Marvin Robinson II Project 1 Castle

Concept:
My prototype castle was inspired the Kuwait Towers. I chose to add several more towers and add a rail system to add more character to the tower base that is sat upon a pentagonal base.

Techniques:
The use of the shape tools and extruding and extrapolation helped give shapes elongated towers and each of the spheres are shape in a more oval ellipse to allow the flow of light through the structure tubing and spheres were used to create the rail system with a slight variation of pattern to add character.

Materials:
The tower is of polished yellow gold to give it a sense of grandiose to match its large scale. The sphere are of clear glass to maxims the god ray effect that shine between the towers. the pentagonal base is that of a polished copper to give the effect of rose gold and blend with the wood tones of the larger base while complementing the metallic colors of gold and silver. The rails are that of black marble and polished silver

Kaylie Moore: Week 1 Castle

Concept

My original idea was to create a space station or floating castle. I wanted to combine the more traditional architecture and materials that one would normally associate with European-style castles with the structure of a space station or space ship. I especially wanted to convey a lack of a clear up and down by reflecting architectural elements across the x-y plane.

Techniques

I began my castle by extruding a circle to create a cylinder as the central tower. I then used the tube tool to surround it with an outer wall, decorated with a smaller tower. Once I had created the cylinders and boxes that made up the various towers, I added the roofs. The roof of the tower on the outer wall were created with a cone and truncated cone, and I used the mirror tool to reflect it over the x-y plane before copying and pasting the resulting tower at three points along the outer wall. The roof of the square tower was created in a similar manner using pyramids. For the rounded roofs of the central tower, however, I used the parabola tool, editing the control points to vary the size or height. After creating the walls and roofs, I decided to add small details such as a pipe around the edge of the roof, as well as several columns, as decoration and support. The final detail I added was the supports that connect the outer wall to the central towers, which I created by extruding a rectangle that I drew at a slight angle between two of the towers.

Materials

When I considered my materials, I experimented with both metals and other materials that one would find on a space station as well as more traditional materials such as brick and stone. I decided to use brick for the walls, stone for the supports, and tile for the roofs because I felt it not only suited the castle’s appearance better but also gave it a more fantastical or magical feeling than the various metallic materials I tried. Despite this it didn’t look too old fashioned, which was my main concern with using more traditional materials, especially after I applied a dark paint to the brick that muted its original bright red color as well as allow me to include a subtle difference between the inner and outer walls.

Jonathan Holt: Week 1 Castle

Ghosted

Concept: I got my inspiration from a castle I designed for a DnD game and partially from the amount of spikes on the castle in Legend of Zelda (as shown below). It is meant for a lavish and rich evil ruler. He has armies at his command an the authorities on his payroll.

Layered

Techniques: I quickly decided that spikes were the way to go. Everybody loves spikes, so I played around with different heights. At first Most of the spires were on the same level, this made it super bland looking. I added varies sizes to give it a menacing look. This should be the final fight in a campaign and should force the players to be in close quarters with the enemy. I packed the towers close together to give it an overwhelming feeling once inside.I would create one whole tower and copy it to make it even with others. 

Establishing shot

Pedestrian view

Materials: I really wanted to show how rich this enemy was so I stayed away from plastics and wood. I had problems with very reflective surfaces because they made the towers blend into the floor. I went with marble, porcelain, and metal to give it a luxurious feel.

Anna Phengsakmueang: Project 1 Castle

Ghosted

Concept
Inspired by Harry Potter novels containing details about Hogwarts castle, I wanted to base off my castle off of a few aspects that appealed to me. To begin with, the towers that seemed to be located in many corners of the castle seemed to create a more surrealistic appeal to draw the line between reality and imagination. However, before adding towers randomly in place, I also needed a basis of where to place each tower. After looking at an image of a simplified, Lego version of Hogwarts, I was able to notice the general layout of the castle. However, the style that I had desired for my castle was much more simpler that the detailed castle of Hogwarts.

