Anthony Benavente: Project One Castle

Ghosted Model

Layered Model

Concept: Upon hearing advice of 'treating castle as a broad term' , it sparked a creative cog in my head. Before even starting into Rhino, I wanted to get a good feel of what I would try working on. I started simple with a fortress design with some towers at each corner; I started to notice the overall feel was looking like a medieval stone fort. Then it dawned on me, most castles are confined to the ground; So why not try making a castle that could be seen in the clouds,  and so started the work for my Skybound Fortress.

Techniques: Starting with simplicity first, the main method I used to make all my 3-D shapes was using the box tool and making them simplistic building blocks. The cubes, cylinders truncated cones and pyramids where all done by use of the box command. The towers I made using using a cylinder and truncated cone, Boolean union the parts together and copied the final result to make the towers. The larger tower is simply a scaled large of one of the copies.

The main castle and armory next door were made with cubes while hollowing them out was thanks to a Boolean difference; Boolean difference was also how I was able to create a doorway for the castle and armory.  The island, spires a d centerpiece are made from truncated pyramids and the dock is an assortment of rectangular blocks with a curved semi circle on top.  The towers and main courtyard were joined by a Boolean union to help get a feel of the now finalized design of the castle.

Establishing Shot

Detailed Shot

Materials: The choice of materials were done to 'break the norm' so to speak; I figured a castle made in the sky would also enjoy a fancier material than standard stone, sl I went with a anodized blue to imitate a dark sapphire castle.  Chrome textured to help show off the metal spires on the walls, a blackened gloss for the pathway and a ceramic white for the centerpiece to help balance. The cloudy red for the dock was done to try and get a pearl shine to the entrance all the while brick was used for the armory. The island itself has a plastic cloudy green to get a flying earthen feel,  a similar feeling in a new place; The grey overall background made it seem like it's hidden among the clouds giving an air of mystery and wonder of how this castle came to be.