Constantinople in sight

[Okwa]

After I had a lot of fun creating a non-faithful version of Bodiam Castle, I decided to “rebuild” Constaninople this week. Ok, just the walls of Constantinople and a very rudimentary version of the Hagia Sophia, which you can't see very well from 2km away anyway. The concept is actually the question: “What must the walls of Constantinople, the mightiest of their time, have looked like to a visitor who traveled to Constantinople 1000 years ago?” I couldn't decide because of the position of the sun. That's why I'm posting all the variants. The position of the sun in the last two images corresponds to the correct position of the sun in the evening and in the morning in relation to one of the main gates of Constantinople, the “Golden Gate”, for today, April 4.
BTW, we are about 500 meters from the Golden Gate, about 2 km from Hagia Sophia.
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@Support @Alienizer @TaylorBaird @Mike @BKilburn

[Support]

wow, you almost fooled, I thought this was a picture of some place. I like the wall on the 1e but the shine makes it look metallic.

The layout is perfect, the trees, the structures, everything. Is this an actual reproduction of something that existed?

[TaylorBaird]

sticking at worse This is fabulous work right here. Well design, well lite, camera angle and all.

[Okwa]

@Support @TaylorBaird Many thanks. These are the Theodosian Walls, the fortifications of Constantinople/Istanbul.

The values for the textures are suggested by ChatGPT. I'm still trying out how good the values suggested by ChatGPT are. I have set the shine for the wall to the highest value suggested by ChatGPT, as all sources I know point out that when approaching the city “the wall shone bright white from horizon to horizon in the sunlight”. The outside is made of polished limestone, so I found that quite fitting.

What I no longer find fitting is the forest around the city walls. That shouldn't be there, if only for military reasons. I therefore replaced the forest with wheat fields and a few farmhouses. I also forgot to set the sand road leading to the city correctly. Above all, I had forgotten the normal map. Here are the new pictures. Again, I couldn't decide which position of the sun to use

[Support]

@Okwa

I live these much better Chris. But, I think you should still have a few big trees around, not many, so it doesn't look too deserted. What do you think?

[Okwa]

@Okwa

I live these much better Chris. But, I think you should still have a few big trees around, not many, so it doesn't look too deserted. What do you think?

Many thanks, Michael.
I've thought the same thing, but unfortunately I haven't got around to implementing it yet. I'm thinking of a row of trees as a border between the wheat fields, like you always see in reports from the Mediterranean region. It looks so wonderfully picturesque. Beautiful rows of pines or acacias. In our case, pine trees, of course. I hope to have this version created by Thursday.

[Okwa]

@Support
So, done. Version with trees. I opted for the maple assets because they look like fruit trees from a distance, which to my knowledge would be more historically correct.

I have also realized that I am a very stupid person. I spend all my time manually adjusting the position of the sun over the “Golden Gate” of Constantinople, which lies on the east-west axis, to the correct position.
Yet all I have to do is rotate the model in Sketchup by 90°, then it is correctly aligned and Raylectron automatically does its job correctly. God, sometimes I wonder about my thoughtlessness.

[Support]

@Okwa

oh nice but you didn't have to put that many, it's just to add this touch of completeness. But it's still nice, I like it

[Okwa]

@Okwa

oh nice but you didn't have to put that many, it's just to add this touch of completeness. But it's still nice, I like it

Since the city relied on orchards as a source of food, in addition to the wheat fields, I found the amount appropriate, “historically correct” so to speak .

[Support]

Since the city relied on orchards as a source of food, in addition to the wheat fields, I found the amount appropriate, “historically correct” so to speak .

ah, yes, that would make sense. My brain got lazy a bit