Virtual Enviroments - Attack on pearl harbour - Curtis's blog: 3D model development

Ford Islands - Radio Tower

reference images

http://www.historichawaii.org/n_02/2012/awards12.html

http://www.radiomuseum.org/museum/usa/pacific-aviation-museum-pearl-harbor-ford-island

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/HI/Airfields_HI_Oahu_S.htm

http://s567.photobucket.com/user/almclendon1/media/DSC_0138.jpg.html

http://abnf.co/HI-old_aviation_control_tower_in_ford_island,_hawaii.htm

http://erickrauss.com/pearl-harbor-ford-island-and-uss-utah/

http://damontucker.com/2011/02/22/control-tower-blessing-friday-at-the-pacific-aviation-museum/

To start constructing the radio tower I first started to construct the base of the tower by selecting a standard primitives box pre-set, then placing it on the grid, I then placed another smaller box in front of the big one. Once that was done I placed another box on the grid to bridge the side gaps between the small box and the big pre-set. Then the small angled box pre-set was positioned into place with the scale tool and move tool.

The angled box pre-set was then cloned and positioned in the other gaps on the other sides of the two other box pre-sets.

The reason why I created the radio tower base in this way is because, I first tried to create the radio tower base with a spline line but every time I made my shape and closed the spline, the spline would keep making one of the lines curved, so instead of wasting time, this way worked much better and more affective.

Pro boolean would of been another option to create this shape, but at the time I did not think of doing this option, because I had forgotten about it, so afterwards I had to look it up and refresh my memory.

When referencing the photos of the radio tower I have, I wanted to create the stair way block on top of the towers base, which by selecting the tower base I added segmented lines, I could turn the pre-set into a editable poly and select the polygon option and exuded one of the segmented squares up to create the stairway onto the radio towers base roof.

To make the radio tower base stairway block to a suitable size using the editable poly polygon option, I selected one side of the block and used the exude tool to move it and make it smaller in width. The same was repeated on the opposite side.

I then moved onto the main structure of the radio tower, using a cylinder and box pre-set, I simply moved and scaled the two pre-sets in place, the blue rim around the bottom of the cylinder and box is the method of how the cylinder and box pre-set will be textured, because both pre-sets have to be more than one colour I used the shapes line segments to texture them, by making both shapes a editable poly and using the polygon option to select segments of the cylinder and box, I can add a material to that one selected segment to create the coloured rim.

Next I focused my attention on the radio towers platforms, to create these I simply used a sphere pre-set and selecting the scale tool, I squashed the sphere really flat to create the towers platforms, then by using the move tool to position the first one in the correct place corresponding to the reference images, I then cloned the first one to get two more and then I positioned the other two in the correct places. I Also added an extra segment to the cylinder and box so the tower has the correct number of coloured segments.

Once the base of the platform was created and positioned, the next task was to create the platform railings, creating the round railings so that they were curved and rounded.

The idea came to mind from the sphere I squashed to make the platform, by cloning the platform I created, I thought a simple but interesting way to use the shape segments and to create the best look for my rails, by selecting all the inner segments that make up the shape, by deleting them as shown in the screen shot above. I would create a hollow ring. Then all I needed to do is create railing posts to give the impression that the ring was connected to the posts.

The first platform post were created by using a simple cylinder pre-set, which was positioned and scaled correctly into place.

After cloning a number of cylinders into their place to make my posts, the hollow ring was positioned in place inside the platform posts.

After a few tweaks in the size and positioning of some of shapes, I cloned the hollow ring two more times to get the finished result for this section, which in my option gives the tower better detail.

To create the platform under supports I created another box pre-set and by using the shapes parameters segments, I gave the box pre-set more segments in its height and length, but not much in width, then by turning the box pre-set into an editable poly I could then take away segments to form a bracket shape to fit under the towers platform, to solve the hollow issue of deleting the bottom of shape’s segments, I used the editable poly polygon option to select the top section and move it to the bottom of the shape where it is hollow, as the top will be covered over later it does not matter if the top is hollow.

This screen shot above shows the platform under supports positioned in place.

Next I moved onto the construction of the radio towers outer stairs for the workers, to create these they were cloned from the big platform I created earlier, as the outer stairs are the same design as the big platform round with the same amount of cylinder railings, cloning them will help complete the tower quicker.

Then the next stage is to create a ladder to go inside the stairways, to do this I selected a box pre-set and made a long rectangle on the grid.

For this shape I lowered the shape segments to 1 because I did not need to distort the shape in anyway apart from the ends.

Then to make this rectangle look like a stair rail, I turned the shape to an editable poly to angle the ends of the rectangle, I selected the vertex option in the editable poly and selected the box pre-set's end points and with the move tool, I made the box pre-set angled slightly at the ends.

Next to create the steps I used another box pre-set from standard primitives menu and drew out a rectangle on the grid, then with the move tool I positioned the rectangle in place between two angled thin rails which were cloned and rotated.

