Textures for my Lighthouse

I used this texture for my windows as plane glass was rarely used in large, important structures in the medieval era, so I used stained glass.

 I used this texture for my balcony fencing, my dock and its support, the bridge across the castle and its supports, and finally the spiked posts surrounding my fire source. Wood was a material that was regularly used in medieval  building.

 I used this texture for the tops of my walls and the tops of my tower. Brick was used regularly in medieval times.










 I used this texture on the crown crest.

I used this texture for my ocean.

 I used this texture for my balcony.












I used this texture for the background of my lighthouse.











I used this texture for my courtyard.









I used this texture for my walls and tower.

 

Creating my Lighthouse

This screenshot shows the initial creation of the tower for my lighthouse. All I did was insert a cylinder and cone into Maya and sized them appropriately. I then placed the cone on top of the cylinder to give the medieval tower look shown in my mood boards.

I then duplicated the same tower and spaced them apart to create a gap where I will be placing a bridge to connect the two with a fire/light source in the middle.

After, I created a square and sized it down to create a bridge to connect the two towers. After looking at it I realised that it looked odd floating in between and added more squares and sized/placed them to act as supports for the bridge. I also added a plane for my towers to sit on.   

I also created two balconies on each tower as in my research I found that medieval towers would usually have a this feature. I used cubes and cylinders to create this affect.

 I created walls with cubes to surround my lighthouse which will be in the centre of my structure. I then made a smaller cube and placed it on top of the wall, duplicated it and placed it along the wall to create a medieval castle look.

I created a central tower for the fire of my lighthouse to be situated, I added windows to both this tower and the towers surrounding it as well. I created the windows my making a cube, flattening it and raising the vertexes on top to create a arch. I created the crowns as a crest for my lighthouse. I raised the vertexes of a cube to create a crown shape then added spheres to act as jewels.

I created a flag pole and flag to match the crest on my central tower my shifting the vertexes of a cube to give the look of a flag. I also created the fire pit for my lighthouse and spike pillars to look more threatening and foreboding like a castle should.  

I created smaller windows to go around the large walls of my lighthouse. I did this my taking a cube flattening it and then adding edge loops, raised the vertexes to create spikes and placed appropriately.

I needed to create a form of making the light of my lighthouse rotate in order for it to be effective, I did this my flattening cubes and placing them around the fire pit. This would mean that the light emitted from the fire would be concentrated on the mirrors and then lighten an area. I also changed the tops of my towers to a more realistic shape from cones to cubes then extruded the corners to create a similar look to my central tower and being more like castles from medieval times. 

I then created a main door for my central tower by putting two cubes, elongating them and then cutting a tube in half to create a arch, this meant that their was a way to easily access my lighthouse. I textured it in black brick. I also crated two smaller doors made of flattened cubes for my towers surrounding my lighthouse. 

I then went on to texture my entire model using my mood boards, colour schemes and research to help me decide on what textures to use.

I created a landscape for my lighthouse to be situated on, I did this my texturing some cones and cubes in a mountain/rock texture an placing them accordingly around my model.

I also created a docking station by enlarging a cylinder then flattening it, I reused the supports I made for the bridge a cross my lighthouse, that was situated just in front of my lighthouse hanging off the edge, I will put a plane textured with an ocean texture to make it seem like the sea.

 

I made a back drop for my scene In an attempt to make my render look more realistic. I did this by texturing a sphere with a sky texture, then reversed it so it showed the texture inside the sphere as well.

I put all the background elements together and finally created a ocean textured plane to acts as a sea. I also added a spotlight coming from my lighthouse and a ambient light to act as the natural light source of the sun. 

 

Medieval Colour

Medieval Colour 

There is a false presumption that in medieval times were dark and dingy with wars lasting hundreds of years and other tragedies such as the Great Fire of London and the Black Plague. However, in medieval times clothing, buildings, food, celebrations were bursting with colours like red, orange, blue, green, and purple. There was a lot of variety in how things were portrayed which helped give more depth and create a more pleasing image for people to look at. Given all of the colourful things were usually expensive and were only used or owned by the richer upper classes of the time.  

How my Mood Boards helped me?

Lighthouse Mood Board

My lighthouse mood board showed me the general design of lighthouses for me to base my concept art and when I come to it, my final design. I learned that lighthouses are not always just the typical tower but can have other structures attached or near by (usually being a residence for the lighthouse keeper or supplies for the lighthouse to keep running). I also found out that they can be made of different materials as well as have different uses from the mood board such as some just being a goal/light to reach, whilst others were used as a warning sign/light for boats to avoid an area.

Medieval Mood Board

My medieval mood board showed me what my research meant about the different styles of medieval architecture of Romanesque and Gothic being quite differing ways to construct, but both were used during this period and has given me inspiration on what sort of design and shape my lighthouse is going to take. It backed up my research of simple shapes such as rectangles and materials such as wood and stone.

Mood Boards

Medieval Research

Medieval Architecture Research

Medieval buildings were usually simple in design and involved simple shapes such as rectangles and triangles. They also used limited materials usually sticking to wood, tile and stone. This resulted in most buildings have a darker shade of colours then more modern buildings. These included brown, beige, grey and black. There are different styles that were used such as Romanesque, Gothic. The Romanesque style was heavily inspired by Roman architecture e.g. Roman arches, buttresses and precisely cut stone. The Gothic style involved gothic arches, wider windows made of stained glass and towers (usually including gargoyles). The Romanesque style was used during the years following the fall of the Roman Empire 1066-1200, but then the Gothic style became more prominent from 1200-1500.

Lighthouse Research

Lighthouse Research

Lighthouses were first invented by the Greeks/Romans and was used around Europe during the medieval era. Lighthouses are still used today but are a lot more advanced than when they were first built. They were built due to the increase in the creation of larger boats that could travel further. These boats would usually use landmarks or piles of rock to make their way to a place, but this would only be effective during the daytime. During the night sailors couldn’t see, hence the creation of the lighthouse. It was a tower that would have a bonfire on top located along a coast or on an island just off the coast. This would allow sailors to safely navigate the sea during the night.

Once electricity was discovered, electrical lights were used instead as it was more reliable. This was when lighthouses began being used more. However, a stable and controlled form of electricity wasn’t invented until 1879 by Thomas Edison, so up until that point a bonfire was used. They are normally used for one of two reasons: Either they warn sailors to stay away from a dangerous area e.g. cliffs, rock piles, while the other gets the sailor to come towards the lighthouse e.g. if there is a harbour for the boats to dock at.