Creating the Big Top - Part 1 - Base Sculpt

As I'm responsible for the tents in our level, I took a look at past and present circus tents to get an idea about their construction. This helps me place and simplify folds, seam lines and similar while I sculpt. We're opting for an oval tent and some smaller circular versions, as an image of Lord George Sanger's circus grounds (below) shows a big top of that shape.

I started in 3DSMax to create a base mesh, then took individual elements (mostly canvas and cloth parts) into Zbrush for detailing. Dummy ropes and stakes are helpful in determining the placement tension folds.

ZBrush Document

ZBrush Document2

ZBrush Document3

ZBrush Document1