Hobart Cenotaph

This was my first self-study project where I recreated a tourist attraction using reference images. 

I really enjoyed the early stages of this project, especially modelling the grooves in the base and creating the plaque. As someone new to Blender, this felt like a big achievement and it was during this process that I properly discovered and began using the Bevel tool.

I struggled most with modelling the tower, particularly the top section. I couldn’t figure out how to separate the roof without affecting the entire structure. At one point, I accidentally deleted a large number of faces, vertices, and edges, and I wasn’t able to undo all of it with Ctrl + Z. Instead of restarting, I adapted by creating the top section as a separate cube, positioning it into place, and joining it to the rest of the model.

I also attempted to indent the lettering into the monument, but after completing one word, I realised how time-consuming and technically challenging it would be, so I decided not to continue with that approach.

Unfortunately, I initially couldn’t apply textures to the Cenotaph and could only fill it with a single colour. With help from Ian and another student, I discovered that the issue was caused by the faces being flipped inside out. This became clear when I imported the model into Unity and noticed that some faces were missing entirely. Once I understood the problem, it made much more sense and was a valuable learning experience.  I was able to fix it with the guide of this YouTube video: (73) Flipping & Recalculating Normals In Blender! - YouTube

I plan to come back to this project because I would like to texture it properly and apply the text. 

Little bit of history

The Hobart Cenotaph was unveiled by Tasmanian Governor Sir James O'Grady on 13 December 1925 in front of the Premier, the Mayor of Hobart, representatives from other Tasmanian municipal councils, and approximately 9,000 citizens who gathered to commemorate the Great War, which was still fresh in public memory (Tasmanian Planning Commission, n.d.).

APA (7th ed.) reference:

Tasmanian Planning Commission. (n.d.). Hobart’s war memorials 1852–2002. https://www.planning.tas.gov.au/assets/pdf_file/