the aftermath

104 done...

So now I get to play. I am working on the caustics tutorial. I found another one and am doing that with some cool results.

Amber torus knot on average settings

Aqua with smoothed sides of object geometry

Am now merging the parent and child forms from Project 3 into this scene to see if I can make them do their caustics thing.

Here are the parent and child with the old materials

And here with the caustics enabled and glass material applied - still not fabulous

Here I have changed the material to white glass and achieved a cartoon-like effect

Blue glass: A more sweeping view achieved after adding a camera to the scene

Product shot of blue frosted glass - shows off the texture really well

Same shot, material now frosted glass in bronze hue

thursday vivian street | final hand in

** The following is a 'best of' my blog posts for project 3. It was posted for the purposes of visually aiding my presentation only. All image sources have been noted previously on this blog.

Additional render - parent and child (subject of 3D print)

My submitted photograph - please see below for further photos that support my submission

Final render of all three forms

 

 

Images of design precedents:

Roof tops of South of France

Fish scale pattern

Fish scale - variety of pattern

Fish scale pattern

Container ideas emerge

 

Waka Huia - containers for precious objects

Supreme Court of Wellington - interior

Babushka - nested dolls

Development

 Sketches....

1 and 2 - looking at the pattern motifs and methods

3. Tile designs

4. Form shape options

Solidworks tile

Using array

Bend - the most useful modifier



Adding interest



My model starts to take form





My final form with wood texture applied

The 3D Print (A Photo Series):

Photo of print

photo depicting both forms

Photo showing 'burnt' edges of the wings

 

This photo leads nicely into the render that follows

Best render of print

Final render of three options

As I worked through the render part of the project, the first thing I was aware of is how much better equipped (skills-wise) I am to arrive at a result I really want.

I really wanted to produce a render of my objects that is beautiful and with the render of my parent child form in particular I feel I have achieved that result. I find this render is ethereal and feminine and communicates my narrative in a really personal way. If the outer form is the parent then it performs the protective duty in a similar way to the one in which I perceive my own role as a parent which is to show my young daughter the world around her as much as possible while still protecting her from harm. And the fact that there is a passage/escape hatch that will allow the child to free itself from the constraints of parental protection is an acknowledgment of the understanding that must be implicit in the relationship between the two (that eventually the young must always gain their independence).

I have also been thinking a lot about the properties of (tiled) roofs or shelter. How their effectiveness is gained from the integration of many separate tiles into one solid form. That their strength comes about by virtue of the repetition of pattern. Something relatively banal and repetitive becomes strong and aesthetically pleasing through its repetition. My forms have become a really nice analogy for my role as a mother.

In addition I have found another parallel in my life to this which is to do with my role as a stepmother. I have really struggled with bringing the alternative models into the final render because I feel like they look unrelated to the parent form and don't really complement it.  And yet they have finished by being protected by the parent form. The struggle to assimilate the different forms/children into my scene/life relates quite neatly to my role as a step-parent.

tuesday vivian street

Have finally been able to render after interminable crashes and freezes.

This was the first grouping I have attempted since my computer at home was unable to handle the lighting and extra objects being added:

I changed the 2nd form to glass to see what it would look like with the caustics but was put off by the extra time it took to render: not good for testing

Started playing with caustics:

Love the cartoon like shadow effects but find the composition lacks any relation to my narrative

Failed render No 10

Failed render No 15

When I got to this point (above) I was trying really hard to represent what I saw on the view port which was a fantastic dappled shadow caused by the light passing through the parent object but it wouldn't happen in the render and I am not sure why. I adjusted every setting I could think of but nothing worked and if anything I was getting further away from my objective:

Love this effect - couldn't find a way to render it. For this I put the light inside the parent object.

 So I changed tack.



I inserted a camera and tried taking the shot from behind. I also changed the large object's material to glass...nope.

Put another omni light in the foreground and came up with this:

Once again missing the 'lacey' effect of the viewport but still interesting...

Finally I did some research and found that I would be better off without caustics being enabled. Here's the same image with and without caustics enabled:

With caustics enabled

At last! Caustics not enabled. The default lighting works fine with this.

I wasn't happy with the composition though so started working on that.


Test render of the final option which I rendered overnight but have decided not to use. This the test render. The real one took 12+ hours to render...

monday betty street

Have spent the weekend trying to get some great renders but am giving up till tomorrow because my video card just isn't up to it

My printed form is ready to go - to colour it I have immersed the parent form in a really strong cup of tea. I let it dry over the weekend and have done it again today. I want it to have the appearance of amber because it continues my narrative of the larger form being older and more 'used'. It is also aesthetically pleasing and it looks more valuable on the platform. They look like precious stones on display. I have started to think about the photography today and will try some test shots this afternoon.

Second forms rendered with same materials and opacity

Third form in foreground to test composition ideas - I am not sure about this form

Another angle in a different lighting environment - I have decided to go back to the former environment and have opted for an alternative 3rd form

Third form takes centre stage

Changed environments and added camera and light