Do you need a Greek Ionic column for your project?
In this Blender tutorial I will show you how to model a Greek Ionic column and use procedural materials to bring it to life in Blender.
Fluted Column
I will show you how to quickly make a simplified ionic style Greek column for this tutorial
You can find a reference photo online for whatever type of column you wish to make and import it into Blender using an empty – this allows you to be in x-ray or wireframe mode and still see the reference image
After I’ve imported the reference image, I add a circle with 32 vertices and move it into position at the bottom of the fluted part of the column
I scale it to fit the reference image
In edit mode, I select every-other vertex and scale them in toward the center
I then use SHIFT + CTRL + B to add a small bevel to these vertices
Base
I select all of the vertices and extrude them up along the Z-Axis to the match the reference
In object mode, I select the column, right-click and choose ‘shade smooth’
Under the object data properties tab, under the normals panel, I activate ‘auto smooth’ to fix any shading issues
I add a second circle for the bottom of the column – scaling and extruding it in edit mode
On the top and bottom of the circle, I select opposite edges and fill in the faces –
In object mode, I select the column, right-click and choose ‘shade smooth’
I activate ‘auto smooth’ to fix any shading issues
I now add a cube for the very bottom of the column – scaling it to size in edit mode
I can then inset the top face for the middle section – extruding that inset face up along the Z-Axis
I repeat this step for the upper part of the base
Capital
I duplicate the circle from the base and place it on top of the fluted column – scaling it to the proper size
I then add a cube for the top of the column and use the same technique I used for the bottom to finish off the upper part of the column
I hide everything except the reference
You will need to have the ‘add curve – extra objects’ add-on activated to follow along with this part of the tutorial
For the capital on the top, I add an Archemedian spiral with 2 turns and a smaller radius and larger radius growth
I rotate it around the X-Axis by 90-degrees and place it on the capital spiral
I then extrude and move the vertices to follow the spiral of the reference – stopping when I reach the center of the column along the X-Axis
Under the object data properties tab, under the geometry panel, I add a bevel to the curve
I then add a mirror modifier along the X- and Y-Axis
I can use clipping to make sure the two sides meet in the middle of the X-Axis
In object mode, I right-click on the curve and convert it to a mesh – this will also apply the mirror modifier
In edit mode, I scale the curves along the Y-Axis and then move them into place
I select the inner face loops of the spirals, right-click, and choose ‘bridge faces’
I select the open edge loops in the center and merge the vertices in the center
To add more thickness, I use ALT + E to extrude the faces along their normals
I then add a subdivision surface modifier to smooth the edges
I select each part of the column and in edit mode, I add a small bevel
Materials
I select every object and use CTRL + J to join everything together
I then use CTRL + A to apply all of the transforms – this will help with the unwrapping and materials
I split the viewport and open the shader editor and the UV editor
In edit mode, I select the column and using the U-key to open the UV mapping options
I will use cube projection for this project
In the UV editor, I select all of the islands and under the UV menu, I average the island scales
I then use the pack islands option under the UV menu with a small amount of margin for a bleed area around the islands
I add a Voronoi texture and a color ramp – connecting the distance of the Voronoi texture to the color ramp and the color ramp to the base color of the principled shader
With the node wrangler add-on activated, I select the Voronoi texture and use CTRL + T to add mapping and texture coordinate nodes
I change the connection of the texture coordinate node from ‘generated’ to ‘object’
On the Voronoi texture, I change the distance to ‘distance to edge’
I also change the scale of the Voronoi texture
I also move the white color stop of the color ramp to the left
Between the texture coordinate and mapping node, I add a noise texture and a mix RGB node
I connect the texture coordinate node to the bottom input of the mix RGB node
I can now change the factor of the mix RGB node
I duplicate the Mix RGB and noise texture nodes
I place the second mix RGB node between the color ramp and the principled shader
I connect the mapping node to the second noise texture
I duplicate the color ramp and connect the second noise texture to it – adjusting the color stops
If I change the factor of the second mix RGB, I can change the darkness of the original material
To add some sheen to the marble, I duplicate the noise texture and color ramp
I connect the mapping node to the third noise texture
I connect the factor of the noise texture to the color ramp
I connect the color ramp to the roughness of the principled shader
Now, if I move the black color stop to the right, I can dampen the roughness and see some sheen on the material
I can also adjust the roughness on the noise texture
I also change the black color stop into a dark gray and the white color stop into a light gray
For the bumpiness of the material, I add a color ramp and a bump node
I connect the third noise texture to the fourth color ramp
I connect the color ramp to the height of the bump node and the bump node to the normal of the principled shader
I can now change the strength of the bump node
If you want to change the color of the marble, add a color ramp between the mix RGB and the principled shader
This will allow you to control the color of the material [#836D49 # A9976C]