Well, it only took a pandemic to get me back into this project! After the better part of a year working on other stuff, I’ve reopened my Hogwarts 3D model and begun adding onto it again. I still have some other big projects I’m working on, so I don’t know how much further I’ll get or at what speed, but it’s nice to at least have an update!
The first order of business was to finish up the main window of the Great Hall. The exterior version of it, that is – in interior scenes, the top of the window has a pointed arch shape, whereas the miniatures (and, for Deathly Hallows, computer models) used for exterior shots had a rectangular shape. Here’s a render of the end product, using a familiar camera angle from last year:
Felt good to have that finally finished! Next I began the central spire above the Great Hall, as well as the dormer windows along the roof. That spire is notable because of how steep it is. The castle originally had a lot of short spires, most of which became much steeper in POA, but this one was steep like this from the beginning:
Just like olden times, I got to wrestle with different references (film frames, production photos, photos of the model from the Warner Bros. exhibit, technical drawings, photogrammetry from the films, etc.) and try to reconcile them all into consistent dimensions. This can be surprisingly difficult at times, although it got easier when I remembered that the Great Hall got widened after POA – that explained some of the biggest discrepancies.
With the addition of more detail, the Great Hall itself is now finished, more or less:
I say “more or less” because the other side of the Great Hall is where it interfaces with the chamber of reception/entrance hall, depending on your preferred verbiage. That side is currently a featureless wall:
The next steps will be to start adding the entrance hall, which will cover most of that blank wall. Then we can add some of the terraces around these structures and the small building that connects the Great Hall to the marble staircase tower next to it. More to come, I hope!
On a more serious note, if you’re reading this during the COVID-19 pandemic, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well-isolated, as dictated by the severity of the situation in your area. These are crazy times and (he reminded himself) it is more important than ever to be forgiving and patient with each other – and ourselves. Sending lots of love!
Hogwarts 4D 
So this must be why you took a break from piano covers. I was surprised that I recognized you from your YouTube channel when I went through some of the comments here. Small world! Anyway, this looks fantastic.
Would you be interested in joining a Discord group of other people who are modeling Hogwarts? Our focus is doing it in Minecraft and we’re doing the same amount of attention to detail that you are putting into it. Even if you’re not making it that way, we would appreciate your expertise and resources if you joined. Here’s the invite link: https://discord.gg/UFhSDDp
The way we’re doing it has a lot of challenges because many of the interior film sets and video game areas don’t match up with the exterior model. The worst offender is that when they added the Viaduct Courtyard in Goblet of Fire, they forgot to add stairs that went from the ground level to where the Great Hall is supposed to be. The stairs used to be there with the old Chamber of Reception. Because of this, almost every Minecraft Great Hall looks wrong because the windows don’t match up. I’m doing a version that has both the Chamber of Reception and the Viaduct Courtyard.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Drew! Yeah, I tend to bounce around between different projects, some of which I post online.
Definitely an ambitious goal, modeling the interiors AND exteriors in a way that’s consistent! I haven’t ever really used Discord, but I just joined up and although our modeling goals are obviously different, it’s always nice to pool resources and bounce ideas off of each other!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Will you be making Hogwarts in its entirety, as seen in DH? Will they be separate models, because at the moment the Great Hall’s missing the tower added to the front, and the Chamber of Reception was replaced with the Entrance Courtyard in GoF.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Virtually all my work so far has been focused on the POA version, yeah, so no courtyard or tower in front, and the Great Hall is in its original higher position. The hope is to someday build all the versions of the castle in the same physical space; I’ll be able to switch between them while keeping the same camera angle, clearly showing all the changes as they occur. That’s my biggest focus with this project: the design changes that occurred in each film.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Great Hall was lowered to be on level with the Entrance Courtyard. You can see a single step in OotP, and a short flight in DH and CoG.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Great Hall was lowered to be on level with the Entrance Courtyard. You can see a single step in OotP, and a short flight in DH and CoG.
LikeLike
It’s great to see you back at it! I was playing with modelling Hogwarts myself and I rejoiced upon discovering your blog, only to be somewhat heartbroken to learn your interests are just as numerous and volatile as mine that you went on hiatus shortly before I found you lol. Your skills are beyond enviable, the attention to detail and the overall graphics have me drooling lol. I hope someday I can bring myself to learn blender to hopefully be able to build a model just as good as yours. So far I’m struggling with SketchUp and its grotesque optimization lol.
Best of luck to you, hope to see more of it going forward!
LikeLike
Hey! That is a really awesome Hogwarts, and really accurate, I love it! I’m doing one base on the 1st and 2nd films in Minecraft, I’d love if we could talk somewhere, maybe discord or wherever is good for you (ofc if you want). A friend talked about you and I was interested to meet another person who is doing one of the early Hogwarts designs ^^
LikeLike
Hey there! Thanks for your kind words. I’d be happy to chat, whether via Discord or email or whatever works best. Always fun to chat with a fellow Hogwarts recreator!
LikeLike
Cool! I guess Discord would be easier to use ^^. My discord id is: martigz#6612, and thanks for the reply!
LikeLike