COLLAB2021 - WIP - blanchsb - Foundation

Free Crayson Baron Von Blanch is gonna make sure this here Foundation will support all Spice Vendery valuables and structures.

Starting with the Corner Stone location and placement:
Alright I have been on the research mill and have come to a fairly certain conclusion regarding the location and placement- orientation of the Cornerstone.

But first, a little background history:
"In the past, buildings were designed and built in relation to certain astronomical points of the compass. Ancient cultures believed that the position of heavenly bodies regulated life, fortune, and success; therefore, Cornerstones were commonly placed facing the North East because it was thought this location would bring harmony and prosperity to the building and its owners. The ancient civilizations often performed a ceremonial ritual when the Cornerstone was placed." as found here: https://www.billwarch.com/blog/the-little-known-purpose-of-the-cornerstone/

Based on Omar's blueprint & the shadow direction given from the Sun (travels from the East-to-West) it would appear that the Cornerstone would go here (The North East Corner) which makes sense for the front of the house. It'll go at the base of the foundation (probably covered):
I covered this with the Spice Baron leaders and I am pretty certain this is the location but I'll get confirmation tomorrow.

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    Image upload for closer look at the foundation. I'm thinking the upper foundation above ground is made of stream rocks that have been cut into an overall defined shape. But the steps definitely look like cement.

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    HOMEWORK SUBMISSION WEEK 1: @theluthier
    blanchsb foundation WIP



  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    Man I love footing work:

  • Peter Varga(rationalrats) replied

    blanchsb  strong foundation!

    : )

    I'll... see myself out...

  • Parker Bourassa(pfbourassa) replied

    It's so funny that you're doing the re-bar, and I'm over here like "is 100 verts too many for a bush?"

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    You know me Parker. When I dive in I get over my head and require and oxygen tank. Haha.

    I’ll continue with the rebar and if Kent says no then I’ll just delete them afterwards.

    I think they definitely help with the placements for the structure and walls.

  • Kent Trammell replied

    HAHA ppfbourassa 😆

    Shawn and I already touched on this topic on discord. I do not want to step on your engineer toes, sir. It's a very unique way to create models like this and I say Shawn, you do you!

    Of course a perfectly optimal final model of these foundations could be less than 100 polys...which will probably be about 1% of what you will end up building, Shawn. So long as you're cool with that, YOU DO YOU!

    I can safely say I've never seen someone do 500% of the work required. Like I said: A *unique* approach!

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    Alright so I am glad I am holding off on the corner stone because it turns out the North is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. 


    Plus now I get to practice more sculpting stuff before making it.

    I'm keeping the foundation footings for now. They help give me clarity lol. I may even add more rebar if I finish sculpting as a reward for myself. It's all in good fun. And who knows maybe it won't bog down that scene or maybe it never makes it in. But I will have gained those skills from making it.

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    @theluthier DON'T NEED GRADING: Foundation_Blanchsb HOMEWORK SUBMISSION WEEK 2


    It turned out really nice I think......but I forgot to keep the tiling on during my "scrape rock" phase and I got it just a little bit off.


    I'm not putting this on the blend file on my WIP until after I bake it to a texture.


  • spikeyxxx replied

    It's a pity, but (regardless of those 'seams') the pattern repetition is very obvious.  Squint your eyes and look at it from further away and all you see is the repeating pattern...Don't really know how to solve that though...

    For the rest, it looks cool!

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    Yes spikeyxxx  My plan originally was to create 3 of these to mix and match and therefore make it much harder to see any repeating pattern.

    Mr original thought process here:

    The 3 patterns would all share the anchored points. Then I could perhaps use random instancing to let it pick between them or similar...... I hadn't thought that far ahead.

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    So I think I found a better workflow:
    Tileable 3D mesh with displace modifiers:

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    I am using 2 different styles of Musgrave textures for the displace modifiers.

  • spikeyxxx replied

    I like that idea, it looks great, but the question (which I can't answer) is, what is with the performance?

    Your original idea with the three textures is really interesting and very promising! That would totally work!

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    Well I have two approaches for this week. The top by hand or the bottom procedural

    If I do the top and I can keep the tiled effect then I can totally get that working in a great way.
    If I do the bottom I am probably going to have to bake the effect onto the base mesh completely unwrapped in a slightly clever way. That should keep performance up just fine.
    I could always just do this on the shader route and bypass the geometry altogether as a third option (I know the procedural workflow well enough to mimic it in the node editor I think?

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    I have got a decent rock shape for the foundation that I am happy with based on the Modifer method shown above:

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    The lower end of the foundation will hopefully cover inconsistencies in the ground plane and terrain differences.

  • Kent Trammell replied

    Very impressive result blanchsb! You went your own way I totally respect it. Hard to argue with the results after all 👍

    I hope you intend to add similar sculpted accents to your tileable attempt:

    Those look really nice. I think it would push your modifier-based solution over to a hand-made look and away from procedural.


  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    Homework Submission Week 3: @theluthier My PC crashes and I lost my sculpt work on the smaller foundation. Just got the file from yesterday recovered and the larger foundation sculpt is done. Still need to catch up on the smaller one maybe tomorrow.

    I'll try to get bakes done during catchup week 4:
    No blend file submitted on this one only a picture. since my file is rather large. I'll bake and submit that later this week I hope.

  • Kent Trammell replied

    Stellar work blanchsb! Wow, you really put the final touches on those rocks...and all starting from a voronoi displacement. Brilliant 👏👏

    I haaate to hear that you lost work on the smaller one. If it helps, I had to look twice to notice..but yeah, I can relate to you wanting to finish it up. Ugh, doing work twice is the worst.

    But rest assured, this looks soooo good.