Visualisations of Parthenon

All of this post was done from 1st to 5th February  2011, rendered in AutoCad 2008

Rendered Parthenon's video with these configurations:

• Length: 25 seconds
• Resolution: 320 x 240
• Frames per second: 29
• Size: 14,6 MB
• Type: AVI video format
• Rendering time: 52 hours 23 minutes

   The main topics of this post is Parthenon, rendering and AutoCad :

• The Parthenon is a temple in the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their protector. Its construction began in 447 BC and was completed in 438 BC, although decorations of the Parthenon continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece and of Athenian democracy and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments.
• Rendering is the process of generating an image from a model (or models in what collectively could be called a scene file), by means of computer programs. A scene file contains objects in a strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene. The data contained in the scene file is then passed to a rendering program to be processed and output to a digital image or raster graphics image file.With the increasing sophistication of computer graphics about 1970s onward, the term “rendering” has appeared.
• AutoCAD is a CAD (Computer Aided Design or Computer Aided Drafting) software application for 2D and 3D design and drafting. It is developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc. First released in December 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on personal computers, notably the IBM PC.
     

   I just wanna say some words before you look all over this post. These visualisations were made in AutoCad 2008 and the Parthenon is not perfectly detailed as I would like to but I adjusted as much details as my computers capacity granted me an authorization. But at least I tryed to  render these pictures at maximum quality. Below each image there will be a short rendering information .

My laptop’s  specifications (these ones concerns rendering):

Windows Vista Home Premium

Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 550 @ 2.00 GHz

Memory (RAM): 2.00 GB

System type: 32-bit Operating System

Architecture: Introduction

Architecture (Latin architectura, from the Greek ἀρχιτέκτων – arkhitekton, from ἀρχι- "chief" and τέκτων "builder, carpenter, mason") can mean:

• The art and science of designing and erecting buildings and other physical structures.
• The practice of an architect, where architecture means to offer or render professional services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings, that have as their principal purpose human occupancy or use.
• A general term to describe buildings and other structures.
• A style and method of design and construction of buildings and other physical structures.

A wider definition may comprise all design activity, from the macro-level (urban design, landscape architecture) to the micro-level (construction details and furniture). Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. It requires the creative manipulation and coordination of material, technology, light and shadow. Architecture also encompasses the pragmatic aspects of realizing buildings and structures, including scheduling, cost estimating and construction administration. As documentation produced by architects, typically drawings, plans and technical specifications, architecture defines the structure and/or behavior of a building or any other kind of system that is to be or has been constructed.

Architectural works are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture

Me, I’m going to create some of micro-level visualisations, more precisely, construction details. I like the fact that  these puny and seemingly unsignificant architectural details together at the end form a significant monument.