Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

First of all, when you start a particular project, you have to know the margins or boundaries of your drawing (fig. 1).

Fig. 1 In this case, the next two hotels are owned by the same investor, what gives me the opportunity to connect the pedestrian transfer from hotels to left and right.

The next step is to print in A3 format all three hotels, which gives me a scale M: 200 using two A3 sheets. I had to paste (with tape) the pages, put tracing paper (velum) on it and paste it all together again over the work table (fig. 2). Then I start drawing the idea of the garden in more natural shapes rather than geometric. I add small decorative classical forms (later I decided that those lines will be made with hedges)

Fig. 2 Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

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www.coroflot.com/dg_architect

The lines that I draw could be either for passage or green areas, but it became clearer later on in my head.

I attach the scanned image of the hand drawing in AutoCAD as underlying, and I started to draw using the drawing tools of the program -lines, polylines, splines - (fig. 3).

Fig. 3 The garden has to have some accents in the composition. These would be tree hills (fig. 4) and leaving the middle one higher. Later came the idea that the first will be hobbit as a playground, the second will be pyramidal with a grotto inside, and the third will be open, like an amphitheater of wrought iron work.

As the project develops AutoCad begin to show its limitations when shading between the closed areas between the splines. This was because that I wanted to separate the green areas and alleys and to clarify the composition in my head, changing each other. And because of the hatching bugs, I lost two days dealing with this problem.

Fig. 4 Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

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The problem was solved, or was set aside changing tactics and importing all the splines in 3ds max. And when it comes to using 3dsmax, you must first configure the project workflow properly. In the Preference panel set max gamma to 2.2 as shown in (fig. 5).

Fig. 5

There are two approaches of linear workflow. The first is shown in (fig. 5), is used when you have time to refine your materials through high color correction.

The second (fig. 6) applies when using scenes that have no color correction, or if you want a fast linear configuration of the workflow in all materials and these are corrected by opening the scene with the input bitmap gamma.

Fig. 6 Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

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www.coroflot.com/dg_architect

I imported from AutoCAD only specific layers that are important to me as AutoCAD drawing (fig. 7) using AutoCAD DWG / DXF Import Options menu and set the Incoming File Units to centimeters and a maximum deviation of the surface of 3D solids to 0.1 cm. (fig. 8).

Fig. 7

This is important when you import 3D solids with smooth surfaces, but I use it anyway.

If you use the "Legacy AutoCAD import", 3DS Max imports the splines in one layer, and it works for the planes to be used under the 3D models, but in this case that did not work for me.

Fig. 8 Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

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www.coroflot.com/dg_architect

First I separate the areas and duplicate some splines to close them. Then, put the UVW mapping on top of the spline automatically turning it into a poly object. (fig. 9) I keep all my objects that are grass areas or alleys in this way.

Fig. 9

When it comes to applying textures, I fix the mapping coordinates and put the vray displacement modifier on top of this stack.

After separating the areas, the project looks like this (fig. 10).

Colors are used to help me easily decide how to better use my surfaces. Then I moved around the levels below to make the garden more vast.

Fig. 10 Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

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www.coroflot.com/dg_architect

When I make the place for the stepping stones, I use the same shape that I cut from the spline object that is the dark green grass. This is because when I have to disperse the grass, this cut helps me avoid the penetration of the grass blades.

Fig. 11

Over the spline or poly (which is not important in the case of steps) I use-Shell, Push, Tessellate, MeshSmooth and Noise (fig. 11). Also, in the map slot I boosted the bump map with a Normal map made with ShaderMap Pro. This is how I set the stone material for the steps (fig. 12). I had to think fast in the modeling of these stones, because time was running out.

Fig. 12 Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

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www.coroflot.com/dg_architect

After two weeks of hard work, vision of the garden begins to look like this. Hobbit Hill and grotto were formed, also the area of water, and I was aiming at the amphitheater (fig. 13).

Fig. 13

I often use the HDRI map for lighting my test scenes because it is quick to install and generates reliable results.

I put the HDRI map in the texture slot of the V-ray Dome Light, and also instance it in the environment map slot (fig. 14).

Fig. 14 Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

Made for: solo3d.wordpress.com

www.coroflot.com/dg_architect

Here are some test renders.

Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

Made for: solo3d.wordpress.com

www.coroflot.com/dg_architect

Everything here comes mainly from modeling and projecting my ideas in 3D space and then apply textures (fig. 15).

Fig. 15 Texturing has become routine for me, and without many tests, I know in my head what will be the end result when I put the V-ray sun and hit render.

I use a lot of poly modeling. Multiscatter to grow grass and ivy generator for ivy plants. I used some Zbrush in Grotto Hill and spline modeling for the Hobbit Hill, in the case of Hobbit Hill, spline modeling was faster than poly modeling (fig 16).

For plants I use ltoo palm models and created some plants on my own with GrowFX generator. For curtains I use the cloth modifier because it is an amazing tool.

Fig. 16 Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

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www.coroflot.com/dg_architect

In the case of pavements and retaining walls I use V-ray2D displacement and try to maintain if possible editable splines. Also in the materials, I use normal bump closely with V-ray Displacement Mod (fig. 17).

Fig. 17

As a basis, these are the most interesting steps in the creation of the landscaping. And finally, these are my render settings (fig. 18).

The images were rendered with a Core i7 950 3.06 Ghz machine, over clocked with air cooler to 4.0 Ghz, 24 GB of RAM. Image generation time is 5-6 hours.

Fig. 18 Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

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www.coroflot.com/dg_architect

In the render elements I often use two or three Zdepth maps, set with a different depth (fig. 19).

Fig. 19

After camera shots are render, all that remains is post-production.

For post-production I use Adobe Photoshop and play with the different renderings as I see it best.

I often use Zdepth map not only as DoF, but as a mask for the saturation and volume effects of sunlight (fig. 20).

Fig. 20 Making of Landscaping Black Sea Hotel

By landscape architect dimitar gongalov

Made for: solo3d.wordpress.com

www.coroflot.com/dg_architect