Seeking approach for a 3d city

[Wingshaw]

My advice, speaking from what I have learned in working on Birdseye, is to mix up the numbers a bit. It is more historically realistic, and allows you to have stairways of different lengths, which in turn makes the architecture more varied (and thirdly, nobody is going to measure your stairs, so don't worry about it). I tended to do stairs in Birdseye between 8--10" and sometimes as much as 1'. Strictly speaking, they are too high, but that simply emphasises the verticality of the city.

One trick I use in SketchUp is to select a line, right click, and then go to Divide. SketchUp will allow you to divide the line into equal parts, which you can guesstimate as accurate.

As far as coming up with measurements for other things, like block sizes and street widths, you might be best not using them. Few cultures built cities according to regular principles except the Romans (only in a limited number of situations) and post-Industrial civilisation.

And now I am oing to partially contradict myself by saying that in Medieval Western Europe, houses were often approximately 30' wide or, if I remember correctly, two poles. The size of house plots was, in other words, based on something other than numbers (the approximate length of a measuring stick, which might just be a nearby branch, or the amount of land a person needs to grow enough food for a family etc.) My point is, if you are making a 3D model, you will Ned measurements. I suugest you either, don't give them too much thought, or you develop an in-world reason for them using those dimensions which makes sense to the culture.

Sorry if this post became a bit rambly.

THW.

[Wraith]

Thanks all for the great resources and replies. I haven't made any progress of note so far, but I will be sure to post once I have something to show.