Watch this, and count how many times you think to yourself ‘there’s no way this can be CG’ before the 13′ are up.

According to an interview over at Motionographer, this project, the result of a year’s sabbatical, is an attempt by Alex Roman to bridge the gap between the commercial demands of architectural visualisation and the reality of architectural photography.

With frame render times of anywhere between 20″ and 90′, all completed on a desktop PC – and with only a handful of non-CG elements: the silhouettes of the photographer; the pigeons; the time-lapse flowers; the aircraft in the sky; the skies themselves – this is a genuinely exquisite piece of animation.

You can download the original MP4 (.torrent) or watch in HD on Vimeo.

Lovely illustrations by Marc Johns in the NYT Magazine’s Year in Ideas.

And a reminder that the idea of making hybrids make silly noises is a bit of a silly one.

I’ve always been fascinated by the æsthetics of planes, and the 747 is the most beautiful of all. The swept tailplane, slender back, arching forward section and poised nose: the ultimate Speedbird. Sad, then, that it seems to be on the way out [2]. In the air, physical elevation turns to mental calm. A plane is an escape, however transient, from the world below. But the world below isn’t to be ignored. I’m a window seat person. Visual contact with the ground is part of what makes flying special – seeing the mountains of Canada; the Steppe; the Gobi Desert. Or, closer in, the Golden Gate Bridge; the snake of the Thames. A single flight becomes a zoom lens – watching the terminal shrink away after takeoff, and the destination arc into view – and sitting in a remarkable aeroplane completes the picture.

Travelling by rail doesn’t give you a zoom lens, but it does give you a wide-angle view. Tilting through the Borders between Glasgow and London on a frosty January morning, all icicled trees, blue-grey fields and steaming cows, from the warmth of the Pendolino glass, is an experience I’ve repeated happily. Trains, too, offer some momentary isolation from the real world outside, unfortunately punctuated by Carlisle, Crewe and Preston. But few trains themselves are seriously beautiful. Perhaps by aerodynamic necessity, the bird beats the bullet as far as looks go. Even the duck-billed Shinkansen looks ungainly with its boxy tail (although the 500 series is better) and the TGV snarly and rude.

And then there’s the humble ferry. Pushing through the brine of the harbour to the dazzling blue of the Hebrides, CalMac provides a (slow) road to the isles. The grace of their vessels is of a different kind. No delicate metal; no tinted glass. Aboard, green decks, white hull walls and red funnels make for a quiet platform from which to watch a sunset, binoculars in one hand and pint in the other, looking for porpoises and other things never actually seen, but always promised. The gently grumbling warmth of the engine flues, the prerecorded Gaelic announcements (the crew hail from Glasgow or Liverpool) and the departing smell of seagulls and seaweed are a strangely comforting olfactory cocktail. And when it all gets too much (or you realise the jumper you brought is a bit thin for June) you can retreat to the hygge of the bar and watch the landscape sway through the salt-licked glass.

I wonder whether much thought is put into the æsthetics of the travel experience as a whole. Sure, airlines consider the colour of seat fabric and the glassware in the lounge, all of which lends to the perception, positive or negative, of the service they provide. But what about the views, moods and the opportunities for escape? Flying low over the Thames to watch the fireworks; taking a local branch line to see a harvest in full swing; edging a bit closer to the porpoises. Imagine what it’d be like if we could fly like the way we walk, if getting there was not just about watching the world go by, but about seeking out the interesting bits.

1. This piece is unashamedly prompted by Alain de Botton, who’s written extensively on the subject of travel. His latest work, the diary of a week spent in and around Terminal 5, looks at the static infrastructure, and while it’s a commendable read in its own right, it focuses on the stuff which doesn’t move. When travelling, I prefer the stuff that does.
2. Lufthansa is the only commercial airline to have ordered the passenger version of the latest incarnation, the 747-8, and Boeing is said to be reconsidering the programme.

There’s something delightfully Wallace and Gromitey about Poke’s BakerTweet, but not content with its floury goodness I decided to hack it around a bit.

I’ve put together an app which takes the feed from Albion’s Twitter account, checks for updates, filters them (I’m only really interested in bread), and if (according to Fire Eagle) I’m within a mile of the bakery, sends me an SMS.

I’m thinking about turning it into some sort of web service – and maybe Albion will even pay for the SMS charges – but for now, I’m just enjoying the occasional ding to let me know there’s a loaf waiting.

This is pretty much where I want to be right now.

The view from my seat as I waited to board my TLL–LGW flight last month.