Happy Holidays Malaysia!

To all the Malaysian Christians, hope you have a merry time!

And with the New Year around the corner, it's time to put every misgivings, misdeeds, regrets and sadness behind us -- instead let's start fresh with a new page.

MALAYSIA BOLEH.

With kind regards,
The FolkStudio team :)

Our goals and objectives

This is our target timeline, what we want to achieve by a certain time limit and date. Sorry about the small resolution, but basically we have a few short-term goals in the stretch of a long-term ambition -- in which the first short-term goal is entering the Google's Model Your Own Town competition.

Google competition - Entry confirmation form

Our application has been acknowledged by the Google team.

Thanks for entering the Google Model Your Town Competition!

On March 1, 2010 (the competition deadline), we'll copy the building models
in your Google 3D Warehouse collection into a separate directory for the
first round of judging. Please note that changes you make to your models
after the competition deadline will not be considered.

If your team is chosen as a finalist in the first round of judging, your
team leader will be notified by email on or around March 15, 2010. Any team
members who were not 18 years of age on or before December 1, 2009 must
complete and return a guardian consent form we will send you.

On April 1, 2010, the finalists will be posted to the public voting page on
the competition website.

Public voting will end on May 1, 2010.

On or around May 15, 2010, the winning team will be announced on the
competition website.

Please visit our http://twitter.com/modelyourtown

We're excited to see what you create. Good luck.

---


Team Name: FOLKstudio
Team Member's Names: MOHD AZRUL B. MOHMAD NASIR , MOHD. AZRAR B. RAMLI, SHUIBULLAH B. AMRAN, ZAID B. AZMI, NABILAH NURUL SYAKINAH BT. OTHMAN, FATIN SHAZA HASANUDDIN
Primary Contact Name: MOHD AZRUL B. MOHMAD NASIR
Town Name: PUTRAJAYA
State/Province Name: WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN PUTRAJAYA
Country: Malaysia
Approximate number of models in your competition entry: 26-50 buildings

Google 3D Warehouse Collection URL: http://www.google.com/profiles/FOLKstudio09

Online Video URL (optional): http://www.youtube.com/user/folkstudio09

Online Photo Album URL (optional): http://www.flickr.com/photos/45514458@N03/

How did you hear about the competition?: SketchUpdate Newsletter
Comments (optional): We're expecting to win this competition and shall try our best to support GoogleEarth's effort to 3D the whole world. Can Google Earth help us, on updating the Putrajaya, Malaysia since we found out there are some changes in the layout plan.

All the best to FOLKstudio!

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

FolkStudio update 13-19 Dec

We got a reply from the Majlis Perbandaran Sepang:

Sukacita dimaklumkan bahawa pihak Majlis Perbandaran Sepang amat menyokong cadangan dan usaha pihak tuan untuk memasukkan Daerah Sepang ke dalam Peta Dunia menerusi pertandingan 'Google Skechup'. Cadangan tuan ini adalah selaras dengan objektif Majlis iaitu untuk 'menjadi sebuah pihak berkuasa tempatan bertaraf dunia'.


Pihak Majlis juga ada memberikan penekanan kepada para pelajar yang menjalani latihan praktikal di Majlis supaya belajar menggunakan 'Sketchup' bagi struktur bangunan di Bandar Cyberjaya yang dikenali sebagai nukleus ICT atau Bandaraya IT. Ini kerana di Cyberjaya, terdapat banyak syarikat multi-nasional yang beroperasi dan ini secara tidak langsung juga dapat memperkenalkan Malaysia dan Daerah Sepang amnya.


Tambahan lagi, bangunan Majlis Perbandaran Sepang berada di Cyberjaya.. Cadangan dan usaha pihak tuan ini juga boleh dilaksanakan melalui program 'Local Agenda 21' iaitu kombinasi daripada sektor kerajaan, swasta dan orang awam serta para pelajar bersama-sama turut serta dalam pertandingan ini khususnya kearah peningkatan kualiti hidup yang lebih kondusif. Kewujudan banyak institusi pendidikan di Daerah Sepang juga boleh dijadikan sebagai peluang kepada para pelajar untuk turut serta dengan menyediakan hadiah-hadiah yang sesuai sebagai sokongan dan galakan. Cadangan pihak tuan amatlah dihargai.




Mohd Adham Bin Hj Mahmood
Town Planner,
Planning & Development Department,
SEPANG MUNICIPAL COUNCIL,
Persiaran Semarak Api, Cyber 1,
63200 Cyberjaya, Selangor

Everything is going well... hope for the best for FolkStudio peeps!

Architecture, People, FolkStudio and our Objectives

Architecture is one method or field that allows the creation of ideas chiefly potraying the historical, cultural values of its people.

