My attempt at a 3D model of the school:
Click on the image to the right to see my latest image of the model.
Click on the dates below to see how the model has progressed over
time. I still
have quite a bit to do, so I really have no idea when it will be
done. I would guess that I will be working on this for much of
2004, especially now that I've decided to create an "inside"
for the building. In the end, I hope to have many scenes created
from this school model, both inside and out, winter and summer, etc.
March 25, 2004:
I've been busy with work lately, so I haven't done much. I
basically played around with the shingles a bit, but it still renders
very slow. I'm going to have to come up with a different
approach.
March 21, 2004:
I finally have part of the entry-way done. it's not complete,
plus the roof takes way too long to render (multiple iso-surfaces
being cut-off via a CSG difference, for those in-the-know), so I'm
altering my roof-making macro a bit to hopefully make it faster,
though it won't look any different. Also, it still needs a door
and a window and a few other things, but it's starting to look pretty
good. I also noticed that all of the shingles are too
light-colored, so I'll have to alter their appearance at some point.
March 19, 2004:
I "fixed" the tree. The old tree had too many
branches. However, I liked the shadows that the non-visible
duplicate trees were creating, so I might have to add a couple more
trees to the picture. That would probably make it less
historically accurate, though. Actually, there probably weren't
very many trees in that location in the early 1900's (roughly the
time-frame that I'm working with). I also started working on the
entry-way, but I don't have any pictures to show yet.
March 15, 2004:
I made the bricks and mortar a little redder, so that they would look
more like they had once been painted. Made a couple other minor
adjustments as well. I expect to get started on the entry-way
pretty soon (finally!).
March 11, 2004:
I recently got some old reference photos from the 1920's, 1930's and
1950's (which I hope to be able to put on this site at some
point). I had to change the roof from standard shingles, to
cedar shingles. The school was also painted red, probably
several times over its lifetime, so I plan to make the bricks redder
as well. Other changes will come as a result as well. For
now, I'm pretty pleased with the way the shingles look, but I'm not
pleased with the way the middle window looks completely black (it's
reflecting a tree, but it still looks weird).
March 10, 2004:
I had some fun trying out a night-time experiment. I'm not
entirely happy with the results, but it is interesting.
March 7, 2004:
I added some trees. I'll be adding more later.
Jan 26, 2004:
I haven't done much in the last few days. I've been playing
around with my new computer, so mostly all I have are a few test
renders of various things. Anyway, I thought I would do another
inside render, just to see how it looks. It shouldn't be too
much longer before I start working on the inside of the school,
creating desks, blackboards, etc. At that point, the brick won't
be visible from inside. Click here
for the inside view.
Jan 16, 2004:
Simply wanted to see how it would look with grass, and what effect the
grass would have. Render times went through the roof, so I had
to reduce the radiosity for this test render, which means that Penny
looks dark and 2-dimensional, and there is splotchy-ness on the white
part of the roof. This is the point where I need to make tough
decisions, or else have a render that takes a month or more to
complete.
Jan 14, 2004:
No update to my model, but I found this
picture, of a school in Vicksburg (that's quite a ways south of
here, maybe 100 miles?). Anyway, the school looks nearly
identical, but not quite. It's hard to get a good look at it
though, with such a low resolution scan.
Jan 12, 2004:
Mostly, I worked on the Belfry. I think it looks sweet.
:-)
Jan 10, 2004:
I thought it would be neat to create an inside view, even though there
are currently lots of strange things going on inside near the
windows. Eventually, I would like to have a plank floor, and
normal walls of some sort. I'm currently considering doing the
inside using this
as a reference photo, but I will also have to create desks, and other
objects, which will be quite time consuming. Nevertheless, the
idea of having the school complete inside and out really appeals to me
now.
Jan 9, 2004:
Worked on the windows a little more. I noticed in my reference
pictures that the outside of the window frames were painted white, so
I could probably assume that the entire frames may have been white at
some point. I also worked on the brick textures a little more
(again), and I think I'm finally getting them to the point where I'm
reasonably happy. I also changed the snow a bit, and made the
"sun" somewhat less bright, which I think brings out more
details of the scene overall.
Jan 5, 2004:
I finally got the belfry going. I think it's starting to look
pretty good. I used a different anti-aliasing technique, which
made some things look a little different, though better, I think.
Jan 4, 2004:
Worked quite a bit on the soffit, finally adding some detail that had
been lacking. I also played around with a radiosity
"cloudy-day" scene. I also raised the foundation a
couple bricks, but forgot to also raise Penny, so she's just barely
able to see out the window - oops. I also worked on the brick
textures more, hopefully bringing them closer to reality, but they're
still not quite right.
Jan 3, 2004:
Created some snow. My plan (if there is a plan) is to use the
schoolhouse in several different scenes, once complete, some of which
may be winter scenes and some may not. I also created a view
from behind.
Jan. 2, 2004:
Worked on the brick textures a little more, trying to get the proper
colors and finishes. I think it looks better, but I still may
have to do more with them at some point.
Dec 27, 2003:
Also changed Penny's dress (the Poser 5 model), and gave her a new
poser that my 5-year-old daughter suggested. I did a close-up
of Penny, but you can see many problems in the brick-work here,
some of which were corrected, but others have not been yet.
Dec 19, 2003:
Dec 18, 2003:
Dec 15, 2003:
Dec 14, 2003:
Dec 13, 2003:
Dec 10, 2003:
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