Portfolio
Unit 6: An integrated approach to a 3D problem solving in art & design
Product visualisation is a universal industry and is used for producing or promoting, products are modelled beforehand in 3D before truly being made. This is beneficial because we can see what the product would look like beforehand virtually, and makes it more straightforward to create the merchandise physically as we can remark the dimensions, proportions etc. 3D printing has advanced to further 3D modelling as you can directly create systematic physical products from these designs.
This unit is based on modelling an object as realistically as possible. It needs to be based on a real household object however it should be manipulated similarly to James Bond gadgets, making them fictional or functional in some way. In order to do this efficiently I will have to try and use very high quality textures and challenge my modelling ability.
Product Research
Testing out some models
My ideas
I created 3 different models
My first Idea was the lamp
My second was the couch
and my third was the coke can
The pillows and blanket I made for the couch were easy once I got the hang of how to use those parts of the program. To create the blanket I used the ncloth tool and then I applied gravity. I enjoy using this as it's a mix of animation and modelling.
I believe they all came out well, my personal favourite being the coke can as I use photoshop to get the texture off of a real image of a can, I then created a texture myself to apply it to the can so that it could fit perfectly without any warps or distortions.
Texturing ideas and models
For the lamp I chose an opaque white metal for the bar and a shiny red for the stand and lampshade.
I decided to create my own texture for the coke can as applying ones i found on google always ended up at least slightly warped, Im glad I did this as I was happy with the end result.
Lastly for the couch, I used several fabric textures to give a realistic look. I made the foundation and the frame a slightly darker shade due to the fact that when I researched couches they had a similar design. The blanket was given the typical tartan look for a final touch.
make a rocking chair with arms
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This image on the left is of a render of my model, which was made by importing in an image into maya so that we could position the model (which has a plane underneath it to help with the positioning) in a certain way so that the model could look like it belongs in that place.
Ambient Occlusion
Similar to the image above, this is my gadget model of a machine gun couch positioned onto a picture of the banister outside my classroom.
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Ambient Occlusion is a method used when rendering which enables the program to generate soft shadows in between your models, which gives it a further sense of realism. Ambient occlusion works by projecting shade from each surface of a model, once it finds another surface around or parallel to it, it will cast an even darker shadow. However, if it finds no surfaces it will stay bright. The shadows aren't caused by actual lighting but rather are illusions developed from the surface of the objects themselves. It helps develop realism further as it doesn't use the same intensity of lighting all throughout the render, it has variations which gives the models more depth, specifically in areas we otherwise wouldn't notice where there aren't much differences within the levels of a surface. A light source is not particularly needed when using this as when using this method, a light source isn't needed to cast the shadows. Another useful thing about using this method is that it can help soften the render if the other existing lighting is too bright or intense causing harsh unrealistic shadows. To integrate ambient occlusion within your scene in Maya, you have to select the polygons you desire to apply it to. Right click them, then assign a new material. However instead of using the default Lambert surface material within maya, go to Arnold and choose aiAmbient Occlusion.
Evaluation
The theme of the project was the creation of a 3d model which will be turned into a James bond type gadget. The part of the project that I enjoyed the most was the creation of the model itself. The new techniques that I have experienced are the technique called composition which is used when putting a model into an image and this is the technique that I would like to develop further. The aspects of animation and games design that I researched while doing this project was examples of 3d product visualisation that have been modelled and this influenced my project by that it gave me examples of the type of products that I can model in Maya. The technique that I enjoyed that most in this project was the composition since it was the most creative part of this project since you would take a render of your model and put in an image and make it look like it belongs in that place. I believe that the most successful part of my project was the texturing of my model and I believe I shaped it to the model perfectly. The main problem was the rendering of my model since I had the reload Arnold render back onto Maya, I learned from this by that I should in the future check if I have everything that I need to complete the project. If I was able to do this project again I would change what product I decided to model and I would also change the gadgets or customisations that I had on my model.