3D Modeling - Ziggurat (Or the invasion of the Boolean)

Well, I have been messing around with the 3D Modeling software a little bit every other day (as time allows) trying to learn new things. After completing a tutorial that taught me how to make various chess pieces I decided that I was good enough to try to venture out on my own, so to speak.

I came across a novel "Snow Crash" by Neil Stephenson recently which is all about Metaverses, hacking and Sumerian mythology (the usual cyberpunk sci-fi stuff I am interested in). Following that I did some basic (read Wikipedia) research online on the Sumerian architecture and discovered ziggurats. After looking up a few bits here and there, I decided that I would practice my new-found skills on building a model of the ziggurat. Little did I know the trouble I would get into.

For starters, I thought I would try to use extrusion method to recreate the structure and the curvature of the walls. It took me about three days (about half an hour a day) to realise that that was a dead end. Then I remembered Boolean operations method (basically extracting one object from another) and the model progressed really well. Downside is I could probably "Boolean" the Statute of Liberty from basic forms (box, sphere and cylinder) in my sleep now.

End result is presented here (together with some mediocre attempts at texturing). Not perfect, of course, but hey - I can do ziggurats :)