DSDN 104: Early Model Fun!

So, I decided to work through one of my preliminary sketches, and it actually was relatively easy to create. I cried a little bit dealing with some elements of Solidworks, but on the whole it was very manageable. The sketch I turned into a 3-D model was the one I've nicknamed the Quadra-Knot. It's actually a rather cool shape, but one of the problems with it is that it's just not good enough to be even close to a final model yet. Oh well. I'll get there. I've got lots of ideas!

Forming the Quadra-Knot in Solidworks, I had some difficulty getting the Swept Boss function to work, but thanks to a little help form my tutor, I got what I wanted in the end. Once I had finished the model, I took it straight into 3dsMax to render some materials on it.

Image acquired from: http://hdw.eweb4.com/out/422971.html

After applying a UVW map onto my model, I applied one of the inspiration materials onto it. The material that I applied was the hexagonal one, and it turned out quite well!

The hexagons worked quite well in combination with the UVW map because I applied it spherically, since the other methods of applying it really didn't work too well.

Image acquired from: http://jesse-held.blogspot.co.nz/2010/09/things-i-cant-live-without.html

Then, coming back for seconds, I decided to try out a less uniform material on the model. I took the one of the desert sands and overlaid that on the model too. It turned out alright!

For the desert image, I had to apply the map in a planar direction, because it was coming through all spliced together all over the model. Weird. It's the same model...


And then, pretty much just because I could, I went and rendered the model in glass. Because I really like glass. As you can no doubt tell by my past two final renders for this course. It just renders so beautifully!