It is definitely the time for architecture to serve its people and society using the professional skills learnt in architectural schools across Malaysia.

Promoting Malaysia in Google Earth is a big start for us!

FOLKstudio is hoping to take on this challenge heads on to virtualize Malaysia, by contributing to the society as below:

i) To help the Government to promote Malaysia as a Tourism spot.
ii) To help the town planners, architects both in Government and Private sectors in viewing sites across Malaysia (in seing the workability of By-Laws, zoning, etc)
iii) To help architecture students and lecturers in virtual site visits.
iv) To allow people from across the world to visualize Malaysia with just a click in Google Earth.
v) To help Malaysians tour Malaysia virtually.

We really hope that we could contribute to many parties, and support from the WHOLE COUNTRY is really important to us!

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

We have a Youtube account up and running!

Check us out on Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Flickr and now, Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FOLKstudiomalaysia

Please support us!

Project starts now

We had another meeting at MidValley last Saturday, with 7 of the members (Tembut, Abul, Bijan, Mat Top, Zul, Nabilah and Fatin). We mapped out our schedules and divided jobs, and Nabilah has kindly provided us with a timeline for our own work progress.

Oh yeah, Twitter and Flickr account is up, but watch out for more links from Facebook, Skype, Youtube, and our upcoming website, FolkStudio.com. Things are going pretty fast even for us, we're still setting up accounts and may need at least another week to get things running smoothly.

Research started on last Friday and spanned 3 days altogether -- we went to Putrajaya to snap some pictures of buildings. We are covering 24 buildings altogether, which have multiple departments in each building. Right now we have the aerial view of Putrajaya, but there are some buildings that are still in construction. We are still figuring out how to incorporate these unfinished buildings into our plan -- the best bet would be to leave the site empty and update it when the construction is finished. After all, this is a long-term project so expect us to constantly renew and update the buildings every once in a while.

We have two important events coming up:

1. Meeting with the Head of Putrajaya somewhere in this week insyallah,
2. Another interview, but this time on-air with Malaysia Hari Ini.

Everything's going by the speed of light! This is gonna get interesting once we start mapping the buildings in Sketchup. Look out for this space for more news.

Good news people!

Hey peeps. We are featured in Berita Harian!

13 graduan UiTM hasil peta lokasi 3D

Oleh Nurul Nadia Mohd Kamaruzaman
bhnews@bharian.com.my

MOHD AZRUL (kanan) bersama ahli Folks Studio mereka cipta laman web permudahkan orang ramai mencari lokasi yang ingin dikunjungi.

KUALA LUMPUR: Orang ramai termasuk pelancong asing yang berkunjung ke negara ini tidak lagi sukar mencari atau mengunjungi lokasi pilihan apabila maklumat itu dibekalkan melalui laman Google Earth.

Semua maklumat diperoleh melalui gambaran lokasi tempat atau bangunan dalam versi tiga dimensi (3D) yang diusahakan sekumpulan 13 graduan Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).

Kumpulan itu yang menamakan pasukan mereka, Folks Studio menggunakan teknik dimensi 3D untuk mencipta bangunan utama dan menamakannya bagi memudahkan orang ramai mencari lokasi di laman web Google Earth.

Ini kali pertama usaha menamakan bangunan dalam 3D dilakukan di Malaysia dan memberi kemudahan kepada masyarakat mengenali serta mencari lokasi yang ingin dikunjungi

Ketua kumpulan itu, Mohd Azrul Mohmed Nasir, 23, berkata buat permulaan, pihaknya akan mereka mencipta dan menamakan bangunan kerajaan di pusat pentadbiran Putrajaya sebelum memperluaskannya membabitkan bangunan di ibu negara.

Beliau berkata, nama dan lokasi bangunan di Putrajaya yang dibangunkan selama empat bulan bermula November lalu dijangka selesai 1 Mac depan.

"Orang ramai yang ingin mengetahui secara terperinci lokasi yang ingin dikunjungi di Putrajaya boleh memuat turun peta Putrajaya di laman web Google Earth.


"Dalam laman web itu dimuatkan secara lanjut nama dan bentuk bangunan bagi kemudahan mereka, sekali gus mengelakkan mereka tersesat," katanya kepada Berita Harian.

Mohd Azrul berkata, idea untuk mereka cipta bangunan 3D dan menamakannya timbul selepas mendapati tiada pihak berbuat demikian berbanding di negara lain, selain memudahkan orang ramai mengunjungi pelbagai lokasi di negara ini.

Beliau berkata, pihaknya menggunakan perisian Sketchup atau Google Building Maker sebelum dimuat turun dalam Google 3D Warehouse di laman web itu.

