Modular Medieval Village [Commercial]

acharyapolina

So Currently I am creating a Modular Medieval Village environment set. Here are 4 renders of what I have so far. 

It will come with 3 Fully furnished houses, a Windmill, a Lookout, four tree props, wooden barrels, a wood cart, wood pile, wood shed cover, two road props, three grass props, three fence props, a metal chest prop, wooden tables, a bed prop, cooking fire place, Dforce leather rug, and a hill prop.

All doors, windows and windmill, cart, are fully animatable.

The set also comes in the 4 seasons, you can have Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn seasons.

Critics or comments are most welcome. Thanks.

 

 

ShortlegDoggo

This is beautiful, well done!

acharyapolina

Thank you :)

Havos

Looking really good.

If I would make one suggestion is that you might need to weather the floor of the hut, as from the interior render it looks too perfect/shiny, and it is likely that real medieval interior floors looked a lot rougher, particularly after a few years of people trampling around inside them.

acharyapolina

Havos said:

Looking really good.

If I would make one suggestion is that you might need to weather the floor of the hut, as from the interior render it looks too perfect/shiny, and it is likely that real medieval interior floors looked a lot rougher, particularly after a few years of people trampling around inside them.

That is a good point, will look into that, thank you 

bytescapes

It looks amazing. Congratulation.

The one question I would have is about the texturing on the main part of the windmill. It makes it look as if the whole thing was carved from one extraordinarily large tree (complete with knot holes and grain). I would think that a medieval windmill would be more likely to be made from individual planks, or from masonry. Whatever was used might also be covered with plaster. (It should be very easy to convert your existing model to a more realistic plaster-covered surface, just by changing the material).

Wikipedia's entry on windmills is worth looking at. One thing I learned is that the blades of a windmill were typically covered with sailcloth (canvas). When we think of a windmill, we picture the kind of wooden lattice that you have on yours (although on real windmills the gaps in the lattice seem to be much larger and the struts much more slender). But that's not a working windmill; a mill that was in use would have canvas stretched over the lattice.

The earliest medieval windmills were apparently post mills. Later, people began to build tower mills, which were more expensive to build but more efficient. Yours are tower mills (and a village that could build two would probably be quite a wealthy village, and might actually have more milling capacity than it needed).

Uthgard

Yes and no. People devoted a lot of time and energy to keep things in tip-top condition. My grandmother's house had a clay floor for quite a few years, and she once described in loving detail the two kinds of clay she used to first polish the floor and then leave it in a usable condition. On her knees, daily, for the whole first floor. They wouldn't have a modern finish, but a deteriorated image would be far from the norm.

acharyapolina

bytescapes said:

It looks amazing. Congratulation.

The one question I would have is about the texturing on the main part of the windmill. It makes it look as if the whole thing was carved from one extraordinarily large tree (complete with knot holes and grain). I would think that a medieval windmill would be more likely to be made from individual planks, or from masonry. Whatever was used might also be covered with plaster. (It should be very easy to convert your existing model to a more realistic plaster-covered surface, just by changing the material).

Wikipedia's entry on windmills is worth looking at. One thing I learned is that the blades of a windmill were typically covered with sailcloth (canvas). When we think of a windmill, we picture the kind of wooden lattice that you have on yours (although on real windmills the gaps in the lattice seem to be much larger and the struts much more slender). But that's not a working windmill; a mill that was in use would have canvas stretched over the lattice.

The earliest medieval windmills were apparently post mills. Later, people began to build tower mills, which were more expensive to build but more efficient. Yours are tower mills (and a village that could build two would probably be quite a wealthy village, and might actually have more milling capacity than it needed).

Yea, I was thinking the same thing about the wood on my windmill, I'll do some testing and see if I can make it better. Thank you for your comment and insite, much appreciated. :) 

acharyapolina

Thank you all. :)

PerttiA

Uthgard said:

Yes and no. People devoted a lot of time and energy to keep things in tip-top condition. My grandmother's house had a clay floor for quite a few years, and she once described in loving detail the two kinds of clay she used to first polish the floor and then leave it in a usable condition. On her knees, daily, for the whole first floor. They wouldn't have a modern finish, but a deteriorated image would be far from the norm.

