For the past month, much of my energy has been on the development of the Bathhouse of Caracalla. An elaborate bath spa complex completed in Rome under the emperor Caracalla by around 216 AD. This enormous complex served as...
For the past month, much of my energy has been on the development of the Bathhouse of Caracalla. An elaborate bath spa complex completed in Rome under the emperor Caracalla by around 216 AD. This enormous complex served as a communal bath house for the City of Rome, but it was so much more; it had the typical setup of three bath rooms but also a gymnasium, libraries and was surrounded by avenues of shops that would have sold everything from fine linen to freshly cooked snack food.
What got me most interested in this project was the opportunity to design fine architectural features. Decorated composite Ionic-Corinthian columns, veneered marble, columns both structural and decorative, expansive layouts and grand hallways covered in recessed stonework. It still feels like I have only started but the layout so far is already looking rather beautiful.
And that's not even getting into possible props for the location like water, incense burners, oil lamps, potted plants, tables, benches, seats, the list goes on!
I found myself reintroduced to xNormal, a piece of software for converting 3D geometry into 2D maps for lower resolution models. While still possessing some shortcomings, I wouldn't have close to the level of detail I have managed to push out of this project without it.My PC, and any potential rendering engine, could have overloaded with the amount of detail required to make this project even remotely convincing.
If it wasn't evident already, one of my favourite parts has been the columns. The capitals were initially a by-eye estimation, but after doing research into the carious types of columns I realised there was much more to them than any old fancy decoration. There was an artistry to the classical column which I needed to replicate.
Without xNormal, these columns couldn't have been as detailed as they are. The same can be said of the terracotta roof.A large building would require many terracotta tiles, but individual instances of these could have been a nightmare to visualise on even a high-end PC. With xNormal I have been able to simplify the geometry by a huge margin. Still rather detailed, but to a degree that is much more manageable.
One of the advantages to the symmetry of classical buildings is a lot of what is featured on one side of the building is present down to the last brick on the other side. I find this does cut down my workload, as I only need to worry about once side of the building. Bring that up to a high standard and I can then swap everything over on the other side.
There is still quite a lot to do. What I have been thinking for a while however is to bundle many of these elements into kits for sale on ArtStation so other aspiring artists and architects can use them for their own architectural projects. The common elements like pillars, walls and ceilings should be easy enough to bundle together. I am still deciding however if the roof tiles would be a kit on their own or if I combine them with the wall and column kits. If anyone is in need of the geometry for a Roman style non-reinforced concrete dome I would be happy to oblige!
The more I finish though, the more I feel there is more to do. This has been an interesting project so far, but the itch to move on to something else is starting to set in. When I showed a friend a block-out for a mountain palace I had sketched out a couple of years ago to alleviate some fatigue, he thought it would be a great showcase for level design. I might do the same to keep things fresh and avoid the onset of single-project focus fatigue.
The real baths of Caracalla took some five or six years to build with hundreds of labourers working and stone from across the Empire (Egyptian marble was one prominent material) hopefully me all on my own doesn't take nearly that long to complete this rendition of a major Roman landmark.