A rich portfolio with a documentary collection of cityscapes, profiles and maps, reproduced and annotated by the author in the 1970's is now kept in the Mauritshuis museum library. That documentary collection is so astoundingly varied and detailed that the 17th C. shape of this area can be fully recreated visually. Thus the creation of a convincing 17th. or 18th.C. animation flight by computer would be possible.
In 1998 the first phase of this plan has been fulfilled. In September and October 1998, a 3D computer presentation has been crafted of the town of Delft as it was in 1660. A historical plan from the era of Blaeu has been scanned and entered in a computer. Painstakingly every line and every house on this map has been transferred into a Geographical Information System (GIS). For the first time in history this system can project this image on a computer screen, showing an actual birds'eye flight of 'Delft in 1660'. All of this digital work is being done by the faculty of Geodesy (the science of measuring land) of the Technical University in Delft. Fly like a bird over Delft, 1660 Moreover, the makers of this 3D map have made a sideways view of the digital map, showing the part of Delft which was painted by Vermeer. One will be able to move a bit from left to right and up and down. All of this work has been executed to celebrate '50 years of Geodesy', in order to show what modern GIS technology may lead to. From 3-6 November 1998 the result has been shown at the Faculty of Geodesy where one could work a joy stick and put on 3D glasses when looking at a video-beam projection on the wall.From November 12 through January 7 1999 the presentation was on show in Delft at the Techniek Museum in Delft. Click here for images and a full size discussion. As Geodesy could only invest limited time and manpower, the amount of detail shown was limited. For the rendering of the ships a simplified shape has been chosen.
In the spring of 2001 a virtual QuickTime walk has been presented through the gates shown in Vermeer's painting (SEE BELOW). I will expand this project during the next years. In order to create a truly breathtaking display, I do invite computer specialists to help building and 3D rendering of ships, the draw bridge, water, the clouds and other moving parts. The result will be presented in a documentary type DVD or CD-rom and TV programme.
NEW!
A brand new project is the production of a Quick-time
movie showing a walk through the gates Vermeer depicts in the View of Delft.
This project has been financially supported and executed by the Department of
Industrial Design of the faculty OCP (Design Engineering and Production) of
the Delft University of Technology.
Work has been executed by the student Petrik de Heus and his advisor software supervisor Assistent Professor Aldo Hoeben. Both are backed up by a team of university teachers and professors.
This project has actually started in May 2000 by scanning the necessary images in the Delft Archives who give full cooperation. These basic images will be manipulated with a Canoma software package yielding the basic images for the Quick time movie. Results are on show right now: