In this tutorial I will show you how to build a castle from scrap. This is part I will explain the basics to you and we will create the basic shape for our castle as well. In the following parts the castle will become a lot more detailed and we will add additional buildings and ornaments and so on.
But for now, let's get started!
First, we have to create the basic shape of our castle. Leave an area open in one wall for the gatehouse which we will add later.

 

Now, by using Extrude from the Polygonal Modeling Shelf we create a little platform (see picture).

Now we extrude the basis for the pinnacles.
And now we create them. Just create a box that has got roughly the size you want it to have and place it at one end of the wall (where we will have the gatehouse later).
Now we use something called Duplicate Special from the Edit - menu. Do not click Duplicate Special but the little box next to it in order to open up the options window.
You will get something like this:
Just play around with the numbers and hit Apply and look what happens. You will figure out the options window quite quickly, I am sure (to undo something that went wrong just hit [Strg] + [Z])
Remember the Translate - value (in this case it?s 0.6), for you will need it again later.
Now create pinnacles all around the castle (you will have to rotate your pinnacles in the corners!) until you have them on every wall.
If your pinnacles look something like this on the corners, don?t worry, You won?t be able to see the corners later, anyway.
Now, just group everything you have done so far, put the whole group in one layer and make this Layer invisible.

Now we are going to create a tower. By just looking at the pictures you should be able to do what I did (I used Extrude all the time).
We could stop here, but as I want the scene to be very detailed when we are going to be finished I am going to add a hole in the top of the castle for an access, which we are going to create later.
Now, we of course want pinnacles on our tower as well, so we select the faces on the very top.
Now go to (in the Polygons menu) Edit Mesh -> Add Divisions and open up the Options Window for this one as well, just as you did with Duplicate Special a few minutes ago.
You should play around with this window, too, to see what every option does. These values worked for me:
Now select the faces you want to turn into pinnacles and extrude them.
If you think your pinnacles are too thin, just select the outer faces and scale them out and then the inner faces and scale them in.
Now we are going to create the stairs. Just create a box and now move the pivot to one end of it by hitting [Insert] on your keyboard (the arrowheads should disappear), then moving it and then hitting [Insert] again (The arrowheads should reappear).
Now move it into place.
We are going to use Duplicate Special again, but this time we will not only translate the box in negative y-value (the ?0.14), but each duplicat will be rotated by -10 degrees (again, just fiddle with the values until you have got what you want!)
The result should look like this:
Make the basic structures visible again now. You will see, that your tower is not the right size, so just scale and position it until you like the result.
The next few steps are optional. I would like to create doors in the tower in order to make people able to access it. I use the two faces I would like to have doors in:
Now I add Divisions?
? and get something like this:
Move the central faces like I did.
And then extrude them inwards like this:
If we look closely at the entrances now (I deleted the two faces that were not permitting access) we can see, that the stairs we created earlier end somewhere in the air.
We simply do exactly what we did before (Duplicate Special) and now they end on the actual floor.
Now, group everything that belongs to the tower into one group if you haven?t done so yet, duplicate this group three times and move the new towers to the other corners of your castle (don?t forget to rotate them!)
Add everything to the layer you created earlier and make it invisible. Now we are going to create the gatehouse. First, create something like this:
Create another block now, a little longer than your gatehouse is wide.
Move one border a little (see picture)
Now move the block into the gatehouse and bring it?s pivot to the center of your scene.
Duplicate the block just as I did (the values might be slightly different)
And now duplicate your block like this (if you look at the result you will understand what I mean):
Your gatehouse should now look like this:
Select everything now and duplicate is. Now scale it (in my case in Z) by -1, and you should see this:
Move your newly duplicated half of the gatehouse closer to the original one and the result should be something like this:
Make everything visible again and scale your gatehouse (you should have created a group for the gatehouse!) until it fits into your scene.
Now add pinnacles to it just as you did before and the result should be something like this: