Carcere III (finally) Underway

It may not look like much yet, but this is the framework for the final CG version of Piranesi's Carcere III. Naturally there's a whole lot more to be added, but for a day's work this isn't too bad. There would have been more if I hadn't realised that several of my calculations were wrong (including the central tower) and had to be redone, which was kind of a bummer until I decided 'stuff it' and eyeballed as much as I justifiably could. Still worried the tower might be too tall, though.

Also, look at this spiral. Look at it. That there is three hours of fiddly, painstaking work to get the messy-as-all-hell polygons of the original curve to behave themselves, so it gets a screenshot all its own.

Mathematism, part the First

And so it begins, my inevitable descent into uncontrollable OCD. I want to get this model as accurate as possible, so with a red pencil, a near-dead iPod as a calculator, and a pink tape measure more suited to the fashion lot upstairs, I set out to calculate as many of the values in this piece as possible. As you can see, I didn't get anywhere close.

However, I did make two critical discoveries; first, this etching actually has a vanishing point. The horizon is about 50 feet below the shot. Second, Piranesi is not using the 70 degree field of view of a human eye here; the camera angle is about 135 degrees. No wonder the perspective looks weird. Given the time these etchings were made (1760-ish) and the amount of knowledge about perspective that was available then, I suspect Piranesi's camera angle was a (mercifully consistent) mistake, rather than an artistic choice. It also explains why I was having such trouble reproducing the shot in Maya.

This will be continually updated overthe next few days as I nail down all the measurements. Watch this space for an exercise in dullness and pedantry.

Step Three: Ragequit

After four-odd weeks of fighting with the perspective of Carcere XIV, I decided 'stuff it' and moved onto the far more perspectivally legible Carcere III. Proportions of things aren't spot-on (especially not that bridge on the rigt of the shot), but  I actually understand what;s going on, which is an improvement. The main part of the scene is fully pre-vized, just need to figure out the back of the scene, figure out and then fix the measurements, finish the background of the scene and work out the camera and then I'll be ready to go into production.

Attempting to Comprehend the Carcere. Send Help.

More work on the pre-viz, with a bit of improvising for the background forms. Still nowhere near finished.

Where does that pillar/wall/thing with poles sticking out go? Further back, where it meets the bar coming off the far wall but doesn't pass the bottom of the shot like it does in the original?

Is it closer to the camera?

But then what about the far wall? The strut coming out of the side connects to the two struts coming out from the pillar nearest camera! The far wall can't come forward or it disconnects from the central pavilion thing.

Does it descend lower than the camera to give the illusion of being closer? Where the hell is the floor, anyway? And how does this camera work?

I am beginning to understand why Piranesi could never get a job in architecture.

Carcere XIV - Not Quite Pre-Viz

In an attempt to understand the architecture, I've started on a low-res 3D sketch of the scene, and come to the conclusion that Piranesi may not have been entirely in control of his perspective. As such, there will be parts where I simply decide 'stuff it', and follow my gut/what looks good.

Initial Carcere Drawings

Or, 'good grief I had no idea how wonky the perspective actually is in these etchings'. Apologies for the roughness of the following sketches, I'll clean them up at some point in the future.

Here's Carcere XIV again  just for reference.

Opulence, Mountains and Prisons

First off, an unfinished Leyendecker study, per the suggestion of Phil.The text is there purely for my own peace of mind. The colour on this is fun, and I'll definitely keep dinking around with it until it's a bit more resolved. I'll tackle the fancy ironwork some other day, however.

'Couple Descending Staircase' - J. C. Leyendecker

And a photo study from a photograph by a gentleman going by the handle of 'Footleg'. Super loose first sketch...

Marginally less loose, trying to fix the shape of the peak...

And the final study. I learnt quite a bit about the structure of mountains (or at least, this particular mountain) and how snow sits on them. I left the figure out because, while it contributes to the original photograph, it's not much help in a study.

'Valley Frances Bridge' - 'Footleg' - Original


And now for that Piranesi thing. I've decided on the four plates I'll be using; I may not finish all of them, so I've ranked them here in order of priority, first being highest. I feel plates III and XIV best encapsulate the feel of the series, particularly XIV, so if I can only manage one then that will be the one I make.

 XIV. Carcere, with a Staircase Ascending to the Left

III. Carcere, with a Circular Tower.

 VII. Carcere, with Numerous Wooden Galleries and a Drawbridge

 VI. Carcere, with Arches and Pulleys and a Smoking Fire in the Centre.

I initially considered a panorama, but attempts at stitching the images together were unsuccessful; this was the best panorama I could make, and, as you can see, it doesn't work. The pieces are simply not created to sit flush next to one another, and out of respect for Piranesi's work I am hesitant to improvise connections between them. Thus they shall probably be separate rooms, with the camera travelling between them.

Weeks 13-20 – Traditional Painting & CG 'Carceri' Mission Statement

What with the whole 'already done the Storytelling unit with relatively few emotional hangups' thing, I shan't be participating in it this time around. Instead, I'll be focusing on the personal artistic growth that should have happened over the summer but mysteriously didn't. I'll have two projects on the go, so I can procrastinate on one by working on the other.

The first is a lot of studying of traditional painting techniques; making studies from the masters and suchlike. Alan recommended the book 'Colour and Light' by James Gurney, so I'll be learning about the mechanics of painting as well as the technique. The areas of my skillset I'll be focusing particularly on are a) speed, b) value, c) colour theory, d) composition and e) markmaking, and that's mostly what I'll be 'assessing' myself on when this is over.

The second is a full CG environment of at least one of Giovanni Piranesi's Carceri d'Invenzione, or, Imaginary Prisons. I discovered them when researching prisons for my abortive Environment project, and immediately thought 'holy crud I have to build one of these'. The Carceri have already been built in CG, by one Gregoire Dupond, but his depiction of them is to perfectly recreate the etchings so that the environment itself appears to be etched. On the other hand, I intend to build a mostly realistic interpretation with minimal stylisation.


Dupond's continuous panorama tempts me to stitch several of the plates together to form a larger environment, but the final decision on that one will be made once I've more carefully considered my time. I shall endeavour to avoid referencing Dupond, however, as I want this to be a personal interpretation of Piranesi (that, and Dupond's camera work and sound design make me want to weep). This project is going to rely heavily on my ability to make highly accurate orthographs, and given that I've never made any before I'm going to have to learn very quickly indeed. As the Environment project did not reach fruition, I want this project to be the unifying of everything I've learnt over my time on the course, and to prepare me as much as possible for the commission in week 21.