Sweet Home 3D: Design a House

Today we will begin exploring features of Sweet Home 3D -- a free 3D home design program which does rendering, animation, etc. The program has an active developer community and a lot of extra models you can download for free.

Sweet Home 3D: http://www.sweethome3d.com
Sweet Home 3D Models: http://www.sweethome3d.com/importModels.jsp

Our goal over the next couple of days is to design a house with at least one bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom.  You are welcome to create additional bedrooms, a family room, a garage, a workshop, or whatever.  Just have fun with it.

When you are finished, take some "photos" (renderings) of different rooms and/or angles to put on your portfolio.

Other web sites with 3D models

The following sites offer also some 3D models at OBJ, DAE, 3DS or LWS formats supported by the furniture import wizard of Sweet Home 3D:

		Google 3D Warehouse (a big choice of models at DAE/Collada format)
		Resources.blogscopia (free well designed models shown also here)
		ArchiBit Generation (various well designed models)
		Flying architecture (various models with regular updates)
		Kinnarps (office furniture)
		Free the models (furniture tested in Sweet Home 3D)
		Kolo (bathroom furniture)
		Creative-3D.net (a lot of importable furniture, but monochrome)
		Klicker (a few chairs and trees)
		Model3D.biz (various models, but a few models can't be imported)
		Baumgarten Enterprises (a few interesting models, generally for industrial purpose)
		3DPlants.com (a lot of plants but without colors, except for the Plant of the month)

OTHER USEFUL DOCUMENTATION:

Create Multi-Story Homes:   http://www.sweethome3d.com/multiLevelHouseGuide.pdf

Creating Sloped Roofs/Ceilings/Etc:   http://www.sweethome3d.com/slopingCeilingGuide.pdf

Plug-Ins & Extentions (Haven't checked yet):    http://www.sweethome3d.com/pluginsUserGuide.pdf


This video tutorial does a pretty good job of showcasing the tools in Sweet Home 3D -- although it's a much earlier version:

Rhino: Begin Room Layout

(You can click any of the images below to enlarge)

We begin this project by placing our floor.  If your room is rectangular (as the example shows) it is pretty easy to plot it out.  I started my room in coordinate 0,0, entered 144" (12 ft.) for the length and 120" (10 ft.) for the width -- and then specified 3" for the floor thickness.

Next I began adding walls by specifying the length, height (I did 96" for 8 foot ceilings), and the wall thickness (I did 3" -- but remember to add to your room length when adding walls)

Next I added the remaining walls.  After you get two connected walls you can simply copy and paste to make new walls.

I remove one wall so I can see into the room easier -- similar to a dollhouse view.  I also add a doorway and window opening by doing a boolean difference.

Next I began adding some details.  In this case, a mattress and box springs (two boxes with filleted edges), and feet for the bed.

I continue adding details by adding "lofted" curtains (2 curves lofted together), a pillow, and a rug in front of the door.  I am also in the process of adding a poster to the wall -- in this case just a box (.25 inches thick) with a texture I will apply next.

I add textures, lights, gloss, transparency, etc for my nearly finished scene.

Homework: Plan a Production Logo

The plan this year is for every student in here to have a fictitious business (which could become an ACTUAL business if you choose).  This could be a photography business, a video editing business, a digital arts, business, etc.  Think about some names that you could call your business -- and think about how that name limits you, identifies you, or advances you.

If I was starting my own photography or video business, I might think about some general names:

• Griffith Enterprises
• Lake County Studios
• AskGriff Productions
• Konocti Industries
• Kelseyville Photography

So looking at those, there are a couple of problems.  First, names like Griffith Enterprises are a little obscure.  If you heard someone say, "I went to Griffith Enterprises" you would have no idea why.  Lake County Studios is a little better, but people aren't really going to know what sort of studios it is -- and it will limit you if you ever want to do work in another county or state.  AskGriff Productions is also too vague.  Konocti Industries is not only too specific, but also -- industries?  Do I manufacture something>  Kelseyville Photography is pretty straightforward, but what if you want to do video?  Web design?  What if someone is in Lakeport or Clearlake and they would rather hire someone from their home town?

When choosing a business name, keep the following tips in mind:

• Choose a name that appeals not only to you but also to the kind of customers you are trying to attract.
• Choose a comforting or familiar name that conjures up pleasant memories so customers respond to your business on an emotional level.
• Don't pick a name that is long or confusing.
• Stay away from cute puns that only you understand.
• Don't use the word “Inc.” after your name unless your company is actually incorporated.
• Ask family or friends if it makes sense -- and then ask them, "Could it be seen as offensive in ANY way?"  (Sometimes these little things will pop up and kill a business)

The other thing to think about when starting a business is what sort of logo would your business have?  Nike has a swoosh.  Disney has a castle with a Disney signature.  Playboy has a rabbit.  What would YOUR business have?

Once you have an idea for a business name, you will need to think about what your logo will look like. Today we will begin planning out a production logo -- a company logo which is shown before a movie, TV show, or video game, or even printed on a letterhead or business card.  Logos are also used to develop company branding.  The Raiders shield, the Nike swoosh, or the Chevron standard.  It becomes the symbol by which a company is identified.

