A reference guide to structural geometry.

[nikosv]

In late 2009, I apprenticed under a carpenter for a few weeks to get an idea of the way houses are built. I ended up getting hired to do demolition instead of getting lessons, but it paid well, and while ripping walls and floors apart, and digging holes with machinery, I got a better idea of how the infrastructure of houses comes together. I now know a good bit about electricity, structural construction, plumbing, and ductwork. Useful stuff to know for building convincing looking industrial shit in Unrealed, but also useful for other themes, as you'll see.

I'm not writing this thread to preach, I just want some newer mappers to read it for reference. This thread will be updated periodically.

Walls

Walls are thick. Really thick. At least a foot thick, always. A lot of things have to fit inside of them. Structural beams, insulation of some sort (even a nali carpenter would lay thick masonry to insulate), and, in higher tech construction, electrical wiring, plumbing, or air ducts. I'm not saying all of this stuff should be hidden by the walls, by all means leave the electrical wiring, structural and/or other things visible (a lot of electrical wiring and structural shit is evident in Dig.unr and Dug.unr, and it looks great). The point is, walls hold everything that makes a construct work, and there are always structural beams involved. They have to hold the whole damn building up, for christ's sake.

Some real-life examples:

A cross section of a wall of a modern construct:


A stone wall:


The cross section of a modern foundation (I think):


I've built two nali-looking constructions. A lookout tower, and a land-réduit (remember them in Spire Valley and Neve's crossing?). I only built the structural stuff and the floors and walls (decorating them would come next, but they're structural examples, so I'm not going to do that). Look at the walls, and how they're constructed. Notice that they're quite thick, and that they're not just 8 unit cube derivatives.

Lookout tower:








Land-réduit.









The same structure without the top-level floor and the roof not yet installed. I also removed one of the beams that holds up the top-level floor, to show you how they fit together.






I will come back to this thread from time to time. This particular lesson was directed towards LegendSlayer222, and I probably won't write another one until I want to write a long response about mapping.

[Hellscrag]

Interesting - the "structural realism agenda"!

It's a computer game, and I think a degree of artistic license can be permitted. However, that's only within reason: sometimes you see buildings in custom maps with paper-thin walls, or huge, unsupported roof spaces, and it does look ridiculous.

[nikosv]

Exactly. Realism gets boring, but it's always good to keep tension and infrastructure in mind. It's more something to consider when you can't think of any ways to make your buildings more detailed.

[Shivaxi]

Never would of expected a post like this from you Peanuts I vaguely remember you talking about this earlier when I showed you the nali priest's secret room near the church and how I did the ceiling.

Looks pretty good, I really like the way you built those structures. This something I can use in WtfS2?

[ividyon]

You should consider incorporating incomplete, under-construction housing with bare mainframes like that into possible Nali town maps, because that stuff seriously looks good despite being just for reference.