Stadionul Silviu Ploesteanu Construction images part seven

September 26: With my dissatisfaction with the previous crowd model, I decided to redo it and make it more dense. I'm still not happy with how it turned out, but oh well.

September 26: Texturing around the scoreboard. Nearly done at this point.

September 26: The final bit of work on the texturing is completed - I'm about to start the rendering phase.

September 30: My very first rendering on the project. As you can see, a lot of the lights weren't set up right, some of the textures were wrong, and a bunch of other issues. That being said, I absolutely loved the ambiance of the lighting in the atmospheric fog. Looked so good.

September 30: More setting up renderings - at this point I was fixing a bunch of the gamma values on the textures, as well as correcting the sun lighting. That's why everything looks like a harshly painted model.

October 1: Trying to fix up the concert stage and correct the lighting. Fixed some problems, created a heap of new ones. I was experimenting with a couple of differing IES lighting profiles when I made this render, hence the very harsh lighting.

October 1: Checking the effectiveness of backgrounds added to a test render in Photoshop. It came out cleanly enough.

October 2: A test rendering on the background model. This came out beautifully - I'm quite disappointed it never came out this good again when I rendered it from the proper angle. I love the atmospheric effect again.

October 3: Test night render from the southeast. The background is switched off, which is why there is no dark sky behind the venue.

October 3: Another test rendering of the eastern concourse. Needed more lighting on this one.

October 6: Well into rendering the venue for real now. This is one of the real renders, with a fake backdrop on it. As I'll explain later on, I was never happy with this.

October 8: A test composition in Photoshop from the TV studio. I had a few things I knew I would need to fix up in post as a result of doing this - particularly the balustrades. As the balustrades were made of transparent material, they should show the legs of the crowd standing behind them. I, moronically, rendered the balustrates with the base model, as opposed to adding it to the crowd layer render. If I rendered the balustrade with the crowd behind it, I could have done a much better job. I'd end up having to fake it in post.

October 12: Work on the half-court setup. I would end up redoing this render to fix some of the lighting issues, but I absolutely loved this one.

October 14: Getting the concert stage to render. The hardest part of this was the atmospheric fog to the sides of the concert stage - I had a really tough time getting that to work well.

October 15: A screengrab from the actual rendering - still not as good as I wanted, but I needed to get on with it. Unfortunately, not long after finishing this render, I lost my internet connection. This lasted for two weeks, and made it impossible for me to do pretty much anything on the project. With the deadline a week away at this point, this meant I was out. Fortunately, the deadline would be pushed back and I would get back online three days before it. That meant a lot of last minute work on everything for my presentation.

November 2: So I mentioned earlier that I was never really happy with this shot. Many of the shadows turned out way harsher than they should have, and I wasn't able to fix it in post. I also had my computer BSOD when I was rendering the crowd for this shot, meaning I lost my exact position in the model. To mask some of the issues, I added some rain to the scene and set it in a passing rain shower.

November 2: An overhead view of the site for use on the master plan

November 2: An overhead view of the site without the roof, for demonstrating points of detail on the master plan.

Stadionul Silviu Ploesteanu Construction images part six

September 22: Work on the crowd model begins. One of these days I will actually post a tutorial on how to do simple crowd models, but you will probably figure out how I do it from this picture alone.

September 23: Looking at the crowd model inside the venue. I was really unhappy with it - it didn't look good at all. I would eventually end up redoing it twice to make it look more full and realistic.

September 24: Work on the landscaping around the main stand. Between the two roof pillars, I built a flower bed and placed a bunch of the seating modules in between. By pure coincidence, there was the right number of lighting structures for me to add a sign with the stadium name. I wish I made the letters stand out more - it kind of looks like this monstrosity - https://www.news.com.au/sport/commonwealth-games/gold-coast-welcome-signs-sledged-by-residents/news-story/93e9b3f662680a8fd4dfb5a1bad660a8

September 24: With the rest of the stadium name affixed to the main wall.

September 24: A further view of the area. It was insanely hard to find a good place to get a shot of the structure from, as there is so little space between the building and the trees opposite. I kind of wish I'd managed to get this particular view while rendering the project though.

September 24: One shot I definitely did render, albeit from a slightly different spot and orientation. I was working on the landscaping around the building when I stumbled on this view and fell in love with it. Simplistic but so beautiful.

