Saturday, September 12, 2009

SketchUp Island Adventures #5: WMU3D (Jonathan Rumohr)



I was climbing the south face of SketchUp Island mountain on a crisp, late-summer morning, looking for a stream to quench my thirst. The sun was warm on my back.  I heard the distant sound of the clear, babbling brook. It grew louder as I climbed... But when I paused to catch my breath, sitting on a moss-covered Boulder, it grew louder yet. A helicopter?!

A helicopter was approaching me from the south-- Saved at last!-- It hovered directly above my head; I waited for the rope ladder to drop. But the helicopter just hovered there and then turned around and went directly north!

...You can imagine my profound sense of isolation. I fell to my knees and sobbed, whispering "Come back!" to the grass... 


But then the aircraft returned! It hovered, I waited for the rope, it turned around, and went away again. I fell to my knees and whispered "Come back!" It came back, hovered, turned around... "Ah--" I thought to myself. "Just a LiDAR scan."

This went on all morning. Finally in the afternoon it landed on a broad mountain ledge-- the blades slowed down and went  WHIRR-WHIRR-WHIRR-- and a tall pilot wearing aviator glasses stepped off carrying a helmet under his arm

Hello, strange aviator. Who are you?
I asked.


I am [WMU3D-- aka Jonathan Rumohr] a recent graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Western Michigan University. I spend my days designing the guts and inner workings of buildings, and spend my nights messing with Sketchup :-)

The helicopter is yet loud-- but did you hear that odd noise from the bushes behind us that sounded like pirates singing? No? Hm. Funny. Anyway, what are your thoughts about the future of geo-modeling and SketchUp?

I hope to see a lot more master planning and virtual tours made from Geo-modeling. I also really like the historical perspective, so being able to show people how things USED to be would be really cool too.

It would be cool to be able to look into the past in 3D! You know, Jon, I think I just heard a parrot squawking. Sounded like it said "Poly wants a cracker." I'll go investigate. In the meantime you can ask yourself a question and answer it.

What's my favorite part of modeling? Choosing a crazy building and trying to model it. Our architects really like organic shapes, so it's a real test to make those look good in SU.

Just then I ran from the bushes-- "Start the helicopter! Pirates!" I screamed. Too late. Pirates overtook us, hopped into the helicopter and said "You're not going anywhere off this Island, mateys-- but we ARRR!" And off went the helicopter along with our last hope of rescue. Jonathan confessed to me that he was a reformed pirate.

I asked wha
was his pirate name
. His voice became gravelly, his face rough. I noticed a giant hoop earring that I had not seen before. Jon spit on the ground, stomped his boot, wiped his mouth with the back of his arm and said:


Argh... me pirate name is Jonny Bob. Half the reason is because I'm a hick, the second half is because it combines my first and middle names. :-p It was a nickname I always had growing up.

Well, welcome to the Island Jonny Bob. Looks like we'll be here a long time. Thanks for the interview and... see you around the Island!


(Thanks to Jon for the Poly/Cracker idea)