More From GarageMahals.....

So far, 2011 has been one of the better years for GarageMahals, LLC – a company owned and operated by Michael Rhodig in Phoenix, Arizona.  As many of you know, Lone Wolf Drafting and Design has done extensive work with GarageMahals over the past few years.  Michael typically designs the garages and provides sketches that I turn into 3D renderings.  So far, we have worked on a couple of garages this year.  The first garage, designed to hold a private collection of Ferraris, is shown below (note differences in artwork and cabinet colors in some of the images; the renderings provided allowed Michael the ability to show his client different detail options that were available):

Layout showing artwork and blue cabinet system to the left

Looking across the garage.

Note the garage door graphic on the right.

Same angle as above, note the different door graphic (and yes, it is supposed to upside down)

Another view showing blue cabinets.

Same view as above showing silver cabinets and alternate door graphic.

Same view as above 2 images with different door graphic.

After this design was completed, Michael wanted to present a design that featured a unifying chrome band that ran around the perimeter of the garage.

Option with chrome banding.

Another view with chrome banding.

Finally, Michael came up with an additional detail for the client’s consideration – a perforated panel in the corners of the garage.

Perforated corner panel detail.

Another garage developed by GarageMahals centered around a unique graphic on the back of the garage doors.  Michael wanted to create the illusion that the actual garage extended beyond the garage doors by creating a realistic looking pseudo garage.  Therefore, I had to model and render to separate garage for this project – a fake garage that would be used to illustrate Micheal's door idea and the actual garage that would be constructed for the client.  The creation of the fake garage posed a unique challenge, as I had to imagine where the owner would be standing in his garage to create the proper perspective so it would look real when the observer was looking at the doors. After determining the correct position, I had to take a snapshot from that location.

Left door graphic

Right door graphic.

From there, the rest of the garage was fairly easy – a nice wainscoting system, metallic walls and custom columns between the garage doors.

This was the original wainscoting system.

Alternate wainscoting panels.

Looking at the doors from the center of the garage.

Same view as above with black and white doors.

Back of the garage.

Looking across the garage.

 

Most recently, Michael had the opportunity to step outside of his usual role as a garage designer, and was given the chance to create an entry way for a private, in home movie theater.  Michael presented a couple of different options, one using a metallic wall covering with a two tone option, and a second design using a interesting dimpled material.  The results for both designs were quite stunning:

View of the theater doors with 2 tone walls.

Crystal lighting and ceiling design.

Red carpet strip with Oscar Statues.

Oscar Statue.

Theater entry with dimpled material.

Oscar with dimpled material behind.

 As we were developing this concept, Michael felt that the reflectivity of the dimpled material was not being illustrated quite right.  The problem was that the material was so reflective that it was hard to determine how this much of the material would react in such a small space, especially because I was using such a small sample to base the image off of.  Therefore, I created 3 images of the same shot with different reflectivity values for the wall material so Michael could determine which image best showed the material in the most realistic manner.

The least amount of reflectivity.

A little more....

The highest amount (anything more would have been to mirror-like).

We hope the rest of 2011 will continue to be as profitable and interesting as the first quarter.  Thanks for reading!

Jade Phoenix and Mega Tokyo 2041

Hello all – This is just a quick a follow up to the original Jade Phoenix and Mega Tokyo post.  Here is the Hugh Geit Research and Development Facility at night.  Thanks for stopping by!

For more information on this project, please follow these links:

http://jp-studios.com/news.php

www.lonewolfdrafting.com

http://www.indiedb.com/company/jade-phoenix

http://www.indiedb.com/members/lonewolf1211

The facility from above.

Central atrium.

Central atrium with bridge and elevator cores.

Front view.

Side view.

Rear view.

Jade Phoenix and Mega Toyko 2041

Hello all – I have been away for awhile working on some very exciting projects.  First off, I will be adding a couple of new garages and a layout for a private, in home theater lobby.  I have also been working on a new dining concept and most recently, a new video game concept.

A while back, I was working on a video game concept for a group called “Always Beyond”. I really enjoyed working on the concept art work, but unfortunately, do to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, the project has been put on hiatus. 

Always Beyond: The Pavilion

Always Beyond: The Cathedral Hanger

Always Beyond: The Tower

So, after that news was relayed to me, I got back to work doing my usual stuff – images for clients and promo work for my portfolio.  Then, out of nowhere, I got a call from Steven Lundberg, a gentleman that had contacted me a few times through my page on DeviantArt.com.  Every now and again I would see a post telling me that he liked a particular image that I had created, and we spoke through messages on a few occasions.  But this time, he actually called me, on the phone – which was a bit of a surprise, to say the least.  He called to invite me to work with his team, Jade Phoenix, who is currently developing a new video game based on some classic Anime TV shows, such as AD Police and Bubblegum Crisis.

 

Who? What?  Yeah, that’s what I said.  I love the Sci-Fi genre, but I have always leaned more toward the Blade Runner, Firefly and Star Trek side of the Sci-Fi spectrum.  I have a few friends that really got into the Anime scene, but I just never got into it, so I was a little baffled as to why Mr. Lundberg would want my help…with anything.  Apparently, Steve liked my design style and wanted me to bring some of architectural expertise and graphic vision into his project, and I said okay.  So, after getting a crash course in Anime, watching a few episodes of AD Police as well as researching some of the other shows mentioned, I got to work on the “test building” – a simple u-shaped structure that didn’t have all that much to it.  There was a basic blueprint in the “Bubblegum Crisis” handbook that had the layout for me to use as a guide. 

The basic layout concept of what would become the Hugh Geit R+D Facility.

Steve wanted to see it more of a doughnut shape with an atrium in the middle, and that was it – after that, I was on my own to create.   So, off I started coming up with a basic geometry – continue scrolling to see the black and white model evolution.

The under-roof supports.

The environment.

The roof shield from above.

The roof shield from below with additional supports.

At this point, the building started to get a bit more complex, and after sending these latter images to Steve, the building was given a name: The Hugh Giet Research and Development Facility.

HG R+D from above.

The front of the facility.

The inner lobby with elevated decks.

The central atrium with lateral bridge and elevator cores.

Back end of the building showing the roof and truss system.

The landing pad for VTOL aircraft.

The landing pad with a VTOL aircraft from above.

The front of the VTOL aircraft on the pad.

At this point, Steve started sharing images with his colleagues and as well as www.indiedb.com – an independent gamer/ developer site, as well as on the Jade Phoenix blog and website: http://megatokyo2041.wordpress.com  and http://jp-studios.com.

Over the past couple of days, I have been rendering the model in daylight conditions.  I plan to render them in nighttime conditions at well.  Here are some facts about this model:

- Modeled in Google SketchUp Pro.

- Rendered in Artlantis Rendering Engine v 1.1.

- Contains over 1100 individual points of light.

- Has a file size of 800 megabytes (and continues to grow as more items are tweaked and added).

- The trees alone account for 300 megabytes of information.

- Building footprint is approximately 20,000 square feet, and the roof shield stretches out to approximately 100,000 square feet.

- The Hugh Geit building has multiple elevated walkways and 4 exterior elevator cores.

I will share more images and designs as they are created - thanks for reading!