Making
the Cheddar Warrior
Building
this scene took up most of my spare time over three months.
The reason why it took so long was because I created everything
from scratch (Normally I use bits of models and scenery that
I'd done before). Here's what
was involved in making this image.
 |
 |
The final scene, shown here, involved a whole lot of tricks
to create everything from the fur
on the rodents to the lighting and reflections on the water.
|
This image was my entry in The Journey
Begins 3D Challenge held at the CG
Society. People entering the competition had
to show some small creatures or people embarking on a great
journey.
Click here to
read my story about why a rat and a mouse are pushing a boat
out to sea.
I modelled and rendered this scene in Cinema
4D, and then finished it off using Photoshop. Part of the
reason why this project was fun was because I got to play
with a lot of stuff that 3D artists enjoy: things with geeky
names like depth of field, sub-surface scattering, sub-poly
displacement and density maps.
But rather than lose myself in 3D jargon,
I'll explain in plain English some of the steps I used to
make this picture. |
 |
|
The
foreground leaves
Those blurred leaves in front, at the top
of the picture, were modeled and rendered in a 3D program,
just like everything else. MORE... |
|
 |
|
The
background tree
Because of the incredible complexity of the
natural world you need to use some time-saving tricks when
you create a tree. MORE... |
 |
|
Building
a mouse
That little guy helping to push the boat into water took
plenty of work too. MORE... |
|
 |
|
The
hairy bits
If you
want to make a realistic mouse, then you're going to have
to do realistic
fur. MORE... |
 |
|
The
cheesy bits
I just couldn't get the cheese to look right.
Then I remembered this thing call
sub-surface scattering. MORE... |
|
 |
|
The
hazy bits
3D programs often give you the option
for sophisticated methods of creating fog and hazy atmospheric
effects.
But this way was faster to set up. MORE... |
 |
|
Looking
into the water
Water is strange stuff. It's reflective,
transparent, refractive, colourless and a whole lot more.
So how do you manage
that
in 3D if you've got limited time?
You
cheat. MORE... |
|
 |
|
Sticking
it all together
Compositing is sticking different
bits of a picture, layered on top of each other, to make up a whole scene. Of
course,
I used compositing here too. MORE... |
3D
home page Home
|