Edward Hopper's The City in 3D

Introduction

With 3D modelling tools we are able to create virtual environments. In this project, I took inspiration from Edward Hopper’s The City and Early Sunday Morning to create a 3D virtual world. Edward Hopper is well-known for his paintings of New York City in the early 20th century such as Nighthawks. The challenge in this 3D modelling project is to invent a virtual environment from on a flat painting.

Narrative

The animation sequence begins with a person scurrying along a sidewalk in the morning. Passing by an ornate building, the person enters a three-storey yellow building. He exits the building soon after and enters the back of the ornate building. Time passes by. He comes out and scurries past some red-brick apartments.

Tools

The primary modelling and texturing application is Autodesk 3DS Max. The ornate building that is central to Hopper’s painting is modelled using Google SketchUp and textured in 3DS. Also, the three-storey yellow building is modelled in SketchUp. All texture maps are edited in GIMP, an open-source software editing package.

Video

References

The City

The City, 1927
Edward Hopper
Oil on canvas, 70 x 90.4 cm
Collection of the Arizona Museum of Art

Early Sunday Morning

Early Sunday Morning, 1930
Oil on canvas, 88.9 cm x 152.4 cm
Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art

Sound Clips

Peer Gynt. Morning. Bartok Consulting, BMI. Retrieved from http://www.sounddogs.com

Rob Wentz. A Step Ahead – Drama. Mojo Music Library, Prolific Two Publishing, BMI. Retrieved from http://www.sounddogs.com