MAXON Computer Cinema 4D Tutorials: Close up Detailed Building for Camera Close-up

Project Based Tutorials - City Scene

City Scene:
Close up Detailed Building for Camera Close-up
Download:
PDF / Project Works with:
GO SE XL Requires:
Version 5.0+

Description: In this part of the tutorial, we will create a closely detailed building for the camera to zoom in close. Therefore, this building needs to appear much more detailed than any other building in the city while still keeping a low polygon count.

In creating the building, we will be duplicating frequently. Consequently, your object count may become excessive. However, you'll be able to use the connect tool once your building is done to bring the polygon count back down.

Step 1: Start off with a large cuboid scaled down along the Y axis for the ground level of the building (X=3873m Y=660m Z=4030m).

Texture the cube faces with brownish bumpy material for the building. The material used here has color settings R=88% G=82% B=73% S=100%. For the Bump channel a bit map from the CINEAM 4D product CD (Roughcast01.tif) was used with the bump set at 10%.

Step 2: Now you'll focus on the entryway. It will consist of a couple of doors with doorknobs, a doorframe, a canopy, and a couple of wall lamps. For the doors you can simply use a cuboid for the door shape (X=19 Y=431 Z=225) and then copy it and move it so you have double doors.

Step 3: Create and apply a wood material to the doors. For our texture, we set the color channel S=0% and used the Oak.tif file from the basics folder in the tex directory on the CINEMA 4D product CD.

Step 4: The doorknobs can be made with a cuboid (X=2m Y=69m Z=24m), a cylinder (Radius=6 Height=10), and a slightly scaled sphere (X=12m Y=22m Z=22m for the knob.

Step 5: Create a reflective gold material for the door knob (Color: R=85% G=70% B=4% S=100%, Reflection=30%, Highlight: Width=30% Height=100%.)

Apply the material to the doorknob. Drag out a copy of the doorknob so you have two to work with. Give each door its own doorknob placed on the middle inside edge of the door.

Step 6: A doorframe can be added with three cuboids (X=55m Y=469m Z=51m) placed around the doors. A darker colored wood material was used for the doorframe in this scene (darkpanels.jpg from stormvision.net).

Step 7: For the canopy you can use a pyramid or a half-cylinder placed over the doors. A pyramid (X=585m Y=130m Z=563m) was used for this scene.

Pick a colored material and apply it to the overhanging canopy. A blue material was applied to this pyramid (R=6% G=20% B=60% S=100%, Highlight: width=40% height=50%).

Step 8: Make a wall lamp (See Lamp Tutorial) and place it on one side of the entrance. Then, create a copy of the lamp and place it on the other side of the entrance.

Step 9: You now have a complete entrance to work with. Connect all objects with the same texturing to keep the object count low.

Now, group together the doors, doorframe, doorknobs, lamps, and canopy and rename the object group Entrance.

Step 10: Drag out two copies of the Entrance and place the three of them equally apart on one of the large cube faces. You only need to focus on making one side of the building detailed. All the other sides will not be seen by the camera so you don't need to worry about them.

Step 11: Next, you'll need to create windows for the building.

The window frame is made up of five cuboids. The two side cuboids are the same size (X=51m, Y=435m, Z=22m). The other cuboids are; the bottom cuboid for the window sill (X=95m Y=190m Z=49m), the top cuboid (X=51m Y=190m Z=49m), and the middle cuboid for the window pane separation (X=31m Y=406m Z=11m).

All of these cuboids are arranged around a sixth cuboid (X=19m Y=380m Z=194m) which serves as the window pane.

Step 12: The five cuboids that make up the window frame can be textured with the same dark wood that was used on the door frame. Likewise, they can also be connected since they have the same texture mapping and do not need to be individually manipulated any longer.

Step 13: The window pane needs to be textured with a glass material. The settings for this material are; Color: R=100%, G=100%, B=100%, S=5%, Transparency: R=86% G=98% B=100% S=100% n=1.5, Reflection: S=60%, Highlight: Width=6%Height=100%.

Step 14: Group the window frame and the window pane together so you can easily create window copies. Drag out a copy of the window and place it right next to the original window. Use this window pair to create an entire floor of windows.

Step 15: Make a copy of the large cuboid serving as the building structure. Move it directly on top of the original cuboid so you have a second story to your building.

Step 16: Place the window pair against the cuboid, then drag out four copies of the window pair. Place them equally apart on the cuboid face so you have five window pairs, or ten windows, along the building face.

Step 17: Group together the building cuboid as well as the five window pairs. Rename the object group 'Building Floor' or 'Building Story'. Drag out nine copies of this building floor and stack them on top of each other.

Step 18: Scale the top floor or top two floors taller along the Y axis so that the building isn't entirely uniform.

Step 19: Group the entire building together and then drag out a copy of it. Move the copy to the side to instantly double the size of your building.

Step 20: Your object count will be very high at this point because of all the object duplicating and the object heirarchy. You'll probably want to connect your building as much as possible.

The building's floors, window frames, and window panes can all be connected into single objects. Simply group all of one type of object under one parent and then go to Tools=>Structure=>Connect. None of the geometry will be affected but all the objects will be fused into one object. This is a time-consuming process but it will increase efficiency and rendering time.

Step 21: Bring in a cuboid (X=4265m, Y=100m, Z=8227m) and texture it with a slightly darker color than the building material. Use the Tex settings; Color: R=71%, G=58%, B=35%, S=100%, Bump: Roughcast01.tif to 10% strength.

Step 22: Drag out two copies of this cuboid. Place one between the ground floor and the second floor. Put another one between the vertically scaled top floors and the regular floors, and one on top of the building for the roof.

And, you've done it. You can add more detail if you'd like - - dirt maps for variation, posters or signs pasted on the building, graphitti, etc.