Layered

Process
When creating the basis of the castle, I began with the creation of the building bases that were rectangular in shape rather than the actual towers. I wanted to be able to figure out where to place each tower while also maintaining a semblance of symmetry for my castle. When placing the rectangular bases, I had also wanted them to form a semi-circle shape. To do so, I added two smaller rectangular bases on one side and rotated one of them to act like a corner piece. Then I reflected the two small bases to the other side to maintain the symmetrical balance of the castle. After creating the five large, rectangular bases, I wanted to add a bit more detail to the castle. Based off of classic castle designs, I created structures on top of the rectangular bases to give it a more reminiscent effect. After that, I worked on the towers and kept it fairly simple. Using tubes and cones, I created basic tower structures to add more to the castle-like appearance. Since there was negative space in front of the castle, I decided to add a fountain made of truncated tubes, and tori.

No Naked Edges

Perspective Shot

Materials
For the appearance of the castle, I chose to go with a variety of blue colors accented with white. To do so, I used sapphire, diamond, and aquamarine for the castle. The sapphire was used for the towers while the aquamarine was used on the bases. In addition to the bases, an accent that helped to add a bit more contrast to the castle was diamond. For the fountain, I chose to use a liquid material that was also blue. The reason I chose blue as the main color for the whole castle, was so that it would appear more unified and that blue is my preferred color of choice.

Pedestrian Shot

Justin Chang: Week 1 Castle

CONCEPT:

The concept for my castle came from the various palaces I’ve seen while I was deployed in the middle east. I was always amazed at how the structures were composed of sand-like material. It inspired me to follow along a similar color choice for the exterior surface of my structures.

TECHNIQUES:

When creating my castle, I began with a solid rectangle as my foundation. Then I created a 10-sided polygram within the foundation and extruded it. Same goes for the small building, except I made holes on each side, representing windows and I threw a dome roof on it because it looked odd without it. The outside pillars were done in multiple steps due to the various shapes associated with it. I started with a cylinder and extruded slightly above the foundation. Then I placed a truncated cone on it and began extruding the cylinder again past it. A solid rectangle, rotated about 45 degrees, was placed on the cylinder and once extruded past it. Lastly, a truncated pyramid added as the tip of the pillar. The four smaller cylinder’s placed within the foundation have spheres dropped inside of them that make it look like half a sphere or a cap for the cylinders.

MATERIALS:

During the process of making my castle model, it reminded me of making Lego’s or small-scale car model’s, so I decided to choose a plastic toy like colors. Although, I didn’t choose materials under the plastic section because I didn’t like the high levels of gloss. 

Nikki Chauhan: Week 1 Castle

Ghosted Shot

Concept:

Starting off, I started basing it on one of the sides of the Moszna Castle in Poland which despite its name, is currently a lavish hotel. I enjoyed the tower structure and the relation in the architecture between the rectangular/cube center block, the rectangular area connected to it and the towers attached to that.

Layered Shot

No Naked Edges

Process: As I started thinking of how I wanted to draw out my design and execute it, I began to just imagine it as the same as the picture but more simplistic with maybe a few added details and touches but as I began designing, I realized I wasn't going to be able to make it as my computer died and I had to get a new laptop. As I started from scratch with barely two days to spare, I started with making my rectangular center piece and then connected the large rectangular space behind it. Continuing, I began adding the cube-like area behind one of the towers and then began assembling the tower. Getting to this stage I decided to scrap the whole idea and go with something of my imagination that came from a mixture of ideas. I added outer cylindrical window-like areas to the tower and in the back, a large coned dome like area. This came from the inspiration a mix of the St. Peter's Basilica and the Hagia Sophia except that instead of a dome, I chose to go with a cone shape with the top cut off and placed a sphere in that center.

