/


Cheers

IMPORTANT SETTING FOR USING SKETCHUP AND CryENGINE3

Hi All,


I forgot to say in the tutorial that if you are using Windows 7 you will need to turn your User Account Settings (UAC) down to "Never Notify" to be able to export from SketchUp to CryENGINE3.


This is because Windows 7 doesn't like one program asking another program to do something. The dialogue box says that this isn't recommended ... but driving a car, swimming in the ocean and falling in love are all things that Windows 7 doesn't recommend, so I wouldn't worry about it.


Step 1.


To turn your UAC settings to "Never Notify", type UAC in the start window at the bottom left ... at the top you'll see a "Change User Account Settings" option. Click that.

Step 2. 

Turn the slider down to the bottom.

Step 3.

Restart your computer for the change to take effect. This only has to be done once.


This was probably the most common problem we had last year ... so if your model doesn't show up in the Geometric Entities tab, even after you've pressed "Reload", check this.


Cheers

COORDINATION AND SPACE

HI ALL,

THIS REALLY KICKS IN AT 1:20.

CHEERS

THE BLACK VILLA SAVOY

Hi All,

Following it's reference in last weeks lecture take a look at the Black Villa Savoy on Stephen Peters blog:

http://www.arch1101-2012sp.blogspot.com.au/

Cheers

ASSESSMENTS AND THE BLOG

Hi All,

I mentioned below that I'd write a post to clear up some issues around assessment and the blogs.

Firstly all the assessment details are on the course outline and each experiment briefs.

Here: http://russelllowe.com/arch1101_2012/course_info/course_outline.html

and here: http://russelllowe.com/arch1101_2012/experiment1/brief/brief_exp1.htm

The link to the marking schedule is at the top of each brief page.

Pay special attention to the "Assessable Outputs" component in the "Experiment Outline" section of the brief. These assessable outputs won't change. They are also reflected in the marking schedule.

One question from the Student Reps yesterday was regarding how the Blogs fit into all of this.

All of your submissions are accessed via your blogs; in other words ... your tutors will be marking the work they see on your blogs (you don't hand in your sketchbooks, you scan and upload/link everything to your blog). They'll not only look at the work you've indicated is directly linked to the assessment outputs (the sections, animations of the SketchUp model, etc) they'll also see all the progress and process work that has gone into creating them. While this is not a part of each experiment assessment it does sometimes help to see how you got to where you got to; and it counts towards the 10% participation mark for the course overall.

Uploading everything to your blog as you go along has other advantages too. It serves as a great backup system. If the dog eats your sketchbook it doesn't matter if all the drawings have been uploaded before she does. I met a student last week who's notebook was destroyed by a freak act of nature ... think taxi and huge puddle and you'll get the idea. This stuff does happen; so using your blog as a backup is a sensible thing to do. The blog is also a great way to establish your international reputation ... people from all around the world look at these blogs, why not have all the great architecture, arch computing or engineering firms following your blog before you graduate? Done right it will show them the extents of your talents well beyond what a job interview ever could. Finally ... the whole class benefits from a vibrant and constantly updated blog network. You'll learn an enormous amount from your classmates, so make sure you check out what students in other tutorial groups are doing.

Cheers, feel free to leave a comment if you'd like anything else regarding assessment clarified.





 

FIRST STUDENT REP MEETING FEEDBACK

Hi All,

As you know we had our first student rep meeting yesterday. It was a great discussion with a few issues coming up that we (Me, Jeremy and Hank) think we can resolve to everyone's satisfaction/advantage.

Here is a list of what we talked about, with actions and possible solutions:

1. There was a request for added clarity around the assessment criteria ... especially regarding uploading material to the blogs. My next blog post will be about this issue, so keep an eye out for that.

2. Extra tutorials for the software that we are using and will be using in class. There are a few ways we can help with this one ... I'll approach the Head of Program (Ann Quinlan) and ask if we can pay for some extra tutorials. Another option is to facilitate you guys setting up informal study groups ... in other words, post a sticky on the forum that you can suggest times that you'll be in the computer labs, or on the computing benches on levels one, two and four. I'll go ahead with the forum idea and we'll keep you posted re any extra tutorials.

