Further Window Hell

After yesterdays optomistic post, the solution I had posted hadn’t worked. For some reason because I was trying to create splines on the elevation and then extrude them into plan 3ds max was not happy. So the wonderful solution I had found did not work. I’m not sure why as I’m fairly sure that it wasn’t a problem with the first window I created. But i have found a work around. I had to draw my first spline then rotate it through 90 degrees then draw a new spline over the top which would then allow me to extrude it. I could then rotate this newly extruded spline back through 90 degrees to be in the right position. At this point I thought it would be easy to just taper the window, not so. Because of the mucking around with rotating it would not taper in the right way so I had to go through a series of messing around with tapers to find the right combination of axis (while knowing the effect I wanted in what appeared to be the correct axis). I found that using this method I need to taper primary: z and effect: y for 0.51.

But now I have the start of window made. I am now going to try to use it to cut out the window from the walls.

Window hell

I have been working/ swearing over the creation of the windows at Bodiam. I am currently playing around with different ideas about how I am going to build the model anyway, I have so far built the basic outline of all the walls and am now thinking about how I am going to “cut” the windows out of them. My idea so far has been to use compound objects to “subtract” the basic shape out of the solid walls.

My issue has arisen due to the shape of all the windows. The “easy” ones I decided to start on are a basic rectanglular shape on the outside but open up into a much more broader frame, the following photo is an example:

The issue has been creating the curve along the top of the window as it shrinks as it moves back.

I have tried using a range of shapes and lines to create this, I couldn’t figure out whether teh best way to create the shape was to creat the plan of the shape and work from that or the elevation and either stretch or shrink it.

This second way ended up being the best option. I created a spline of the inner wall opening. I then converted this to an editable poly and extruded it to the depth of the window. The created the curving ceiling, but hadn’t solved the issue with the opening shrinking towards the window itself. I then applied a “taper” modifier with the taper axis primary in the x axis, and the effect in the y axis. I needed to apply -0.76 to get the right effect.

The shape is not perfect yet, but I think if I go back now and build the shape up from scratch ensuring that it is symettrical when I apply all of the changes it will be perfect!

Hello world

This first blog post I will use to quickly fill in the gaps of what I’ve said I’m aiming to do and what I’ve actually done.

I have been playing around with starting a blog for a while and I must admit it is more for me to keep track of what I’m doing and how I’m doing it than for anyone else. I think my aim is to keep my digital ideas categorized separately so those with a lot more experience can quickly skip over the pain staking things and only read the (hopefully) interesting results or ideas of what I’m doing.

So to begin I am about to embark on my first project of modelling the private chambers at Bodiam Castle. These can be seen in this image (thanks to Prof. Matthew Johnson for the photo)

To start on this I took part in a two week field season in April 2011. I worked with Penny Copeland, James Miles, Pete Wheeler and the Arch2024 students to produce the east elevation of the castle using a total station connected to AutoCAD using TheoLT.

This completed elevation I proceeded to import into 3ds max. I will be using the survey data as a guide to shape my model of the rooms. I am currently exploring different methods of building up the shape of the rooms (the position of the walls and their heights). I have tried using lines to draw around the edges and am also experimenting using Standard primitives and using them to create Pro-Boolean objects. I am also trying to begin to cut holes into these completed walls as I think this will help determine which option is better suited.

I have also been thinking about the issues associated with the data. The survey data is incredibly detailed because of this I am having a hard time making decisions about how closely I should follow it and also how to interpret a number of the lines. This has led to lots of discussion with Alice Watterson (http://digitaldirtvirtualpasts.wordpress.com/) about the process of reconstruction and how we can bridge the gap between our observation of the site today in the present, and our visualisation of the past. It has also led to me questioning how I can fill in the gaps of my data (where walls no longer exist) and how I can build this uncertainty into my visualizations.