Bird's Eye

Establishing Shot

Pedestrian Shot

Materials: For the materials, I chose metal for the tower piece and the cone like structure as it is a strong material in reality and has a pleasing aesthetic look as well as a nice durability. The rectangular areas, the ball at the top and the windows on the tower are all glass as a pretty window look to create a stained glass effect.

Jacob Hunwick: Week 1 Castle

Concept:

For my castle I created a chess set and utilized the pieces and the board squares as
modular elements. Chess is originally a war game. Within the game each player has a
preferred opening. An opening is just the first four or five moves in the game, popular
combinations come to have names. On the top of the castle the pieces are arranged in
my favorite opening the Ruy Lopez I see this opening as my castle because it is one that
I play often and feel comfortable with. MC Escher’s work inspired the overall layout
(see escher-reflections, escher-chess).

I wanted to maximize the amount of reflections, and interesting refraction's. I achieved this
first by creating two layers of tiled board, and placing sphere-topped pawns to hold up
each corner.

Techniques:

Chess pieces are created by spinning blocks of wood with a lathe, and carving out curves
as the wood spins at high speeds. The process is similar to pottery, only a lathe is subtractive.
In order to get a lathe-look, I drew out the contour of each piece and revolved it around
its center.

Next, I duplicated and arranged the pieces on a standard 8x8 board. For the additional
elements I duplicated pawns, a rook and knights to hold up the board on top of a larger
platform.

Materials:

Chess sets are traditionally wooden or glass. For my variation I chose white and black
glass for the light and dark pieces respectively. For the board I used black glass and
24 carat gold. The selection was primarily to make interesting reflections as mentioned
in the concept. For the large knights below the smaller board I used a dark wood to make
the large corner pawns stand out. I originally had the knights as glass, but this made the
\reflections very messy and overly complex.

Ryland Smith: Week 1 Castle

Concept: I was curious what can be a castle and I began to ponder on when I loved knights and castles and the nostalgia brought me to childhood. I did, and still do love boats, so I thought a toy castle boat might be my avenue. If a castle means we are fortified in our space to command our garrison, is not a boat a castle? This was my space as I forged my Castle Boat.

Ghosted

Layered

Techniques: I began with the hull and to accomplish this I created a curve and then mirrored it. following I would copy the curves away and then make a surface. Afterward, I proceed to copy that surface 3 more times. creating an end piece from the curves and an extra horizontal line I would cap it at the back. I created a triangle and line up the curves once again creating a surface from the curves. Then I proceed to join the hull. Next, I used torus and rectangular prism solids to form the engine. To create the rutter I used curves and then extruded these curves. The ladder is a boolean joined set of cylinders. The captain deck command center used boolean difference to create the solid. The baluster is created by drawing curves and then rotating it to create a solid, then boolean join a cylinder on top.

Establishing

Pedestrian View

Materials: I used plastic for the hull and engine. Its a toy boat and so decided plastic would make the most sense. The engine is red as the color pops and implies power. Then I used brass on the balusters to add luster to the boat. Then the captain's loft uses anodized aluminum to have more shine. The floor and ceiling use plastic as well but textured adding a bit more variety to add interest. Altogether I chose materials so it feels like a radical cyberpunk toy boat.     
  

Jesus Vela: Week 1 Castle

Ghosted Shot

Concept

     This castle was based off of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. As a concert hall adorned with vibrant windows and a clear stone, the palace is significant as a cultural torch for many Mexicans. I innovated the palace by adding additional towers to the structure while also reducing some details. The materials I used in the rendering of the images gives my castle an equally vibrant personality, making my castle an adequate residence for the Muses.

Layered

No Naked Edges

Techniques

     Throughout modeling, the gridsnap aid made it easy to arrange solids into the castle. When constructing the castle I first laid out a polyline around the castle's perimeter. Next I used the box tool to construct the main frame layer. The rest of the layers include more boxes (Entrance and Roof), paraboloids (Pillars, BigTowers, and SmallTowers), and extruded triangle and arc/half-circle surfaces (Roof and Windows). When running the naked edges diagnostic, all of the pillars and tall/small towers had naked edges. Since paraboloids are not originally closed solids, I employed to solutions to get rid of naked edges. First, the pillars which are composed of mirrored paraboloids were joined into a single solid. Second, The tall/small towers to closed using the cap command. All in all, layers simplified troubleshooting by allowing me to address issues in chunks.

