raterry Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Hi all, I have some questions about modelling skyscrapers. I've been put on a couple projects to design/model a couple buildings that vary in height from 18 stories to 70 stories. The first one I statred working on is 33 stories and a mostly glass office building. I've been modelling the mullions separating the glass, etc. and as you can imagine, it takes forever selecting multiple sup-object faces, edges, etc. and designating sub-object materials to it all. It's coming out nicely, but it's taking forever. I've seen some incredible towers posted here and I was hoping for some tips for either a more efficent workflow, or just some tricks to help speed up the process. Thanks for any input. -=Rob PS Max 5.1 user. Here is sample of my 33 story tower. With design changes(some significant) total modelling time close to 60 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertexART Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 I am far from being a skyscraper master, but I suggest U model only the main/significant geometry parts of the building and use a gradient or any other map for the glass. Of course it would require several for reflections, bump, diffuse, etc... but if U are showing the buildings from the range like on the example, the difference will not be noticeable. I hope it helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Are you modeling the mullions and glass as one object? That would take forever!! Did I misunderstand? How I model office buildings: 1. Vertical mullions - all individual objects, usually make one, then copy, then group 2. Horizontal mullions - same as above - keep them separate so you can easily turn one off/on 3. Glass - usually just a one sided plane, although sometimes it has thickness - doesn't really make a difference in render time Floors, cores, dropped ceilings, etc. are somewhere in there... Dont' worry about the overlaps of the objects, makes no difference and saves days of modeling time. Same with the glass - only a few objects per building, depending on how many different shapes/kinds of glass their are. Get a nice eye lever view, correct sky (with correct horizon), maybe a plane behind the camera with some buildings to reflect, and you are set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raterry Posted September 15, 2005 Author Share Posted September 15, 2005 Markus, Yep all one object. And it did take forever which is why I wanted some input as to how to work a bit more efficently. I would say it make more sense to keep the hor/vert mullions as separate objects, I guess I'm just a glutton for over-working! Thanks, and my boss thanks you. Vertex, can you elaborate on the gradient for the glass? I'm not sure I understand. Thanks. -=rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonblaze Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 best trick for glass is to render it in full colour first as part of your general image....then create an alpha chanel with your glass...eg everything else black...glass pure red rgb 255,0,0...then take that intp PS or what ever package you use...create an alpha chanel from your pure red. with that you can issolate the glass from the base render and apply gradients etc for transparency...colour overlay...whatever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raterry Posted September 15, 2005 Author Share Posted September 15, 2005 Ah, good call, I'm spending hours tweaking the reflecs,color, etc of the glass. Thank, Jean. -=rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph alexander Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Blocks, blocks, blocks... For our high-rises everything is modular, so recently, before I take on a project, i spend a lot of time thinking about how I'm going to model all my blocks. This allows me to design in 3D because the building becomes something not unlike a Lego building...where I’m just snapping pieces together. In addition, if we change a mullion detail I just change 5 blocks and the whole model adjusts... 3D blocks save you time... For rendering.. 1. Practice using planes that are hidden to the camera for reflections, often times you can get away with a generic building as a reflection.. 2. Add a large .bmp to your windows because no glass is perfectly flat. 3. Buy a Dosche design HDR CD for skies and reflections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raterry Posted September 15, 2005 Author Share Posted September 15, 2005 I definately like the idea of a plane invis. to camera used for reflections, good idea. I like the concept of your "blocks" idea but I'm not exactly sure how to implement it. Do you have any samples? thanks for response. -=Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Am I correct to assume that "blocks" are like "instances"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph alexander Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 yes: blocks=instances... I model mostly in rhino (blocks)... but the concept is true throughout.. Also you should model using layers... you can select all objects within a layer and apply a uvw map. Instances will significantly reduce your file size.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Moir Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Are you using Max? Lattice Modifier= instant mullions. Love it. Or, create shape from edges (linear, ignore hidden) then use Sweep Modifier for more control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raterry Posted September 16, 2005 Author Share Posted September 16, 2005 All replys are great. based on your shared experience I was thinking this would be a good way. create outline shape of building or section, extrude to desired hight, then select edge and "loop" to get the whole surrounding edge and detach as clone to start creating the mullion which I would then instance up the building where needed. Does that make sense? sjmoir, is this: "then use Sweep Modifier for more control." a function for nurbs? I don't use nurbs too much. Thanks for all the suggestions. Keep 'em coming if there are any more. -=Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertexART Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 hey raterry, sorry that I haven't elaborated more on the subject, I had too much to do these days. anyway, I agree with all the replies U had, and mine was geared towards lowering the polycount instead of the actual modeling technique. this fellow is far from being a well done model, but U should use mapping whenever U can to avoid hitting the polycount roof. scene has 206 polys, with much room for adding more details. for example U can model horizontal trims and use gradient for vertical ones, or similar. hope it helps U a bit, cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Moir Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Sweep is a modifier you can apply to shapes. I used the Lattice Modifier here for the mullions, and Sweep for the balcony railings (which were splines), as I wanted them to have a specific profile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raterry Posted September 19, 2005 Author Share Posted September 19, 2005 sjmoir: Thanks for the example, I tried the lattice mod and I love it already. vertexART: Nice job with 206 polys! I definately see what you mean, I appreciate your example and the time to took to recreate. Thanks alot. -=Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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