simulators for LED use and arrangement on the exterior of buildings
Friday, July 24th, 2009
Current Version.
Simulators for LED use and arrangement
on the exterior of buildings
These days, a lot of buildings are decorated with LED. A few month ago, one of the construction companies in South Korea asked me that how to estimate the amount of LED they would need for the outside of a particular building. The company wanted to cover one whole surface of the structure with LED panelling. However, they have concerns because their budget is limited. Therefore, I decided to simulate the whole structure to test a different type of LED arrangement and estimate the amount of LED needed. In this project, I focused on how to immediately change the arrangement of LED and how to realistically show the structure in this simulation to make a final conclusion. Accordingly, I made a virtual space simulation to demonstrate the LED details on the structure and evaluate the costs much as an architect would do.
Although there were a lot of problems to solve, the most important thing to simulate realistically is a diffusion of light in the graphics. Therefore, I added a variable which means a ratio of diffused level. This ratio affects a relation of camera distance and diffused LED level wheeling a mouse wheel. So I can actually change diffused lights level immediately. After that, I observed a real LED panel to decide the correct ratio. I also tried to solve several of the problems on this simulator such as how to spread colours from bitmap images or how to set and move a camera angle as human sight does or how can I make a real-time 3D mapping texture.
It was meaningful project for me because I could also think about how to relate digital media to real world. I realised that budgets, engineering, and working processes are also very important.
former Version.