September 24: A view from the interior. I'm once again not sure why I have this shot, but I think I was starting to map out the rendering shots I would use. I would have loved to use this one.

September 24: A view from the trees in the southwest corner of the site. I was looking for a good teaser picture of my venue and this worked.

September 24: Installation of flagpoles in the southwest corner. Three flags provide somewhat of a landmark for fans inside the stadium.

September 24: A view of Tampa Mountain from the main stand. The reason for this picture is that part of the competition regulations stated that we were to "keep an unobstructed view on Tâmpa mountain and Carpathians landscape from main stand." My design accomplished this by keeping the roof elevated and the side open. This image was sent to the competition organiser to confirm that my proposal met that requirement, which it did.

September 25: Two things to note from this picture of the wall at the eastern concourse. Firstly, the design features a 2m high wall , with an enclosed fireplace built in to the top half. This was designed to help keep the venue, which is rather open, warm in the winter months. This would have the secondary effect of warming the air as it moves through the venue, as the predominant wind direction is from this end. In my haste (to be explained), I never mentioned this in my presentation. Secondly, the inclusion of text. This is a phrase which the club informed me is a source of pride for them and their fans.

September 25: A look from the other side of that wall, with another of those phrases prominently displayed as fans approach the venue.

September 25: Another look at the area. Many of the fans will enter through those gates.

September 25: A look at my proposed beauty shot angle. I would end up rotating this to the southwest corner when I rendered.

September 25: A look at the crowd from the southwest corner. Still just mapping out the views for rendering.

September 25: A lower angled view. Really wasn't happy with the crowd at this point, after I had already redone it once. 

September 25: A look towards the west. I'm really happy with how the flagpoles look here.

Stadionul Silviu Ploesteanu Construction images part five

September 7: So I wanted to make a basic little entrance sign. I'd downloaded a rock wall back in January or so and finally got to use it in a project. It's literally just the wall, with the name and some lights. That being said, I had the idea for it way back at the start of the competition and finally modelled it.

September 7: A look at the sign in place near the western end of the ground.

September 7: A lower angled view of the sign. I really regret not making a render at or near this view height. It could have been something really nice.

September 8: I'm not entirely sure what I was showing off here. I think I was working on the balustrades, and perhaps some of the fencing work. On the fencing note, it's inspired by some of the fencing on the site already, in that it is an exact copy of it.

September 8: Another view that I'm not entirely sure of. I think maybe I just liked the look of the stadium with all of the massing behind it. This is the insightful commentary all four of my regular readers signed up for.

September 8: I remember exactly why I took this shot though. Right the way through the design process, I was weighing up how many roof pillars to use. I originally had been using 8, as seen in all of my previous images. I had wanted to use 12, with two down each side. This was moments before I finally installed those roof pillars.

September 8: And this was the end result.

September 8: While scrolling through the model, I stumbled upon this view. I really liked it for some reason. Probably the natural feel the tree gives it. I would end up using this venue when I rendered the presentation.

September 11: So one thing that always frustrates me is when large stadiums like this get built and sit idle 300+ days a year. A stadium is the best marketing tool a city has. What other structure has 500,000+ visitors a year, and millions and millions of TV eyes on it? This is the reason that people come to your city, so making sure that the venue can handle a variety of events is important. That's why I developed a half-court setup. The big screen is the same as the concert setup. Located at the eastern end, it has all of the upper eastern stand looking down on it, leaving a nice ~9000 seat setup. Here's a martial arts cage.

September 11: and a basketball court.

September 12: Work transitioned back into the main stadium, with two more small temporary stands added.

September 12: A wider look at the setup, with the black tarpaulins covering the unused seating sections. Naturally, this would be styled for the relevant event.

September 12: And a view from the far end of the upper tier. Not the greatest view, but still very functional.

September 14: I don't think there was any significant changes to the model here. I think it's just another view.

September 14: Another view. I would end up using this view when I rendered, albeit rotated a little bit more to the side. Fun fact - that was one of my favourite shots.

September 18: Back to work on the main stand. I added the fake roof over the VIP boxes, as well as an old-styled clock. I loved the aesthetic of it.

September 18: The outside of the venue. I was not happy with how the roof pillars cut into the footpath, but as you'll see in the next installment, I made it work for me. I also was inspired by a picture of a chalet I saw, which inspired the circular lights and false wood panelling.