Parthenon WIP

Artwork Works in Progress
#1

Hello all,

This is my first major attempt at a project in blender. I somehow got to 141,000 vertices, and am using nearly all 20 layers :S I blame starting with a ‘low poly’ column model of about 700 vertices and repeating it about 80 times :smiley: Oh, and the 16 point roof tiles of which there are 2000 (damned array modifier, still it is a godsend).

regardless of my inefficiencies in modelling, it’s my first attempt at a model that isn’t supposed to be extremely low poly. Therefore I’ve tried to model nearly everything, so the floor and roof is all individual blocks. The exception is the internal wall and ceiling, which is just 1 big block that I’ll fix with textures.

It’s supposed to be pre-destruction, and I decided putting the statues on (for example Elgin’s marbles and the metopes between triglyphs) would just be far too much work. Still, I think it’s good enough without for now.

This is just the modelling, I’ll do textures and backgrounds later. Also my first experiments with lighting (for the sake of some WIP renders), tell me how you feel about it.

So my next step is texturing all these faces. I do not want to unwrap anything (since that would take forever), what is the easiest way to do it?

BTW: there is a brick hovering in some of the renders, I think it is one I hid early on (so I could duplicate the source if I mucked up somewhere) - how can I reveal and exterminate it?

Attachments

parthenon.jpg1000×750 64.3 KB

parthenonfront.jpg1000×750 57.8 KB

parthenonside.jpg1000×750 53.5 KB

parthenontopjpg.jpg1000×750 116 KB

#2

looking good from far away

now can you show a close up shot so we can see the details of the colunms!

how much Vertex / columns ?

and did you find good drawings for this building?

also did you take into consideration the Curvature for the columns and floor for instance
to make it looks like the real thing or just did an apprixmation to the building?

i began doing one last year but stop cause it was becoming very big > 200,000 Vertex
and blender was getting slugish a little

Keep up the good work

are you going to use some proc texturing for the marble ?

happy blendering

#3

Thanks for the positive feedback

It’s 658 vertices/column, and I’ve attached a closup of a column-heavy area for you :wink: The columns were my first step, so I finished that and UV-mapped it so it could be duplicated easily many times. By my count I have 85 copies of this column (from the wikipedia map I linked later).

No, the curvature seemed like far too much work for no real gain. I’ve seen photos exaggerating it, but still not really seeing it.

My best references were from wikipedia. Far too many normal touristy shots of the decayng ruins. One of my main references was a reconstruction in Nashville http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Parthenon.at.Nashville.Tenenssee.01.jpg and a map of the original http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Parthenon-top-view.svg

I wound up getting a bit too bogged down in research - such as trying to work out what the roof would have looked like, but eventually settled on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbrex_and_tegula

I was shocked at my vertices, climbing to 141,000, but luckily still no problems with blender slowing down.

Also, just played around with a marble proc texture for the first time - not really impressed. It seems like I’ll have to apply to each object separately -with 445 objects this could get slow. Also, the texture forms really simple patterns - the texture on one object continues on the next (when this should be a completely separate piece of rock). Will play around more later, try to break the pattern more (but not using the same one on adjacent blocks for example).

Attachments

parthcolumn.jpg1000×750 106 KB

#4

Very ambitious project. I’d love to see this textured and completed. Aim for the galleries!

You unhide objects with Alt+H (try it both in edit mode and object mode.)

The column curvature is called entasis ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entasis ) and in the Parthenon you are not supposed to /see/ it, only /feel/ it. The entasis in the Parthenon is indeed very small and (if I remember correctly) only intended to avoid the optical illusion that make the columns look “bent inward”. So you might perhaps want it for your final render (but probably not).

I googled on “Parthenon plans sections” sans quotes and found a lot of useful stuff. For references you might find some useful resources here:

Keep us updated with your progress.

#5

this entasis i remember seeing a documentary 2 weeks ago from NOVA i think
and they did give a lot of details on this entasy thing

like in front vierw the middle of Stylobat has something like 6 centimeters higher then the side
which is not much and may be difficult to simulate or even usefull in blender

now one thing for texture if you Alt-D this will keep the same texture data block
but also the same shape ine dit mode
so i you modify one all the other will be udated

now for good marble texture go to the blender repository they have 10 different type of marble texture

one of the main problem i had was how to set up the beams on top
i mean how do you m ake the joint X Y i do one pci but not certain if this was the right it was done for the real parthenon any idea on this ?

also the colunms had something like 10 drums instead of 4

here is some notes i took for the columns

The Parthenon had 46 outer pillars and 19 inner pillars in total

front side 8 columns + another 6 insides behind
side 16 columns + the one on front side
one room with 4 columns
other main room with smaller columns = 23
10 + 10 side + 3 back

Doric columns measure 1.9 metres (6.2 ft) in diameter and are 10.4 metres (34.1 ft) high.
The corner columns are slightly larger in diameter.
ratio of column width to intercolum distance
4 / 9

Triglyphe width as a standart width element
there is a relationship to the height and width of the parthenon to this trihlyphe widht

intercolumn = 5 triglyhp
column height = 16 triglypg

i can show some pics of the section i did for my modle but it’s not complete

hey you got an interesting project here
i wish you good luck with this parthenon with blender

happy blendering

#6

Doric rhythm doesn’t go this way. Sorry to say but this is completely wrong. A doric column has nothing in its base, just straight to the ground. Here’s a quick modeling in blender (oh I love this app) just to show you the doric rhythm. You should use three sections for these columns. The middle in 1/3 of height, somehow a curve exists there. So good luck, looks promising.

Attachments

test.jpg800×640 41.9 KB

#7

interesting you found something for the roof stuff

do you have any other details for this?
i tried to understand the liitle dwg in wiki but difficult to see how it works!

i check my old column and i got something like 4000 vertices with 10 drums
so it big V count for one column but yuo can zoom in close in a render without loosing details

Thanks