Research

For the Acropolis Project I have been tasked in making an asset pack that can be used to create the ancient Greek Acropolis that once stood in ancient Greece. To make the Acropolis I am required to research the looks and details so I can begin to drawn and make turnarounds for assets such as walls and pillars. Before I begin making the drawings and turn-arounds I am first required to expand my knowledge of the Acropolis so that I can make a list of assets that will be needed to build up the Acropolis.

What was the Acropolis?

The Acropolis of Athens is one of the most famous ancient archaeological sites in the world. Located on a limestone hill high above Athens, Greece, the Acropolis has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Over the centuries, the Acropolis was many things: a home to kings, a citadel, a mythical home of the gods, a religious center and a tourist attraction. It has withstood bombardment, massive earthquakes and vandalism yet still stands as a reminder of the rich history of Greece. Today, it is a cultural UNESCO World Heritage site and home to several temples, the most famous of which is the Parthenon.

What is the term Acropolis?

The term “acropolis” means “high city” in Greek and can refer to one of many natural strongholds constructed on rocky, elevated ground in Greece, but the Acropolis of Athens is the best known.

The History of the Acropolis?

The Acropolis’ flat top is the result of thousands of years of construction beginning as far back as the Bronze Age. There’s no recorded history of what happened at the Acropolis before the Mycenaeans cultivated it during the end of the Bronze Age. Historians believe the Mycenaeans built a massive compound surrounded by a great wall (almost 15 feet thick and 20 feet high) on top of the Acropolis to house the local ruler and his household.

Years later, the Athenians built a Doric temple made of limestone, known as Bluebeard Temple, on the northeast side of the hill in honour of the goddess Athena in the sixth century B.C. It was named after a sculpture that adorned the building that depicted a man-serpent with three blue beards.

Another temple dedicated to the Athena was also erected in the same century, as was a shrine to Artemis Brauronia, the goddess of expectant mothers in Greek mythology.

During the Greek Dark Ages (800 B.C. to 480. B.C.), the Acropolis remained largely intact. Many religious festivals were held there, and the artifacts of the time reflected the grandeur of ancient Athens.

Around 490 B.C., the Athenians started building a majestic marble temple known as the Old Parthenon. By that time, the Bluebeard Temple had been demolished by the Persians.

In 480 B.C., the Persians attacked again and burned, leveled and looted the Old Parthenon and almost every other structure at the Acropolis. To prevent further losses, the Athenians buried the remaining sculptures inside natural caves and built two new fortifications, one of the rock’s north side and one on its south.

Mood Boards?

With the Facts and research above I can now start to visualise what I will be needing in my asset list, one of these will definitely have to be the Parthenon as it holds a great amount of history and importance to the Acropolis.

To further help and increase my knowledge of the way the Acropolis was built, textured and designed I have created a multitude of mood boards below that will show more detail of how each part of the Acropolis should look like when I build my own.

The Acropolis Mood Board

This mood board above shows the Acropolis from multiple perspectives and what it would have looked like back in Ancient Greece. These photos give me some visuals on what the front back and sides of the Acropolis need to looks like for my own asset. I will be expanding this mood board further so I can dive into more details on design and textures as well as organisation in the form of some diagrams.

Acropolis Design Mood Board

Now that I have a nice simple mood board shown above, its time to dive deeper into the design of the different buildings I will need to create with in the Acropolis, for example the Parthenon. The mood board below shows the structures inside the Acropolis such as shrines but also key parts of the structure like the big wall or the main entrance.

The Parthenon

This image below is of the Parthenon with is situated to the the east side of the Acropolis. The Parthenon is an ancient Greek temple dedicated the the Greek goddess Athena and is used to hold a giant statue of her and is rumoured to be a gold storage as well. Below I have annotated an image of the Parthenon that gives off the idea of how many components I will have to make to build up the Parthenon. These components will be pillars (preferably Doric), a roof and some inner walls. The inside of the Parthenon will be pretty plain but if I have time I will attempt to add the statue of Athena.

The Chalkotheke

This image below is of the Chalkotheke, this was a Building with a rather simple style, but with a monumental Doric portico design. The Chalkothke is located in front of the Propylaea, and between the Parthenon and the Brauronion. The Chalkotheke severed guard to Athena's metal devotional gifts. Below I have annotated a image of the Chalkotheke to once again reinforce the idea of what components I will need in order to create this asset. The components are as follows; a marble wall, Doric pillars, tiled roof and a small roof detail.

The Brauronion

The Brauronion is dedicated to Artemis Brauronia, goddess of fertility, mothership, and mastress of the wild animals. In her aspect Eileithyia, she was also the goddess of birth and helped women to give birth successfully. The sanctuary had no temple. It was located in the south-eastern part of the Acropolis, and south of the Propylaea. It was formed by a court surrounded by columned halls, with an altar and two statues. Below I have annotated a picture of The Brauronion to show what components are needed to make this asset. These assets are as follows; Tiled roof, Doric pillar, small roof detail and a small white marbled arch.

The Erechthieon

The Erechtheion or Erechtheum is an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens in Greece which was dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon. Inside the Erechtheion is an ancient wooden cult statue of Athena that was used to glorify the great city at the height of its power and influence. Below I have left a annotated image of the Erechtheion clearly showing what components I will need to create this asset. The components are as follows; tiled roof, roof triangle, pillar and a small shrine detail.

The Propylaia

The Propylaia is the main entrance to the Acropolis of Athens, It is an impressive building that surrounds the natural entrance to the plateau. Once approached it leads through an inclining ramp that leads visitors straight through the steps in front of the Propylaia. I have placed a annotated picture below that shows what components will be needed to create this part of the asset. The components are as follows; Triangle tiled roof, flat tiled roof, Doric pillar, big stone stairs, small square building and a small inside entrance.