Then for the steps I cloned four more and positioned them in place.

A completed simple ladder, The ladder does not have to be as detailed as the whole tower because when I position it in place on the stairway and scale it, you won't see much of it anyway in detail.

Here’s a screen shot of the ladders positioned and scaled in place on the stairway.

Cloning was used once again to clone multiple objects of the stairway to create upper stairways to the top of the tower.

The finishing touch's to the stairway platforms also were edited to have a hole in the floor for the ladders to sit beside, so it adds more authentic detail to the model.

tTis screen shot shows a far away shot of the multiple stairways being connected together with the help from the ladders.

In my option this section came out really well, viewing the stairways from this distance shows off a lot of detail for a this section of the tower, once the tower is finished this section being as detailed as it is will improve and make this model shine when being captured in the finished 3d video.

I then focused my attention to the top of the tower by selecting a gengon pre-set from extended primitives – I used this shape because whist mapping out this shape on the grid, you can change how many sides the shape will have, by moving the mouse left or right. I also considered the pre-sets height segments to exuding the windows later on.

In this screen shot, it shows I am using the editable poly options to remove the pre-set points, because they are not required, the downside to doing it this way is that it takes time to move the numerous segments, I need them for the windows so they have to be removed. A good suggestion for these pre-sets is, that if you want to create a shape that is not a pre-set option, you could have a menu setting so the pre-sets segments to many sizes you want your shape to be.

Converting the shape to an editable poly, I used the polygon and vertex options to move the segments and points to the end, lined up beside the end of the tower.

Here’s a screen shot of the vertex points being selected and moved to the tower's end where they are straighten up.

This screen shot is showing the finished result of moving all the polygon segments, using the move tool to position them in place and the rotate tool was used to straighten the points/polygons when they were moved at an angle, although the move tool is essential the rotate tool is an asset because you can only move the points/polygons in three main directions.

Then to finish off the shape I used the polygon option in the editable poly and using the exude feature, I pushed some segments inside the shape to form windows. A effective and useful way to make windows which also gives the model depth, this I was able to achieve because earlier I removed the pre-set points that would have been in the way.

Next I started on the base of the watch tower at the top, by referencing the photos of the radio tower the watch tower platform looks like a hexagon shape, so to create this shape I found a useful shaped pre-set called a spindle, which worked perfectly with the same number sides as the real tower in referenced pictures.

As most of the top of the watch tower appeared to be hexagon shaped I used the clone option and the scale tool to create the control room and roof.

Then I decided to focus on the two spindle which will represent where the control crew enter, I changed the colours of the two spindle to differ ate between panels and windows.

By converting both spindles to an editable poly I could use the polygon to select the spindles segments and exude the segments inside the spindle to create more depth in the shape, The bottom green spindle is representing panels and the dark green spindle is representing window which have been exuded a bit deeper in the shape than the other spindle, this way there is a difference between the two.

The screen shot is also showing a cloned rail from the other platforms being put in the watch tower platform to add more detail to the tower.

Using the move and scale tool to change the size and position from the other smaller platforms below.

Next I finished off the roof of the watch tower, by looking at the reference pictures of the tower, I found that the watch towers roof is slightly domed with a flat top, so what I did was after changing the segments of this spindle so there was less segments as possible, I used the vertex option in the editable poly and selected all the inner points and scaled them out nearer to the edge, this gave the spindle a slightly curved rim whist leaving the top completely flat as I wanted.

Then by cloning another cylinder I scaled the cylinder in height to create a aerial and positioned it to the back centre on the roof of the tower.

This screen shot is showing development to the main building in front of the radio tower, by selecting a box pre-set to form the buildings basis, the screen shot shows I am using the shapes line segments to create ledges and windows for the building.

Using 8 line segments for the height and 4 for the length, I converted the pre-set to an editable poly where I used the vertex option. to select certain vertex points to move them. together or further away from each other to create a window size or ledge size.

Then once the vertex points were correctly in place to my liking I would then use the bevel tool to pull out the small segments to create the ledges.

Then to create the windows like I did with the tower I used the exude tool once again to push In the bigger segments to create a indented window.

To finish off the ledge so that they connected to each other, I used the bevel option and selected the ends of the ledges to join the ledge all the way around the building.

To develop the main building in front of the tower, the front building has a rounded section to the building, using a cylinder pre-set and using the pre-set segments I used the editable poly vertex points to move the segment lines to make the size of ledges and windows.

Then I used the bevel option to pull the segments out that represent the buildings ledges so that they match the main building.

Then once the bevel option was done pulling out the segments to make a curved ledge on the cylinder, I used the bevel option once again to fill in the gaps between each bevel shape, then to tidy up the uneven ledge I used the vertex points on the segments, positioning them together to form a complete curved ledge as shown in the screen shot.

