Summer 1995

During the summer of 1995 four members of Princeton's class of 1996, David Thom, Susannah Hobbs, Jennifer Smith, and Sanjay Arwade, were enlisted to continue the project begun in Professor Cakmak's class. After a spending some time getting familiar with the various software to be used in the project (AutoCAD, 3dStudio, and Photoshop) we set about the task of turning the wire frame models built in AutoCAD into fully rendered 3dStudio models, complete with animated walkthroughs. The AutoCAD models first had to be broken down into upwards of 100 objects each in order to allow accurate material mapping. The files were then exported to 3dStudio where photographs taken of the buildings were applied to the models as texture mapped materials.

In addition to the modeling of the buildings, the topography of the peninsula of Constantinople was created from a topographical map of the area. The contour lines were digitized by tracing the contour lines from transparencies affixed to the computer screen. This seemingly primitive method was employed due to our lack of a digitizing tablet, and proved to be quite effective. A surface was generated in SoftDesk's DTM module, and then imported to 3dStudio, where a grass texture was applied and an ocean and sky were created.

If you are interested in more information about the logistics of the project, please take a look at a more detailed description of topography and building creation and rendering.

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