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Old 11-19-2021, 01:23 PM
IndyJets IndyJets is offline
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How would I model this shape?

Here is an illustration of quite possibly the most intimidating part of my Indianapolis International Airport project... Concourse B.

Indianapolis International Airport (Weir Cook Municipal) (… | Flickr

The building is a 7-sided figure (one face to connect to the rest of the terminal, with one boarding gate on each of the other 6 faces). The sawtooth roofline features 3 peaks on each of the 7 faces, all radiating from the center. The whole thing is topped by a shallow dome that the peaks radiate out of. Per Google Earth measurements, the structure is (was) 150 feet in diameter. I will be building this in 1:400 scale so it will come out to 4.5 actual inches across.

Key features: the overhanging roof peaks... I will need a way to simulate the thickness of the roof while still allowing for folding. Also the length of each of the peaks is such that any 3 tips form a straight line (rather than forming a circle when viewed from above). So you have a circular dome with the peaks radiating out of it, and those in turn are cut to form a heptagonal outline. In addition, each of the peaks protrudes out from the wall so the effect when viewed from above is a serrated edge.

What is going to be the best way to tackle this design? I'm open to any and all ideas at this point... preferably with a bit of a walk-through. I know it's most likely going to involve 3-D computer modeling but I hope there's a way to export just the shapes for cutting then bring that into another program to paint the colors on... because I HATE 3D texture mapping! I've attempted that in the free version of 3ds Max (I forget what it was called) when making scenery objects for a train simulator route and just about lost my mind because I didn't feel like I had much of any control over texture placement and alignment... I ended up using different software for that project which was specific to train simulators.
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Old 11-19-2021, 01:39 PM
sreinmann sreinmann is offline
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Hmm, I'll take a stab cause I like seeing how far from the correct responses of more experienced designers I might be.

I think you'd start with the base where the building meets the ground and the ground crews' overhang exists. Then the floor of the terminal. Next, inside the terminal a column structure to rise up and capture the "base" of the ceiling dome. If I'm reading the pic right, it looks like the dome is rather shallow, so maybe the inner column would have the shops and businesses on the outside in case you use transparency for the windows.

Okay, the windows next, assuming that these aren't curved or beveled, I'd fashion them as a string of pentagons that you would glue to the floor of the terminal along the outer edge. You could always add the vertical posts as strips of card or evergreen plastic as you saw fit for the 3D effect.

The peaks I would assemble last. There's a curve in each valley that I think you'll want to replicate, then the mountain at each peak. If you went complicated, that's two parts for each peak.

^u^u^u^u^u^

that defines the outer edge. Then I would extrude that - okay, I'm thinking in terms of your 3D graphic design program if I didn't make that clear - extrude that outer edge back to the surface of the dome and the program should slice the edge faces to meet the dome part. Again, you slice each to be two parts, a peak ^ and a valley u, flatten, texture paint and I think you're off to the races?
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Old 11-19-2021, 01:55 PM
IndyJets IndyJets is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sreinmann View Post
Hmm, I'll take a stab cause I like seeing how far from the correct responses of more experienced designers I might be.

I think you'd start with the base where the building meets the ground and the ground crews' overhang exists. Then the floor of the terminal. Next, inside the terminal a column structure to rise up and capture the "base" of the ceiling dome. If I'm reading the pic right, it looks like the dome is rather shallow, so maybe the inner column would have the shops and businesses on the outside in case you use transparency for the windows.

Okay, the windows next, assuming that these aren't curved or beveled, I'd fashion them as a string of pentagons that you would glue to the floor of the terminal along the outer edge. You could always add the vertical posts as strips of card or evergreen plastic as you saw fit for the 3D effect.

The peaks I would assemble last. There's a curve in each valley that I think you'll want to replicate, then the mountain at each peak. If you went complicated, that's two parts for each peak.

^u^u^u^u^u^

that defines the outer edge. Then I would extrude that - okay, I'm thinking in terms of your 3D graphic design program if I didn't make that clear - extrude that outer edge back to the surface of the dome and the program should slice the edge faces to meet the dome part. Again, you slice each to be two parts, a peak ^ and a valley u, flatten, texture paint and I think you're off to the races?
Oh no, I'm not modeling the inside! The windows are going to be simulated with a dark gray/blue color.

It seems pretty clear to me that I'm going to have to do the whole thing in 3D graphics then convert that to paper shapes... I'm wondering at this point which program would be best and easiest to use (I don't have any need to make characters or other complicated shapes). Then there's the question of materials... and how to simulate the roof thickness. Would I achieve that by folding (i.e. a surface for the top, edge, and bottom) or by using layers of material or possibly a sandwich with some thicker cardboard? Keep in mind the whole thing is only going to be 4.5" in diameter finished size...
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Old 11-19-2021, 03:44 PM
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airdave airdave is offline
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There is no dome.
I don't believe there are any curves.
The roof is flat sections.
Even the top center cap looks flat.
The outer peaks are dressing, to match the other building with a peaked roof.
Peaks are arranged in groups of three at each outer face.
The outer walls are flat faces arranged into a septagon or heptagon (its a seven sided building).

