Traditional Chinese Rooftop Generator
A Maya MEL Script
This is the second assignment of Prof. Deborah R. Fowler's VSFX 705 - Programming Concept class in Spring 2013. This rooftop building tool is still in development. The idea is to build a Traditional Chinese rooftop using Maya Embed Language (MEL).
In the end, it will be a procedural modeler tool, preferably with shader and texture control. (it also depends on my learning progress of MEL)
Click above to download the Script.
Use it at your own risk.
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The Rooftop Generator can create a traditional Chinese rooftop 3D polygon model procedurally.
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Demo video of the Rooftop Generator:
Inspiration
The Forbidden City, Beijing, 2007, by Ziye Liu
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The history of architecture is part of the history of its culture. Unlike royal palace and tourism spots, those less attractive ancient buildings that still exist in modern China are being threatened by modernization and urbanization.
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Photographs © Ziye Liu, All Rights Reserved
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About Traditional Chinese Architecture
This rooftop generate can be used to create 3D model suitable for the following types:
History
Hsuan-Shan (悬山) is a type of rooftop commonly used in traditional civil buildings in China. It's been developed since the Song Dynasty (about 10th Century A.D.), then spread to Korea (named as 맞배 지붕, or matbae jibung) and to Japan (named as 切妻造, きりづまづくり, or Kirizuma-Zukuri).
The design is widely used in southern China because it's rainproof.
Social Status
Hsuan-Shan-Ting (悬山顶) is in a lower rank than other types of rooftop such as Wu-Tien-Ting(庑殿顶, Wǔ Diàn Dǐng) for royal palace and temples, and Hsieh-Shan-Ting(歇山顶, Xiē Shān Dǐng) for imperial officials. It is designated to be used by civil architectures for residents and low-ranked officials, one level higher than the lowest Ying-Shan-Ting (硬山顶) .
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History
Ying-Shan (硬山) is the most common type of rooftop in traditional Chinese architecture. It it widely seen in civil buildings after the Ming Dynasty (about 14th Century A.D.).
It is mostly used in northern China because the rooftop's design is more reliable in preventing fire.
Social Status
Ying-Shan-Ting (硬山顶) is in the lowest rank of architecture rules, which could only be used by civil residents.
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(Fig. 1) Scanned from Page 9 of Chinese Ancient Architecture Decoration (Simplified Chinese) by Lou Qingxi, Published by Tsinghua University, 2011 (扫描自：第9页，《中国古代建筑装饰五书》，楼庆西 著，清华大学出版社，2011年）
Development History
Version 1.8Improvement
Bug Fixed
Demo 2. Rooftop curve manipulation.
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May 1st, 2013
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Version 1.7New Algorithm, Curve
Improvement
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April 28th, 2013
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Version 1.5Bug fixed
Working on
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April 24th, 2013
Scanned from Chinese Ancient Architecture Decoration (Simplified Chinese) by Lou Qingxi, Published by Tsinghua University, 2011 (扫描自：《中国古代建筑装饰五书》，楼庆西 著，清华大学出版社，2011年）
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Version 1.4Update
The New Algorithm
By changing the Slider Group's flag from -changeCommand(-cc) to -dragCommand(-dc), the slider will provide interactive feedback to the scene. But it does not speed up the manipulation process at all.
So, instead of using the algorithm of repeatedly deleting and creating every objects in each procedure, the algorithm is completely redesigned. The new solution is to create a "master" object then instant it several times in order to have the sufficient amount, then apply those "nondestructive" operations such as transformation, rotation and randomization in a separated procedure.
By doing so, the refreshing speed increased significantly, even when a large number of objects are involved.
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April 21st, 2013
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Version 1.3Update
More research considering the topic about traditional Chinese architecture.
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April 20st, 2013
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Version 1.1
Update
Next step...
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April 16th, 2013
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Version 1.0
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April 14th, 2013
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Resources and References
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MEL Programming References
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Others
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Reference Books
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