Pretty much there..... :o)

Pretty much done now and I'm pretty chuffed with how the stamp images look :o)

I Photo-shopped the stamp formats from scratch and added the Queens head, class and Tiptree Heath text.

The poor fly sits at 3rd class (we don't even have a 3rd class :oD ) whilst the Blue Tit has the honour of being 1st class as he's at the top of this particular food chain :o)

Hope you like em ;o)

Ps, thanks for all the cakes to keep us going Anna-x-

Spider framing.

Today I've been mostly.......... setting up my spider shot :o) I've put 3 omni lights in right in line with the 'camera' to capture a realistic 'flash' effect.
The shot's a bit fussy for a stamp but I'll crop it later on in Photoshop.

Lights, Camera, blah blah blah ;o)

Today's mammoth 3DsMax session mostly centred around lighting the fly model and selecting an appropraite scene for the upcoming stamp design. I'll crop in quite tightly to focus on the fly model but leave some of the flower behind him to help with perspective.

Setting up the stamp 'shot'

I've dropped on a plane behind the blue tit model and added an image using the Material Editor. I quite like this angle looking up at the bird against the sky. It's a nice contrast.

Adding the materials...

I've just chucked on some material to the head, body and eyes and I'm chuffed with the results :o)
I used the original photo image to cature the materials in Photoshop and applied those save JPEGS to the Material Editor. Manipulation with the UVW Mapping allowed for tweaking of the images.

She's got legs........ :oD

Unfortunately had to take a week off ill but trying hard to get back on track.

Added some hair detail and legs to the fly model and it's starting to look a little more creepy. The hairs are Cylinders modified to be tapered and bent. The original was then multi-Cloned, Rotated and repositioned.


Underside..

The innocent victim...... The Fly.

For the fly model, I started by dropping an image from the internet onto a plane using Material.
I then built up the body, head and eyes from manipulated Spheres.


Next I experimented with different wing construction methods including photoshopping a wing onto a plane. In the end, I used a shaped Rectangle Standard Primitive and dropped the material image onto that. Once Scaled and Rotated using the UVW Mapping modifier it looked fairly convincing.

Colouring the blue tit.....

To get a half decent looking colour scheme, I created a PhotoShop image using a close up of the blue tit photo as a reference. I needed to create the scheme in 'bands' so it was easier to apply and manipulate. The colours were grabbed straight from the original image using the dropper tool.

Here's what the colour looks like on the body.... I'm pretty pleased with the effect especially after it took 7 different photoshop image attempts to get it looking right :o)

The wasp spiders new house.... :o)

The spiders last view.... ;o)

He's gonna get ya! ;o)

Blue tit part two....

Here you can see how I've tried to get the wings folded in a fairly realistic way. The tail has also been added by manipulating a Standard Primitive Box

The legs and claws went on next which were constructed from Standard Primitive Cylinders. Each toe had it's knuckles Scaled up to make knucles and the claw tip was Scaled right down to a point. Adding NURBS Subdivisions gave the shapes a smoother finish.

Tit action!

Sticking with the Tiptree Heath theme, I researched for common bird species on the Friends Of Tiptree Heath website and came up with the Blue Tit.
I started the model with a Standard Primitive Sphere with enough segments to allow me to add detail later on in the modelling process.

Moving up Loops of Edges created the rough head shape.


I wanted to capture the alert hunting expression of my source photo so here, I've recessed the eye sockets, bought out the eyebrows and extruded a beak to give a similar expression.


Small black Spheres are added for the eyes. Colour changed to something a little more realistic.


Throughout the process I wanted to refer to the source photo. This was made easier by creating a Plane and dropping on a Jpeg Image using the Material Editor.
In this render I've massaged the body into a more realistic shape and added a the wings from sculptured Spheres.


I'm pretty pleased with how the model's going, I'm loving his nasty expression, Grrrrr ;o)

Gorse bush modelling....

To create the spiky parts of the gorse, I used a series of Cylindrical Standard Primitives that were scaled at the tips to bring them to a point. These were then Copied and Scaled again to produce the other branches.

