Behind
the concept.

AUREL RETREAT is a fictional boutique hotel, created as a hospitality website demonstration. It has no location, operating business, real rooms, rates, or availability. The stay preview does not transmit or store information.

The cinematic chapters

The current cinematic page reuses the four original AI architectural concepts described below, with the exterior used for both the coast and arrival chapters. Responsive WebP files preserve the native image resolution. These are an artistic storyboard. The architecture and rooms are not verified to connect. The scroll animation is a blend and pan across still images, not a filmed walkthrough, a measured 3D model, or a real view of a property.

Previous stock-image edition

These source files are retained in the local authoring archive. The current runtime upload package excludes them, including the static fallback.

• The coast — Coastal Luxury Estate / StockCake
• The arrival — Elegant Hotel Entrance / StockCake
• The lounge — Elegant Hotel Lobby / StockCake
• The suite — Luxury Coastal Escape / StockCake
• The terrace — Sunset Coastal Terrace / StockCake

StockCake lists its AI-generated image library as free for commercial use under CC0 / its image license. The source pages and license were checked on 11 October 2026. Free preview-resolution files were downloaded and converted to WebP. No paid image editor, generation, or upscale was used.

Four photographic views

The visual journey uses four original AI-generated architectural concepts: Exterior, Lounge, Bedroom and Terrace. They depict an imagined AUREL, not a real property. Stone, oak, bronze glazing, olive planting and the coastal setting were carried through the reference images; the views are not a surveyed building or a verified continuous space.

These are ordinary perspective images displayed on a flat plane. Drag or swipe to pan within each photograph, zoom, and use arrows or Map to move between views. They are not 360° captures or free movement inside a 3D model. An experimental spherical image failed our seam and floor checks and was not adopted. The earlier simplified CG panoramas are retired from the displayed tour.

All four accepted images were generated with Codex's built-in image tool at native 1672 × 941, then converted to WebP. Original PNGs and generation prompts are supplied in the source bundle. Output use is subject to OpenAI's terms and its output-use explanation; these images are not labelled CC0. No real hotel photography was used for the new tour.

No paid external API, Higgsfield generation, subscription upgrade or public deployment was used. Generation ran within the existing Codex account capability. A future approved spherical panorama may use the locally bundled Pannellum viewer under its MIT license; it is not loaded for the photographic tour.

Real-time 3D architectural prototype

“Enter the 3D Experience” opens an actual connected mesh-based model. You can walk from the arrival court into the lounge, corridor, suite, bathroom and terrace. The architecture is original programmatic geometry, inspired by the material palette of the concept imagery; it is not a reconstruction of a real hotel or an exact reconstruction of the four photographs. No room photograph or 360° panorama is used to simulate the 3D world.

The current model is a functional architectural prototype. It has PBR surface maps, detailed glTF furniture and planting, transparent glazing and real-time shadows. It has not reached photorealistic architectural visualisation quality. The lobby now combines a Blender Cycles baked diffuse lightmap with real-time PBR furniture and specular lighting. The bake includes direct and indirect light; it is not runtime ray tracing. The coastal garden uses detailed tree, grass and scanned shoreline meshes. Terrain, water, sky and the bed remain simplified; the demo is not a finished photoreal architectural render.

Powered by Poly Haven. The following downloaded assets are CC0, including commercial use and redistribution:

• Island tree 02, Grass medium 01, Coast rocks 02, Gravel floor 02
• Sofa 02
• Modern coffee table 01
• Modern ceiling lamp 01
• Modern arm chair 01
• Sofa 03
• Potted plant 02
• Smooth concrete floor, White sandstone blocks 02, Oak wood planks, Rough linen

The original prototype used 1K surface maps. Later lobby and furniture assets retain higher-resolution maps and lighting bakes; selected mobile PBR maps are reduced to 1K. Floor and linen colour maps were graded to warm neutral tones; chair cushion and sofa materials were adapted. The original maps and download records are included in the source bundle. Models and textures are served locally; there is no live connection to Poly Haven's API. The viewer uses locally bundled Three.js r186 (0.186.1) and matching addons under their MIT license.

Walking uses a ground-constrained collision footprint at a fixed eye height. It is not a full rigid-body simulation: there are no stairs, jumping, falling, movable furniture or opening doors. Mouse lock depends on browser support; drag-to-look remains available. Mobile controls use separate movement and look pointers. No gyro or automatic camera movement is enabled. No additional paid service or public deployment was used.

A separate 2048px contact-occlusion map was baked from the existing lobby geometry in Blender, with the geometry-based bake settings recorded in the authoring archive. Plant cutout masks are supplied with the original CC0 assets. The lobby GLB uses Meshopt compression and WebP textures. Meshoptimizer is distributed under its MIT license. Original architectural geometry and offline lightmap work were created for this demo; downloaded Poly Haven models and surface maps retain CC0.

Type & implementation

Cormorant Garamond by Christian Thalmann is self-hosted under the SIL Open Font License. Other type uses system fonts. The demo uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript; all runtime assets are local. There are no analytics, booking APIs, payment services, or external font requests.

A comfortable pace

Native page scrolling works with mouse, keyboard, and touch. Use “Motion off” for static scenes. If your device requests reduced motion, static mode is selected automatically. A static reading view is also provided without JavaScript.

The reconstructed fictional lobby uses original architectural geometry: stone slab joints, manufactured glazing profiles, an oak and plaster ceiling, and reception joinery. Existing licensed furniture is retained. Blender Cycles lighting is adapted to real-time WebGL; this is an independent architectural concept, with cloth and landscape detail still being refined.