Tim Burton's : Sleepy Hollow

So some years back I began work on a rather haphazard endeavor in which I started piece milling together a collection of buildings from Tim Burton’s telling of Sleepy Hollow. I was running Max 6 or 7 at the time and had put a good amount of effort into the project when I lost everything on my HDD, models, materials, renders and no backup I could ever locate. A friend of mine, after much digging, was able to turn up three renders for me. One completed and two WiPs, here they are.






Well the other day while looking for some old files I came across my collection for screen shots and various other information I had put together for the project and the thought of revisiting the project has been nagging at me ever since. So I guess it is time to dust up on my arch vis skills and see where this goes.

Got the first building blocked in today and started on a bit of detail.
This is going to be a very loooooooong thread me thinks.


It looks like you had been making some very good progress on your initial work; I know it is very discouraging when equipment failures cause the loss of all your work. You have my condolences!

But I’m glad to see you are revisiting it, it looks like you’re off to a very good start! And I’m sure the project will be all the better thanks to the experience gained since the first attempt.

Looking forward to seeing how this develops!

Thanks James.

Nice work Anthony:P I really like the first render, it was from Max 6? I know you could easily recapture it in Blender:P

Happy Blending:P

Thanks for the vote of confidence Derek. I am fairly certain I was working in 6 for the originals. I was doing some modding for SW: Empire at War around that time and the export plug-in required 6.

Spent some time today playing with displacement maps and trying to figure out what I want to do with the steps and corner stones.


*reworked the UV’s on the left side wall this morning.


A bit more adjusting on the displacement for the walls as well as starting on the back half of the building.


Great film, great ambiance. Looking good so far. I’ll be watching this.

The stone adds alot. Looking forward to seeing your progess.

Wow! This looks really good! Great job! I have a couple of questions for you. :slight_smile: sorry if this is a stupid question but are you using the displacement modifier for the stone walls? And where are you getting your textures? Great job again! :slight_smile:

Questions are welcome TJ, tis how we learn.
Yes I am relying heavily on the displacement modifier.
The wall material I am using here came from Deviant Art, but most of my stuff comes from CG Textures.
I then run them through Crazy Bump to break them up for various uses.

One more for the night.

Warhammer 1799 :cool:


Pulled back a bit to expose the second chimney which is obviously now in.
Also lowered the smaller roof and with it the feed loft and window.

Ah. Thanks for the answers! This is looking really good and you’re doing a great job. I will definently be checking in on this! One of my favorite works on the forum! :slight_smile:

And with both the shingled and thatched roofs in I can spin it around and put the back together.


Few adjustments to the thatched roof and the back side blocked in and started.
Looks like I will have to rework the UVs on my walls, some of them got turn wrong way out at some point.




Reworked the UV’s so everything is now displacing in the proper direction.
Adjusted the material on the thatch a bit and put thatch on the rear storage roof.




The beginnings of the church. Terrain tile, fence, gate and sign.
I’ll start the building itself later after my wife turns in for the night.


Not a big change but enough for tonight.
Built up the foundation, displaced of course, and put in the steps/railings.
Also started playing with a material for the fence and railings.


Alright, I finally have some forward progress to show.
After totally blowing the scale of the terrain tile, and as a result the building itself, I have everything where I want it and can start on the cemetery side as well as the steeple.



Should I do an environment tile for the cemetery?

Windows, steeple, flag and steps. That about wraps up the creek side.



I need some help, at least I think I do. I could just be over thinking it.
Anyway, the building is supposed to be a dirty white and I just don’t know about what I have mixed for it.
If it is good let me know and I’ll quit obsessing about it, if it is not then any suggestions are welcome.
Here is the node set up I am using, the image texture is a grudge texture from CG Textures if that helps.