I can do up a basic pattern...if you want it.
I don't work in 3D graphics or with 3D modeling programs.
So it would probably take me a while...did you need it before supper?

Because of the scale, you have to simplify.
No reason to try to put in all the surfaces.
That can be done with 3D artwork.
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Old 11-19-2021, 04:44 PM
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airdave airdave is offline
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Heres the drawing....which gives you a better understanding of all the flat surfaces.
now the flat panels can be extracted (once the drawing is made to scale).

There is a flat channel between each roof peak, probably a drainage area.
I think they could probably be eliminated to simplify the paper design.
At such a small scale, simplification is understandable.
I think this would be a fairly straightforward design.

Not all sides of the building are the same.
There are a couple that have adjoining structures.
Those sides would need to be sorted before extracting the flat paper elements.
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How would I model this shape?-indy-airport.jpg  
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Old 11-20-2021, 03:21 AM
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You may be right, Airdave.
Some images from this page (link below) support your drawing.

Tour of the now-demolished Indianapolis International Airport terminal
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How would I model this shape?-img_20211120_101754.jpg   How would I model this shape?-img_20211120_101740.jpg  
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Old 11-20-2021, 04:13 AM
Revell-Fan Revell-Fan is offline
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I use SketchUp but the procedure should be the same. Start with the base. Extrude it to form the main body. Then offset the top center, connect the edges and extrude the top. Model one of the protruding triangular roofs and use this for duplicating. Position three of them according to the sketch, group them and multiply them. Clean up the model (remove all intersections) and unfold it. Since each group consists only of the same elements you only have to unfold it once. I have attached some pictures to illustrate the basic principle (this is not to scale, obviously ).
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How would I model this shape?-01.jpg   How would I model this shape?-02.jpg   How would I model this shape?-03.jpg   How would I model this shape?-04.jpg   How would I model this shape?-05.jpg  

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Old 11-20-2021, 06:43 AM
IndyJets IndyJets is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by airdave View Post
Heres the drawing....which gives you a better understanding of all the flat surfaces.
now the flat panels can be extracted (once the drawing is made to scale).

There is a flat channel between each roof peak, probably a drainage area.
I think they could probably be eliminated to simplify the paper design.
At such a small scale, simplification is understandable.
I think this would be a fairly straightforward design.

Not all sides of the building are the same.
There are a couple that have adjoining structures.
Those sides would need to be sorted before extracting the flat paper elements.
Wow, this is GREAT!!! Exactly what I needed. What software did you use to create this? Does the software you use allow you to paint directly on the model surfaces or do you have to draw your texture artwork separately and map or paste it on?
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Old 11-20-2021, 08:07 AM
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airdave airdave is offline
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indyjets...your second photo is of the demolished interior of the second terminal building,
not the building you are trying to model.
I've only been at this for a few minutes and that was easy to confirm.
I have a photo of the interior of the correct building which I used to confirm the roof structure.

I get the impression you have zero skills with any software and might be looking for someone to create this for you?
You also seem preoccupied with the methods of application of photo textures (in this and other threads)
once again revealing your lack of understanding of the necessary software.

Are you just looking for someone else to create this for you?

Because this building is such small scale, it needs to be simplified as much as possible for assembly.
Thats my opinion.
But once again, that requires the introduction of surface art, 3D look, shading, etc
to make flat panels look more 3D and have less components to build.
And that requires some artistic skill and software skills.
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Old 11-20-2021, 12:29 PM
IndyJets IndyJets is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by airdave View Post
indyjets...your second photo is of the demolished interior of the second terminal building,
not the building you are trying to model.
I've only been at this for a few minutes and that was easy to confirm.
I have a photo of the interior of the correct building which I used to confirm the roof structure.

I get the impression you have zero skills with any software and might be looking for someone to create this for you?
You also seem preoccupied with the methods of application of photo textures (in this and other threads)
once again revealing your lack of understanding of the necessary software.

Are you just looking for someone else to create this for you?

Because this building is such small scale, it needs to be simplified as much as possible for assembly.
Thats my opinion.
But once again, that requires the introduction of surface art, 3D look, shading, etc
to make flat panels look more 3D and have less components to build.
And that requires some artistic skill and software skills.
Wow, I find this post to be highly insulting on multiple levels. First of all, I did not post the photos. The interior photo is of a totally different part of the airport (concourse C) while my question deals with concourse B.

Secondly, as I have explained in MULTIPLE posts, I have done some 3D design... but I've never attempted to design a 7-sided structure before (360 degrees does not divide evenly by 7), or a roofline with these complex shapes. I was just looking for advice on what techniques to use to render it correctly.

However, I have not worked with the particular 3D programs you guys have mentioned... I'm looking at Blender because it's free and more up to date than Sketchup. I was just wondering what the process of mapping textures is like in this particular program, if I'm going to need to design the graphics separately then import them as a "material" and try to position it by dragging and dropping or if I'm able to tell it explicitly what face to put the texture on. And also, I have never designed a paper model before and I wanted to know if there were any special considerations for designing a 3D object intended to be modeled in paper rather than strictly for display on a screen.

Last edited by IndyJets; 11-20-2021 at 01:11 PM.
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