Jeremiah Baker: Week 1 Castle

ghosted painted black

ghosted with keyshot material assignments

Concept: This concept was not really inspired by anything, (besides the dome, which was inspired from Arcadia from Doctor Who) but was instead just a result of me making random patterns. The symmetry and repetition throughout the design are intended to create a structured and organized feel to the piece. The dome creates a sense of everything working together, but also suggests a menacing and claustrophobic atmosphere. The repetition of spheres creates a city-like model, getting larger and larger towards the center. When approaching the center, the towers get higher, creating a sense of progress. The bridges also create a sense of connection between the many different pieces and the ability to progress.

Modeling Techniques: The snap to grid feature was incredibly useful in the modeling of this castle. It allowed everything to stay perfectly in line with everything else. To create the dome, I created 2 spheres, one smaller than the other, and used a boolean difference command to make it hollow. The mirror command was also very useful in duplicating the squares and especially the bridges to symmetrical positions.

Materials Used in Concept: I used the darker Axalta materials in order to create a sort of menacing and structured feel of the square buildings and the bridges between them. The gold Axalta finish in the middle represents the peak of progress, a light in the middle of the dark. The dome had to be glass because otherwise we wouldn't be able to see anything inside, but it also gives the idea of the ability to see the outside world from inside. Also, the mirror-like quality of the black Axalta gives a really cool effect on the central cone. Because of the reflections, it can be seen from pretty much any angle even though the cone itself is usually hidden behind one of the central towers.

Brandon Wehenkel: Castle

 Black & White Ghosted

Colored Ghosted

Different Angles

Concept:
"Your home is your castle, but it is also your identity" ~ David Soul
This design is far from the medieval interpretation of castle, but its the idea that your home is your castle that I went with.  I enjoy the intricate designs of modern homes especially the ones that defy logic and dangle over the sides of cliffs. Also I played The Sims a lot and I like creating modern homes more often.  A particular youtuber from Australia is my inspiration for most of my home designs.  I chose to create a home where the center is water and everything around it builds up and down from that.

3/4 Aerial

Entry-way Interior

Modeling Techniques:
There are 365 pieces in this house and most of them were created with ExtrudeCrv and Copy.
The main level is not the level is not the foundation.  That is found on the lowest level that dangles over the cliff side.  The main level is where the pool rests (red layer in colored ghosted photos).  I built the house entirely around the pool allowing stairs to move above and below the pool.  When I created this model I didn't know about the 3D/2D scale tool.  So I used all four perspectives to measure out each block repeating them many times due to the size being wrong. In the ghosted mode, everything is colored according to floor and wall, except glass and the pool.
On the curved shapes, where the drive way is, I used Polyline and changed it from line to arc in properties. Then used Cap planar holes.  I used the Polyline tool several times to create triangular blocks around the architecture.

POV Back

Materials:
Most of the modern homes look like they're just giant blocks of colored cement.  So I chose white Carrara marble due to its similar quality, then changed its roughness.  I added the glass materials to the areas where glass should be.  I didn't want people falling over the sides of the balconies, or just walking through the rooms as if they didn't have walls.  The deck around the pool has Mahogany wood material.  Also I felt that the building was too boring if it was all white, so I added some pale green Travertine stone material, a brown Granite material, and some Metallic blue dividers on the main level. I changed the roughness of the white, green, and brown stone to reduce reflectivity.
I rendered with Caustic on to simulate the water effects.

POV Front

Problems:

1. My main problem with the techniques I chose could have been less time consuming if I knew a bit more about the tools themselves.  I did a lot of trial and error, creating several odd shapes, which ended up wasting a lot of time trying to close them.  I had an idea, but the cap tool stopped working, and I had to redesign the façade.  
2. The driveway is a bit odd and that is because I couldn't figure out how to blend the roads together. If I knew how to model a cliff it would have looked a bit more ideal.  
3. Sometime when I imported the document the textures stopped working correctly.  All the textures for the materials became flat and I couldn't revert them back.  So the granite just looks like flat paint on the walls.  
4. I'm also used to building homes in a game so the whole idea of building in Rhino threw me off, and the overall multi layered layout became a bit overwhelming at times.

Timothy Smiley week 1 castle

concept

I am a huge medieval period nut. I love Scottish Celtic ancient aesthetic and castles are one of my favorite things. Naturally I wanted to make a more traditional castle. I looked and found some of my favorite designs and staying to a similar aesthetic.


modeling techniques

I used Maya to model this castle.I already have experience with polygonal modeling and so i dusted off the cobwebs of Maya and worked that way. I duplicated a section of the wall and one tower and manipulated it to get the entire castle by scaling and sizing.

