I have talked endlessly before on this blog about the use of Google Sketchup in the archaeological world, so pardon yet another example on the topic. I recently started recreating a typical Roman Villa using plans from a number of sites and any source of information I could find. The final plan is to not only create the structure itself, but also include many more details, such as furniture, statues, etc.
Having completed the main structure I thought I would share the results as they stand, as a sort of preview to the completed work, and explain some of the aspects of making the model. In the next couple of days I’ll also post a fly-through video which is currently rendering, to give an even better impression.
This model was an interesting one to make, as it was more complex in some aspects than the ones I did before, and it combined opened and closed spaces, with equal importance given to both. The plans I found were very good for the ground floor, which is pretty accurate, but for the top floor there is a definite lack of information, mainly due to the lack of archaeological evidence. Therefore I had to resort to sketch reconstructions which are based on personal interpretation, which I am not usually fond of. Similarly the roof and the inside of the rooms is mostly conjecture on my part, based however on ideas found in texts. Overall then the model is much more interpretive than for example the Parthenon model I made, but at the same time it is more useful as the Parthenon is actually standing, while the villa is not.
Something I noticed from making this model is the efficiency with which Sketchup deals with lighting. In the past I wasn’t a big fan of the lighting conditions as I found that inside spaces were too dark, and outside spaces were too bright, however in this case I find that this is in no way an issue, possibly because we have both inside and outside. The rooms are still a bit dark, but with the addition of external windows that I’m adding in the next phase, they should be quite faithful to reality, while the internal courtyards are bright, but not unnaturally so. As a whole the results are quite satisfying, and when objects are placed within the model they will also look realistic due to this.
Also , rounded edges tool is still a favourite of mine, but I now use it less frequently. In large models some walls look more realistic with rounded edges, but not everything does. Door frames for example look equally good without, and given that it effectively adds many more lines to the model, there is really no need to round them off. For walls, I found that adding a slight slope at the bottom really makes it less blocky and much nicer to the eye. On a more practical note, creating components is still the greatest tip I can give with Sketchup. I found that making each floor and roof a separate entity made it much easier to edit, as you could hide upper floor when having to edit the lower one, and vice versa.
As mentioned before, as soon as the animation finishes rendering I shall post a new update. I realise that recently I have been posting less and less, but I assure you it is only for practical reasons. I am currently involved in the writing of an archaeological based radio show, which is taking up a lot of my spare time, as well as working on a number of sites. Also these models do take their time to be made, so I’d rather wait a bit and publish something good rather than many very random posts. Finally a few of the projects I have been working on have the disadvantage that I can’t actually publish any of the results, which means there are a few things that I am doing that I can’t write about specifically. Therefore I apologise if sometimes it takes a bit longer to post something new.
3D Reconstruction in Archaeology 