Building a model

In Church Builder, model building is a two stage activity: 

1. Build the core of nave, crossing tower and chancel
2. Add to the walls of these core elements

Additionally, you can add a precinct wall to surround the church.

Each component of a church has a number of associated parameters such as length, width, height whose values can be changed using slider bars and edit boxes in the component control panel.

Metres or feet?

Before you begin a model you need to decide whether to work in metres or feet. You cannot change your mind part way through. The default is metres. Use the Settings menu to change as shown below:

   Where to specify metres or feet

The core

The core of a traditional church consists of a nave plus optional chancel and crossing tower as shown below.

The nave is the main body of the church where the people sit, stand and kneel.

The chancel is where the altar is and where the priest or vicar gives the service.

The crossing tower usually has extensions called transepts. It is at the crossroads between the nave, chancel and transepts.

Many churches consist only of a nave with the altar at one end. Other churches have a nave and chancel but no crossing tower.

Many older churches have been partly demolished - especially those such as at Pershore,  Binham and Lanercost which were once monasteries before the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England in the 1530s under Henry VIII.

The nave at Pershore was demolished. It now consists of only crossing tower, transepts and chancel, Binham and Lanercost have nave only in use with the ruins of the other parts of the church attached.

The core church components are added using the  control panel under the 3D Edit view:

Core church component controls

Nave

Add a nave by clicking on the Add nave button.

  Add nave button under 3D Edit view

Crossing tower

Add a crossing tower by clicking on the Add crossing tower button. 

   Add crossing tower button under 3D Edit view

You can modify the tower like other towers except that the bottom tower section must be square or octagonal.

Chancel

Add a chancel by clicking on the Add chancel button.

   Add chancel button under 3D Edit view

Modifying the core components

When you add a core component it starts life already selected. To select an unselected core component, left click on its roof.  A selected nave, for example, looks like this with its controls showing in the component control panel on the left.

       Nave selected

Modifying a nave

The controls on the left enable us to modify the shape of the nave by adjusting its parameters:

        Nave parameter controls

You can modify a parameter value either by using the sliders or the edit boxes. Note that the parameter sliders are generally constrained according to the geometrical limitations of a component or, as in the case by the maximum values ever used in real life.

Here are the parameters for a nave.

This picture illustrates the parameters:

Modifying a crossing tower

Here are the parameters for a crossing tower.

Modifying a chancel

Here are the parameters for a chancel.

Two types of chancel are available: 

• square ended
• round ended

A chancel may have a round end. This is achieved by selecting round ended from the Chancel type drop down list.

Square ended chancel

Round ended chancel

Core component furniture

To give a feeling of what was contained in an English pre-reformation church we have arranged for some default "furniture" to appear. This consist of:

• Altar - where the Catholic Mass or Protestant service takes place.
• Rood screen - a screen that separates the people from the priest or vicar. It symbolises the separation of earth from heaven. The nave represents the people on earth while the chancel representes heaven. A Christian passes from from earth to heaven by way of Christ's crucifixion. This is symbolised by the opening through the rood screen under the cross placed on top. Another name for the cross is "rrod" - hence the name rood screen. All rood crosses in England were destroyed at the Reformation but some have been restored. The panels of the rood screen were often painted with angels and saints. Some of these paintings still survive.
• Pulpit - where the priest or vicar gives talks known as sermons.
• Font - a bowl containing water with which children and adults are baptised and thus become members of the church.

You can hide the furniture by unselecting them in the  Settings menu as shown below:

  The Settings menu showing where furniture can be removed or added

Click on a check box to hide/restore an item of furniture.