After creating the major building blocks of the clock tower courtyard, it was just a matter of carefully putting them all together. Here’s a first render with the modeling all finished:
This, of course, is the courtyard in relatively pristine condition, but it’s supposed to be rather run-down and overgrown. As with the fountain, I used Boolean modifiers to knock out chunks of the appropriate walls and arches. The great thing about this method of destruction is it’s…well, non-destructive. Everything is still there – it’s just hidden.
As I added some different ground textures, I also started layering in vegetation – a first for this project. Blender’s hair simulation allowed me to grow pretty satisfactory grass along the courtyard. I weight-painted the distribution so so it would clump around the fountain, walls, and columns. This clumping does vary between films and between sets/miniatures; I aimed to split the difference in a way that felt natural. (I haven’t worked much with particle systems…imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered that my render times barely took a hit!)
It’ll need more work, but it’s more grass than I had before!
Hogwarts 4D 
I just found this site while looking for reference for some part of Hogwarts. My, your work is amazing! I’m doing a 3D recreation of Hogwarts myself and I really admire your wonderful attention to detail! And you managed to accurately model some very problematic areas too! Great work 🙂 Can’t wait to see more.
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Thanks for dropping by, Aleksander! I appreciate the kind words. I hope this blog is a helpful resource!
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As I said, you are doing great work and it’s always good to see how others solved some problems 🙂 BTW, I saw your post about changes in Hogwarts and since you are doing the version of the castle from 3rd movie: do you know that image which shows the bell towers as somewhat mix between CoS version and final PoA version? I think it was promotional shot of the castle. I thought you might find it interesting 😉
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Hmm, I’m not sure which image you’re referring to in that post?
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This one 😀 https://i.imgur.com/qtwzEPJ.jpg
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Well timed, I am just working on this specific courtyard in my Minecraft Hogwarts build…..Now I know exactly which parts I missed/need to update.
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