I have been collecting reproductions of portraits of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the rest of the Royal Family. A few do, but most of the pictures don't include the frame. So I have also been collecting images of Baroque and Rococo Gilded picture frames.
A few days ago, I started toying with the idea of building a 3D Virtual Gallery in After Effects, and using a roaming virtual camera to take the Public through the Gallery of Royal Portraits.
In order for the brightly colored portraits to stand out, and to keep a surrealistic fantasy look, I wanted the Gallery itself to look like it was made of paper, looking like old Architectural Engravings with black and white outlines and hatching for shading. I had a really hard time finding material, and ended up having to assemble my own by adding hatching to plain drawings out of an 18th Century "Model Book".
I also thought it would be nice to have a few pieces of furniture, mantels, clocks and other decorative accessories. I made a couple of mock ups to see how it would look:
I was pretty pleased, so I forged ahead and designed a very large hatched black and white tile floor comprising 5 rooms in a cross shape: a long gallery, a foyer, and 3 smaller squarish side rooms:
The rooms will have vaulted ceilings made of four flat hatched sections with drawn decorative moldings:
I then built the different sections of walls from my templates and fitted them exactly to the rooms. I also decided to give the walls a thickness of 50 pixels and moved the 5 sections of floor accordingly. The entire image is 16000 x 13000 pixels:
Now, I have to fill the rooms with paintings, clocks, furniture. It is going to take about forty paintings altogether to hang this show, and I need to stop and give some thought to what portraits to place in what room.
The largest space should have portraits of the kings of France, with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at the far end. The domed foyer needs something special, so I am thinking of hanging a swinging Foucault Pendulum from the apex, and hang eight portraits of famous scientists. Room #2 at the far end could be devoted to various portraits of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. It will have a French Door opening to a balcony overlooking the gardens.
Room #3 on the left side could be devoted to ten Portraits of the French Revolution leaders and locations(Bastille, Conciergerie, etc...). Finally, Room #4 would be devoted to Napoleon and the Restauration.
As far as camera movement through the Galleries, I cannot help but think of that movie that was shot a few years ago through the Hermitage in a single continuous steady-cam take:
"RUSSIAN ARCH"
I could use some of the numerous "paper dolls" I found to populate the gallery with guests and onlookers in 18th Century garb, and even get a glimpse of Marie Antoinette herself!
A few days ago, I started toying with the idea of building a 3D Virtual Gallery in After Effects, and using a roaming virtual camera to take the Public through the Gallery of Royal Portraits.
In order for the brightly colored portraits to stand out, and to keep a surrealistic fantasy look, I wanted the Gallery itself to look like it was made of paper, looking like old Architectural Engravings with black and white outlines and hatching for shading. I had a really hard time finding material, and ended up having to assemble my own by adding hatching to plain drawings out of an 18th Century "Model Book".
I also thought it would be nice to have a few pieces of furniture, mantels, clocks and other decorative accessories. I made a couple of mock ups to see how it would look:
I was pretty pleased, so I forged ahead and designed a very large hatched black and white tile floor comprising 5 rooms in a cross shape: a long gallery, a foyer, and 3 smaller squarish side rooms:
The rooms will have vaulted ceilings made of four flat hatched sections with drawn decorative moldings:
I then built the different sections of walls from my templates and fitted them exactly to the rooms. I also decided to give the walls a thickness of 50 pixels and moved the 5 sections of floor accordingly. The entire image is 16000 x 13000 pixels:
The largest space should have portraits of the kings of France, with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at the far end. The domed foyer needs something special, so I am thinking of hanging a swinging Foucault Pendulum from the apex, and hang eight portraits of famous scientists. Room #2 at the far end could be devoted to various portraits of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. It will have a French Door opening to a balcony overlooking the gardens.
Room #3 on the left side could be devoted to ten Portraits of the French Revolution leaders and locations(Bastille, Conciergerie, etc...). Finally, Room #4 would be devoted to Napoleon and the Restauration.
As far as camera movement through the Galleries, I cannot help but think of that movie that was shot a few years ago through the Hermitage in a single continuous steady-cam take:
"RUSSIAN ARCH"
I could use some of the numerous "paper dolls" I found to populate the gallery with guests and onlookers in 18th Century garb, and even get a glimpse of Marie Antoinette herself!
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