"North Wind" architectural decoration

thingiverse

This fellow appears prominently at the peak of the Sioux Falls Coliseum. As I first laid eyes on him, I immediately recognized him as a deity from mythology based on his regal crown and classically inspired features. Initially, I suspected he was Poseidon (or Neptune in Latin). However, research conducted at the local historical society revealed that he is actually Boreas, the North Wind, also known as Aquilon in Latin. It's somewhat peculiar since he faces eastward! You can spot him from N. Dakota Avenue in the 500 block just north of downtown Sioux Falls. How I Designed This I snapped 39 photographs with a basic point-and-shoot Canon camera as the sun set behind the Coliseum. Although this eliminated harsh shadows and blown highlights, the resulting images were not ideal for modeling purposes. Undeterred, I persevered and managed to create a somewhat rough 3D model. To achieve this, I ran the photos through Photoscan on medium settings at all times. The original model proved extremely noisy, so I had to work diligently to decimate and smooth out the worst of the grain and noise. My ultimate goal is to utilize new photographs taken with telephoto lenses to capture better images and create a more detailed 3D model of this intriguing architectural decoration.