Colwood City Zoo
- Thread starter ralphthestick
- Start date
Thanks! If I'm remembering the order of events right, this was one of the first really big builds in the file. I was definitely impressed when I first saw it!
That would be amazing! Can't give you any promises on when it will be finished though... you'll still be making Planet Zoo videos in 2040, right?
I'll still be building Tekton in 2040 at this rate
Hopefully we have another lockdown and so I can build full time again..... gonna need it to get the tigers finished.
Wow, I love it! The zoo design, the amount of thought and detail and your amazing storytelling. Absolutely awesome! The vibes are on point. Most zoos I visited are in Germany, but this is the exact atmosphere I'm familiar with: A mixture of historical buildings, tons of concrete, old habitats repurposed due to progress in terms of animal welfare, and amazing new creations which are modern and naturalistic. I'm stunned and can't wait to explore more!
Thank you! I've not been to any zoos in Germany, unfortunately, but I know that Berlin Teirpark in particular had a great influence on London Zoo in the early 1900's, so I imagine I would feel at home there!
Thanks! We love our details, but our CPUs are less grateful for them...
Actually, there are a few bits inspired by German Zoos - the Lion Gates are based on the ones at Berlin Zoo (although, in a more British red-brick style), and Lemurland is based on the capuchin house (I think) at Bergzoo Halle. Err, I think that's it currently.....
Afternoon all, and happy new year from Colwood Zoo!
Let's continue our journey through the Eden Exhibit and enter Amazonia - a recreation of the tropical Rainforests of the Amazon Basin in South America.
As we enter, on the left is a themed area outlining one of the main threats to the Amazon - deforestation. Over 20,000 square miles of the Amazon are felled each year, and the Amazon could be lost entirely within 50 years if this continues. Environmental education is a key part of Colwood's work both in the UK and overseas.
On the right, there are displays of many tropical species - poison frogs, snakes and even a piranha tank. The main forest area is home to roaming capuchin monkeys as well - very popular with visitors.
There is also a replica encampment of an uncontacted tribe - there are at least 100 tribes living in complete isolation from the modern world within the Amazon, but their way of life is increasingly coming under threat from illegal logging.
The other half of the habitat houses the zoo's Dwarf Caiman. Their tank allows for a clear view both above and below the water line, and the two Caiman spend most of their time either floating or basking under their heat lamp. Keeping the Capuchins out of the Caiman enclosure has proven to be a challenge, but to date, there have been no unfortunate accidents thanks to netting and vigilant keepers...
Moving onwards, on the lower level is an exhibit of the Amazon's creepier (crawlier) inhabitants - spiders, cockroaches, millipedes. But let's go via the upper level, through a unique display of threatened species that call the worlds rainforests home, and into the next section of Eden - Africa.
Until next time!
Let's continue our journey through the Eden Exhibit and enter Amazonia - a recreation of the tropical Rainforests of the Amazon Basin in South America.
As we enter, on the left is a themed area outlining one of the main threats to the Amazon - deforestation. Over 20,000 square miles of the Amazon are felled each year, and the Amazon could be lost entirely within 50 years if this continues. Environmental education is a key part of Colwood's work both in the UK and overseas.
On the right, there are displays of many tropical species - poison frogs, snakes and even a piranha tank. The main forest area is home to roaming capuchin monkeys as well - very popular with visitors.
There is also a replica encampment of an uncontacted tribe - there are at least 100 tribes living in complete isolation from the modern world within the Amazon, but their way of life is increasingly coming under threat from illegal logging.
The other half of the habitat houses the zoo's Dwarf Caiman. Their tank allows for a clear view both above and below the water line, and the two Caiman spend most of their time either floating or basking under their heat lamp. Keeping the Capuchins out of the Caiman enclosure has proven to be a challenge, but to date, there have been no unfortunate accidents thanks to netting and vigilant keepers...
Moving onwards, on the lower level is an exhibit of the Amazon's creepier (crawlier) inhabitants - spiders, cockroaches, millipedes. But let's go via the upper level, through a unique display of threatened species that call the worlds rainforests home, and into the next section of Eden - Africa.
Until next time!
It looks nice, can't wait to see the sequel 
How did you build the roof structure of the domes?
I know they're made of arctic wood beams (as it's non-climbable), and glass panels. As for the actual method of construction, I'm not sure what wizardry was used (I assume some rotational symmetry was involved), but I do remember him getting quite frustrated with them and having to re-do them a couple of times...
Righto - Sorry I've been away working but here's a basic guide to how I did it.....just the basics - the details took a long time
So
take two 1m beams of your choice - I use 1m to make a large but smooth curve. for smaller radii you might want to use a 0.5m piece. You will see the movement arrows are at one end of the beam - you will need to rotate one 180 degrees and then line it up with the first one so they are parallel. Then spread them apart to form the diameter of your dome. For a sunken dome like these, you have to imagine the dome is just a slice off the very top of a ball - the diameter is the full width of that ball.
Join the two beams into a scenery group. Now, when you copy, you will see that the movement arrows are exactly on the centrepoint of your circle. Don't move them!, hit x and rotate. Use free rotate to line them up with the previous two. Keep doing this, make sure to copy the original group each time. once you have a few together, make group those up and then repeat the process until you have a huge circle. Make this circle a group.
Now, rotate that circle on end, an then copy, rotate and make a cross. Build a simple ruler out of wall pieces, and align it with the cross. Now, this is where the sneaky part is - this is not a true dome! on a true dome, the beams would all have decreasing radii... on this one, you just use the same circle over and over. It looks almost the same, but the footprint isn't a perfect circle. Copy the circle and move it each way to align with the ruler mark (in this case, 4m). drop each beam down until it hits the first to get this "ribcage" shape. You can use this technique to make other lofted roofs, not just domes.
Cont. Part 2
Part 2.
Now, build a second ruler - you can build on the same grid as the first. Do the same thing, copying and dropping the circles to hit the beam until you get something dome-shaped!
Delete all the nonsense under the floor - this will save you some frames!
make the whole dome an object, and you can copy it to make connecting domes. You can drop them into place - since all the beams are the same radius, they can line up easily. Just then edit each dome to remove the structure you don't need inside the volume.
Now, add the glass - and though you can sorta do this the same way as the arches, Once your domes get super complicated it can be easier just to put the glass panels in by hand and move/clip/etc the panes to fit the holes. This bit will drive you insane but no pain, no gain!
"Build a circle, then Build another circle, Then Build a freaking dome" - DD
Thank you so much....it looks a lot like a pain to build
, but the result looks amazing.This is next level. Love it!