Gart230 Blog- Week three, Starting the block-out 

 

This week I started to block out the environment for my scene, the main source of reference I used for the block-out was the floor plan as this offered the most comprehensive breakdown of the environment. I added the image of the floor plan to a plane and placed it within the scene along the Z axis so I was able to flick between the 3D view of the model and a top down perspective showing the floor plan easily.

This really sped up the blocking out process as the basic shapes could be gleaned from the floor plan and then once all the basic footprints of the different objects in the room had been mapped out it was simply a case of using reference images shot from different angles to add further details. Helpfully the floorplan included some measurements for things like steps and there are a series of signs dotted around the actual bathhouses that denoted the depths of each of the different pools which were also present in a number of the reference images I had collected. This information helped to provide a point of scalar reference from which I could derive the size of other objects in the scene by scaling them in proportion the the objects for which I had defined measurements. The hardest part about this stage was the various different heights of the layers of this project as these were not always easily shown on the floorplan and had to be pieced together primarily from reference images, the main levels of the room are as follows: the second floor (which I do not intend to model but which the stairs lead up to) the mezzanine level (which houses a glass walled room and sits slightly above the main floor level) The main floor level, the base of each of the pools which vary slightly in depth and finally a basement level underneath the mezzanine. not all these levels are shown easily in the floorplan with the basements being hard to distinguish as well as the entrance to the second floor, plus the top of the staircase, being absent from the rooms floorplan.

I have decided to remove some aspects present on the floorplan as I didn’t deem them beneficial for the project as a whole as they do not feature within the film itself, the most prominent removal was the emergency steps at the left and right side of the room towards the far end, Instead of modelling the whole inside of both staircases I have instead opted to model only the emergency exit doors which lead into these staircases and will leave the space inside blank so as not to waste time modelling redundant aspects of the environment. Over the next week I intend to refine some of the more important models and move them away from the block out stage to a more finished article as well as finishing blocking out some of the aspects of environment that I didn’t have time to model this week such as the massage room and steam room as these are more complex assets and thus I have decided to model them last once I have got back into the swing of modelling after the summer break.