3D Model of Roma

History, archaeology, historiography, peoples, and personalities of ancient Rome and the Mediterranean.

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3D Model of Roma

Postby Surazeus on Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:47 am

I plan to create a 3D model of Roma using http://sketchup.google.com for viewing on http://earth.google.com

Does anyone know a good resource on the web for detailed maps and plans for the ancient buildings?

Or maybe someone has created designs of the buildings with AutoCAD which can easily be imported into SketchUp and exported for viewing on Google Earth?

I also plan to time stamp buildings so they will appear in the year they were built.

I also want to start from the beginning with Romulus and design Roma as it appeared in his time. Has anyone ever seen any maps or artistic imaginings of how Roma may have appeared during the many periods of its history?
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Postby Publius Nonius Severus on Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:24 am

Welcome to the Fora Surazeus!

This is the best I've ever found:

Digital Model of the Roman Forum - UCLA

I've seen some other skecthup models of the forum but wasn't too impressed! Good luck!

-Severus
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Roma Virtualis

Postby Surazeus on Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:03 am

I have indeed found that site to be a great resource. I started building some of the models based on information on that site, particularly the Capitolinus and Templum Jupiter.

However, it is difficult to design an accurate model based on drawings and angled views without accurate and highly detailed architectural information about the specific dimensions. I would like to find documents with details of dimensions and structure.

I am hoping to compile textual descriptions of the ancient city at all periods of its development to base imaginative recreations as accurately as possible, since how the city looked as far back as the days of Romulus is impossible to know for sure.
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Postby Publius Nonius Severus on Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:48 pm

You may also find useful Gary Brueggeman's Roman Map Website. Gary is famous for his CAD renderings of the Roman Army and he has an equally impressive map web site. Mind you, he doesn't make the .dwg files available, but the image renders are to scale and coordinated. Make sure you click on building plans for individual details. The above link is to a geocities mirror of the site which can be found here: Gary B's Main Page. This site does have lot's of pop-ads (and I do mean a lot) and is frequently down because of bandwith issues, but it is a great resource.

The other site that gives a ton of information is Bill Thayer's Lacus Curtius. Inside you can find

Il Foro Romano by Christian Hülsen. This text (with pictures) gives detailed drawings and some photos of the actual buildings and reconstructions.

And lastly, check out Le Forum Romain a site that is french, but with beautifully rendered images of the forum and individual buildings.

-Severus
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3D Rome Model (Book)

Postby Aldus Marius on Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:12 am

Salvete omnes...

Ancient Worlds began as a Roman virtual-reality roleplaying game based on the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries of Lindsey Davis. The game's still going; but the 3D Virtual Rome model has attracted scholarly and artistic attention in its own right. Could be worth a look...?

But my favorite Anything with a model of Roma in it is a book: Rome of the Caesars by Leonardo Dal Maso (or maybe Dalmaso), published by Bonechi Edizioni, Italy in 1974. The model there is an actual, physical "tabletop" one, achingly detailed, huge, which is on display in the Museo della Civilta Romana in Rome itself. The book gives overhead photos of the whole thing and its major sections, and then lots--and lots--of loving closeups of everything from bath-houses to tenement houses. It really helps for visualizing the topography of the City of the Seven Hills, something I just don't get from a flat map.

The time-frame on both of these projects is rather later than you were thinking; but they might provide something to start with, and give you other places to check.

Bonam Fortunam--and don't neglect to show us how you're coming along!
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Postby Publius Nonius Severus on Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:29 pm

I just found another site with a motherload of info:

Roman Forum.

It pretty much links to everything I have listed above and then some. Very comprehensive and broken down by building. It's definitely going into my bookmarks.

Just for kicks, I've been playing around a couple of the Brueggerman models and Sketchup with some decent results. Maybe this can partially help you with your architectual and dimenstional problems. This is what I suggest:

1) Use top down view.

2) Draw a line of 10m or 10 yds or whatever units you want to use (just stay consistent).

3) Import the image of the Temple of Saturn (or other simple rectangular building that has a scale legend) into Sketchup along the horizontal axis.

4) Adjust the size of the image using the scale and moves tools until 10 meters on the Brueggerman image is the same as the 10m line you drew.

4) Delete the 10m line

4) Draw a rectangle covering the entire external perimeter of the temple.

5. Delete the image of the temple

4) Import the image of Brueggerman's lower forum into Sketchup as a .jpg (flat along the horizontal axis).

5) Keep scaling and moving the lower forum image until the outline of the Temple of Saturn on the lower forum image matches the rectangle you drew representing the outline of the temple.

6) The lower forum image should now be fairly accurately to scale (without surveying it yourself) and you can construct the buildings on top of the outlines to keep them within the proper dimensions as well.

Even if you cannot find detailed facades with dimensions it should be much easier to reconstruct them with this overal outline scale in sync.

Good luck again!

-Severus
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Sacred Cave of Rome's Founders Discovered

Postby Surazeus on Sun Jan 28, 2007 5:16 am

Sacred Cave of Rome's Founders Discovered, Archaeologists Say

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... atine.html
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