Tricorn Black

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Concept

The house is inspired by traditional English Contemporary design juxtaposed in a tropical environment.

The goal was to utilize the high quality materials and fittings and introduce some modern elements such as the interior glass panels as well as bring in as much natural light as possible.

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Design

The high quality materials such as the floorboards, marble and gold fittings had to be balanced against the exterior elements. This created a simple color palette of Gold, Black and Green. The timber finish for the floor also brings in the natural elements from the exterior such as the timber awning and natural lush.

The purple and yellow hues from Katarina’s painting on the wall was a useful way to break up the two areas of the house and also an opportunity to use a nice colorful element such as the Zebra plant. The use of the gold fittings and ceiling elements highlights the tall 3 meter ceilings and spacious kitchen cabinets.

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Process

The interior design and paintings were provided by Katarina Kondelova, who I highly recommend for any 3D artists who need an extra eye on their projects.

I took a lot of inspiration from Kaylen Flugel Design and Mowery Marsh Architects as they had some similar color palette and design’s from their past projects which helped with some of the details of the image.

The background photography was sourced from Unsplash by the artists Cody Board and Ralph Kayden.

The Zebra plant textures were shot on my Canon 5D and color corrected using an x-rite Macbeth chart. These were put through the PBR process using Bitmap2PBR which takes only a few seconds to output all the necessary maps for 3D.

The statues and sea shell on the books were provided by Oliver Laric. These are Photogrammetry models, for those unfamiliar these are photos taken from many different angles which create a point cloud image which can be then turned into 3D geometry/mesh. These are also available to download from his website linked in the credits below.

All images are balanced using traditional composition methods such as Rule of Thirds, Phi Grids and the Golden Spiral. You can see my previous project which goes into more depth on this subject.

The scene is also available for download for 3dsmax/Corona here. It is completely royalty free, you can reuse parts of it or use it entirely for any purpose. You can learn from the scene; how the lights are set up, cameras, depth of field, lightmix, tonemapping, materials, textures and post production files all included.

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Credits

Bitmap2PBR:

Images to Physically Based Rendering Utility

Acrylic Artwork & Interior Design:

Katarina Kondelova

Textures:

Lennart Demes

Textures.com

3D Statue Geometry:

Oliver Laric

Background Photography:

Cody Board

Ralph Kayden

Design Inspiration:

Mowery Marsh Architects

Kaylen Flugel Design

Perchgrand Chandelier

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4 Composition Tips

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The Golden Ratio

The ratio of 1:1.618 is a quadratic solution. It has many names, some of which you will see in the following images such as the Fibonacci Ratio and the Golden Mean. As most artists know this design aesthetic is most commonly found in plants, planet orbits, bone structures and often used in Renaissance Art.

In this particular set I am using it to draw attention from the left side of the image to the bottom right taking the eye on a journey around the window. It can seem a bit daunting at first compared to using a typical rule-of-thirds grid but its always fun to experiment when the opportunity arises.

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The Golden Triangle

There is no hard and fast rule with this one other than understanding that the two points which are highlighted in the center are where the eyes go first. It can often be used for balancing outdoor elements such as bridges or mountains to create an interesting effect or draw your eye to a specific location first. In this case the edge of the tapware and edge of the basin and window.

It can also be incorporated with other compositional elements when given the chance such as the Phi Grid (more on this in the next post). You can see good use of this method in the works by Frans Snyders.

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The Phi Grid

Not to be confused with the rule-of-thirds, the two center lines are usually closer together representing the ratio of 1:1.618 when one of those lines are removed. You can see this more clearly in the image labelled Divine Ratio where the most important information is in the lower portion. Remember you can do this vertically as well, it’s a versatile tool. Davinci’s famous “The Last Supper” shows how this can be used effectively. He also influenced many great artists with his mathematical and artistic skills.

In the Phi (center) image I have used those centerlines to denote the feature element of the image in this case the tapware for the bathtub. Using the center is used in portrait photography.

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The Center Cross

The Center Cross can be powerful when used in architecture, especially when you have mirrored elements such as the towels, basins and mirrors in this case. This is prevalent in the Mirror Vertical image. In the Split Horizontal image, having the wall element separated in the center we can highlight the lower half of the image with more detail and keeping the top half simplified.

Garage Project Slovakia

Its about time I got my hands dirty 🙂 My girlfriend’s parents decided to renovate and build a new garage in front of their house which gave me a little opportunity to do some before and after render shots – as well as help out with a little of the carpentry.

This project wasn’t really about having a polished piece of finished artwork but about being apart of the design process – getting to work with the engineer on the plans, selecting materials, taking the before, during and after construction photos and even getting to work with my hands for a change.

Its rare that I get to see the end result of my projects in person but its was interesting to see the design changes that happen on the fly. The most noticeable one you can see here is the roof slope and the little window. The order is; before construction, the rendered image, after construction.

Just for fun I have included some of the construction photos of the little project which took just over a month to build. The fence at the front took much longer as each rock was placed by hand.

Vanlife – RV Conversion

The Back Story

Me and my partner Kate left Australia in 2017 and moved to Europe. Once we arrived we decided we wanted to explore as many countries as possible, as well as be able to work freelance on the go. So we decided the best way to do this was to buy a Recreational Vehicle. It came with all the necessities but it definitely needed a make over. Kate and I worked on a design and then we spent 4 months renovating it with her family who are skilled craftsmen and women.

The Original Van

The original van came equipped with 2x 60watt solar panels, 100AH battery, a 40L fresh water tank, a 120L grey water system, a non functional sink in the kitchen, fridge, bathroom with sink and chemical toilet (unused thankfully).

The Renders (Design Phase)

We decided we wanted a white/light blue color scheme which would allow us to accent using other bright or pastel colors. We also wanted to remove the base paint colors (like a hatched-grey material) and replace this with a clean white slightly reflective paint, which will also help pop the timber and steel features of the interior.

The Renovation

We sourced as many materials as possible to match the design – the only area which didn’t end up getting much attention was the bathroom as we decided we would not need the shower yet as we would be starting the trip in summer and we have an outdoor shower that we could use in the mean time.

We also upgraded the power for the van to 220AH gel batteries, a battery monitor, a built in generator that connects the alternator to the leisure batteries for cloudy days/weeks, and a 600watt AC Inverter for the electronics (no do not plug a microwave into this unit!).

We installed a table that can be converted to a bed, removed the walls and floors for insulation and a timber laminate floor, built new shelves for the kitchen/living area and repainted the entire interior. We also built a fold up table that can be used for dining, a work area for the laptop or a drying rack for the dishes – as its built on the kitchen wall and the passenger chair can rotate around to use it as well. Kate hand-crafted the fruit net, we cut a magnet strip for knives, a spice rack above the stove and she turned one of her paintings into a fold out table that can be used for coffee while lying in bed.

If you would like to see some of our adventures of our trip you can check it out on @boonie.vanlife on instagram.

The Process

Since there was quite a lot of work done I think it may be easier to show you a few videos than all the photos taken during the project. You can view these below.