The Daily Render

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future

Washington + Dupont Circle Quilt
|| 3/2/2008 || 11:43 am || Comments Off on Washington + Dupont Circle Quilt || ||

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Washington + Dupont Circle Quilt by Nikolas Schiller

I decided to switch things up a bit with today’s rendering. I have become very efficient with most of the processes used to create my maps, which both makes them standardized and sometimes a bit too similar to each other (while paradoxically being different geographies). This map and probably the next few maps are going to be slightly different.

In order to have the most recent maps of Logan Circle, Dupont Circle, and Washington Circle look similar to each other, I would take the first derivative tessellation and overlay it on top of the tessellation that I was constructing. By adjusting the transparency, I can overlay the circles directly on top of each other which makes the subsequent map look nearly identical.

Normally, I simply delete the original tessellation when I have the two lined up perfectly, however in today’s map I chose to not delete the other map. Instead, I adjusted the transparency of Dupont Circle to 51% to show both geographies at once. The result is something that I wasn’t expecting, but am quite pleased with the results. I can see myself using this process again. It’s like a double exposure…

View the Google Map of Washington Circle in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, DC.

View the Google Map of Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.

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87 & 280 Quilt #2
|| 2/17/2008 || 4:41 pm || Comments Off on 87 & 280 Quilt #2 || ||

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The 87 & 280 Interchange in San Jose, California

Using this portion of 87 & 280 Quilt, I constructed this derivative map of the California State Route 87 & interstate 280 interchange. What is unique is that it’s a actually a Diamond Quilt Projection map, but it looks quite a bit like a Square Quilt Projection maps. The third derivative tessellation looks quite cool and I think the next map will be the best in the series.

View the Google Map of the interchange.

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Charlotte Spheres #2
|| 2/3/2008 || 7:52 pm || Comments Off on Charlotte Spheres #2 || ||

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Charlotte Spheres 2

Using a portion of Charlotte Spheres #1, I created this derivative map. I noticed that there was over-projection in some parts of the first map, so I under-projected this map to reduce further pixilation. The result is one of the most exquisite quilt projection maps yet! It has a nice assortment of aerial photography at multiple scales and the geometric designs of the original buildings standout quite nicely. I look forward to getting this printed eventually because it’s quite fun to look at.

Speaking of printing, I spent some of my hard-earned funds on a 60″ x 40″ canvas print of Federal Triangle Quilt #4. This is the largest printing I’ve ordered for myself. I joined Imagekind exactly one year ago and not once did I ever get around to purchasing one of my maps at it’s largest size and on the most expensive media. It’s not like I didn’t want to, but I just wasn’t sure which one to purchase. I have a $2,500 check arriving shortly from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities and I intend on purchasing quite a few more! Very excited.

One disappointment was how the canvas hangs using Poster Hangers. I hung it vertically and the sides of the canvas bend inward. I knew this was going to happen somewhat, but I was expecting so much bend– like a full two inches curving inward. Another interesting observation is how the texture of the canvas adds to the quilted nature of the projection technique. When it comes to quality and longevity of media, I think I’m going to do most of my future printing on canvas. It costs more, but I think it’s worth it.

Also arriving last week was Imagekind’s Sample Media Kit, which contains samples of all of the company’s media that my maps are printed on. It costs $15, but you get $15 off your next purchase, so it’s kind of worth it. My evaluation of the kit was rather simple: does it reflect too much light or does the paper/canvas tear? The winner, and what I printed Federal Triangle Quilt #4 and Israel / Palestine 1993 on, was the Epson Piezo Pro Matte Canvas.

View the Google Map of downtown Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Charlotte Spheres
|| 2/2/2008 || 4:59 pm || Comments Off on Charlotte Spheres || ||

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Charlotte Spheres by Nikolas Schiller

About a week ago I noticed someone from Charlotte, North Carolina looked at my website multiple times. One time while they were exploring my website the person did a search for “Charlotte” and since I had not made a map of Charlotte yet, they didn’t find anything….

