There is a problem with Laie Temple. Around the top of the Laie temple are 4 wonderful carved friezes, done by Avard Fairbanks. They are fairly deep and heavily detailed. So the struggle is how to portray them. A plane flat surface with a photo will do, but only if I render from the same angle. My video will go past them, from at or above the same level. The photo will “clash” in a way, as the mind will pick up that the photo was taken from a different angle.

The Friezes are to detailed to model flat out. I am not good enough to get every detail on what you would call an “organic shape” just right. Organic shapes, ones that literally represent something living, give me grief. They are just not something I have figured out just yet. In the end, I came up with a hybrid. Something along the lines of a popup book meets 3D model. I am making the outlines of each individual carving, giving them depth and rounded corners, then overlaying a very faint image of the photo to add some detail and artificial details.

Here is the plain shape (Just the center segment so far):

And here is the shape with photos:

The rest of the model has no new details yet. The friezes will take me several visits to finish and get just right.