Opening Shot

Materials

     The Palacio de Bellas Artes was built in an art Art Nouveau and Art Deco (Wikipedia). To reflect a similar importance in decoration through linework, materials and lighting were important to convey the aesthetic theme of the castle. Materials used in Keyshot for rendering the castle include: Anodized Aluminum, Ginger Bronze, Glass Red, Gold Polished, Soap Bubble, and Tiles Hexagon Dark Grey. The latter material worked perfectly as the ground layer because it accents the symmetrical character of the castle. While the metal pillars help define the glossy main frame, the metallic towers and entrances add volume to the structure. Soup Bubble material is very glossy and without edges, so brightness and contrast were increased to help distinguish the curves around the castle. Soup Bubble material was very exciting to work with, as color was manipulated when capturing shots inside as well as outside the castle.

Exterior Pedestrian View

Interior Pedestrian View

Andrew Rowan: Week 1 Castle

Establishing Shot

Concept: My castle's design is based loosely on a Tesla coil. Tesla coils are mainly thought of as scientific but I think they are also fascinating as sculptural objects. I tried to separate out some of the main elements that defined a Tesla coil and apply them along with my own style. There are many circular shapes in my design that are meant to mimic the inspiration.

Ghosted

Techniques: The main technique I used in this project was ArrayPolar. I essentially built a single side and used the polar array function to make the four supports and the eight pyramids. I also used it on two different planes for the cage of the lowest sphere. I also used curves to make the tubes as I was comfortable with this from previous engineering graphics experience. I could have used the taurus command in some places but went with what I knew. I also used a boolean union on the cage so it would remain one object, which made work much easier.

Layered

Materials: One of the main goals I had was to make my castle appear more sculptural than scientific. After doing the initial design I could tell one of my main ways of continuing to push into sculpture territory was though materials. The spheres, rectangles, and lower support arms are brushed aluminum, which is shiny enough to get attention but not overly bright. I used polished black marble for the base and main supports. This black grounds the piece, while the stone makes it feel more substantial. Finally, I used polished brass to highlight some of the main features.

Pedestrian

Charlene van Zyl: Week 1 Castle

Ghosted

Concept:

I wanted to base my project off of a traditional castle, adding elements of a medieval fort. I went to Google Images for some ideas and liked the castles that had towers. Forts are typically fairly simple in design, but I also wanted to try to add some point of interest.

Layered

Techniques:

I started off by making a rectangular prism for the base of my castle, then made the doorway and interior with a Boolean difference. I went on to use cylinders and truncated cones for the towers, using another Boolean difference to make the top of the turret hollow. I copy and pasted this tower onto each of the castle's corners. I then went on to create the central tower, using the same techniques as I did for the first tower. To made the tower hollow, I used a Boolean difference in the center and through the wall for the two windows, which I used ellipsoids for. I added a tall, narrow cylinder to the top of the tower and added a triangular surface to it to create a flagpole. Finally, I surrounded the castle in rectangular prism walls, using a Boolean difference to subtract from the wall and create an overhang.

Detailed Shot / Pedestrian View

Materials:

I initially planned on having my castle be made of stone bricks, but when I wasn't satisfied with the look of that in Keyshot, I decided to go for a glassier look. I used a blue gemstone texture for the base of the castle, and diamond for the turrets. I wanted some solid color in the castle as well and decided on using polished copper for the outer wall and flagpole. For the flag itself I used blue velvet, the floor was made of textured aluminum, and the windows used frosted glass. I only had access to the trial version of Keyshot on my personal computer, thus the watermarks on the final renderings.

Establishing Shot