Presentation & Triumph Arch

On Wednesday, 15th of February I had a presentation and its scope was to inform the tutors with the current progress on the dissertation. This was a good opportunity to talk about all the good and not so good occurrences in the project. 

The project is on track and re-scaled with a more appropriate timeline and cut out the over-scoped aspects such as all the organic modelling and the special effects. This also changed some of the milestones giving some extra room for more adjustments and iterations that might occur later in time.

By having these excluded from the Circus, it can now be more focused on creating a more achievable and consistent result, rather than having a little bit from everything. After just one week we received the feedback and grade back from the tutors and I am very satisfied with the overall result and progressing so far.

During that week and even before I have also been working on the triumph arch in the front of the circus. I tried to keep the texel density as even as possible and still use the existing textures. I had to sacrifice some of the squares in small places due to the shapes to be accurate but tried to keep them away from the main view. 

I had a very difficult time trying to find some references and close ups on the arch, but I found a good one that could serve as a replacement and has very similar details. Here are some photos of the Arch of Constantine:

This is a very good base and I tried to model the arch using the exact details and pieces. I also got a very interesting diagram defining the main shapes and silhouette. I have skipped modelling the statues or the reliefs on the arch as it takes too much time, but I will still try and use a combination of normal and height maps to suggest the details at least.

 Here I have some previews straight from Max's view-port:

 It might look repetitive in the most part even with the final textures, but that is why decals were invented and I will use some to break that tiling. So far I am still in the polygon budget and I putting as much time and effort in this as possible.

References

Cartwright, M., 2013. Ancient.eu. [Online]
Available at: http://www.ancient.eu/uploads/images/1266.jpg?v=1485680440
[Accessed 21 January 2017].

Mortel, R., 2012. Flickr. [Online]
Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/prof_richard/7949648384
[Accessed 21 January 2017].

Vizzutti, M., 2008. The Arch of Constantine: A Tool of Propaganda and Change for the Roman Empire. [Online]
Available at: http://honorsaharchive.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/arch-of-constantine-tool-of-propaganda.html
[Accessed 22 January 2017].

The Pillar Completed

I finished with the pillar and I think it doesn't look that bad. I have used some new placeholder textures to get a feel for the decorative parts especially at the capital(top) of the column. The asset took me just over a week most of it spent modelling and unwrapping inside of 3Ds Max. The capital uses a unique texture, 1024 x 1024 in size, and the rest was modeled using the same technique as the stage.

This is a very important piece as I will end up using it in every other part that follows such as the pavilions in the spina(middle piece) or the Imperial Box. The poly count is not bad for the details and the textures definitely gives the desired look and also adds all the fine details.

Here I have some shots from 3Ds Max with the asset unwrapped and textured.

References

Starak, W., 2016. Textures.com - OrnamentsPillar0118. [Online]
Available at: http://www.textures.com/download/ornamentspillar0118/102920
[Accessed 14 January 2017].

Textures.com, 2016. Textures.com - GildedTrim0016. [Online]
Available at: http://www.textures.com/download/gildedtrim0016/100136
[Accessed 14 January 2017].

Textures.com, 2016. Textures.com - OrnamentBorder0115. [Online]
Available at: http://www.textures.com/download/ornamentborder0115/25454
[Accessed 14 January 2017].

Arches and problems...

As you can expect, every project has its own flaws and there is no perfect development, this one is no excuse. As I started creating the stage model I did have some difficulties in creating the right shapes and come across different types of architecture. I couldn't find a perfect representation for the Circus, especially close-ups. I relied on previous attempts of creation by other people, some video documentaries and also architecture theory and images of the parts needed.




As you can see I kept experimenting with different types of arches and vaults until I have reached the desired result. However, I am still working on it. I did several attempts in trying to get as many ideas out of my head to progress as fast as possible.

Pillar

After finishing the arches I thought I will be done with the most tedious parts, I was so wrong. After I have consistently analyzing the references I found out that I don't have enough for what I need to do. So I started researching again in particular more buildings and structures built by the Romans so I can have an appropriate style to keep it consistent.

I found some video footage and it was in French. I didn't understand that much of the talking, but I got a more closer view on the actual architecture used not only for building the Circus but on the whole Rome. Also a website with someone trying to replicate the same building I am trying to make.

References

Ailes, D. R. E. D., 2016. Youtube. [Online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scEgv4ZX_0Q
[Accessed 22 January 2017].

Scoccimarro, D., 2014. Progetto Traiano. [Online]
Available at: http://www.progettotraiano.com/
[Accessed 22 January 2017].