The Acropolis Wall and Rock

The Ancient Acropolis is situated on a large limestone rock this rock is very old and dates way back in time. The ancient Greeks built the high Acropolis here because it was the high point in Athens. This is very important and I will have to add this in my Unreal Project so I can build the Acropolis on top of it. I will also build the giant stone wall that surrounds the Acropolis. The wall will only be a single model but I can play around with it in Unreal.

Acropolis Diagrams

On the topic of Unreal I have also done some research and discovered two images (shown below) that show nicely all the components of the Acropolis and what I need to incorporate in order to succeed in recreating the Ancient Acropolis of Athens in engine. These diagrams above really help to show the key parts of the Acropolis and what they should look like in terms of size and scale. These picture will mainly come in handy when I have completely made my models and I am ready to align them in Unreal Engine.

Now that I have a bunch of mood boards and picture specific descriptions I am ready to make some mood board about the type of textures that needs to be put on my models. I will use these texture mood boards to link back to the design mood boards to create a plan for what parts of the Acropolis models need what textures.

Texture Mood Boards

The next part of my research is to make mood boards for the different textures that I will be needing for my models. This will work like the previous mood boards above as I will target different models to different textures, for example the textures for wall will have its own mood board and textures for roofs will have there own board. Firstly I have started with a generic mood board of the Acropolis textures.

Textures

This mood board above shows all of the generic building materials used to create the buildings in the Acropolis. These materials consist of marble for wall details and roof details, clay tiles for roofs, sandstone for walls and floors and steps and finally a blue lapis lazuli for extra details on buildings and scenery such as banners and ornaments. Overall these are the main materials used in the acropolis for the buildings. Below I have expanded some mood boards on walls, roofs and pillars to show more of the type of texture I should use.

Wall textures

This mood board is all about the wall textures, this is the type of textures that will go on models for buildings, pillars ,outer walls and even stairs. Most of these pictures show how the walls are made of either sandstone or a type of limestone.

Stair Textures

This mood board shows the textures of the stairs and steps located around the Acropolis. This is helpful for getting and idea for my model of stairs and steps that I will need to texture. The stairs are mainly stone textured with the exception of inside stairs which are marble.

Roof Textures

Finally this mood board represents the tiled roofing that is seen on top of the buildings in the acropolis. These tiled roofs are a clay texture and are a nice marron colour. This mood board is going to help with my roof model when I come to texture it.

Now that the mood boards are complete and I have clear descriptions and imagery of the design and texturing of the Acropolis and its buildings I am ready to start drawing some finalized images of my models that I am going to create in blender. I will also leave a asset list that I have created that plans out what I need to build. I am not going to draw finalized images for every asset as it would take way to long so instead I am only going to draw one model from the following categories; walls, roofs, and stairs.

Design/Drawing

Below I have completed some finalized drawings of stairs ,walls and roofs. These images will be used to aid me in the production phase where I will be modelling of these drawings.

Wall

This is a drawing that I have coloured on the computer.

This is a hand drawn image of the type of wall I

will create in Blender.

Stairs

This is the stair image painted on the computer.

Here is a hand drawn image of the stairs that I

hope to recreate in Blender.

Roof

This is a roof concept painted on the computer.

This is another hand drawn piece of art for a tiled

roof asset that I will be making in Blender.

This is a drawing of a Doric style pillar that I will be making. I have drawn this in the style of 3-point perspective and the centre composition. This is going to be the main pillar that ill be using so this drawing will help allot.

Banner Concepts

Below is a screenshot of some banner concepts I have made in a online software called Fire Alpaca, I have been using this because it is the only substitute I have for Photoshop. These banners are going to be modelled and made into an asset that I can decorate the acropolis with. I have shown 6 concepts for the banner below.

With these six concepts there is also a decision to be made as to which one is going to be modelled as I am only doing one of them. Before I make that decision I will talk about what I have achieved with these concepts. First of all I made some plane coloured banners which I then proceeded to add Greek symbols on to, each symbol carries its own meaning but the one I like the most is the Owl as it pairs with the Acropolis well. This is because the Acropolis of Athens is mainly focused on Athena so it would make sense to add a banner that displays Athena well. The owl represents Athena's wisdom and knowledge so this links perfectly. Once I had added the symbols I began making each banner concept unique by making them shaped differently as shown in the image above, this helped to show what the banners could look like in different ways and shapes.

The decision I now have to make is which one will I take forward and make into a model. I have made this decision based on the link between the Acropolis and what is being displayed on the banner, with this said I will be choosing the Blue banner with the Athena's owl. This is because the colour blue links well with the look and style of the Acropolis and the owl symbol links with Athena and her wisdom.

With the decision made I know took two types of this banner and made a final decision on which to pick as displayed below.

Now I have two slightly different variants of the same banner, the one on the left is the original banner that nicely displays the Icon on a nice blue background. The one on the right is the same but I have attempted a art style that makes the banner look more textured by making the banner look like it is creased and wavy in the material. Both work well and will do the job perfectly however I must make a decision as to which I prefer. The one that I will take forward is going to be the on on the left as it looks very clean and neat compered to the one on the right as although I attempted the art style it doesn't really work well as I didn't have any blending tools like I would have if I was in Photoshop.

In conclusion I will be taking this one into the modelling phase:

With the designs now complete I feel it is an appropriate time to end the research as I have covered everything that will aid me in my modelling, texturing and Unreal Engine work in the production phase of this assignment. With this research being complete I am ready to use it to model and create my assets that will make up the Acropolis.