Using the same Lenz Projection elements used in Pentagon Spheres and Dupont Circle Lenz Quilt, I developed this unique map. However, unlike the Pentagon Spheres map, I arranged the height of the spheres in a different pattern and I used a diamond quilt projection for the background.

I am quite pleased with the results. Specifically, I like how the magnification varies perfectly on the left and right-hand side of the map. Below you can see a close up detail of two identical locations that were magnified differently. The magnification process is quite processor intensive which made this map take over 10 hours to render– the longest render time since I purchased my MacBook last year and I didn’t even render it at my standard size.

View the Google Map of downtown Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Federal Triangle Quilt #3
|| 1/20/2008 || 8:02 pm || Comments Off on Federal Triangle Quilt #3 || ||

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Federal Triangle Quilt #3

Using this portion of Federal Triangle Quilt #2, I created this derivative map. Again, I found myself counting up the total number of Freedom Plazas located with in the map. After spending a few minutes, I counted a total of 124 complete maps within my map!

View my previous entry about Federal Triangle.

View the Google Map of Federal Triangle in downtown Washington, DC.

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Mount Holyoke Quilt #2
|| 12/22/2007 || 2:08 pm || Comments Off on Mount Holyoke Quilt #2 || ||

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Mount Holyoke Quilt #2

View the Google Map of the South Hadley, Massachusetts

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Rochester Quilt
|| 12/16/2007 || 7:00 pm || Comments Off on Rochester Quilt || ||

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Rochester Quilt

So last week I had an awkward run-in with someone I’ve known for about a year, but didn’t know very well. I think I must have had too much to drink the night when we had first chatted because I didn’t recall the conversation and asked the exact same stupid question twice. I asked about another friend of mine from the same city and both times the person said that they didn’t know my friend. I felt rather embarrassed by it all to say the least. Well yesterday I decided to download Rochester, New York, the city they both were from, and it just so happens that while this map was rendering I found the other person I had been asking about. Interesting.

The geography featured in this map is called the Inner Loop of Rochester, New York. The source aerial photography was taken at 1 foot per pixel in April of 2005, but in order to fit the entire downtown area into a managable tessellation I reduced the spatial resolution by one half to 2 ft per pixel or 4X less spatial information. I really like the tonal variation of the Genesee River, it reminds me of the rivers in the Pittsburgh Quilts.

View the Google Map of the Rochester, New York

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Mount Vernon Quilt #6
|| 11/7/2007 || 11:15 am || Comments Off on Mount Vernon Quilt #6 || ||

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Mount Vernon Quilt #6

Using this portion of Mount Vernon Quilt #5, I created a derivative tessellation to create this fractal map.

This series of maps is one of my more unique endeavors. From #2 onwards, each was a created from a tessellated portion from the previous map. This recursive tessellation process created a more crystalline map with more lines of symmetry. The projection process was octagon, diamond, dodecagon, hexagon, octagon, and finally, a diamond.

The most important of all the maps was actually the first. From this map I was able to obtain my intended focal point of the mapping process, the Washington Monument of Baltimore. By tessellating that portion, I began the process of narrowing the scope of each subsequent tessellation to the area around the monument. What became clearly evident is the blue rooftop of the Peabody Institute and the unique geometry of the park. The hardest step in the tessellation process became finding the spot on the map that had the most monuments in it. The next time I do a series like this I am going have a set spot on the map that I will tessellate, as opposed to the current method which is a bit more random.

View the Google Map of the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland

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Mount Vernon Quilt #2
|| 10/29/2007 || 10:39 am || Comments Off on Mount Vernon Quilt #2 || ||

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Using this portion of Mount Vernon Quilt, I created a derivative tessellation to create this fractal map. Up next I have another map of Mount Vernon based off of a second dervative tessellation created from this map.

View the Google Map of the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland

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Pentagon Quilt #4
|| 9/24/2007 || 8:27 pm || Comments Off on Pentagon Quilt #4 || ||

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View the Google Map of the Pentagon

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Nikolas Schiller is a second-class American citizen living in America's last colony, Washington, DC. This blog is my on-line repository of what I have created or found on-line since May of 2004. If you have any questions or comments, please contact: