Creating The Republic of Venice Town Center (Age IV)

[overb8]

Hello everyone! I’ve finally set my sights on modeling the town center of the Venetian Republic. You can check out a previous example of my work here - Aztec Town Center

I would like to express my gratitude to DoctBaghi for his concept of this civilization, which has been a great source of inspiration for me.

I’ve often been asked if I could share my modeling process, and I thought it would be best to create a thread here and share with you the key steps - from finding references to texturing and rendering. Plus, I’m hoping for your assistance! I don’t know much about architecture, so I’m mostly going by instinct, and your feedback would be greatly appreciated. I think it’ll be interesting!

The current plan is as follows - I hope to create a collective image of Venice between 1500-1550 and create a Town Center (IV Age) without straying too far into the Renaissance to stay within the game’s historical timeframe. Write what you think, suggest ideas!

Artwork by Sasha Beliaev

Finding references:

First, I gathered screenshots of all the age 4 town centers in the game, checked their dimensions, and began working on the building concept.

For now, this is a very early version, and as practice has shown, the most challenging part for me is the blockout phase and refining the basic forms. Among the main points - I’m drawn to the idea of taking a part from the Palazzo Ducale (its corner part with columns), and on the other side, incorporating something similar to the Campanile di San Marco. It would be great to place a simple fountain in the inner courtyard, and perhaps pave the ground with tiles or small mosaics (I’ve decided to try my hand at Substance Designer for such elements!)

Most likely, I’ll be redesigning the main part of the building to make it less massive (and I’m still unsure about the tower).

TBC

Be sure to check my Springalds skins concept or UI concept also Spain civ beekeeper, Japanese units Rus siege unit and pro players in-game monuments series

[Infinito6739]

Truly good looking! i wouldn’t know what to add, done very well, can’t wait to see it finished, it’s really similar to how i imagined it!

[overb8]

Thank you!

Today, I tried redesigning a part of the building by removing the tower, and also started adding details (too many in my opinion).
Currently, it’s still an early stage; I’m experimenting with different options and sizes of elements.

[Infinito6739]

in my opinion the previous tower gave it more character, however it’s going well for the details I can agree, adding too many details could remind a gothic style, even if the Venetian style is still full of them at times.

[DoctBaghi]

Great work, unfortunately I wasn’t able to find some pictures of the architecture of the time, as I can’t remember where I save them…

Anyway, I’ll just give you some pointers to improve it, even if it’s not easy without a visual representation.

• The age 1 TC should be mostly wood, mud and hay, as those were the buildings at the time.

• In age 2 you could have red bricks buildings, more elaborated ad similar to what you design.

• Consider that most of the buildings that you see now days are quite late, but some are medioeval, like the fish market. Others, like the rialto bridge, or the dogal palace are quite recent.

• If you need inspiration, just play assassin’s creed 2 in venice, it’s of course not perfect and it depict more a renaissance than medioeval venice, but it can still be a source of inspiration.

[overb8]

Thank you for the feedback! Yes, I try to take into account that many buildings in Venice have been rebuilt several times with the addition of decorative elements. That’s why I decided to create only imperial age version, which is easier to interpret within the timeframe.
By the way, here’s the progress of the modeling as of today. Slow but steady!

References part2

[Kameho3743]

absolutely amazing work there! Kinda worried it might look TO good for the Aoe4 game xD
But hopes are after seein the byzantine TC’s that they can maintain the level of details you have on this! (if there ever were to be a Venetian civ)