WIP: Kirkbride style Insane Asylum Foorplan for Mystery Game

[Robbie]

Mouse, I will definitely be showing off the 3d model and I intend to make a full product with it...You'll see I'll probably have something 3d to see sooner rather than later even. Here's my first/basement story floorplan. I'll work on the ward levels next and update soon. Keep in mind, this is a hybrid/conceptual Kirkbride floorplan and is intended to be a historical fiction use map. So if anyone wants to comment on my Kirkbrideyness, or offer feedback for layout please jump right in!

[Mouse]

That's really cool

I can just see the stained walls - feel the horror of losing your way in the repetitive structure, or of getting trapped in the basement or the ends of the wings...

Thank you for sharing your project with us, Robbie

[Robbie]

It'll all make more sense once exterior doors and windows are added and other stories are mapped. I've been enjoying the process and am finding inkscape to be delightful to use for floorplan building once digging into grids and layers.

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[Mouse]

I have to agree that vector drawing tools are usually the best option for buildings

[Robbie]

We'll see how much I can pull off stylistically with inkscape once the practical map is done. Theory here is that The vectors will import directly into the 3d program for wall extrusion. I'll still need to cut out the windows, but that's no big deal. I can't wait to see what it looks like with sun lit illumination, even without texture!

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[Mouse]

Do you use Sketchup at all?

I don't know why it didn't occur to me to suggest it or mention it before, but for outlining a building in 3D it could be quite useful - especially since you can make arrays of repeating components like windows and measure things down to the mm.

You can also export .dae files directly from Sketchup, which are openable in Blender at least...

There is also a useful push/pull tool you can use to extrude the frame, or recess the glass. Having made just one window of type A, you've basically made them all.

The only drawback (and it is a HUGE drawback), is that you have to pay £600 for the software before you can use it commercially for anything, but that's not even a problem if you already happen to own it

EDIT: Here is a collection of tutorials, so you can get a general idea of what it can do.

[Robbie]

I already have a license for autodesk entertainment creation suite. I'm also in my trial window for substance painter 3d. I've used sketch up before and it has some great features I wish Max had, but those features aren't enough to make the switch permanent.

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[Mouse]

I don't even know what most of that hi-tech 3D stuff is

Sketchup isn't perfect for everything anyway. As far as I know, bitmap textures can't be used to displace the surface, or their position adjusted to suit the orientation of the face they are on (they are stuck in global orientation mode), and the shadows are totally flat unless you export the model and render it in a more suitable environment.

I've only ever used it to get the basic structure right so that I can export a jpg to be used as guidelines for a GIMP drawing, or made basic cities with it to be viewed from a distance. Even then the shadows require some pretty complicated work involving layers and different types of export from Sketchup to simulate ambient backlighting

Now I'm really looking forward to seeing the model!

[Robbie]

I did some buildings in Pensacola, FL in sketchup back when google earth was a thing and used user submitted building models. If you zoom down to Pensacola, FL - Pensacola NAS, I did 3d models of the museum, the Naval Survival Training Institute, and a few other buildings (to include a chimney monument). Those were the days, lol

Anyways, I think I've finished and am satisfied with the basement story of my Asylum. From here, I need to iron out the actual plan of the center admin building portion and where all the stairwells in that building will be. I've added windows and doors to the exterior, as well as porches to indicate where the doors outside are located. I had to shrink up one of the Domestics dormitories to allow for a well placed central egress, which is probably fine because that room rather than housing multiple domestics, could house a head housekeeper or groundskeeper or some higher up person. Any thoughts or recommendations from anyone before I duplicate this structure to the other stories?

[Mouse]

I may look up a couple of those buildings, but for now I've just realised the time! 4.30 am here in the UK

Just one thing I noticed on brief initial examination:

There is no doorway into store room 'f'

Can't see anything else right now