They say "You cannot polish manure", but I have seen it done... Back in the 80's my father was working in Africa and the floor in his house was made essentially out of cow produce, but you would never have guessed it, so clean and polished it looked after having been waxed.

Oso3D

Wattle and daub is a very useful building technique. And cow manure has a bunch of good qualities for daubing. Among other things, it often has a lot of straw in it.

 

bytescapes

Uthgard said:

Yes and no. People devoted a lot of time and energy to keep things in tip-top condition. My grandmother's house had a clay floor for quite a few years, and she once described in loving detail the two kinds of clay she used to first polish the floor and then leave it in a usable condition. On her knees, daily, for the whole first floor. They wouldn't have a modern finish, but a deteriorated image would be far from the norm.

I think that conditions in the actual Middle Ages might have been rather worse. William Manchester, in "A World Lit Only by Fire", gives this description of the home of "a prosperous peasant":

Lying at the end of a narrow, muddy lane, his rambling edifice of thatch, wattles, mud, and dirty brown wood was almost obscured by a towering dung heap in what, without it, would have been the front yard. The building was large, because it was more than a dwelling. Beneath its sagging roof were a pigpen, a henhouse, cattle sheds, corncribs, straw and hay, and, last and least, the family's apartment, actually a single room whose walls and timbers were coated with soot. According to Erasmus, who examined such huts, "almost all the floors are of clay and rushes from the marshes, so carelessly renewed that the foundation sometimes remains for twenty years, harboring, there below, spittle and vomit and wine of dogs and men, beer, remnants of fishes and other filth unnameable." [...]

The centerpiece of the room was a gigantic bedstead, piled high with straw pallets, all seething with vermin. Everyone slept there regardless of age or gender -- grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, and hens and pigs ...

If this familiar situation seems primitive, it should be borne in mind that these were prosperous peasants. Not all their neighbors were so lucky. Some lived in tiny cabins of crossed laths stuffed with grass or straw, inadequately shielded from rain, snow, and wind. They lacked even a chimney; smoke from the cabin's fire left through a small hole in the cabin's roof ... These homes were without glass windows or shutters; in a storm, or in frigid weather, openings in the walls could only be stuffed with straw, rags -- whatever was handy.

Manchester has been accused of exaggeration, although his quote from Erasmus is actual source material. Ian Mortimer in "The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England" has his own description of "the house of a moderately prosperous Midlands yeoman, with thirty acres to his name."

His house is likely to be a wooden structure of three bays (about forty-five feet by fifteen or so) built on a stone foundation plinth. The hall extends to two bays; the third bay at one end is a storeroom at ground-floor level, and the family bedchamber above, reached by a ladder. Normally the frame of the house is made up of two pairs of curved oak timbers (crucks), joined by a heavy ridge pole across the top of the house, with oak or elm purlins forming the frame of the walls. The whole structure has a slightly warped look since it is built with unseasoned timbers which twist into their own shape as they harden over the first few years. The walls themselves are made of ash struts encased in cob. The roof is framed with ash struts across oak beams and thatched with osiers, or rye or wheat straw. A few slates or tiles cover the parts likely to be affected by sparks from the fire. One problem with this organic design is that, while it holds heat well, it attracts vermin which burrow into the walls and roof of the house.

You enter by way of an oak door set on iron hinges. This fits into a frame which is strong enough to warrant the door having a lock. Immediately inside is the hall, which is quite dark, being lit only by a central fire and shuttered unglazed windows which are small enough to keep the heat in and the winter weather out. The furniture includes a chair, a pair of benches, several chests and little else. The walls are not painted but might be plastered. Looking up, you will see that the beams and upper parts of the room are blackened with smoke. Some of the householder’s possessions are hung on the walls or suspended from the beams: some tools, joints of salted meat kept over the winter, tubs, tripods, hoops and buckets. The floor is strewn with rushes and herbs. Beneath the rushes is bare earth which is swept with a broom of clustered twigs when the rushes are replaced.

