Church Shell
So I'm making a church for my project, a low poly college project. This is a shell I am planning out and advice is needed.
I have several items made for the church. These include:
Font
Candles
Candle Holder
Pews
Altar
Prayer Cushions
The problem?
I don't know where to put them. After extensive research into churches, using my moodboard for my interiors and exteriors, and possible visits planned, I still don't know where to put things.
So I ask you Polycount:
Where do you think I can put these?
Note - The size of the church can't change, nor the dimensions. Sorry! (The roof has yet to be made.)
I have several items made for the church. These include:
Font
Candles
Candle Holder
Pews
Altar
Prayer Cushions
The problem?
I don't know where to put them. After extensive research into churches, using my moodboard for my interiors and exteriors, and possible visits planned, I still don't know where to put things.
So I ask you Polycount:
Where do you think I can put these?
Note - The size of the church can't change, nor the dimensions. Sorry! (The roof has yet to be made.)
Replies
Is there a reason the walls or floor cannot be changed? Does everyone need to make something in the same size box or what? Just curious.
I'm usually not very good at following blueprints, and decided just to ask here for advice.
The church is based off of a BSP brush created in UDK - So the church needs to stay that size I'm afraid.
I have a layout I'm following at the moment, and the thread will be updated in time, and I will be researching different blueprints too.
As far as your work so far goes, it's too bad you can't change dimensions at all, because the current block design you have at the moment doesn't entirely lend itself to a classic church structure/architecture. (I'm assuming this is a Christian church?)
You should probably sit down and decide what era you want the church to be, and think long and hard about it because the interior design, layout and placements of a church changes depending on when it's from.
What you have now appears to lend itself to a modern church, but not so much in to a classic, gothic design.
Don't lose heart, however! Research as much as you can and I'm sure you'll find something that will be exactly what you need!
You could create a floor plan which includes different rooms within the church, these could even be blocked off (closed doors, blocked with rubble etc) which would help minimize the amount of work you have to do. In the main room you could also create a second floor balcony around the edge, this would help give the building a sense of scale and also help with wall texture tiling issues you might have. If you do a google image search for "english church floor plan" you will see that its very rare the church would only contain one main room.
Is there any way you could subtract from the shape of your building? Maybe cut a section out of the sides so its not just a plain rectangle shape?
@Koski I have a few planned trips to view churches coming up shortly, so I will be able to fully study the layout. The church is meant to be quite modern - Christian, and the block shape may be able to change, but only slightly. Can you give me any ideas?
@Pixel I am allowed to do anything in the interior. The interior is currently only a little plan, I was messing around with pictures I'd gathered and decided to play around with the shell.
As for a floor plan, I agree what you are saying about the empty space, and the different rooms, (blocked off or not) will create a LOT of realism, instead of a block. I'm currently viewing different floor plans and deciding which one suits my church the best.
The shape of the building, what do you mean? Instead of a plain rectangle, you mean bring in some of the sides, make it a strange shape?
Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated. A lot of the things you point out, when shown to me seem so obvious, I'm sorry if it annoys you! It makes me feel stupid :poly142:
And yes, generally, church interiors are long, rectangular. The place of the altar is usually a dome-shaped area.
The above is a classic church design and a layout many churches follow today. (had to google an image, I have no idea what half of these words are in english)
Note how they're cross-shaped! Again, this depends a lot on the time the church is from, but I know myself I have a hard time buying a lot of churches in-game unless they have transepts.
I'd highly recommend you change around the interior of your church to match the above design, in my personal opinion, it would definitely help sell belivability.
I've begun remodelling the shell for my church.
This is the church design that I have decided to follow now. I can see the cross shape, and I have also researched the rooms that certain churches have, so I will be able to update soon on the shell.
One tip is to research what the rooms are used for and what you can typically find in them. Like the narthex was a place where people left their weapons before entering and so on.
The entrance of the church... I can't find it. Is it near the Vestry in this floorplan?
If you check out some of those links you should get a good idea of the benefits of making your assets modular
Yes, it is something I will bear in mind. Thanks for the refresh
Alot of stuff in a church is usually repeating (except for statues).
So try to repeat what you can.
ex.
Floors
Walls
windows
Chairs
Candlelights
Rug
Panels
etc etc