Did this a month ago but then things got real busy in October.
So, with the shapes of the buildings complete, it was time to add features. Among the many reasons I want a 3d printer is that greeblies are difficult in foam. Not impossible, but not easy. I’ve now got loads of styrene that I could use, but building those takes forever. A building greeblie pack of fans and HVAC and mysterious dials and wall warts would have made this effort considerably easier. On the other hand, I got a lot of valuable practice with my hot wire making shapes and learning how to use it. Made some cones when I was aiming for cylinders, found the limits of using cardboard/thin chipboard forms, etc. Managed to get some shapes that, while not anywhere close to shiftinglands’ work, looks recognizable and okay from a tabletop distance. As this was a learning project, I’m totally happy with that.
Figuring out the door shapes was a mental effort that involved closing one eye and sticking my tongue out. I’m not sure how much of the imperfection was my designing abilities, how much was my form material (essentially cardstock), and how much was my tool skill, but I’m sure they all contributed. However, at the end of the day I had neat impractical and interestingly shaped doors that players will recognize.
Vents were less difficult to design but just as difficult to cut, because rigging a jig and spinning and not turning the wire from a straight line into a bow and causing shape weirdnesses is about as much effort as my doors’ “like a housekey” to- FUCK, I JUST REALIZED I COULD HAVE USED HOUSE KEYS AS A DOOR JIG. Anyway, different but equally challenging cutting process. Gluing together was maybe a little harder ’cause I needed to keep things parallel and spaced equally for an “industrial vent directing air downwards” look instead of a “flappy dryer vents” look which I got if they were too close.
End of the day I had “this is a capitalist light industrial area, watch for cars and muggings” vibe, which is all you can really ask for when you’re listening to the CP2077 OST on repeat.
