Monday, 7 December 2009

Final Stamps

DNA Stamp Design












Mushroom Stamp Design
I am very pleased with the grass i have managed to create. I created 4 lines, created the materials for them and then duplicated them 1000's of times across a green ground area. Although i think the final render looks good i am still not 100% pleased with what i have created.



Parrot Stamp Design
I feel that this stamp design my poorest out of the 3. This is down to it being the most difficult to create. Again the materials used were very basic as i could not get the technique to use for the leaf tutorial on my pc at home. If i was able to do this, but replace the leaf with a feather, then i am confident that i would be able to create a much better material for the feathers and the parrots texture.

Friday, 4 December 2009

My Fungi Model

In order to create my models of Mushrooms, i decided to create a sphere, and then I tapered it to make it squeeze towards the centre around the bottom of the shape.

This second screenshot shows the soft selection tool being used to create the stem of the mushroom. I dragged the stem about until i was happy with the shape of it.

Once i was happy with the shape of the stem, i then used a second taper. This was used to thin the top of the stem to make it look even more life like. Once that was done i used the modifier TurboSmooth. This smoothened up all the edges and faces of the model by adding more polygons.

Now that the model itself is finished for the first mushroom i decided to create another one using the same techniques as before, but this time i would create it so that it is on a different size and scale to the previous. One technique i used different though was the taper tool on the stem. I used it on the bottom of the stem to make it look like it gets gradually thicker as it goes up (unlike the first mushroom, where the thickness happens all at once around 3/4 up the stem).

There are my finished models of fungi. All that needs to be done now is to get a material and texture them up.

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

The Deoxyribonucleic Acid Model (DNA) :)


When firstly creating this model of DNA i made it from a single plane. The image on the left shows the plane being modified into a lattice. This seperates all the segments of the plane up into tetra shapes. It also gives the user the option of choosing tetra, octa or icosa ends to the segments. These are the pyrmaid shape things on running down the edges of the model.

In order to make these more DNA like i chose tetra joints and put around 50 sides to make them spherical in shape, along with a radius of about 5.

When modifying the struts that run from edge to edge, i chose a large number of edges so that it make them cylindrical and more life like, with a small radius.

The next steps i took were to twist the model into a DNA-like structure. I did this by applying the twist modification. Once that was done i then moved the twist modifcation above the lattice in the modifying list. This twisted the actual lattice instead everything that the model consisted of.


The final part of the model was to create a material that mapped the effect of DNA. I did this by using a falloff in the "Diffuse colour" section, and then selecting various colours to make a kind of gooey DNA effect. To make it more realistic i used the bump map and selected "Mix". This allowed me to use 2 different effects together, such as noise and cellular.

Once these were mixed it was just a case of playing about to get the required texture on the model.

Last but not least i used a simple JPEG image as the background of the final rendered model. Then it was just a case of finding the appropriate angle and screenshot for which will be the final render the my DNA model :D


Monday, 16 November 2009

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis

Strengths
To look for tutorials online when learning new techniques. Making steady progress throughout the module considering i had no knowledge of this program before.

Weaknesses
Lack of self-motivation, i am also easily lead off course by others. I do not use this program enough to be comfortable with all the techniques that are necessary for my stamp designs.

Opportunities
As this is my first ever blog, i think its a very good way to present work. It will give great references for future jobs or other university courses. Also I will be able to see the progress i have made since the start of the module.

Threats

After the firsts week of this module i was stuck for thought for my ideas. I didnt want to choose things that were easy to create as i would have felt that i could have done better at the end of the semester. Deadline day is soon approaching so i really need to knuckle down and get on with completing my modules.

Over the next few weeks expect there to be development in its fullest form :)

Sunday, 25 October 2009


This is my final rendered see-saw this is fairly simple to create, it is just a case of creating the shapes and putting them together in the correct order

i have found a very useful website that has various tutorials for 3ds max:
http://www.good-tutorials.com/

Thursday, 22 October 2009


This mushroom i made using a few taper effects along with maps in the material editor. I created the material by using the noise feature and then copied it over to the bump section.

Thursday, 8 October 2009

Leaf Design 2nd attempt


This is my second attempt to make a 3d leaf, i feel that this one looks more realistic than my previous attempt. Using the same techniques as before but, taking a little more time.

My leaf was created using an image in photoshop and using the bump technique in 3ds. Other techniques also include using the soft selection tool in order to curve and make the leaf look realistic. The bump effect brings out the definition of the leaf, this is just one of many ways of bringing out realistic characteristics in 3Ds

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

This moodboard is of different types of Fungi. Fungi varies in colour, appearance, shape and size, poisonous and non-poisonous. I have decided to do my third stamp on fungi because they are all unique but still have the same characteristics (a bit like humans really). For example they are all different but you can tell it is a mushroom or fungi because of the way it looks!

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Parrot and DNA moodboard



This moodboard consists of images of parrots. I have decided to do a stamp on these because there is such a vast variety of colours involved with them!!



This is a moodboard of DNA and things that are related to it. I quite like the idea of having an adults hand with babies in it..this represents human life. Another idea i like is the sperm and the egg, but would it be appropriate for a stamp i ask??

Wednesday, 30 September 2009


I made the chess piece by using the lathe tool after creating a 2d image in illustrator and then importing it into Max.

I made the coil by using a helix and using the roofing tool in Max.

Une Banane


This is my second attempt to make a banana using 3D studio Max. My first wasnt worth an upload it was that bad/embarressing!

Thursday, 24 September 2009

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Reaction to assesment brief

From first looking at the brief I initially thought that using 3D Studio Max would be a good challenge to overcome as i have never used a 3D modelling program before.

As the final product must be a stamp, the detail must be very fine in order to bring out the importance and awareness around the design.

I am looking forward to adapting my initial ideas into their final form.