Roman Ancient Colosseum Reconstruction

Hi all!

I’ve been working lately on a new project. A realistic, on scale reconstruction of the Colosseum. I used several (reliable) sources and blueprints:




The project is after a long time working and learning from it, FINALLY done:D
Unfortunately it isn’t textured. I think it is to late to still do that. And I’m not even good at it haha. So it’s done and I’ve put it on the internet (Fallingpixel, 3DExport, The3Dstudio and Turbosquid). Take a look there if you want more detail renders!

But the reason I posted this here was also for critique.
What could have been better? Does it look good for e.g. selling? Are there things not good or realistic? And I think this is also important: is the relation between price and quality good, or must it be cheaper of more expensive? I would love some comments so I can learn from it for my future projects:)
And I know I should have textured it, so in my next project I will do that on my way making it. Because doing it afterwards doesn’t work for me well…

Thanks for your time!

Here are some on screen renders:
HD:





It’s too bad you can’t attach more than 3 images per post :frowning:
So you’ll have to follow the links xd

O. M. G. That’s awesome. How long did it take? It’s very nicely detailed, and it’s a really nice job. Just one thing: I can see polygons in some places, either you have to set it to smooth shading or just add some subsurf.

Can’t wait to see it textured, if that’s ever going to happen.

yah… this is a huge accomplishment.

i am sure i don’t even know how i would begin to model this.

i suppose one thing you could check is to make sure all the curved surfaces are shaded smooth. i noticed in some of the archways you could see faces/edges.

you should try texturing, even though it’s hard! i hate texturing too… but it really does make a big difference.

m.d.

@Animaniac888 thanks thats nice to hear! And what you and SeriousBlacknes said is true. I didn’t even see it! I’ll fix that up for later:)

And I don’t know if I’ll texture it… It would be awesome though! Maybe I do it… but on the other side I like to start something new haha.

But actually how I did it… It al started by a curve and a curve modifier along with an array modifier haha. I made one arche, arrayed it, then curved it along and it’s done:) But it take a lot of time making it al perfect and fitting yeah… I think it took me a month/ 2 months if I worked on it al day?

I first made a simple version for a school project:



See the difference? haha
that model took me about 17 hours. Then the hard part came when I decided to refine it and make everything perfect for selling. That took me sooo long xd

Thanks for the feedback and nice comments guys:)

Wow this is amazing, great work.

Thankyou! And I made up my mind, I’m going to texture it:) It will be a good lesson for me haha

Hmm I tried it and it isn’t going to work. It’s to messy to texture it now. Most of the mesh is joined already and I have almost zero experience in texturing so this will take to long… I will start with another project soon (after my exams haha) and let you know!

Fine work.

But Roman coliseum doesn’t have 3rd level seating all around as you show in your model. 3rd level makes the wall around the coliseum too high for sunlight to fall on to the field. I verified the arraignment of seats on Google map. And it is true. The southern side of coliseum only has two level of seating. There are three levels of seating on the North side.

This design lets the sun in, and keeps the field well illuminated during the daytime. No big shadows during play! Most of want-a-be coliseum architect today has the mind and design of pre roman times! As you know, big huge shadow falls on today’s field all the time.

Having 3rd level seating structure on the North side will block chilly north wind. And it will act as a solar collector. The seating in that area will be more cozy and comfortable during early and late season events. During summer month they just put awnings over that area.

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m626/cabby24/Blender%20Pics%202011/colisum_elev-1.png

You can see here that main coliseum elevation design go all the way around; 2 levels. Third level base is an extension of two level designs.

As for awning design, boom that’s supports it only needs to be only three meters long or so. Because, Sun is high up the horizon during the summer month.

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m626/cabby24/Blender%20Pics%202011/colisum_boom.png

Man, them Romans thought of every thing.

Signing up to follow this thread. =)

My only quibble (in order to follow thread rules) is that the florets on the pillars’ capitals seem a bit low-poly-ish, but that could be for any reason, so it’s not important.

@ridix thanks for the feedback!
It’s sounds very logical and true, but I’m still wondering… I’ve been to the colosseum itself and it didn’t seem that there was a 3rd row… But my teachers told me that just not everything was left because it stands there for decades… And another thought is, how can it be that if you look for the colosseum (google pictures? btw you’ll find my render from the3dstudio in the results lol) there is no image of a colosseum without third row? So where did you get that information from? But it seems logical to be honest xd

@JDaniels I’m glad to hear that, but don’t expect many big changes or texturing haha xd I’ll be starting a new project soon :slight_smile: But indeed, the pillars’ capitals were low-poly-ish for two reasons:

-Imagine a high poly capital duplicated by 40 (or 80, I don’t know the numbers anymore…). It would really slow your PC down when using this model.

  • Most of the times you won’t see that much detail… so I thought when people wanted to texture it, they could easily do that:)

But nice! Thanks for the feedback! And your thread is also very nice! I like it.

btw JDaniels reminds me of Jack Daniels hehe

Really good modeling - what a big undertaking.

Forget where, but somewhere (History Channel likely) that there is evidence it had a retractable dome! On bad weather days a skin was pulled across thru a system of ropes and pulleys and tackle. Also that the design of the exits was such to control the flow of the large crowds very efficiently. The romans were known for their advanced development of concrete and joining cements engineering to allow them to complete such magnificent structures.

It is true coliseum is in the state of ruin. But the superstructure remains; 3 level structure on the north side and 2 level structures to the south side. They were well engineered massive structure you know. Most of the bleachers are gone. Perhaps they were made of timber beam structure. Coliseum floor must have been timber as well. They are all gone.

I visited Rome too, long time ago. Anyway, 3rd floor level bleachers is show right on the drawing you used:

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m626/cabby24/Blender%20Pics%202011/colisum_lvls.jpg

@chip4brains Thank you! That’s nice to hear:) Yeah, I also thought that the dome was retractable! Do you think the dome was modelled well? (See the links to my products)

@ridix If it’s true, then I still wonder why almost all pictures and references tell us the colosseum was a full oval shaped building without missing a side or a lvl of bleachers… I just can’t believe it. Do you have some good sources for this theory?

I looked through some more info on the web. And I suppose it is correct that the coliseum was at full height all around at the beginning. Apparently, there was earthquake that destroyed good part of coliseum at some point; southern 3rd level structure. This is evident when you look at current south elevation. Those columned façade in the south do appear to be sheared right off. No exterior decorative columns on the face there at all.

Only way to tell if the structure was there or not is to see if there is a foundation extending out from South structure. Unfortunately its all cleaned up and covered with pavement. Not a hint of its existence in the past.

Had not seen your depiction of the dome, again, exceptional modeling.
Wish I had some use for this, it is so excellent.
You are as a master modeler as romans were builders.

Wish you mucho luck in texturing it some time, please repost if/when you do.

@ridix ah that’s how it probably was! Thanks for the info and your time anyway:) I think I’ll leave it this way then I guess haha

@chip4brains wow thanks! Really nice to hear that! Yah I don’t think I’ll texture it… I’m now learning the ‘real’ work: Hard surface modelling. No, I won’t become this good xd But I want to learn making details and how to have a nice topology:) I’ve found some great tutorials about that.

When I’m done with those tutorials, I’ll start a new project from an 2-months-old drawing I made. Don’t ask me where I got the inspiration from, but i don’t succeed in making another drawing like that:( Here it is:


I’m looking forward starting the project!