Modeling a complex "sculpture" kinda thing

Right now I am modeling some pillars for a project, and I cant seem to get the top of the pillars right. They are pillars on the capitol building, and the top of the pillars there seem quite elaborate.

How would I go about making something like that, or at least something comparable? Sculpt tool? I found using curves and stuff really doesnt work that well. Any tips?

I attached my progress so far, I just need something on top of it!

Thanks

Attachments


well, there doesn’t seem to be a magical way around it… it has to be done manually, or you could neglect some details if you’re not worried about accurately representing the shape…

the good news is you can model one side and spin dup it with 4 steps…

You can model only one corner of the head of that thing and then use the mirror tool.

I would use both the mirror and array modifiers for the acanthus leafs. There is a good reference for those columns in the Wikipedia article Corinthian order ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinthian_order ).

However, as I mentioned in your other thread, before soon you are likely to end up with a detailed Corinthian column about 2.5mb in size. When you start to duplicate this thing in your main project file you will end up with something your computer won’t be able to handle. So I recommend to start with a simple cylinder.

I was hoping to make it low poly and use the details as a texture. Would this work?

You’ll probably get the best results if you model it using subsurf. Sculpt is too messy for this kind of stuff and textures won’t react to light the way geometry or normal maps would.

Try breaking the whole thing down and analyse the seperate ‘objects’ on it - maybe it’s not as complex as it looks on first sight. Here’s a nice example of a modeled column. The elements on their own aren’t incredibly difficult, it’s mostly the combination of them that make it look fancy.

HI,

Zwebbie once again delivers rock solid advice. I think
we read all the same stuff…? I was not far off pointing
out the same thread.

Rgds,

P.