White House in 3D

I've been playing with Peter Sharkey's 3D model of the White House again and trying to create a nice video from it, but I've been having poor luck. Google Sketch-Up is a little tricky to export from and Microsoft Movie Maker is even trickier to import into.

I've uploaded the raw Sketch-Up animation to YouTube, where it looks fairly terrible.



I've also uploaded the Movie Maker video to this site (it's about 35 MB). It looks better than the Flash-converted YouTube version, but Movie Maker does weird things like freezing on the frame after the frame the source video froze on, which sometimes puts a tree branch in the way of the view. But it's got titles and narration so it seems more polished.

I'll continue experimenting and perhaps try a different video software. I welcome any suggestions.

Capitol Visitor Center

The new Capitol Visitor Center opened the other day. I'm sure it's very nice, but what do the think the White House could do with $625 million in renovation funding? Add on 625 more balconies? Give the press corps a cafeteria? The mind boggles.

New front page - Reagan Green Room

I've changed the front page again, and again I've reused a previous image, this time the 1982 Green Room with holiday wreaths in the windows.

Also, I've added some source link details to the Resources page.

Roosevelt Room in 3D

Peter Sharkey has just released his terrific 3D model of the Roosevelt Room, which I have now added to the site. Typical of his painstaking work, it's got amazingly realistic leather chairs, flags standing at the side, great-looking artwork on the walls, and all. Just fantastic.

Thanks, Pete!

Help: photos of the old west stair

I have a couple of photos of the old west stair removed during the 19-2 (as JBK would say) renovation, and I have a visitor asking for the sources to use in a commercial project. Can anyone help point out the books or other sources? I don't have either of them labeled with a credit.

One (from Seale perhaps? what was his source?)
T'other

A return to normalcy

Visitorship seems to have more or less returned to normal. I'll maintain the mirror site for a while longer. I have a feeling that visitorship will spike again around January 20.

C-Span's White House Week

Don't forget about C-Span's "White House Week," starting December 14, which will include a tour. From the trailer, it looks pretty good. Already, I see it will give us good wide-angle view of the Flower Shop and Pastry Kitchen in addition to all the usual state rooms and family quarters. Still no hint of the Living Room and Master Bedroom or even the East and West Bedrooms on the north side, nor anything on the third floor. It would be nice to see what the Bushes have done with the Clinton's Music Room, at least. And it would be nice to the see the grounds in detail, especially the new pool house.