by Franco Bazzini

Mr. Bazzini's studio has been working for many years in the elaboration of computerized 3D images.

Project: survey of the facade of St. Joseph's church in Florence, Italy using photos and Interstudio's program DigiCad 3D.

Click the image to view an enlarged version.

I've been specializing in architectural graphics and the impact of architecture on its environment for over six years using Apple computers and specialized software. Beginning with a photo or detailed drawing, we produce perspectives, photorealistic images, and video animation. Then we supperimpose them on photographs of the neighborhood to show the project's impact on its surroundings.

The possibilities now offered by personal computer systems in the CAD sector have given us the ability to study complex 3D models that are not otherwise possible to produce manually without spending a disproportional amount of time and energy. These systems have meant a huge leap forward in solving problems otherwise impossible to solve given the different languages used by software to describe a video image.

There are fundamentally two kinds of images: raster and vectoral. Raster format images are those obtained by a scanner, video camera, or photo CD - a photograph seen on video equal to the original but for all practical purposes useless for obtaining exact geometric information from its contents (such as the distance between two windows on the facade of a building).

The vectoral format is that used by CAD programs to display all the information relative to a project (in this case, it is easy to know the distance between two windows).

The first software programs released for converting raster images to vectoral images only allowed them to be traced over. Recently, however, these two systems have been combined by Interstudio's program DigiCad 3D, allowing a perspective photographic image to be deformed or corrected using certain preset parameters and to be rendered straight on as an elevation.

We used DigiCad 3D for work on the Church of Saint Joseph in Florence, Italy. The project involved the restructuring of the facade using a CAD program. It was particularly difficult because the church was closely surrounded by other buildings which didn't allow us to capture the entire facade in one image - a series of photos was needed.

The photos were taken superimposing the areas captured by about one meter. Once the images were scanned and transfered on screen in DigiCad 3D we were able to begin tracing over the images using the various design tools and zoom functions. The level of precision is of course directly proportional to the quality and dimension of the photo (the larger the photo, the more visible the elements and precise the tracing).

After tracing the necessary elements, we had a series of photos overlayed with intersecting points and lines which made up the perspective elevation, still at this point tied to the underlying photos. To produce a corrected elevation, it was necessary to open a new worksheet and define a reference grid, then mark the real position (in elevation not perspective) of a few points measured on site (for example the overall length of the facade and a couple distances between windows.

All that remained to be done at this point was import the photos and related graphic overlays using the appropriate "attach point" system to link them all together. This automatically corrects the lines drawn previously in perspective to form a perfectly scaled elevation.

We then transfered the entire work done with DigiCad 3D to Domus.Cad for further elaboration of the missing pieces (stones, bricks, fixtures) and plotting.

Interstudio S.r.l. - Piazza Monteoliveto 6/a - 51100 Pistoia, Italy- tel. ++39 0573 99291 - fax.++39 0573 992930

  interstudio@interstudio.net