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Architectural Modelling Techniques? - Colosseum


Christoff
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I'm currently at university and my final year project is recreating the Roman Colosseum in 3D (this is really my first project that has anything to do with architecture). I've actually already modelled the Colosseum and I've just started texturing, however I'm asking this question for my research for my dissertation and also to see if I did things 'correctly' (though I know I should've done the research before I actually started modelling but oh well), my question...

 

In a project such as this, modelling a building (particularly a building of this size, age, etc assuming that makes any difference), are any techniques generally considered a better or preferred method of modelling? I'm using 3ds Max by the way, I didn't put this in the Max section though as I'm not sure the modelling software is relevant as it's a general question but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

 

The way I modelled my Colosseum was mainly through drawing the profile/cross-section of things such as the arches and then extruding them, then most of the rest of the model was created again using extrusions and also working with sub-objects, moving vertices, polygons, etc.

 

My Colosseum is also made up of several different objects (I say several, it's quite a lot... I originally modelled it one arch wide in several different sections for the different floors and areas of the Colosseum, I then replicated this around an ellipse), would keeping the model in separate pieces/objects be acceptable or would it generally be preferred to ensure it was one single object (or perhaps it would depend on who/what the model was for)?

 

Also, if possible it would be great to know why this is the case, why certain techniques are preferred over others or why it should be a single object/mesh or why it shouldn't, etc.

 

Thank you for any help and information anybody can provide.

Edited by Christoff
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Hi Chris and welcome to the forums.

 

I'm a huge fan of ancient Roman architecture. I suppose my first question is in what 'state' are you going to model the Coliseum? As it is now (old, falling apart, the floor covering missing, etc) or as it was in its prime (new, pristine, clean, NOT falling apart, etc)?

 

I suppose my second question is how accurate are you going to try to make it?

Do you have many reference images or plans?

 

With so many arches on three levels, I'd try using splines in an arch shape and then extruding from there as a starting point. The advantage of splines is that you'd get cleaner lines for the arches rather than booleaning a solid surface.

 

I'm personally interested in your WIP (Works In Progress) renders, so feel free and encouraged to post your work and ask questions. I'm sure I'm not the only one here that would be interrested in your project.

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The state of the Colosseum is the current ruined state. I've not modelled it in its entirety due to my time running out for the project (and some problems I encountered, e.g. Max crashing with the entire Colosseum in the scene). I've modelled the front half of it, I'm only going to be rendering from the front/outside so I've not modelled any of the arena or seating, and obviously the back is missing.

 

I did originally want to create it as exactly and accurately as possible, however I wasn't able to find accurate enough diagrams or dimensions for that, i did find some diagrams however they had no dimensions on them and they were small, the only dimensions I did find were height of the Colosseum, length, width and circumference of the elliptical shape, and the height of arches, although different sources have stated different values so I had to choose which to use based on what I thought was more reliable. If anyone knows of any blueprints or accurate diagrams and dimensions that would be great as I may rebuild it in the future after university (I really should have thought about posting here and elsewhere before I actually started the project). So, my model is actually not exact but I tried to be as accurate as possible with the limited information I had.

 

As for the arches, that is actually how I created them, I used splines to draw out the shape of the arch and then extruded, most of the rest of the model was created through more extrusions and vertex manipulation.

 

What about the fact that my Colosseum isn't a single model/mesh and made up of many objects, is that acceptable in Architectural (or any kind of) modelling, or should it be one piece/object?

 

Thank you for your reply, here's a few images including some with the little texturing I have done so far, any comments, advice and suggestions would be appreciated. Apologies if they are too large, I was going to post links but as I'm a new member the forum will not allow me to.

 

colosseum2.jpg

 

textured1b.jpg

 

textured2.jpg

 

textured3.jpg

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I have been doing a similar thing on a local roman monument (as a hobby), and I find the relief decoration(especially above the pillars) to be hard to produce. I'm not interested in using bump/normal maps.

Also, the capitals are quite time consuming, and mudbox/zbrush is the only "easy" way I can see to produce them.

 

 

I hope to see your WIP also :)

 

we might exchange our experiences.

 

try using turbosquid for some of the details, as there's lots of roman models there.

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Well as I said I did reply before but since my post seems to be lost I'll reply to this post again.

 

1. The 'state' I've modelled it in is its current ruined state, however I've not modelled it in its entirety due to my time running out for the project and some problems I encountered. I had to delete the back half of the Colosseum because Max kept crashing with the entire Colosseum in the scene, I've also only modelled the outside, so i haven't modelled the arena or the seating or anything like that.

 

2. I did want to create it as accurately as possible, however I was unable to find blueprints or similar diagrams, or that many dimensions, all I found was a few diagrams that weren't great quality or size and the only dimensions I found were of the height, length, width of the entire Colosseum, the height of arches and the amount of arches. I had to use this to guesstimate the dimensions of other features of the Colosseum. IF anyone knows of any more accurate dimensions or blueprints or something that would be great as I may rebuild it after I've finished university. When compared to photos though, my model doesn't quite look right, it looks too wide/too many arches going around, however I did create it as accuratley as I could and I'm not sure of why this happened, it has the correct amount of arches and reasonably accurate proportions from the info I did have on it.

 

Hi Chris and welcome to the forums.

 

I'm a huge fan of ancient Roman architecture. I suppose my first question is in what 'state' are you going to model the Coliseum? As it is now (old, falling apart, the floor covering missing, etc) or as it was in its prime (new, pristine, clean, NOT falling apart, etc)?

 

I suppose my second question is how accurate are you going to try to make it?

Do you have many reference images or plans?

 

With so many arches on three levels, I'd try using splines in an arch shape and then extruding from there as a starting point. The advantage of splines is that you'd get cleaner lines for the arches rather than booleaning a solid surface.

 

I'm personally interested in your WIP (Works In Progress) renders, so feel free and encouraged to post your work and ask questions. I'm sure I'm not the only one here that would be interrested in your project.

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here are the images christoff sent me.

 

gal.php?g=colosseum2.jpghere's a link to a gallery of the images:

 

http://img24.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=colosseum2.jpg

 

these are the individual links:

 

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/5076/colosseum2.jpg

 

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/9646/textured1b.jpg

 

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/4462/textured2.jpg

 

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/9344/textured3.jpg

 

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2844/textured.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

here's my own interpretation of a local roman palace (300AD) made it 4 years ago when I was still a vray rookie :)

 

20062q.jpg

Edited by LuckyST
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