Creating the Hall of a Mansion - Introduction

Now we will create the Rail-Holders. The following procedures might take some time but the result is quite pleasing.

Switch to Layer 5 and size up the Side View, then zoom in until you have a grid size of 100mm. Activate the Pen Tool and create an 11 point polygon in clockwise order, like the one in Picture 46. It is not important where you place the points since we will fix it later.


As you can see in picture 46, I’ve named each point with a number, and now we will use exact values on each of them to place them right.

Select point 1 and bring up the Point Info Panel by hitting “i”, then use the values shown below, one point at a time.



Once you’ve placed all points, hit “ctrl+a” while holding your mouse pointer over the Side View to fit the polygon in the view. We don’t need this polygon, so hit “k” to kill it, then activate the Mirror Tool and bring up the Numeric Panel. Use the following values.

Axis: Y

Center X: 0
Center Y: 450mm
Center Z: 0

Close down the Numeric Panel and hit Space to perform the mirror operation. Once again press “ctrl+a” while holding your mouse pointer over the Side view to fit the points in the view. Select the points shown in picture 47, we don’t need these two so you can delete them.


Now select all these points in a clockwise order, it doesn’t matter which one you start with. When all the points are selected, press “p” to create a polygon out of them. Activate the Lathe Tool and use the following settings in the Numeric Panel.

Start Angle: 0
End Angle: 360
Sides: 8
Offset: 0
Center: 0 on all

Close down the Numeric Panel and hit Space to perform the operation. You can now size down the Side View until all 4 views are the same size, then bring up the Change Surface Panel and create a new surface called “Rails”. Give it a brown colour (R: 170 G: 90 B: 40) and set the specular to 75%. Keep the Smoothing turned off for now, then click OK. Activate the Bevel Tool and use the following settings in the Numeric Panel.



Now, look at the perspective view. If the Polygons are facing inwards, press “f” to flip them, the Rail-Holder should look something like picture 48 at this point.


All we need to do now is clone this Rail-Holder a bit. Activate the Move Tool and use the following values in the Numeric Panel.



Click Apply and the Rail-Holder should move. Activate the Clone Tool and use the following settings.

Number of Clones: 15

Offset
X: 0
Y: 175mm
Z: 280mm

Leave the other values to their default and click OK. Activate the Mirror Tool, bring up the Numeric Panel and set the Axis to X, keep the centre values at 0. Close down the Numeric Panel and hit Space to perform the operation. The Rail-Holders for the stairs are now finished, and picture 49 shows them together with the stairs object.


Hit “s” to save the progress we’ve made so far. Working in Layer 5, switch to Polygon Mode and drag a lasso around the first Rail-Holder we created, like in picture 50.


Copy this Rail-Holder and paste it in Layer 6, we will continue working with it later, now it is time for the Ceiling Supports.

Switch to Layer 7 and size up the Side View, then zoom in until you have a grid size of 200mm. Activate the Pen Tool and create a 15 point polygon, like in picture 51.


Now use the Point Info Panel to position these points one by one. Use the following values.



When you have positioned all the points, deselect everything and press “k” to kill the polygon. Activate the Mirror Tool and bring up the Numeric Panel. Set the Axis to Y and the Y Position to 2m. Close down the Numeric Panel and hit Space to perform the operation. Now select and delete the point shown in picture 52.


Keep the Side View sized up, then start selecting these points in a clockwise order, when all of them are selected, hit “p” to create a polygon. Activate the Lathe Tool and bring up the Numeric Panel, then use the following settings.

Start Angle: 0
End Angle: 360
Sides: 8
Offset: 0
Axis: Y
Center: 0 on all

Close down the Numeric Panel and hit Space to perform the operation. Look at the perspective view now, if the polygons are facing inwards, then flip them by hitting “f”. Keep everything unselected and activate the Bevel Tool, bring up the Numeric Panel and use the following settings.



When the bevelling is done, activate the Move Tool and use the following settings in the Numeric Panel.



Click Apply and the object should move. Bring up the Change Surface Panel and set the surface to “Rails”, then click OK.

Switch to Layer 8 and activate the Box Tool, then use the following settings in the Numeric Panel.



Close down the Numeric Panel and hit Space to create the box. Activate the Bevel Tool and bevel this box with the following values in the Numeric Panel.



Cut this box out of Layer 8 and paste it in Layer 7. Activate the Mirror Tool and bring up the Numeric Panel, then use the following settings.

Axis: X
Center: 0 on all

Close down the Numeric Panel and hit Space to perform the operation.

Activate the Mirror Tool again and bring up the Numeric Panel, then use the following settings.

Axis: Z
Center X: 0
Center Y: 0
Center Z: 1,25m

Close down the Numeric Panel and hit Space to perform the operation. Make sure you are in Polygon mode, then drag a lasso around the two latest clones we made of this object, like in picture 53.