Hi everyone, here is an image of a Roman watch tower I’m working on. I rendered it in Yafray using a sun lamp and an HDR image for illumination. Anyway, I think that the textures and grass need some work, but all coments and suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris
Awesome model, but one thing:
If you light up the candlestick wouldn’t the roof catch fire?
Impressive. The fact the model is on a sort of small model stand makes me believe it is a painted plastic or clay model (like War Hammers for example) and causes me to change the way I would expect the details to be.
Modeling wise I have no crits but I agree with what is said above that the torches and other could use some design work behind their locations.
The materials are great too but here are a few things you could work on:
*the crags in the wall are too big compared to the building itself
*the roof and wall could use more weathering marks such as mold and dirt etc
The grass and ground are ok. Maybe add a few plants around the base, crawling up the wall or rocks etc.
Awesome job though
Slep
Hello again. I’m sorry for the delay replying, but I’ve been struggling with my textures and, alas, have not had enough free time. Anyway, enough of the excuses, this is how things stand:
In reply to the previous messages:
YZAL: Thank you very much. It occured to me when I first created the brazier that it’s current position is rather borderline (which is to say: it’s rather close to the roof). I believe that the brazier’s design is broadly correct (compare it to this), but I shall try tweaking it a bit for the next update. Incidentally, I was thinking that once I was happy with the tower I might try rendering it with nightime lighting.
Slepnyrl: Again, thanks for the comments. I originally placed the tower on the round base simply because I wasn’t interested in creating the wider landscape (yet), but now it’s there it does rather take me back to my Eldar painting days :). I have repainted the wall texture, and I have added more plants around the base of the tower. In the next update I shall try to dirty-up the roof tiles.
I have two specific questions to ask:
Should the arched bit (I forget the correct term) above the door be the same colour as the rest of the frame, or is it fine as it is?
Is the bump level on the walls correct?
Thanks again for the comments so far. As before all suggestions are appreciated.
Chris
i love the new one alot better, thats one nice and desent tower/outpost!
only one sugestion, you might want to make some wood/coal into the torch thing, but i quess that aint so important. allso there should be at least one more at the other side i mean the most left corner on the pic.
The scale seems a bit out of wack, I think for two reasons:
The wood that makes up the railings is way too thick. The boards you have making up the rail seem to be (in comparison to the doorways) around 9"x9" pieces, which would be way too large in real life. Cut the size of those boards in half, and it’ll look more in scale.
The viewpoint/camera setting are more what we’re used to seeing when we look at a miniature or toy than at a real building. Most real buildings are viewed from around 5 ft. off the ground.
Harkyman’s 2# reason perfectly explains why It made me think of small painted models. In addition to the round base concept which I find very very pleasing for the presentation of a model.
I agree the wood beams look too thick so maybe change that a bit.
The arch over the door looks good so I wouldnt change that.
The plants on the ground look good but maybe add a few more and/or plants that start growing attached to the wall and maybe a few rocks or such. The grass’s could use a bit more random directions if its particles
very well done !!!
The model is very close to archeological evicence (seems you are an archeologist) and textures are great (i really like the dirtmaps and the footpath to the tower).
Sometimes, a building inscription of roman watch towers can be found, that could be a nice add-on to your tower.
You might have a look at http://www.digital-archaeology.com/, very impressive archeological visualizations.
I would be very interested in the background of your work, it’s one of the best roman models i’ve seen.
happy blending !
Hello, I’ve been making a few more changes to the file. As you can see I’ve been trying out new textures on the roof and glass, and I’ve also been adjusting the fence. Let me know what you think.
harkyman: Thank you, you raise some very interesting points which I haven’t considered before. I’ve been playing with the fence a bit to see how it looks. When I first read your message I tried making all of the planks 25% thinner, and this was the result. I’m not sure, but I think this goes to far the other way - the fence looks to fragile. The picture shown above uses the original fence, only lowered a little bit. This is what it looks like from the front of the tower:
I think this is the best solution so far, but it isn’t perfect. This is one point I’m really not sure about though, so all input is welcome.
You are quite right that the viewpoint makes the tower looks like a model. You can see a lower view of the model here. I suppose to a certain extent this still looks like a model because of the base. I suspect this will become even more relavent when I try to put the tower in a wider landscape.
Slepnyrl: Thanks again, I’ve been playing with more plants etc., but I heven’t got anythin nice yet - hopefully soon.
Bodi: Thanks, I actually finished my archaeology degree quite recently - and now I’m looking for a job. I hope that I can one day get a job creating 3D models like this (we can all dream, but it remains to be seen what actually happens). Digital Archaeology look like a great company- I hope I can one day work for a company like that here in Britain (too bad I don’t speak German:)). Having said all this I’m embarrassed to admit that my tower is basically a generic tower based on other people’s pictures. I have done reconstructions at university based very closely on the actuall evidence, but this one is all about practicing my Blender skills.
Anyway, you make a good point about the inscription. I’m afraid I can’t really look up tower inscription right now (too far from any large library), but I’ve put one above the door for the time being. Do you know if that’s plausible?
Anyway I’ve gone on long enough, thanks again everyone.
Chris.
I think the size and density of the grass contributes to this, too.
I hope that I can one day get a job creating 3D models like this
i’m sure you will do so ;)…
I will send you some pics from roman watchtowers with building inscription from the german part of the limes via pm.
Keep on working !
Hi guys, Iu haven’t had much time to work on this model lately, but I just thought I’d post my attempt at adding a wider landscape to the tower. It needs a few more plants, and the grass may well still be off, but I think it’s getting better. All coments appreciated as ever.
Thanks,
Chris
its nice, i think you need to showcase the purple flowers a little more. maybe put a few sporatically around the foreground. what happened to the path? really nice lighting btw. are you creating the tree in blender? i like the layout of the timbers, and the position/shadow of the ladder. is that so the guy/girl can protect himself by just pulling the ladder into the building, huh./
In the picture with the landscape, the grass is too uniform in height, and too sparse up front. There could be more grass surrounding the tower as well, as currently, the tower seems to be slightly off the ground - on some layer of concrete or something.
Going back to scale… the sizes of the plants compared to the tower and the ladder seems off by a bit.
Your other renderings were also nice. They had a really ornamental look to them.
Aligorith
I love it :]
This is one of the best model’s I’ve seen in a long time…
My only crit is the grass infront of the tower…
Don’t know why… but it seems a little bit… weird…
Not the grass itself I think… not sure…
This is really cool. One thing I notice is that the edges of the tower seem a little too crisp and straight compared to the rough worn texture you have they look too perfect. A subtle rounding or beveling of the edges I think would help a lot.
I agree to Noadi. The tower looks to perfect. 
And maybe add some street or wall in front of the tower. I don’t think the romans build a tower in an empty grass landscape.
But it looks great so far 
Looks great!
The grass close to the camera does look a little spread out. maybe if you added a blur up close and in the distance it wouldn’t be as noticeable.
Hi, I haven’t been able to update this scene lately as I’ve been busy trying a few challenges and some paid (non-3d) work. Anyway I though I’d just post a new update to the tower image, now I’m working on it agian.
This is excellent work. It’s been a while since I looked at this thread too.
*The grass could use thicker strands, seing the ground throught it gives an odd feeling.
*The bushes are well done. I suppose they are alpha mapped planes
*The tree, which is also using this alpha mapeed plane principle I suppose looks wrong color-wise. It doesn’t seem to fit it with the rest. Probably a lighting/color issue.
*The horizon is odd. The right hill slopes toward the tower and leaves a white open sky when there “should” be more land. Maybe add another hill and see if it looks better?
Other than that this is great work.
Ed
