07-May-009 MSTS Update

[stem]

A moment of silence please...

There's really no way to describe what I just felt when I saw her finished execpt to say that truly, this hotel is a defining heritage property in Kentville.

Thank you Paul for faithfully reproducing this grand old lady. You my friend are a true 3D Artist.

[Dan Conlin]

Fine work. The stonework texture is lovely and I like the brickwork/stone contrast. I don't know how you have the patience to align all those angles. This is should really set your virtual town up nicely.

Dan

[Paul Charland]

Hi Guys,

The model is about half finished, I'm trying to get it to a point that Steve can simply delete one of two parts that are modern additions to get it back to the era he wants to create the Kingsport Sub in. May or may not work as there have been a few details changed over the years like the main entrance is now a balcony, the front of the building has been excavated about half a floor so the basement level could be used for shops, and the off buttress has been removed. Starting to think it will be easier to back date the model and have steve replace it when the time comes!

For the most part making angled walls in this program isn't as hard as it looks. You start with a rectangle, go into points mode, select the points you want to change, then use your arrow keys to move them around or go into point properties and change the point's position one at a time. The neat caps on the top of walls are a rectangle that has one side divided into three to get the part near the bottom to stick out. Simple but when you have the three different angles they pick up the light a little different and have a nice effect.

Took my first drafting classes at what's now Kingstec in Kentville, guess this is payback!

Paul

[stem]

It's more that just artistry I know. It's a puzzle. With the very few pieces you actually have you must figure out how to stack, combine, split recombine etc etc until finally the shape appears you desire. It's fun for those who learn the game just like Loderunner or minefield. I loved geometry when I was in high school and I took my first drafting course at Acadia. I first got into CAD when I got a demo system for the plant I was working in and in 2 weeks with no manual I figured out AutoCAD and got 10 drawings done; enough to prove the point we needed it and justify the capital to purchase. They said OK and we bought our first CAD workstation in 1984. It was an IBM PS2 286 PC with a 10 MB drive, DOS 5.0 and AutoCAD 4.0 plus a digitizer pad. Cost - $28,000.

By the way, thanks for leaving me hooks on everything you build to backdate it!

[Paul Charland]

Hi Steve,

I'm no artist, give a pencil and paper and I couldn't draw you anything you'd recognize... give me a straight edge with that and I'll draw you anything you want!

What all these models boil down to is breaking something big and complex like the Cornwallis Inn into an arrangement of simple shapes. I keep telling people this but they just won't tate my word for it!

I have a copy of AutoCAD LT. The manual is written like you're sitting in a classroom with an instructor handy... would have been handier if they'd mentioned how to start a drawing, like scale, never draw more then a square with AC-L.

Paul

[Paul Charland]

Poly-count is up to 3538, the model is so big I can't open the route in MSTS, only Route Editor until it's split into what looks like four parts. First look at the rear of the building, there's a two story part that will cover the solid brick area on the left.

Paul

[stem]

Just like we learned... you can reduce everymachine in the world to one or any combination of three basic machines.

With 3D it's the sphere, the cone, the cylinder, the cube and the torroid for most 3D programs. It's a whole different mins set to draw 3D!

[Paul Charland]

The rear additions are finished. Other then a side entrance to be added to the large tower, this is the model I'll be using to back date the building to the '40s for Steve.

Just two modern additions to add for the '70s version, model now sits at 3838 polygons.

Paul

[stem]

Impressive.

[Paul Charland]

An impressive building! I was in the Valley for six years or so, caught the bus behind the Inn twice, once at night. Must have passed it a couple of dozen times on a bus to Halifax (mostly Shearwater), but hardly have much of a memory of the building to be honest... too bad, it looks pretty neat.

Paul

[stem]

I went by it regularly for two years when I went to Acadia and always thought how it reminded me of a mini Banff Springs hotel:
http://tinarabi.com/Pictures/Canada/Fai ... 0Hotel.JPG

[Paul Charland]

The building might have been designed by the same people, being part of the CP Hotel chain. May have to do a little research on that, must be something on the internet.

Paul

[Paul Charland]

First of two modern additions, this one is on the south side of the building and includes the side entrance at tower.

Paul

[Paul Charland]

This is the completed model of the Cornwallis Inn, final polygon count is 4427. To open the model in MSTS I needed to divide it into three parts.

Just had to compress the images by 1 more percent, my image was 257 KB, the limit here is 256!

Paul

[stem]

Wow Paul. Never realized from street level just how impressive this hotel was for a city the size of Kentville. Beautiful.

I shall try to find the photo size limit and change it right now.