Month: July 2017

Some Rough Dimensions

I do need to go back to this last 3D model in Blender once more—if only to measure some dimensions. For visual clarity, I should add them to the images, but I don't feel like learning how to do that, and I really just want to get a rough idea anyway.

On the ground, the base of the trunk is 17' (5m) across. The area inside the trunk is a circular area about 13' (4m) across and 12' (3.5m) to 13' (4m) tall. This will probably get a bit shorter since the roof seems a bit thin, and that's what carries the bulk of the weight.

The first level is about 62' (19m) across, meaning it extends over the ground about 22.5' (7m) out from the trunk. Standing on the first level, the trunk is much narrower at 8.5' (2.5m) across. The second level is about 46.5' (14m) across, and the top branches are about 40.5' (12.5m) across.

The bottom of the first level is about 12' (3.5m) to 16.5' (5m) high, and its walking surface runs from about 13.5' (4m) to 18' (5.5m) off the ground. On the first level, there is about 7' (2m) to 7.5' (2.5m) of headroom to the second level whose walking surface is about 23' (7m) to 28.5' (8.5m) off the ground.

The branches at the top are only about 5' (1.5m) to 6' (2m) above the second level, so I might need to raise them. As it stands now, the top branches are about 31' (9.5m) off the ground with the very tips reaching as high as 35' (11m).

The tl;dr is that the trunk is 17' (5m) across, the whole Temple of Seasons is about 62' (19m) across and about 35' (11m) tall.

For comparison, the last Temple I experienced was the Temple of Whollyness in 2013 which claimed a central pyramid with a base that's 88'x88' (27m x 27m) and 64' (20m) tall with additional work that extends the base to 116'x116' (36m x 36m)—for all intents and purposes about twice as tall and twice as big across. This is similar in scale to 2014's Temple of Grace which was "70+' high, and had a footprint of 80'x80'; it sat in a courtyard approximately 150'x150'" In fact, it seems like this is the approximate size of most of the temples, and the scale is only growing.

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Rendered Leaves

I got back to Blender and added a couple passes of leaves. I simply floated them below each of the twigs, expecting up to 4 on each one. On the "sparse" view, I put one leaf on about half the twigs.

3D-render from nearby with a sparse set of 232 leaves.

It's kind of hard to see the sparse collection, so here's the "man on the branch" view:

Person standing on the lower level with guard rails, small branches, twigs visible, and a sparse set of 232 leaves.

And then I went ahead and filled out nearly all the open slots—I think there's about 200 empty with 2,008 filled. Again from the branch-view for comparison-sake:

Person standing on the lower level with guard rails, small branches, twigs visible, and a dense set of 2,008 leaves.

Finally, I've been enamored of the "far-away" view even though I haven't posted much:

3D-render far-away view with 2,008 leaves added.

I think this pretty much concludes my work with this particular 3D model. Right now I can see making two models in the future: first is one that will be the basic shell with the mechanics to allow it to be assembled, and how it will collapse; second is a final design that will be a board-by-board construction that should really drive me insane. One change would be to go with 2×3 lumber for the twigs instead of 2x4s. This would make the twigs look, well, more twiggy and allow the leaves to stand out more.

In thinking about the next stage, I'm thinking that the crowning branches might not be worth having—at least not in the thick form they are now. From my first idea of how the Temple would be, I kind of knew how the lower level would be assembled and how it would collapse. Recently I devised a way for the second tier to be added, modelling it after a kind of scissor-jack that would raise it into place. That would also allow it to collapse straight down as the lower-level split outward.

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