... The poorest villeins live in cottages which are little more than hovels. They consist of a single room of one bay only, perhaps just thirteen feet square. The roof is of thatch or turf, which leaks after a few years if not repaired. In winter it is quite likely that you will have to step over a puddle of water which has collected in the rut worn in the doorway. The door itself swivels on a stone at its base and is tied to the frame of the house at the top; therefore it does not swing easily. There is no lock, only a latch. The shutters are hinged with pieces of hide on their upper edge and propped open at the bottom with a stick. The floor is bare earth, covered with straw. The whole house is damp. It is smoky: ‘full sooty was her bower,’ as Chaucer would say. The arrangement of the shutters means that the house is often dark, even in the daytime. Eating facilities might include a trestle table, an earthenware jug, wooden bowls, a bench and a stool. The sleeping area is tucked behind a wattle screen along one side of the room: a bed made of three planks, a mattress of dried heather or fern, a single sheet and an old blanket on top. Other possessions might include a brass cooking pot, an old cauldron, a basket, and a tub outside for storing water brought back from the well.

I've been in earth-floored houses in the developing world, and while they aren't as squalid as described in Manchester's book, they aren't as pristine as some people have described here. In dry climates, they're often dusty; in wet weather, even hard-beaten earth can turn to mud. An earth or clay floor is easier to maintain if you have solid stone walls and a good roof; if your roof leaks, it's a different matter. And keeping it clean, as @Uthgard observed, requires constant work. Peasants who were also laboring in the fields to get enough to eat wouldn't have had the time or the energy -- hence the use of rushes to protect the floor.

In the pieces I've quoted above, there are two interesting observations. Manchester talks about a "sagging roof"; Mortimer says "The whole structure has a slightly warped look since it is built with unseasoned timbers which twist into their own shape as they harden ...". Medieval houses wouldn't have had neat, regular lines, and each one would have been different, depending on the materials available, the skill of the builders, the exact location and so on. Dante78 at Renderosity does a nice job conveying this kind of chaotic, haphazard look.

acharyapolina

It is all great information, however, my floors are made from wood, so there is a difference. :D

acharyapolina

So here are two updated renders. The first one is of the New Windmill. I changed the outside to be Brick, and also added some cloth to the blades.

The second render is the more ruffed up floor inside the house.

 

acharyapolina

Also the back of the house has some light coming through the wall and so that will be fixed as well

 

acharyapolina

So I decided to have 2 texture options for the floor, one with wood planks the other a dirt floor, so whatever you want you can have. :)

[email protected]

Really like the stone windmill!

acharyapolina

Thanks, I think it looks much better as well

bytescapes

acharyapolina said:

So here are two updated renders. The first one is of the New Windmill. I changed the outside to be Brick, and also added some cloth to the blades.

The second render is the more ruffed up floor inside the house.

 Nice!

Richard Haseltine

https://www.wealddown.co.uk/discover/buildings/houses/ might be of interest, though I realise it's a bit late to take account of any of it if you hadn't already seen it. There is a similar museum in Wales, and I think other European coutries too.

Havos

Both the new floors look a lot better than the initial one in my opinion, well done.

acharyapolina

Richard Haseltine said:

https://www.wealddown.co.uk/discover/buildings/houses/ might be of interest, though I realise it's a bit late to take account of any of it if you hadn't already seen it. There is a similar museum in Wales, and I think other European coutries too.

Thanks Richard, much appreciated. :) 

Worlds_Edge

I like the new textures, definite buy.  Some dirty, muddy or puddly narrow streets would be great if there is an expansion planned.

richardandtracy

I followed Richard's link. One of the houses, externally, is identical to a Wealden Hall house just down the road from us. Fascinating to see how it would have looked in the 12th century (the owner has had timbers dated, and they were growing in 1150AD, but can't get a felling date because of the shaping). One possible alternative is that many medieval houses used to have rushes or hay on the floor. This acted as an insect home, so it was easy to get rid of them all in one hit when the flooring was swept out. In my parents house dating to 1590/1600 the original floor was round river cobbles hammered into the mud floor on edge, and elsewhere there is evidence of this flooring being used long before that date. This floor in their house was still visible in the under stairs cupboard. The mud floor was often mixed with (Ox) blood when laid to act as a binder.