3. 10-15 minute break during studio. We spoke about how it's difficult to fit in lunch before class and recognised that the 12-6pm session is a long one. I'll send a note to all the tutors asking them to schedule in a 10-15 minute break so you can go away and get coffee, or a bite to eat, at some stage during the tutorial. Also, we'll try and get the lectures finished a little earlier so there will be time before studio to fuel up!

4. Power for laptops. Our facilities management guys have just finished installing a locked box in most of our studios with 8, or so, powerboards in each box. This will give about 40 outlets per studio room. The idea is that you daisy chain them between desks and we pack them away at the end of each studio session ... which is an occupational health and safety requirement. me, Jeremy and Hank have keys for the boxes, and will unlock them all at the start of each class. It's a little different on level one ... down there we have a smaller number of massive powerboards (I think they have 8 outlets each) that we will bring out at the start of each session.

5. One rep asked what drawing apps on iPhones/iPads were the best. I have Adobe ideas on my iPad. Jeremy has Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro for iPad ... which is $4.99 ... so pretty good value. We can't say that these are the best options ... but we are using them, so they can't be that bad.

6. Related to the above; I'll check to see if the Mac store on campus stocks the special pens you use to draw on the iPad (much more accurate/easier than using your finger). I'll report back.

7. The issue of keeping backups came up. I'll mention this in the post about the blogs ... but in addition, both Me and Jeremy save our work as different versions every 15 minutes or so. In other words every 15 minutes I go save as, and save the file as RussellExperiment2v02, then v03, v04, v05, etc, etc. The data can mount up ... but if your file becomes corrupted, or something strange is happening, it's very easy to go back to an earlier version. You can also go back to an earlier version if you find you've reached a dead end with the option you chose from 5 versions ago (just go back 6 versions and head in the other direction). External hard drives are very cheap now days, so make sure you budget for one of those and keep it just for backups.

That's all for now. Keep an eye on this blog to see how some the issues above were resolved ... and if you have anything you'd like us to know, but don't want to bring it up with us directly, talk with your Student Reps ... they are a smart and enthusiastic bunch, so take advantage.

Cheers

Compression and Tension

Hi All,


The post below, by Dallen Chan, gives a nice definition of compression and tension; a topic that came up in the lecture on Stairs.


http://dallen-chan.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/compression-tension.html


Thanks Dallen.


Cheers

SketchUp Curvy Geometry

Hi All,


Have a look at the post below by one of our tutors, Rosamond Kember, on using plugins for SketchUp to create curvy geometry.


http://arch1101-2012rk.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/sketchup.html


Cheers

BEFORE THE FIRST CLASS

STEP 1: CREATE A BLOG AT http://www.blogger.com/

NOTE: USE YOUR OWN NAME TO NAME YOUR BLOG, USE “AWESOME INC.” AS A DEFAULT TEMPLATE…

STEP 2: POST THREE IMAGES
A: YOUR BEST PIECE OF CREATIVE WORK BEFORE COMING TO THIS COURSE, THINK LATERALLY IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE "CONVENTIONAL" ART OR DESIGN WORK
B: AN IMAGE OF A GREAT PIECE OF ARCHITECTURE
C: AN ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH OF SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

STEP 3: WRITE A PARAGRAPH UNDER EACH OF THE IMAGES THAT TELLS US SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT THEM.

STEP 4: FIND AN IMAGE SHOWING A WORK OF ART FROM EACH OF THE ARTISTS BELOW (THEY WILL BE YOUR CLIENTS IN EXPERIMENT 1) AND DESCRIBE IT USING A NOUN, VERB AND ADJECTIVE; SEE BELOW FOR EXAMPLES.

LOUISE BOURGEOIS: NOUN, VERB, ADJECTIVE

AI WEIWEI: NOUN, VERB, ADJECTIVE

STELARC: NOUN, VERB, ADJECTIVE

STEP 5: PURCHASE AN ARTLINE 0.5MM BLACK PEN, AND A SQUARED CAHIER POCKET MOLESKIN NOTEBOOK (YOU CAN GET THESE FROM THE UNSW BOOKSHOP).

STEP 6: IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET AHEAD, DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL GOOGLE SKETCHUP 8

Welcome

Hello All ARCH1101 Students,


This is the course blog for ARCH1101 in 2012, please check back frequently for updates and info regarding the course.


Cheers, Russell Lowe and Jeremy Harkins