This screen shot is showing final tweaks to the cylinder, by checking all the points connect right and scaling the size of the cylinder to match the other building.

Sorting out the main building itself , as the referenced photos of the radio tower show the building is not a complete rectangle that I started with, it has more detail to it.
I cloned the first building, then with the new building that I have I scaled it down and rotated it side ways, to get the small window that would on the side to the front, then I scaled down the width of the first building to create the building you see in the screen shot, the second building received slight modifications to the windows position.
I decided to add a new set of windows each side of the blue ones and the blue windows were exuded back to normal, so that there not windows anymore.

Next I went onto to develop the control room above the main building, using a gengon pre-set from the extended primitives menu, this pre-set worked well for the control room base because referencing the radio towers images this pre-set has the right number of sides to match.

Also I increased the line segments on this shape ready for exuding windows on this shape later on.

Then I cloned three more gengon pre-sets to create the rest of the control room, using the scale tool to squash the first and third cloned gengon’s to create the platform and roof. The second gengon was scale down slightly and like the original I added more segments in length and high to create exuded windows out.

In this screen shot I have marked out the segments I wish to exude in to make windows on both gengon’s, by marking them in a blue material will tell me when I come to texture this model where the windows are.

Next I moved onto adding more detail on the building by adding aerials, by using another cylinder pre-set, these aerials were scaled up high and some cylinders were cloned again to be shrunk down and rotated to sit on top of the aerial like the middle one in the screen shot.

Some cylinders were cloned again to be rotated and angled to prop up against the aerials to add more detail to the overall model.

Next I moved onto another stairway beside the main building, using a box pre-set the box was scaled down until it was flat, then noting the line segments I increased the amount of segments in length and width, I did this because these small segmented squares on the box pre-set will be bevelled out to form the stairways railings.

Here’s a screen shot of the bevel option being used to create the stairways railings.

Next I cloned more of the stairway, using the rotate tool to angle and move the other stairway pieces in place, also I used the scale tool to stretch some pieces to form the complete stairway.

Then once the stairway railings were created I drew out on a grid another box pre-set, scaling and moving it in place, this box pre-set would be the finishing touch to the stairway, by cloning it multiple times by selecting the box pre-sets by moving, rotating and scaling them in place the stairway slowly got its banister.

Here’s a screen shot of the multiple box pre-sets in place on the stairway and

the results of the bevel tool to create the stairways supports.

In this screen shot I am showing that I have added another box pre-set and using the vertex points by converting the pre-set to an editable poly I selected certain segments to make a ledge to connect to the other building.

Once I done that I used the bevel tool to pull the segments out of the box pre-set to create a ledge.

Adding more detail to the new pre-set, selecting certain segments on the box to create more windows to add more detail.

Lastly to finish off the control room on the front building, I cloned the platform railings from the tower and scaled it down and placed two on the control tower below.

Screen shots of the tower at its present state:

Updates To the design of the radio tower

Upon creating the hanger model, I thought whist opening the file of the tower I did not like how the main building turned out with its window placement.

Also by finding out by more referenced pictures of the building it was shaped wrong, so I decided to recreate the main building again.

Using the box preset and the square segments I planned how many segments I needed to create the ledges and windows again.

In the screen shot shows the editable poly vertex points being used to select a layer to create a ledge, by selecting all the necessary points needed, I used the move tool to move the points closer together to form the size of my ledge.

This screen shot shows the exude tool in the polygon option being used to pull out the segments to form a ledge, using the old model as a guide to create an appropriate sized ledge.

Once the ledges have been exuded out I exuded the edges of each ledge to complete the ledge, ledges connect to each other around the building.

Next was to plan where the windows were going to be, using images of the building as reference I made the correct number of windows on the model to its real life counterpart, maybe not exactly actuate, it’s a good representation o f the buildings window layout.

Then when I was satisfied with the windows placement on the building, I deleted the old one and positioned the new building in place.

Then I started by adding a window to the cylinder shape which gives a curved window.

Then once the new main building was sorted I moved onto texturing the tower, by using referenced bitmaps as my texture I can give the model realistic looks.

By selecting a bitmap from the material editors files, when a material is shown on the preview sphere in the menu, it is very important to take note of the settings below because the texture you chose from the internet may be too big for the select areas of the model you want them to be in.

The screen shot above is good example, in the screen shot I have placed a texture on the model and the results show the texture looking stretched and horrible, however looking in the menus below there is a option called tilting, decrease the number shown using the arrows the texture will get smaller and look more realistic as shown in the screen below.

Another thing to note on texturing make sure you create another texture sphere of the same texture for different areas as shown the cylinder has a bigger area to the rectangle, if it has the same texture tiling settings one of shape textures would look blurry, so I added into another separate preview sphere the same texture, then by changing the tiling settings the cylinder looks better because it has a different tiling setting and the texture can seen more.