Brendan's Blog: Final Project: Local Old Boston State House for Review

This is MY OWN version of the Old Boston State House, not to be confused with the one we collaborated on last week in class (seen in old blog post). It is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc

Here are periodic screenshots I took of the process I used to create my version of the Old Massachusetts State House, found in downtown Boston, relatively halfway between Faneuil Hall and Government Square. Please note that the I grouped the screenshots together and the explanations for each group comes AFTER the images.

The first 5 screenshots (above) are the nitty gritty, framework of the State House. I cleared out enough shrubbery on a flat enough piece of land to put down the foundation. I went with the figure we discussed last week in class: 12 wide by 39 long. Then, for the height, I went with 13 cubic meters high to the lowest part of the roof, tapered up to the crest (seen in final screenshots below) at 16.5 cubic meters.

The next 2 screenshots, seen above, are the roof. I added torches around my foundation near the roof and base in order to see at night. Each step up is one cubic meter (one block).

The screenshot above is where a little bit of math came in to play. I calculated how far apart each window should be on the roof, making sure that they were all even and equidistant. As a guide, I put a single block on the roof to line up the CENTER of each window. After I had the windows installed, I just knocked the blocks off the roof.

The 3 screenshots seen above are the installation of windows, with the final shot being the finished product from slightly above. I paid extra close attention to make sure everything was symmetrical here.

My next 2 screenshots, seen above, are the steeple. I started off with a 6x6x3 cube as the base, then tried to get a little fancy with the 2 layers after that, all the while making sure that each subsequent layer was centered and even.

This, seen above, is a side view, showing one of the two sea-level entrances to the building.

The screenshot above shows my recreation of what is typically what people think of when they think of the Old State House, with a little patio jutting out on the second floor.

Nighttime view of side view.

Another nighttime shot.

This is the rear of the building. Pretty simple. A door with surrounding, symmetrical windows. The only difference between this and the actual Old State House is that the 2 small windows at the top left and right of the building are, in real life, circular.