R Reynolds Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 The ALT snap bias aim feature is such a pleasure to use, I've regained my enthusiasm for an architectural model I set aside in 2009. It's my version of a Hollywood set of the grand old Pennsylvania Station built in New York in 1910 and demolished in 1963. I'm calling it a Hollywood version for three reasons. 1. Since my reference images from books and the Net only have a few readable dimensions I have to make a lot of "looks good to me" guesses. 2. The amount of detailing required for a 100% accurate copy is too staggering so I've simplified it while trying maintain a similar look. 3. The section of the building where people board a train is called the Concourse. While it was a spectacular work of architecture, it was essentially a large room where passengers would congregate before descending down stairs to tunnels in the lowest level to board coaches pulled by electric locomotives. To me that's a subway station not a rail station. So my Concourse will be a complete fiction but it will have steam locomotives. Here's four views of the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Reynolds Posted October 2, 2021 Author Share Posted October 2, 2021 Keep in mind that this is a WIP and I have a long way to go (including getting the lighting right but I'm still pleased with the result. Here's two views of my arcade taken from the street entrance end and showing the concourse archway in the distance. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Reynolds Posted October 2, 2021 Author Share Posted October 2, 2021 A view of the arcade from the floor of the waiting room. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Reynolds Posted October 2, 2021 Author Share Posted October 2, 2021 The main waiting room. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Reynolds Posted October 2, 2021 Author Share Posted October 2, 2021 The archway to the concourse. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robcat2075 Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 Great models! These would sing with radiosity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsjustme Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 Incredible, as usual, Rodger! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xtaz Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 Superb !!!! As always... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuchur Posted October 3, 2021 Share Posted October 3, 2021 Looks VERY detailled and very nice :). Just great – can't wait for a fly through when you are done :). Best regards *Fuchur* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Reynolds Posted December 31, 2021 Author Share Posted December 31, 2021 I've practically spent the last quarter of 2021 on the arched concourse that can be seen through the archway in the last image. As I said at the beginning of this thread, the real N.Y. Penn Station concourse was an elaborate waiting room for travelers using the stairways to the trains in basement tunnels. Great architecture but I wanted something more along the line of what the Pennsylvania Railroad built in Pittsburgh, a large train shed. Basically a structure built to accommodate multiple, entire passenger trains. But I couldn't imagine the amount of my time and computer RAM it would take to model that intricate array of beams and girders so I decided to go with a complete fantasy design of riveted box arches. This design means far fewer patches and the rivets and stamped patterns can be faked using normal maps. And here's a short camera move shooting inside, near a painfully under-modeled lounge/observation car which is here mostly to give a sense of the scale of the building. walk_thru_00.mp4 I'm beginning to get the feeling that I may never get to the end of the line on this project but I'm having a blast during the trip. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsjustme Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 Looks fantastic, Rodger! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Reynolds Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 Now that I've finally optimized the settings for klieg lights as window skylights, I'm getting closer to having an interior light level that's believable. I'm still tweaking intensities to get good exposure levels from full sun to inside the archway but this is an improvement on the lighting in the Oct. 1 image of this arch since we can now see the spill light from the concourse beyond the doors. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsjustme Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Great stuff, Rodger! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Reynolds Posted June 5 Author Share Posted June 5 Here's my observation car entering the concourse at too high a speed with a too abrupt stop. I have a low opinion of moving your virtual camera through a glass window but the reason for this test shot was to check that the car's interior ambient light rig balanced well with that of the concourse. obsv_car_entrance_01.mp4 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robcat2075 Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 Wonderful work, again, Roger! On 6/4/2022 at 8:42 PM, R Reynolds said: I have a low opinion of moving your virtual camera through a glass window That door couldn't be opened? Compression question... Your evening walk-around shot is 16 seconds long, 12 MB and is 29.97 fps This clip is 30 seconds long, 131 MB and QuickTime shows 240 frames per second. Indeed, when I step through it frame-by-frame I have to do eight clicks for every visible frame advance. Some compression parameter is set differently between these two clips and is creating an excessive file size in this one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Reynolds Posted June 8 Author Share Posted June 8 Quote That door couldn't be opened? Well I could say that it's only a WIP so the door has no hinge bones. But I also didn't I think of it.😄 Quote Compression question... I'm still on the learning curve of PowerDirector. Every time I convert a new AVI, I sometimes test a different compression setting just to see what happens. Thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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