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Lab Report: A Real-Time Reconstruction of Fort Duquesne

Gary Ritchie, September 22, 2025

A personal project decades in the making, this effort saw the digital reconstruction of a historic 18th-century fort for real-time 3D engines.

A collection of 3D model components for the Fort Duquesne kit, including a cannon, well, and French flag, arranged on a grid.
Figure 1. Yes, it really is like playing with lincoln logs or Lego. A model gallery, or zoo, is a great way to see all of the components of a model kit.

Project Genesis & Goals

A view of the Fort Duquesne courtyard from above inside the Blender application, showing the low-polygon wireframe of the buildings and well.
Figure 2. View of the parade with wire overlay. Very low poly. Should be great for WebXR or PSX production.

The inspiration for this project began in the mid-90s at Pittsburgh’s Point State Park. Standing within a stone outline of the original fort’s foundation, I was struck by its scale and felt a need to see it, explore it, and understand its history. This initial curiosity sparked a long-term passion.

A close-up of the 3D model of a stone well with a wooden bucket, showing the detailed texturing and underlying wireframe mesh in Blender.
Figure 3. Close-up of the well, well cover, and bucket props.

Fast forward to the early 2000s, this idea became my final project for a design class at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh – a 3D animation and a series of still renders providing an overview of the fort. While I had dabbled in real-time 3D by attempting to turn blueprints of the old Allegheny County Jail (by H.H. Richardson) into a Quake map, the technology and my skills at the time were better suited for pre-rendered animation. Later, my 3D reconstruction of Fort Necessity won a small award, validating both the concept and my growing skills as a 3D artist.

The 3D model of the cannon with vertex colors displayed as red and green gradients to control material properties.
Figure 4. Blender view of the cannon assembly revealing the vertex color channels. Each channel (RGB) is used to mix in a different aspect (color, texture) of the material. The astute observer will note the omission of the blue channel. Since it was not needed in this case it’s left "empty" (black, or value of 0).
A screenshot of the Unreal Engine interface showing the cannon model, its material properties, and the complex node graph for its shader.
Figure 5. Unreal Engine view of the cannon assembly along with the material shader network.

My primary goal for this modern iteration became realizing the original vision in a real-time 3D environment. To ensure this environment met "game-ready" standards, I set a clear target: successfully submit it to the Unreal Engine Marketplace (now Fab) for use by educators and hobbyists.

The Process & Challenges

Research

I based the reconstruction on key historical documents and texts, including:

  • "Plan du Fort Duquesne", the only known French-authored drawing of the fort
  • Outposts of the War for Empire by Charles M. Stotz
  • Guns at the Forks by Walter O’Meara

Technical Workflow

The production pipeline bridged old and new techniques. The original model from the 2000s, built in Cinema4D, served as a template for a light remodel in Blender. The Send2UE and Capsule add-ons for Blender helped streamline the export process into Unreal Engine. I created all the textures using the procedural material tool, Material Maker.

Hurdles & Solutions

The project presented a couple of distinct challenges:

  1. Modeling for Trimsheets: My initial model, being too low-poly, hindered the trimsheet texturing process. Thoughtfully placed edge loops, and minor mesh adjustments, improved – and even sped up – the texturing step.
  2. Marketplace Approval: The submission process for the Unreal Engine Marketplace also caused some speed bumps. The feedback with each rejection sometimes felt arbitrary and difficult to address systematically.

To overcome the unpredictable approval process, I leaned heavily on automation and version control. I developed a streamlined pipeline using Unreal’s Movie Render Queue and makefiles to rapidly produce renders of the scene and materials. This allowed me to quickly compare new versions against old ones to catch any regressions. Furthermore, using version control, I tagged each submission to maintain a clear, itemized log of changes, which was invaluable for tracking progress and addressing feedback.

The Outcome & Learning

The final result is an accurate, performant, and ready-to-use 3D environment of Fort Duquesne.

Final Product

"Fort Duquesne and modular cabin" is now available on Fab and includes:

  • An accurate, low-poly environment based on historic records
  • Unique, custom-made textures with a subtle ink-wash/watercolor aesthetic
  • A modular cabin kit for extending scenes
  • A simple, interactive door blueprint

Key Takeaways

The most important technical skill I solidified during this project is the convenience of baking attributes to vertex color and leveraging that data within the material pipeline. This technique has proven to be incredibly efficient and versatile allowing me to use fewer master materials in Unreal Engine.

This R&D project directly influences my professional work, as I continue to refine the vertex color workflow and improve tools that remove friction from the game art production process.

This project was a rewarding dive into historical reconstruction and texturing workflows. I’m always interested in discussing new techniques for creating efficient, beautiful real-time environments.

If you’d like to talk about this project, or have a similar challenge of your own, please feel free to get in touch.

Cheers,

Gary
gary@lyonritchie.com
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Last updated 2025-09-30 12:14:07 UTC