Holygon is a Swedish company that specializes in creating historically-accurate digital models for visual and 3D printing applications. At 3D Basecamp 2018, Holygon founders Anders Lyhagen and Felix Heuman presented on how to accurately model urban spaces for 3D printing. We asked them to share their top workflow tips with the whole SketchUp community.
Left to right: paper sketch to 3D render of an artichoke.
Whether we’re modeling a Greek temple or producing Sweden’s largest color, 3D-printed city model, we approach each project in the same way: we start with careful planning. This workflow has proven robust for modeling classical structures, but much of it applies to other projects, too.
1. Control the expression
Our initial drafts are hand drawn until we finalize a design. We follow traditional principles and use traditional elements: pedestals, columns, entablature… but the design is always our own. For full control of the expression, we build every part from scratch.
2. Use quality references
We spare no effort searching for the highest quality measured drawings of a certain order. Searching may take weeks. Our ionic order, for example, used high-resolution scans from the original editions of Stuart & Revett’s 1764-66 survey “Antiquities in Ionia” found in the