Materials used in concept

I had some trouble getting a good looking traditional brick look with keyshot but then i played around with some pearly colors and it had a different loom but I found it intriguing. the nice pure white makes it feel more fantastical and maybe hidden up in the clouds. I also added a brick bump map that isn't visible from the pictures but is there.

Michael "Griff" Crow: Week 1 Castle

   

Concept
    My main idea was to work with a castle design that was unusual in my searching I found a rather unique Castle. which formed the basis of my idea. Though the circular symbolism of the castle made me feel like it was more of a holy site than that of war, so I opened the entrance and added an alter \ temple in the center to make it more of a place of worship than a true castle for defense.

Modeling Techniques
    In this model I used three main technique s. The first and most important technique that I used was Boolean Difference. This allowed me to make complex shapes that were still capped on all sides, such as the wall and the fortifications. The second major technique was ArrayPolar. This allowed me to create spires, pillars, and even subtraction wheels) used with the first technique to give the whole caste a uniform feel and that perfectly circular dimensions I was looking for. Finally I used several curves and the Two Rail Sweep tool which allowed me to make the perfect arches between each set of pillars at my entrance. along side the advanced tools I mainly used my Gumball and snap tools to create the rest.

Materials
    I wanted this castle to have a real castle feel to it, but the more I played with the stones and the like the more I disliked any of the presets. I ended up making my own variations on marble due to the unique beauty of the "veins" in the marble, which gave my altar \ temple more of a mystical feel. the rest is made from stones and precious metals to reinforce the significance of the site and draw your attention inwards through the main gate and into the altar itself. The dark Green stone is used to accent the white and black and offset the blue in the marble, once again pulling the piece together for a cohesive feel without distracting from the more important materials.

Sarah Roberson: Week 2 Duck

Ghosted Painted Black

 

Ghosted with Keyshot Material Assignments

 

Concept

I had a hard time with this assignment because I couldn't get a lot of the commands to work so some of this is isn't how the tutorial explained it. But my inspiration for this design and the color scheme is a Mallard Duck. I have a pond out in front of my house and I see them every now and then and so that inspired me. The green mixed with the yellows are a mix of a traditional rubber duck and the color green reflect the look of the head a mallard. The inspiration for the top hat and the monocle came from a picture that I saw of a man with a top hat and a monocle. I just love the look and was going for more of a stuck up look which to me, most people with monocles are stuck up people.

Modeling Techniques

I used circles to form the body and the head. Most of the rest of the body is stretching the geometry of both the head and the neck to make the shape of a duck. For the wings, I squashed ellipsoids and for the neck, I created a  truncated cone because I couldn't get the merging of the shapes to work the way that I wanted. I modeled the monocle and the top hat to make it look like a posh British wealthy man.

 Materials Used in Concept

How my material choices reflect my concept is that all the colors are from the plastic such as some rubber ducks usually are. I also wanted to make it shiny instead of a dull plastic such as rubber ducks usually are because I like  the look of a shiny surface rather than a dull one.

Sarah Roberson: Week 1 Castle

Ghosted Painted Black

Ghosted with Keyshot Material Assignment

Concept

The concept design was a mixture of a pyramid, Jabba's Palace (From Star Wars), and Bowser's Castle. I picked Bowser's castle, to begin with. I really liked the simplicity of the design. The aesthetic of how symmetrical each picture I found of the castle it was. This design is represented in the walls of the castle. Then the inspiration for the red middle spire came from a Pyramid. Though my pyramid is more circle than square, I tried to capture how pyramids form a point at the top, but make it rounder like castles are. Then the rings for the top tower came from Jabba's Palace. I really wanted it to look like it had layers much like balconies to it and when I placed it on the model it reminded me of it.

Modeling Techniques

Most of the techniques that I employed were extruding, copy and paste, scale and rotate tools. I switched a lot between perspective and top views because it helped me to center each shape. I designed the walls first and then created the inside so that gave me and helped me figure out the size that I needed to make the interior shapes.

 Materials Used in Concept

How my material choices reflect my concept is that yellow and red are very indicative of Bowser since he shoots fire. I kind of wanted to reflect that in my concept because I really dislike fire and it's a way for me to help overcome that fear. I also really like the colors yellow, red and black together. To me, they are visually appealing and help you focus on the main center of the spire which is my pyramid shape. Most of the material choices that I used inside Keyshot were glass. Both frosted as well as transparent. I really liked how the glass looked inside Keyshot so I wanted to be able to use them in a way that lets the colors in my design blend well together.

Andrew Scott: Week 1 Castle

 

 ghosted image painted black

ghosted with keyshot material assignments

 

Concept
The concept behind your model is based on satellite designs.

Modeling Techniques
Modeling techniques employed to execute the model


Materials
How you material choices reflect your concept.