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View Full Version : Interior architectural ornamental detail - how?

realmaker
02-04-2009, 07:29 AM
Could anyone give me some input about how best to model interior ornamental detail like you would see in a high-end home theater room designed in the art deco/nouveau style? Molding and borders would probably be the predominant type of detail, but also large, circular ceiling details, picture frames with fancy corners, etc. - shapes like s-curves and fleur-de-lis come to mind, but in general, all types of swirly shapes. The shapes would appear in relief as if carved into a piece of wood. I think for the most part the patterns would repeat, so it would be a matter of creating a section and then copying it over and over. As for a reference, I think I could find what I need in the pattern books you find in the art section of the bookstore. (I hope--I have yet to look.)

Speed and creative possibilities are the operative words here. I'm using 3dsmax Design 2009, so I have those modeling tools, but I was wondering if something like ZBrush or Mudbox would give me the tools to create this kind of thing better and faster than MAX's set of modeling tools.

Any opinions? Thanks in advance.
gruhn
02-04-2009, 06:06 PM
Thinking about rosettes: I'm guessing that some amount of geometry will be needed so large scale occlusion will look right but you can probably get away with normal maps for the finer detail. ZBrush has radial symmetry which I would like for that kind of work. Quick paint something down like that and then slap the normal map material on it. Work exclusively in pixols, no sculpting. Could be good. I don't recall if any other modern paint programs have the radial symmetry. Deluxe Paint has good symmetry and tiling options. Sniffle.

I recently did some molding with geometry and had bad aliasing problems on the fine detail. Want to rethink how to do that. Again with very rough geometry and normal maps is probably adequate. Heck, you could just paint the shadows on.

Maybe a pro will chime in.