A good logo should be easily recognizable, fairly simple, and be able to be reproduced with limited colors -- including black and white.  When I taught graphic design before, I drew a whiteboard full of logos (see below) which are easily recognizable (or were at the time) and I used only one color -- black.  

Here are some color examples of logos:

Once you have a basic logo in black and white, it's easy to use Photoshop to create a variety of modifications of your logo.  The "Espresso A-Go-Go" logo (below) demonstrates that.

Another example is the NBA logo (below) showing black and white, 2 colors, and 2 colors with an effect.  Note the differences between the heads/ears of the three examples.  Even though they are slightly different, they are still recognizable as the NBA logo.

Your logo should be describable ("It's a big golden M"), effective without color, memorable, and scalable.

Remember, it's okay to keep it simple -- and stick to what works.  This example shows two similar companies and their different approaches to logo design and corporate branding:

I want you to conceive a logo that depicts you, your style, your business, etc.  Begin sketching ideas on paper for now and turn in your paper(s) on Friday.  You might think of something local (i.e. Konocti or Lake) or use your name (i.e. Griffith Enterprises, Griffith Inc., etc.).  Don't over-complicate things or be too literal -- look at all of the most recognizable logos and you will notice that very few demonstrate what the company actually does.  For example, if your company was called Sun Beach Productions you don't have to use a sun shining on a beach.

You may want to try V Entertainment -- or W Creations -- or X Productions -- or Y Enterprises -- or Z Designs.  Something that will allow you to do a variety of different things -- such as graphic design, web design, multimedia, video editing, or whatever.

Still confused about what makes a good logo?  Check out this logo design tips article or from a professional logo designer for some extra information.  

Here's a demonstration of the logo development process:

Finally, I would like you to find some examples of well-designed logos [and poorly designed logos] and bring them in to class.  Check newspapers, junk mail, catalogs, etc.  I will use the examples to showcase the differences.

And speaking of "The Bad" and "The Ugly"... here are some more examples of logo design gone wrong:

You will soon be doing your logo design in Photoshop.  Your logo should be at least 1024x1024 pixels, have a white background, and be ONLY BLACK (at least at this point -- we will add color later).  Here are some examples of black and white logo's [these are for car companies, obviously] to show you that it's possible.

Click Image to Enlarge

A few more well-known logos in black and white:

This was a tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs after his passing:

Finally, here are some examples of student-created logo's:

There are many websites and blogs out there that focus on logos and logo design.  I will list some as I discover them:

http://logodesignerblog.com/

Finally, you might want to consider how your logo or production company name will sound if you ever created one of those fancy animations you see at the beginning of movies or video games.  Here are some examples: 

And here are some more.  Note in the beginning the Disney logo (the castle) was relatively simple in design.  They have now moved to a fully 3D rendered castle with a river in front at the beginning of their movies.

I ran across these applications while researching movie company names:

• http://www.generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=2659
• http://www.generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=210
• http://www.switchplane.com/awesome/business-name-generator/

Also, here is a list of existing film production company names:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_production_companies

Obviously if you're just starting out in photography or web page design or independent movie production, a logo's not a huge deal... but it potentially could be.

Sometimes a logo comes out that is iconic.  Bad Robot made a big name in television and is now doing motion pictures.  The "Bad Robot" doesn't really have anything to do with movies or television or anything else... but it's memorable.

Photoshop: Dieline Package Design / Re-Design

Today we will taking a dieline (a shape that is flat and ready to be folded into a package) and designing [or redesigning] the package.

The example on the left demonstrates how a flat dieline looks.

Note: Some packages may have panels that appear upside-down when flattened [depending on how the folds are made].

Remember to add important elements to your package.  Include nutritional information if you are doing a food package, for example.  The example on the right shows several key pieces for a package.

Once completed, you may want to create the actual package.  Since we are doing a "box" package, you may want to get some card stock [something that will work in your printer] and print your dieline in color.

You will receive extra credit for a completed package design.

Cereal Box Template

 

Remember when you are looking for photographic components (i.e. cereal, bowls, spoon, cartoon animals, or whatever) that you look for large images.  It's much easier to reduce the size of an image without distortion than it is to increase it.  As you have found, expanding an image makes it blurry or grainy.

If you're considering doing a cereal box, think about cereal names:

• ______ Loops
• ______ O's
• ______ Nuggets
• ______ Smacks
• ______ Puffs
• ______ Crunch

Also, consider types of cereal flavors:

• Honey ________
• Sugar _________
• Crunchy ________
• Apple ________
• Spam _______
  

Is your new cereal based on your favorite movie?  Rock band?  TV show?

If you are interested in going the extra mile and trying a fancy cereal box font, check out this tutorial:  http://www.dzyneo.com/sugarpuffs.php

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Also, this image was in the iStock.com "Free Image of the Week" gallery:

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Recently Adobe (the makers of PhotoShop) did a contest asking graphic design students to create an "Adobe Cereal".  Here are some examples of what was created (I don't expect your boxes to be anywhere near this professional!):

You may find additional resources, dieline patterns, etc. on the Internet.  You can do a Google Search for dieline, do an Image Search for dieline pattern, or check out some of the industry websites such as The Dieline (http://www.thedieline.com/).