Maya - Street Lamp

A somewhat rushed job, I fortunately came across the videos on the morning of hand in day and managed to redo my street lamp, I have tried to document the process here.

Added image plane to one view port

Turning on undo and enable Infinite

Incremental Saves

Disable Interactive Creation

Added cube 1x1x1

Face extrusion

By 2

Scaling it to fix image plane

Moving down extrusions

Adding CV curve for body and resolving around Y axis

Added cube, scaled to image-plane and added scaled sphere

Before Revolving

After Revoling

Revolved

Duplicated arms and added new cube

After face extrusion, scaled and moved to fit image plane

Repeated last act for top

CV Curve tool used, revolved on Y axis

Added window borders

Added glass plane

Added light bulb and holder

Light bulb and holder

Hypershading for Glass

Hypershading for light bulb

Hypershading for street lamp

Final peace

Playing with light bulb power

Altering for realism

Render settings

Final piece

Maya

Having lost all the videos for the old streetlamp and my files all somehow no longer able to load I started something from scratch hoping that I could get by on things I remembered from ages ago.

I began by creating a few models for a scene involving a table with a table lamp on it. I figured that this way I would be able to cover at least a few of the areas that are supposed to be covered within the brief. I made a table using basic poly tools, in fact, I think that I used cube each and every time. I then made a lamp out of 2 cubes which were modified into the lamp shaft and base, and a cylinder that was modified to become the lampshade. I then selected some textures from the internet in order to apply them to the models later. I found some suitable textures and then using MSpaint i made sure that each of them was a perfect square as this would have better results for me later on. I then began to separate each part of the model in the UV editor and began to stitch each piece together, after doing this, I ran into a bit of trouble as I was just unable to get the scale or move tools to appear thus making it nigh impossible for me to line up each UV for accurate texturing, with time quickly running out, I skipped this step and now the textures on certain parts look either stretched or wonky.

With the textures done I began to go about lighting the scene by placing a pointlight in the area where it should be with regards to a lamp. Not remembering exactly what to do here I just played around with it's settings until it looked passable. The final result is not fantastic, but as someone who is terrified at the merest mention of "Maya" or "Zbrush" i think I can take something from the experience, I didn't give up out of sheer rage-stress this time at least!

Final scene

Close up from above

From a distance

From a slightly lower angle

Final thoughts on Zbrush

This year at college I have realised that although I may have an interest in 3d modelling, my brain can not actually handle the task of using the programs adequately enough, I havent just had trouble with ZBrush but also Maya also. I guess I'm just not supposed to be a 3d modeler. It is good though, that I have learned some things about the programs, this will help, if i ever get a job elsewhere in the industry when talking about meshes, textures, some of the technical aspects, I won't just be at a loss in what is going on. I kind of like the axe that I have made, but looking around at other people's work, I can see that objectively, mine is terrible. Ah well, I'll just take the positives from this module that I have learned something about the program at the very least, and it will all help at some point.

ZBrush Axe

This is my best object yet. I made an axe by using the paltry skills I have. I started with a cube, flattened it and clip/clip curved it until it looked like an axe head. I then appended a cylinder for the handle, lined this up in the correct position then masked off certain areas and inflated them, so they would have the appearance of where the handle for the axe would be. I then appended some extra cylinders at the top of the axe to give the appearance of bolts holding the axe head to the shaft. Feeling like something was missing, i used some alphas on the handle to give the appearance of some sort of fabric or leather pattern to give the handle more grip.

Mushroom

I tried to make a mushroom using Zbrush and the results were mixed. I used the tools that I was most familiar with. I have the basic shape but there are some real problems with this model.

It looks as though it could be a tree, and I have the whole "melted look" problem that I also had with the log. However, it is almost recognisable as a mushroom.

Here is a view of the underside, you can see the alpha i used to try to make the frills on the underside of a mushroom top.

Zbrush Log

This is a log I attempted to model in Zbrush. I started out with a cylinder, then subdivided. I then tried to begin to build up layers of "bark" on the outside of the log with the clay brush. For the concentric rings of the log, I used the circular alpha to make the shapes on the top of the log. I think that the rings and the basic shape are ok, however the bark looks more like melted wax on a candle than actual tree bark. I didn't know how to improve it so this is the final design.

I did a small addition to the log by adding some colour for it to apply to the brief work.

Water Canteen Step by Step

Here I will try to give a step by step of how I made my water canteen object:

I started with the basic sphere tool.

I then subdivided it twice to make it smoother

I then squashed it to give it a more accurate shape and cut off the top and bottom, I followed this up with masking off sections that I would then inflate.

Which gave me this shape, I now needed to add a lid for the bottle.

I now appended a cylinder, subdivided it and scaled it to the correct size.

I then moved it to the correct position and ended up with this object, my completed water canteen, ready for texturing and colouring.

Badking Grenade Tutorial attempt

This was the first stage of making a grenade, I began with creating a sphere, and then used the move tool to make it into an egg shape.

I then masked off sections to make the "pineapple" effect grenades have to maximize shrapnel on exploding.

I followed this by masking off the bottom section and manipulating the top of the grenade to give the "stem" a better shape, I then smoothed that section to make it look better.

Now, I have started to create the fuse assembly at the top of the grenade, to do this, I began with a cube, manipulated its shape, positioned it to the correct point of the grenade then began to "clip" away unnecessary areas, I ended up with this model.

I then copied the first part of the assembly and began to make the trigger part of the grenade, I used the same shape as the original assembly so that later on it would be easier to line up. I then made the handle part tapered by using mirror tool and shrinking a section of the assembly. I then began to mask off sections that would be kept on the grenade assembly in order to get to the next stage.

I am now at this stage of the model, and the grenade is beginning to take shape. I like the way the assembly has taken shape, and it almost looks like the finished product now.