Material Studies
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This
project required me to create at least 10 different objects with recognisable
materials that could fit inside a game inventory. The only required materials
were wood, metal, leather, and glass, which I tackled over a few
different objects.
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I tried
to keep the objects nice and varied throughout to stop me from getting bored,
and so I could get a good range of experience throughout this process to apply
to other projects like my future tribes’ character or perspective project.
First set: Glass bottle, set of crow skulls, Holly sprig, Phoenix feather:
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For this
set, I used both real life reference and a collection of online references. You
can tell how the quality of the reference influenced the result; pictured in
the middle top was the first attempt at a crow skull, both out of
bone and out of bronze, and neither one was successful. This I believe was
because I chose a poor reference – and when I used a well-lit photograph instead
of a 3D model or poorly lit smaller photos, the result was much better. The 3D
model really didn’t indicate at all how bone interacts with light; bone has
some sub surface scattering that reduces the strength of the shadows, and
diffuses the highlights throughout, which I captured in my later version.
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For the bottle,
I chose a life reference because I really enjoy my little brown glass bottle and
thought it might make an interesting study. The picture was taken later in
different lighting but was just to illustrate that at the time I did it from my
observation in front of me. I believe it shows the qualities of glass
well and has some interesting lighting effects and transparency throughout. The
cork could have been improved, but it gets the material point across and is so
small it did not need to be a masterpiece.
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The holly
sprig was chosen because I wanted to try an organic plant shape, and I
thought the berries and the waxy leaves might give an interesting result; also,
because it was a play on my name, Hollie. This came out nicely, and I think I
got much more confident blending this shiny material as I went along and could
replicate this again.
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The phoenix
feather was a step away from strict realism, and I wanted to explore
how to make a glowing material. For this, I had a colour reference as well as a
google tab full of references for fire, and I used a peacock feather as a shape
reference I could then render on top of. I felt like this really broke up how
monotonous the materials were becoming, but it does look a lot less realistic
than a normal feather for example. If I were to do this feather again, I would
also make a version of the peacock feather for comparison and to show I could
do both.
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First set of materials with reference |
Second set: Steak, Fish, Tiara, wooden log, leather satchel:
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All the
references on this set are a lot more photo real than my first set, and the steak
was the item I did first. I for the most part tried to capture the cellular surface
texture, but I think it could have used more specular details. The reference I
chose also did not help since it was mostly one flat plane of lighting, so a lot
of the shadows are not there. I could have chosen a better reference for this
object, but I think the result is still convincing.
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As for
the fish, I think I went a little heavy with the shading either
end of the fish, but the general scale texture is there, and the eye has the
same shininess as my reference. For the scales I mostly used blending layers to
have it do the shading for me, same with the shading of the underside of the
fish with a drop shadow. I could have also sharpened up the colour detail at
the head, but overall, I am happy with the fish.
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The Tiara
was also an object I used a lot of blending layers on, getting the bright white
highlights and the darker shadows automatically on a delicate object easily. I
also used a DONTNOD material reference for gold to get the tiara looking more
regal than the copper wire I believe was used to make the reference image. This
material is what fulfilled the brief’s requirement of a metal
material.
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The log
with mushrooms is probably the weakest one I have – overall it does
convey wooden object, but the shadows and details look a bit off. I am happy to
leave it as it is right now, but if I have time later, I would like to come
back and fix this one. This material is what fulfilled the brief’s requirement
of a wood material.
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I am
happy with this leather satchel – especially the metal medallion
on the front. That was made with a blending mode and I just drew the pattern on
a brown background to create the Celtic knot. The same went for the leather emboss
on the pouch top – and then other than that the most important feature I found
for the flat leather areas was large texture areas of bright highlight, and
creases to create added shadows. This material is what fulfilled the brief’s
requirement of a leather material.
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Second set of materials with reference |
Final set: Dragon egg:
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The dragon
egg was an object that I would have to generate from an amalgamation of
references, and my initial attempt looked very different to my final egg. The initial
idea I had was having plates of basalt rock float around a lava core, however I
could not find any references that would let me make that kind of material convincing.
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So, I
went back to the drawing board, and found these references for clay modelled “dragon
eggs” with these small noodle shapes creating a full egg – and I started making
a basalt version from that. I noticed that lava had a subtle glow overall, so I
did not have to worry about bright white lights coming from the egg.
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I think
this egg is in a similar category as my feather, but I enjoy having a more
fantastical element to my collection to show I have tried to push myself to use
my imagination and combine references.
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Phoenix egg versions – with final on the left top |
Final Versions:
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Overall,
I am happy with my full 10 materials to satisfy the brief. I think there are
definite improvements I could make, however I think they all convey the
materials they were meant to be conveying convincingly. My personal favourite
is the holly sprig, followed by the meat and the fish.
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Since
this project has been finished before my other projects, if I have time later I
will come back and refine these materials further.
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Final renditions of 10 |
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