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Online virtual park lets observers walk through proposed AMVETS project
Thursday, February 22, 2007 9:55 PM EST
The AMVETS hired Jeremy Parnell, a local freelance Web designer, software developer and IT consultant to construct the video. Using the program Vue Infinite -- one of the programs used to make some of the Caribbean scenes in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" -- Parnell said what he did was similar to what someone might do when constructing something of papier mache.
Items in the scene are made out of polygons which are, Parnell said, "pretty much like chicken wire." Then over the polygons materials are placed.
"Materials are image files and texture maps, together they make papier mache," Parnell said. "For example, on the log cabin visitor's center in the animation I used an actual image taken off the visitor's center in Old Washington to create the logs."
Parnell explained the materials make the chicken wire object look like what they are supposed to be, rather than just wire mesh.
"Depending on the material used an object can be reflective, transparent, rocky, smooth and so on," Parnell said.
Parnell said he used an actual picture of real grass to create the grass on the video.
Once a scene is built, Parnell said, he could create still shots or create an animation.
"When creating the animation, you have a virtual movie camera that you can move around over a timeline," Parnell said. "You get to play director."
The portion of the video Parnell created begins with an overview of the park as it would appear to someone who was looking down on it. Then the camera gradually moves down and through different portions of the park to feature the visitors center and various memorials.
Parnell said this particular project -- which is the first of its kind for Parnell to work on -- is composed of more than 204 million polygons.
"The more polygons, the more realistic it looks," he said.
Parnell said building the scene does not take as much time as rendering the scene.
"This particular project took about 30 days off and on," Parnell said, who worked on two computers.
"By comparison, the shots of "Star Wars Episode III" resulted in a total rendering time of 6,598,928 hours, spread across the rendering farms of multiple processors," Parnell said. "To do it on a single system running continuously, it would take over 750 years to produce, according to the StarWars.com official newsletter."
The video available online is not complete, according to AMVETS Post 124 Commander Gene Hook. The introduction of the video is the history of the local AMVETS chapter. Then, over the 3-D demonstration of the park Parnell constructed, Hook hopes to add narration to describe to those watching the video what they are seeing. The narration is currently being written, Hook said, and once that is complete the video will be placed on the AMVETS Web site.
Hook said the organization hopes the video will aid in efforts to raise funds for the park by allowing people to see the ultimate goal.
AMVETS is pursuing funding at the federal and state level. For the entire project, Hook said he estimated the budget to be more than $1 million. Each memorial in the park will cost $75,000 per display.
Hook said AMVETS has already started an account for donations. So far, contributions from the AMVETS Ladies Auxiliary and two personal donations have been placed in the fund.
Hook said the park will be the only location he is aware of in Kentucky to have memorials to all conflicts in one area, from the Revolutionary War to the present conflict in Iraq.
"I personally feel like this will be highly unique," Hook said.
The city will have the visitors center on the site, but Hook said the building will also have offices for veterans services and a tourist information center.
Ray Young, Maysville City Manager, said the organization has the full support of the city in its efforts on the project.
Hook said he anticipated construction will begin on the park within the next year.
The current version of the video, minus the narration, can be viewed on Parnell's Web site, www.jeremyparnell.com, or on Google by typing AMVETS memorial park in the search box.
Contact Misty Maynard at 606-564-9091, ext. 274.
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