An Architect’s Toy or Power Tool?
July 31, 2000
by Fred Kasparek
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My wife Sue thinks my iPAQ is an expensive toy, but in fact it is an excellent productivity tool. So I thought I’d write this article to let people know, including Sue, how I use my iPAQ in my Architectural Practice.
Our practice is located in a little known place called Canberra, Australia. Even though everyone has heard of Sydney, the Venue of the 2000 Olympic Games and the shooting location of Mission Impossible 2 and the Matrix, Canberra is Australia’s capital city.
Although the city is relatively new, about 100 years old; a lot of the inner city areas are being redeveloped. Our practice specializes in this redevelopment work. Because of the sensitivity of redeveloping in existing residential areas, the local government has implemented an onerous public consultation process.
We find many people have difficulty reading plans and elevations. To overcome this problem we have created computer models of our proposed developments. These 3-dimensional models help to better communicate our design intentions and ease most people’s anxiety about what is proposed.
All of our work is drawn in 3D using DataCad9, an American CAD program. Using this program we generate 3D models, which we then import into an animation package called True Space. This package allows us to create fly arounds and walk throughs of our projects.
Finally, so that these animations can be viewed on the iPAQ, they are converted into Mpeg movie files using “AVI2MPG”. To play these Mpeg movies, we use the Mpeg movie player from http://www.pockettv.com
The response to these animations has been excellent.
Following are some of the screen shots of one of the animations. They look particularly good when viewed in full screen mode on the iPAQ. If you want to download the full (4.7 meg) animation then go to http://www.kasparek.com.au/ [Editors Note: If you are running Windows Media Player 7 on your desktop the above link will stream so you don't need to wait to fully download it. ]
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Originally we presented these animations using a laptop, but this became cumbersome in the field. A particular problem was being able to see the screen in direct sunlight. This is where the iPaq performs very well. With its TFT screen, people can view the animation as comfortably outdoors as in a boardroom.
Another advantage is that we can pass around a number of iPAQs and have numerous people viewing our proposal at the same time.
The iPAQ's have also been great for general marketing purposes, because we can give prospective clients a glimpse of what our company can do. No boot up time, just pull it out of the pocket and show off what we can do.
We are waiting for is a Pocket PC PDF and O2C readers so we can present plans on our iPAQ's.
Now all I have to do is get Sue to read this article, which I hope will convince her that a new 64Meg iPAQ, SilverSlider, 1Gig Microdrive, battery extender and a GPS attachment are a good investment.