Seorang lagi ahli kumpulan, Nabilah Othman, berkata usaha itu dilakukan secara berkumpulan dan pihaknya tidak menerima bantuan atau sokongan daripada mana-mana pihak, baik kerajaan mahupun swasta.

Introduction

Welcome to the opening of FolkStudio blog! Here we chronicle our daily activites and work progress as we go along. Don't be shy to comment and criticize our posts, as we encourage any type of feedback from the public. It's all informal here!

So, let's get down to the dirt.

1. Who are we and what do we want to achieve with this project?

We, FolkStudio -- is compromised of 13 members of the same university, UITM. We are Bach. Sc. of Arch degree graduates, and most are currently working in various architects' firms across Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. How we met and came together is somewhat interesting, but let's save that for some other time.

This project is a personal challenge to not just the leader of the group, Azrul, but to the rest of the members of FolkStudio. We are not looking for fame, or recognition, or any monetary benefits (but you are still welcome to contribute, rezeki tidak boleh ditolak hehe), but just to be involved in something that is passionate to our interests.

This project is a personal challenge to not just the leader of the group, Azrul, but to the rest of the members of FolkStudio. We are not looking for fame, or recognition, or any monetary benefits (but you are still welcome to contribute, rezeki tidak boleh ditolak hehe), but just to be involved in something that is passionate to our interests.

2. What is the project about?

To get a better grasp of this particular project, let's try and explain it in basic forms.

Have you ever seen this type of image floating around in the internet?

This is a picture from the software GOOGLE EARTH, which uses satellite photos to show a certain location on Earth. I'm sure many of you have heard about this software; if not, you've probably even used the pictures yourselves, albeit unconsciously. Google Earth enables us to pinpoint almost any area on Earth, which is useful for searching for directions or examining places that are unreachable by foot.

Never been to Africa? No worries, just a click of the button in the Google Earth software, and you're virtually there!

Pretty sweet eh? But that's not all to Google Earth. You're not limited to aerial views of locations, it is also possible to switch to 3D mode, in which an area will look something like this:

This is a real location on Earth, believe it or not.

The most interesting part about Google Earth is that the 3D mode functions entirely on voluntary contributions of 3D models from a modelling software called Sketchup (We'll explain about Sketchup in a bit). Anyone could add a 3D builiding, it is entirely user-based. This type of approach is akin to the format of Wikipedia, where all data and info are contributed by the public themselves.

So what does this have to do with our project?

Let's use an example. Here's an aerial view of New York City, in the United States of America:

Now, when you convert to the 3D view of the Big Apple:

What you don't know is that every single building in the city was painstakingly modeled in Sketchup by different individuals and added to Google Earth. With this crazy level of detail, it is even possible to take a virtual tour around NY without actually being there in the flesh! We can pretend to be walking along the streets, alongside 3D models of buildings and landscaping. Just imagine -- the benefits of having a virtual city of that scale. You can easily survey the areas you want to visit weeks before the trip there, and you can bring in tourists from different countries who are interested with the cityscape of the country.

Now, as comparison, here is an aerial view of Kuala Lumpur:

And here's the 3D view of Kuala Lumpur:

An old picture, as more 3D buildings have popped up in time. But you get my point.

Already have a grasp of the project?

Yes, we FolkStudio are interested to partake in this challenge to virtualize the entire Kuala Lumpur cityscape using Google Earth.

3. How are we going to achieve this huge feat?

As I mentioned earlier, 3D buildings in Google Earth are made using a software called Sketchup and then later transferred into Google Earth. Sketchup currently is only popular among the construction and design circles, but we intend to bring it forward to the public eye through this project.

There is a technique used in Google Earth buildings, called Image Mapping. This technique actually makes use of photos that are spliced together and then mapped onto 3D faces, to create the illusion that the building is 'real'.

For more information on how Image Mapping is done, here are two Youtube videos that explain the procedure better:

In summary, we are attempting to build up Kuala Lumpur's Google Earth's cityscape into a scale that is comparable to New York and Tokyo, using Sketchup's Image Mapping technique to create each and every building there is in Kuala Lumpur. This is a long-term project, because building a city into such proportions takes years of effort and time.

We hope to garner a large amount of fanbase to support and encourage us throughout this project, because this is also for the benefit of our country, Malaysia. Please take your time to browse through this blog, we aren't asking much but your interest and a good word or two in the comments section.

4. So... how are we going to start this project?

We are newly established, therefore we have entered the Google Sketchup Model Your Town competition to strengthen our studio into the virtual world of modelling, and to gain some experience before we move onto the big scheme of things. Here, we have decided on Putrajaya as our subject, and have started work on some of the buildings.

We will be updating more on our progress as time goes by, so please keep checking out this space for more information!