Here's a render of the flowers now added to the plant (File/Merge).

The copied flowers were scaled and rotated to appear different from their neighbours.

It's looking fairly cool now and nearly ready for the spider to spin it's web over :o)

SWOT analysis...

As a way of measuring how well the module is going, the lecturer has asked the students to carry out a SWOT analysis......

Strengths:
I am now becoming more proficient with the software so modelling speeds are increasing.
I've got a copy of 3DsMax at home now.

Weaknesses:
Still lots to learn and I'm now in week 7.
Software can sometimes be frustrating.

Opportunities:
I come in on my days off.
I have a 3DsMax for beginners book to act as a guide.
The tutor is around to help out during tutorial.

Threats:
Deadline is the 12th of December.
Still loads to learn.
There's a lot of colds and flu around.

Gorse!

One of the iconic heathland plants has to be the spiky gorse bush so this was a natural choice for the stamps background.
I started with a flat Box Primative and slowly manipulated the Polygons and Edges to form a petal shape.

The initial petal was then Cloned and Rotated to create the second. Adding squashed Spheres and manipulated Cylinders provided the other components.

A Day At The Museum.....

On the 16th October, AJ, Oz, Rich Daryl and myself jumped on the train and headed for the Nutural History Museum in London for some full on diversity research....

We were lucky enough to get to check out the new 'Cocoon' wing that houses the labs of the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity. The vast scale of the museums collection can be glimpsed in drawer after drawer of wee beasties ;o)

The achitectural gem that is the NHM, stunning!


The great man himself.... Charles Darwin, author of The Origin Of The Species.



Scary coconut cracking crab.



Armour plated beast.



Wooly Mammoth skull.



Armour plated little critter



For me, as well as the awesome collection, the building is also a major draw. It was built specifically for the purpose of housing the exhibits and has animals, birds and lizards sculptured into the very fabric of the building. Well worth a look if you're 'in town'

Spider customising ;o)

I've chucked on 'fur' Material now by grabbing Bitmaps of the original photo and applying to the shapes. I'm struggling to get the stripes on the legs right but I'm pretty chuffed with how it's going :o)

Modeling a Wasp Spider.....

I started the process with a Box Standard Primitive which was then converted to an Editable Poly. Legs were then added by Extruding Polygons. I tapered the ends of the legs by Scaling a Loop of Edges.

The legs and body were then Mirrored.

And the legs manipulated into different positions.

I then smoothed out the shape using NURMS Subdivision. For the body and thorax, I started with Spheres which I ten pulled into shape by manipulating the polygons. Finally the front feeding legs were added using cylinders.

Tiptree Heath Photos....

Wasp Spider similar to ones found at the heath.

Gorse

A hidden web in a hollow tree.

Research: Tiptree Heath Ramble.

I dragged lovely Anna out for a ramble at Tiptree Heath at the weekend (complete with flowery wellies;o) to take some photos of the insects and gorse.
Heathland is the countries most endangered habitat and we're lucky enough to have the largest heath in Essex on our doorstep.
To learn more about the Heath, and those that manage it, check the website..... www,tiptreeheath.co.uk

Lighting Tutorial

Pumpkin model created by tutor then lit in tutorial with various lightsources including an Omni inside.

Modelling Experiments......

Another Twisted Spiky Thing :oD

This one's had an Instance of itself Scaled from the original.

(See previous post for creation details)

Modelling experiments.....

Funky Spiky Thing :oD .....
The following are the rough steps used to create this funky image.....
Create a Torus Standard Primative.

Apply a Bevel

And a second which was then Smoothed and Subdivided with NURMS.

The spiky torus was then Twisted in all 3 Axis's.

(From a tutorial in 3D Modeling with 3DS MAX 7 by Steven Till and James O'Connell)

Milk Bottle created with Lofting techniques.



This model was created by adding Instances to a Path to drive the shapes from one form to another. Here, a series of squares are lofted into circles.