Okay. Inspired by JC84144's awesome original WTC model, (well... inspired by jealousy og JC84144's awesome original WTC model) I decided to do my own model. It is an (almost) accurate 3D representation of the New World Trade Center, due for completion in 2011-12.

First up was 2WTC. I started with this because it is my favourite design. Originally, I thought it was gonna be a bitch, but in the end it turned out to be easier than the Freedom Tower! :nuts:

It is built from the building's plans, which are available on www.wtc.com. It isn't quite finished yet, but it should be finished in about a day. I still need to add materials etc.

Thanks to JC84144 for doing the renders and to RichardSimpo1234567 for doing the poster. :)
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/2WTCnew.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/Diamonds.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/2WTCdimnd.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/Diamondswithfloors.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/1.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/2.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/3.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/4.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/5.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/Antenna.jpg

Here's a poster by RichardSimpo1234567:
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/joel.jpg

And renders by JC84144:

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/wtc2.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/wtc2a.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/wtc2b.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/wtc2c.jpg

Comments and (constructive) criticism appreciated. :banana:

dude...that is awesome-ness!!

^^ Thanks :)

I spent hours today working on the materials for two, and they are getting a little complicated, so I'm leaving that for now. I've started work on 1WTC. No updates yet, but I thought I'd explain how I'm scaling these models.

First, I acquire two different plans for each building - one side plan and one base plan. For 2WTC, I managed to acquire a plan for the lobby, the trading floor, the offices and the offices in the diamonds section. For some reason in Sketchup, I can't rotate an image vertically, so I had to figure out a way around that.

First, I draw a line that is the same length as the building is high (in the current case, 1776ft). Then I import the side plan, and scale it so that the building matches the line. Then I draw two straight lines on each side of the building and draw them down past the bottom of the building. Then I import the floor plan and match it in between those two lines.

A lot of my scaling is done with rough estimates, so I can't actually claim that the model is 100% accurate. When building the floors, I measure on the side plan, and I round off the number of feet to a specific number instead of something like 9', 6" 1/2. For the significant points on the model, for example, the diamonds on 2WTC, I check the diagrams on Skyscraperpage. This, once again, is not accurate, but is close enough.

Please do not criticise me for my inaccuracy, as I am trying my best to make a faithful represntation of the future WTC.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/Sketchupscreen.jpg

Really great! Its my favorite building in new WTC.

nice! why is there no glass??

^^ I haven't quite finished yet. I'm trying to figure out how dark the glass should be and exactly how to make the floor sections almost invisible, because Sketchup's materials are being a bitch. :bash: Tomorrow I will do more work concerning the materials, and hopefully the building should be done tomorrow.

I also need to figure out how to make the "border" for the diamonds, something which I forgot about when building them. :bleep:

Note how the diamonds aren't perfect diamonds - in the official renders, at first sight you take them to be squares. Later, I realised that they were rectangles, and then this morning I discovered that the reason STR's model (which I saw on Wired New York) looked so irregular was that the rectangles aren't even regular rectangles:

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/2WTCOfficePlan2.jpg

So the diamonds actually look very strange when I render them :lol:

Ok, I couldn't figure the windows out, so I enlisted in the help of JC84144... thanks mate. The glass is now done, and I am working on adding the columns. Sorry about the diamonds, they look a little strange, but I can't do anything about it :(

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/2WTCnocolumns.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/2WTCcolumns.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/Basecolumns.jpg

Very very nice:cheers:

^^ Thanks. :) I've decided to up the level of detail I was originally aiming for - now the model will include raised footpaths and plazas, and trees to give it realism. The footpaths/plazas may or may not be texture with edges etc (like the bricks that you usually see on the side of a footpath may not be included) but I don't think this should matter TOO much ;)

I may also add small interior details, but if I do, it will be once the whole model (including outside details) is done, because the model will probably take up A LOT of RAM.

Lol... mainly I've just been mucking around with render settings just now, but I managed to get some more columns done...

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/Lobbycolumns.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/2WTCnolines.jpg

The building looks so much more spectacular in SketchUp with the lines turned off :banana:

wow well done joel, im still wanting to do renders for you in max :lol: speak later

Nice work! when you starting on Freedom Tower ;)

Oh my God, it's really great!

Haven't done anymore renders yet. I'm struggling to figure out how to balance my new relationship with my work XD :banana:

Oh my god! I compltely forgot about this. :ohno: sorry guys. I'll put some efort into making the rest of the columns soon, but I'm flat out with English homework right now and it's hard to even remember what else I've been doing... :bash:

So yeah. This project isn't abandoned. It's just coming along slowly ;)

wow, the cladding looks great!

Don't stop now! I think what you're doing looks as good as the renderings themselves! I was going to do the same, but I'd be the third or fourth to do it and I bet you and STR likely got me beat in the area. Maybe I'll make a simple and scale model of 3WTC and see where it goes from there.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/WorkingFilms/Lobbycolumns.jpg

Don't know if you used different rendering settings but this one looks good

nice :)