modeling a building

[mentalj21]

hi all just wondered if anyone can point me in the right direction,ok here is my problem i want to start modeling buildings etc.. , everytime i leave my house i see a beautiful church right outside my front door an i wanna have a go at modeling it but when i start everythink it just seems way outta proportion i want it to be the right size (the doors windows clock etc) but i just cant figure out on how to get a accurate size in feet,an i really wanna start modeling these kinda things but this is one big block for me getting this outta the way will lead me on my journey to happy modeling ,so i would be very grateful if anyone could help me out, i aint got a digital camera so im dragging the images of google streetmap.

[Veduka]

Most people (me too) are modeling buildings using AutoCAD files as references.
But, If you want to model a building from a picture there is a special package from Autodesk (I can't remember its name right now, read the descriptions and you will find it

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...&siteID=123112

[mentalj21]

hey cheers m8 ill have a browse though that in a sec : o by the way here is a picture of me old church this is what i need sizes for ^^ so autocad good then ??

[mentalj21]

any ideas y i cant upload pics?an the actual name of that program?cause theirs sooo many lol so is auto cad another prog worth investing time in

[punkman220]

What type of church building is it, Does it have a tower? I would guess the height by saying in one floor has 8-10ft. This would only work if the building has floors? But I would ask your priest/preacher how tall the building is lol.

If you do get the height you can create a scale on a piece of paper. Say 1 inch = 2 feet. I would then start sketching a basic shape of the building using the scale. Once in max you can re-size the model when it's finished.

Honestly if I was going to do this, I would take the best shot I could get. If it is an angle shot, model it at an angle. Make basic shapes of the building to get a feel. Never go right into detail. Focus on the overall look and shape, then once you have that, take it up a notch.

[wolfranium]

@ Punkman : You can always use the perspective tool in Photoshop to correct any angles taken by a photo & make a proper orthographic view . Its in one of Eric's tutorials . Much easier than modeling at an angle , cause you have to take the camera's focal length into account when doing something like that .

Autocad is a program to make blueprints if I remember correctly . Some people can use it to bring in those blueprints to Max to help them model ( I think as splines or something ) . Correct me if I'm wrong please Veduka . Anyway , my point is , if you just want to model that Church , then its not worth getting . If you want to go into Architectual modeling , I would think its quite important , especially for pros .

I personally think you will need to get some good photos of that church if you want to model it . Not only for reference setup , but also for textures . Perhaps you can borrow a camera from someone just for the afternoon ? Best times to take photos for textures is in a relatively cloudy day . That way you get good diffuse lighting with not so many sharp shadows ( useful to extract those bump maps ) .

If you can't do any of that , then I would think try modeling it by eye . Since the church is right outside , it shouldn't be too difficult to eyeball it . Along with Veduka's & Punkman's help , I think you should do fine .

Good luck , & I look forward to seeing some nice 3D renders soon from you .

[mentalj21]

cheers for the information people much appreciated i think i spelt that right i was looking at autocad but to be honest i dont wanna go to deep into it pro etc.. trying to upload this bloody picture but cant for some reason weird,ask the priest lol if i walked into a church i would most probs set on fire.

[mentalj21]

i think it worked at last here are the pictures

[punkman220]

Ok, Reference photos are very distorted. I don't know if you have experience in Photo shop, but do what wolf said. Fix the distortion before you start modeling it.

I personally am confident enough to model with bad references. I've done a bunch of reference modeling with furniture. Bad references are a pain but I usually can visualize them.

[mentalj21]

yh i took them of google street so pretty fish eyed,but nice church ^^ ill have to muck around with them an c wat i can do,so if u was to do this urself would u photoshop i an then bring into 3dmax?

[Veduka]

Autocad is a program for architects (not 3D people ), they draw 2D in it of buidlings and later you use those 2D drawings to model them in 3D. But, Autocad has also a 3D feature, but it is not that good. I model all the buildings in AutoCad Architecture (it is not the 'standard' AutoCAD, it has much better 3D features then the standard version, http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...112&id=2956700). After that, I export it and import it into max where I set all the materials & proxys & lightning and render it. The modeling in AutoCad Architecture goes really, really fast & precise, so for example, I can do one villa in one day, wich incluedes modeling the house + garden of the villa & pool, materials, proxys, lightning and so on

[punkman220]

Veduka, you can model a house in ACAD and texture it and light it in a day? Dang I'm jealous. I need to work harder lol.

[Eric Maslowski]

The 3D package mentioned is ImageModeler from Autodesk. It requires enough photos to build up the 3D shape and can be a little cumbersome to do if the photos aren't great. AutoCAD works nice. Another alternative is to break down the building. Many people approaching building making bite off too much at the begining. This church may look like a realy complex shape but it's actually just a bunch of very simple smaller shapes put together. Try taking one of the pillars or the steps and model just that. Then move on to the next part. if you take it piece by piece you'll be amazed how quickly it forms.

[Beetlewing]

Originally Posted by Eric Maslowski This church may look like a realy complex shape but it's actually just a bunch of very simple smaller shapes put together. Try taking one of the pillars or the steps and model just that. Then move on to the next part. if you take it piece by piece you'll be amazed how quickly it forms.

Eric's absolutely right - if you can't get good reference photos for that exact building, find good shots of similar buildings and use those as reference for each of the parts. There's probably 100 buildings in Washington DC alone that look exactly like it.

Google image search for neo-classical architecture

..and this diagram contains lots of terms that may help you in other searches:

0002020002.jpg

looks like your church is of the Ionic Order