Add Flags!

The king has approved the castle plans and has required numerous changes to make it just the way he wants it. The first thing he wants is flags. It’s his kingdom, and he wants everyone to know it! Flags and pennants are important symbols and identification markers. Early on, tomy suggested that we add flags, and now is the time.

How to Use Freeform Deform Mode is a good video on the basics of using “Freeform Deform” tool, which is part of the “Deform” tool. These techniques will help us create the flowing forms that show the flag is moving in the wind.

To use the “Freeform Deform Orange Mode”, first select the “Deform” tool, then the line you want to deform and then the orange “Deform Mode” button. Arrows will appear showing you which ways you can deform the line.

A YouTube video specifically about Modeling a Flag With 3DVIA Shape was done by shodiq38, and we’re going to grab some screen shots from it.

First, draw your flag shape and several intersecting lines. Then start selecting the lines with the “Deform” tool and use the “Freeform Deform Orange Mode” to move them.

Be sure to rotate your view often to see what effect your changes are having. Keep moving and tweaking the lines until you like what you have.

The flag for this kingdom is a little more complicated because the king wants his “coat of arms” in the center. I made sure the lines I used to divide up the flag left a big panel right in the middle (red arrows).

He also wants the coat of arms to read correctly on both sides of the flag. If I left the flag as a single surface, then the other side would read in reverse. To make a thicker flag, I copy and paste a second surface just a little distance away and keep it on the same axis as the first surface. You cannot use the “Push n Pull” tool to do this.

Then I connect all of the vertexes (where the lines meet), and I now have a thicker flag (red ellipse). I then apply the logo to both sides, add color to the rest of the panels and have just what the king wanted.

Outside Wall Tower Changes

The king wants all of the towers of the outside wall to be changed to prevent any invaders from using the wall to easily get from one part of the castle to another.

The foundation has been modified on all of the outside wall towers, and one is almost completey built.

The layout on the left is what the king wants. On the right is what I have right now. The easiest way to accurately draw the lines I need is to re-align the grid, so that I’ll be drawing normal to the grid.

First I draw a line from the center of the circle (hover your mouse over either of the circles and a blue center point will appear) to the center of the existing 45 degree line (red ellipses).

Next I select the “Grid Options” tool…

…and select the line I just drew (starting and ending with red ellipses). Immediately, the entire grid is aligned with the selected line. Hit “ESC” to close the grid tool. I can now draw all the lines needed to make the changes and then, with some careful erasing of lines and surfaces, end up with what the king wants. When you are done, you can switch the grid to match any other lines that you are working with.

Notice that several lines are drawn past the desired connection point (green ellipses). This is because sometimes the end of your line will not snap to exactly where you want it, but if you go past the intersection point, then it will stay perpendicular (yellow line) or parallel (blue lines). In these cases, it is easier to erase the extra bit of line and know that the line is exactly where you want it.

This shows why the king wants all of the outer wall towers to be done this way. If the good guys are in control, they leave the wooden bridges in place and can move around the castle quickly.

If the bad guys get inside the castle, the good guys can remove the bridges leaving the bad guys without any good options to move past this tower.

Bigger Openings For Traffic

The king has ordered all the passageways for wagon and cart traffic be made wider to allow more traffic through quicker. During a battle or during the busy days of building, it will be important to have easy access.

Fortunately “Box Select” will allow us to swiftly make these changes in our plans.

The video How To Box Select does a great quick job of explaining the overall concept.

The king wants all openings to be 12′ wide. To find out what size my openings are now, I start to draw a line across the opening and without letting up on the mouse button, I can see the actual measurement (8′), but then just hit the “ESC” key and not draw the line itself. This way I can get a measurement, but not have to erase the line afterward – this can be very helpful.

Without selecting any tool I can draw a selection box by clicking the left mouse button and dragging it out to include the parts I want (red arrows).

After making sure my “Snap Behavior” is on, I’ve “Box Selected” the right hand gatehouse and as soon as I release the mouse button, I’ll see exactly which geometry has been chosen (red arrow). Then I’ll select the “Deform” tool and pull the yellow arrow (red ellipse) in the direction that I want to move the gatehouse.

By watching the measurement in the little box at the arrow tip (red ellipse), I can move the entire right gatehouse 2′. Then I’ll follow the same steps to move the left gatehouse 2′ in the opposite direction.

Now the opening is 12′ wide and big enough for more people, horses, and carts.

Bigger Kitchen and Add a Garden

Like most people, the king does not to want to wait for his food and wants fresh vegetables to stay healthy. So he required that the kitchen be made biger and that a garden be added.

What I want to  do is move the entire wall in the red ellipse down to line up with the wall as shown by the yellow line. I’ll use “Box Select” for the majority of the change, but you can also box select a smaller section (right side red ellipse) and use “CTRL X” to remove a section and “CTRL V” to paste it in a new location.

For the rest of the wall moving, I’ll use “Box Select”and pull down on the yellow arrow (red ellipse) until it snaps to the edge (yellow ellipse) I want. Now the kitchen is “king size”.

Adding a 50′ by 60′ garden is easy using the “Rectangle” tool and then the “Offset” tool. Then I just use the “Push n Pull” tool to make it about 1′ tall, and the king will have plenty of fresh vegetables.

Add Arrow Slits to the Castle Main Entrance

The main entrance of the castle should provide access to the Inner Ward, but should also be easily defended in case of attacks.

The king heartily agrees with the master engineer’s plan of creating a more difficult path for the bad guys by having a blocking feature (green ellipse), which forces all traffic to slow down and make two turns before entering the Inner Ward. But the king wants to add firing slits to the blocking feature. If the bad guys have made it past all of the other fortification and are getting close (red arrow), then there needs to be an additional defense position at that point.

In the right image, the changes that the king required have been added. Now five archers can fire on the bad guys while still being protected themselves.

You can see that each archer has a good range of angles throught the arow slit, and is very difficult to hit from the other side.

Bigger Blacksmith Shop

The king also demanded the planned blacksmith shop be much larger. It’s a big castle, and there will be a lot of work.

Since the blacksmith’s work is essential in all stages of building and maintenance, it is the second fully functioning section of the castle to be completed. The water well had been started and completed during the planning stages.

The blacksmith shop is in a corner of two of the castle walls, so those walls were the natural starting point for castle construction. Now the blacksmith shop has two forges with room for a total of four blacksmiths and their helpers. They all are lodged in the shop itself, so they’re close by and protected as well.

Next time we’ll start adding important details to the walls and towers as the construction continues. We also have to start working on a river landing for both the castle and the town to help move supplies in more quickly. We still have plenty to do!

Check out the Castlemania Group!

It has all of the models that are part of the Castlemania 3DVIA Shape Tutorial Series in one easy-to-access place. You can join and add your own models to the group too!

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Links to other Castlemania Stages:

Castlemania Stage One – The Journey to Mastering 3DVIA Shape Begins

Castlemania Stage Two – The Big Picture

Castlemania Stage Three – More Land and the Castle Plan

Castlemania Stage Four – The King is Coming!

Castlemania Stage Five – The King Approves the Plans

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Castlemania Stage Seven – Progress Review

Castlemania Stage Eight – Arrows & Towers

Castlemania Stage Nine – Merlons & Finials