INDN 252: Icarus? Show Me Something Beautiful.

I have finished my digital model. It's been sent off to get properly printed with an Objet printer. I'm listening to the Sunshine soundtrack. And I just want the computer to show me how to create a beautiful image of my model.

I started out with a program I'm reasonably familiar with. 3dsMax is something I've used to create renders ever since I started using it in DSDN 104 last year. It's been a trusty friend, but I much admit I don't know it as well as I'd like to. I'm able to get something out of it at least, something that doesn't look like utter crud.

After trying out the previous render, I wanted to attempt something a bit different, so I did, I changed the location of lights, and also added a roof, so as to give the chrome something to reflect vertically.

Once I got to a certain point, I realised that 3dsMax wasn't giving me the results I wanted, as it's a very advanced program, with uses far beyond rendering. I decided to switch to a program that is exclusively for rendering, as this would give me a much more definite result that would look good and not take hours to set up. The above image is out of the new program and already looking significantly better.

Experimenting with different sets, I can get a host of different results, but most of them look great! It's really great what a switch in programs can allow you to do. This one used a soap bubble texture on the plane the model is hovering above. The colour distortions on the horizon at the back left really add to the scene.

One of the final renders I've done at this point, I decided to enhance the model somewhat by adding extra elements that change the way the model is seen. I switched the ground plane's material, and then changed the material on some parts of the model itself. The interior space in the centre I changed to black, and the little six sections on either side of the central orb I made into little lights, which can be seen most effectively in the reflection on the ground plane.

Gotta keep rendering!