Friday, September 28, 2012

DSDN 104: A Little Materials Study

So I got a little bit into materials the last time, but they didn't really end up working for me and just looked a little shit. Let's face it. They really did. I am of course talking about these two suckers here:

 Bad, by Sebastien Voerman

Worse, by Sebastien Voerman

The thing is, in reality they aren't bad images, and the colours and actual content are awesome. It's just that they don't really work on a model like this. So I decided it was high time to look at some actual materials that I really like, that are both interesting and beautiful standing on their own.


Glass is great. Seriously. This stuff is so cool. I love it, because it means when I render with it as a material, I get to do funky stuff with the lighting settings and whatnot. The material itself though is just fascinating on its own. It's transparent, can have a myriad of different colours, and does amazing things with the light.

As for when we actually 3-D print, I really have no idea what our models are going to look like. They may be semi-clear, they may be completely white. I've heard they're more likely to be a white colour. Another material that I could be looking at for more precedent materials is frosted glass.



Interestingly, this image is actually a render. I genuinely couldn't tell until I actually visited the source website. The frosted effect is really quite beautiful, and especially with colour it makes the whole model much more dynamic. This could definitely be something to explore. Not sure as of yet how to generate a frosted glass look, but I could figure it out/ find some tutorials.

Another material that I find really beautiful but is astoundingly common on rendered models is chrome. This striking metal has a beautiful effect, and often creates gorgeous reflections of itself and other models. Could be something to try out. 


It's just got that very desirable reflective quality to it. Something about metal just makes it seem precious. It's also got the weight element that makes it very special and often associated with jewellery as well as heavy construction. Now obviously I know it wouldn't be possible to make my 3-D model out of metal, but giving it a chrome finish with spray paint would be possible.

Either way, lots of cool materials and awesome inspirations!

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