Do you plan out your buildings, or just jump right in?

So I bought a bunch of materials, and started making a test building. I was thinking that for the rest of the buildings, it would be much easier to cut out all the pieces I need in advance, in the correct size. That way, all I'll have to do is glue them together, and I think that would make things go by smoother. Judging from my test building, I think I know what kind of sizes would be ideal, to allow me great ease in making each building unique.

So far, with the materials I have, this is how my building is turning out. I'm using 3"x3" square rooms. Seems to be an ideal size for height to make sure Ogres and Trolls can fit inside. Then, I have a 1" long overhang for the upper floors. So far, that seems to work pretty well.

So how do you pros do it? Do you plan everything out in advance, down on paper perhaps? Or do you just jump in headfirst like I enjoy doing.

I find it easiest to make a floor plan and cut out all the pieces in advance. From experience I dislike running in headfirst but thats because if I do that I have a tendency to not finish the job as I've probably already started a new building.

I like to plan out all the details of my buildings before hand. I measure and cut as I go and try to stay as close to the design as possible. I've done buildings out of foamcore where I cut out all the basic walls ahead of time, then assemble and trim as I put it all together. My current buildings require a little more finess to fit together. Since I am using actual lumber with foam core walls and balsa floors. I find no matter how careful I am with the cuts, they are just a bit off here and there. So most cuts have to be measured to fit. That way it fits together nice and tightly.

I'm actually the opposite, i dive in head first and cut th efirst main wall, then the next and build form there to fit. For me it gives random buildings which have their own character instead of planned out to look a certain way.

I'm an improv modeller. I'll sketch up things to get a general idea of the "feel", but normally I'll make some feature like a twisted fireplace/chimney & build the rest of the structure around it. As long as standard measurements for floors, doors & windows are maintained, everything fits together nicely.
For Mordheim I go for a haunted/possessed style: twisted, asymetrical, lots of odd angles, ghostly faces in the walls/floors, that sort of stuff.

Duce wrote:

I'm actually the opposite, i dive in head first and cut th efirst main wall, then the next and build form there to fit. For me it gives random buildings which have their own character instead of planned out to look a certain way.

Same goes for me, even though I just got into the scenery making. I start out from some large pieces of polystyrene and just start building. As you are working, new ideas will come up that will make your build even cooler, so if I come up with something new, I'll just start measuring things and build that part. That way you can keep surprising yourself till the end!

I am TOTALLY hopeless I can't draw, I don't know how to, and if I try I can't put my thoughts down on paper. So I just start cutting, piece by piece!! I can start on one wall, then take another one and then I do something that is totally different. In the end it might not be 100% correct but I am satisfied most of the times And I have absolutely no plan for my buildings, I just do, and then in the end my vision doesn't look at all as it did from the beginning...

I'll always sketch before.

Makes it much easier and in the end the building looks best.

I'm a noob when it comes to terrain... so I plan ahead. Some day I plan to catch up and build something 100% from scratch. Once I get experience, I may try for the 'happy-go-lucky' building process.... but for now planning helps me prepare for eventualities.

DeafNala wrote:

I'm an improv modeller. I'll sketch up things to get a general idea of the "feel", but normally I'll make some feature like a twisted fireplace/chimney & build the rest of the structure around it. As long as standard measurements for floors, doors & windows are maintained, everything fits together nicely.

That's the way I do it too.

I work as a scene designer so I look on hobby stuff as play. I don't want to plan, I just want to do. So I do a sketch or grab a likely looking piece of packing foam and off it goes. It's a break for me and keeps the demands of work separate. (Although lately I've tried just making the concept model for a work project from not to scale sketches...)

I just jumped in on the last set of ruins I made, and looking back I wish I planned a little better. There are some things that can easily be added in the beginning stages than later. For instance, I think adding card tiles to the ground floor building footprint goes a long way, and I forgot to do that until after I flocked the piece with sand/gravel.

What I started to notice recently when making buildings is that I dont have a problem with the looks and feels of the external walls its the internal walls that are somewhat of a pain.
I typically do a quick sketch, nothing artsy just something to remind me what feature I wanted to try and model. Once I have the walls up, I then will sketch the details on the outside of the building (Timber, window, doors, etc) before I make any window cuts. This gives me a rough idea of where everything will be.

THEN I do the internal walls and I constantly find myself wishing I had planned out a little better. So to correct this I have started to draw the internal walls taking into account the thickness of the walls as they relate to the overall building and room size. This will then determine the external wall size.

I wouldn't recommend cutting out a bunch of pieces all at once unless you are 100% sure you like the way your first prototype building looks.

I normally have a few templates for windows, doors, walls etc that I use to mark in all the details