Ground Floor Question

Hi all! Peter here.

To further assist with the building of the 3D models I have a question for you. In the floor plan for the ground floor of the residence, the Vermeil Room and Map Room show some built-in shelves with doors. However my general sense is that some of the shelves are now gone.

Specifically, the south wall of the Map Room. Are those shelves still present? And the Vermeil Room, newer photos don't show shelves along the west wall. While we have compiled many great photos here, perhaps someone knows about the detail not shown.

Thank you. :)

Wingnut's Workings

Thank you Derek for allowing me to be a guest author in this blog of yours. It's a true honor. Derek's purpose here is to allow me to announce key achievements in the progress of White House 3D modeling. So from time to time once a model is complete, I will let you fine folks know what's new. I just wanted to post this message to clarify the current goal.

The interior model being worked on right now is the West Wing. I won't be giving the West Wing model to Derek until it is totally complete. After that I will begin modeling the entire Main Residence. Once a room is complete, the model will be sent to Derek and made available to you. This way you won't have to wait until the entire house is done to enjoy the progress.

The reason I chose do the West Wing first is that it gives me a chance to practice methods that conserve computer memory thus making it easier for you to navigate the models. If there's any part of the White House I want to get right and as detailed/efficient as possible - it's the Residence. Computers vary in their processing power. If at any time you find the model to be slow, or the textures of the furniture disappear momentarily while you are navigating a model, this can be a memory issue or a video-card issue. I certainly would never expect people to do hardware upgrades just to view my models. I just wouldn't want you to be frustrated over navigation problem without knowing what may be causing it.

My one caveat in this is that detail will be important to me but in some cases it will be impossible to get every detail correct like certain crown moldings, certain fabrics, or certain rugs. Every effort will be made to balance detail with computer-efficiency. If you are hoping to zoom in on the relief-detail of a Monroe chair you may be disappointed, but it will look reasonably accurate.

Again I thank you for the kind comments so far, and as always I appreciate Derek's support and encouragement.

Pete :)

Announcing: The White House in 3D

I have just posted a new page to house the latest addition to the site: Pete Sharkey's incredible 3D White House. Pete has put untold hours into building a complete and highly detailed and accurate Presidential Park with White House extererior and grounds, giving us the opportunity to view it from perspectives we've never had before. Look all around the roof, the grounds, the gardens.... It's amazing.

For those who remember Pete's fantastic Oval Office replica, this one is only the exterior, so you can't peak into Laura Bush's dressing room.

You'll need to load Google's SketchUp or SketchUp Viewer (both free) and download the BIG 20 MB file, or you can just look at the many great images on the page. You can use the tour feature (View>Animation>Play) or click on the page tabs on the top of the opened model to see preset views

Thanks, Pete! For diligence, persistence, and patience in toiling in the basement over a hot oven, I hereby award you the Chef Roland Mesnier Baked Mansion Award (the "Rollie").

Dispatch from Fort Necessity

Lousy connectivity from the Doubletree in Pittsburgh this week is making it difficult to do any kind of online activity. Nevertheless, I managed to just acquire this fine miniature of the White House from the Danbury Mint via Ebay.

I already have the 5-inch version, which is considerably less detailed and accurate. This one is the 9-inch version and much better all around. I also recently acquired a 1950s-era plastic model that is quite accurate, altho it seems to have the 1917 roof.

Google Earth

The new Google Earth is available. The White House is again not pixelated out. And it appears to feature the same or slightly-improved 3D White House. Pete Sharkey is working on a vastly better 3D White House that I just can't wait for, so I'm including a picture of his West Wing so everyone can encourage him. (if you haven't examined his 3D Oval Office, you are missing a treat.)

Some automatic links load with Google Earth so that you see little dots that represent more information available on Wikipedia and elsewhere. If anyone can figure out how to make one that links to the White House Museum and/or Pete's 3D Oval Office, that would be awesome.

Update: Anonymous has pointed us to a commercial 3-D White House and 3-D Oval Office. I don't much about 3-D software, so I don't know what you need to view such things.

Update: I hereby award Pete Sharkey the Reathel Odum Award for Distinguished Service ("the Odie").