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.

This image was my entry in The Journey Begins 3D Challenge held at the CG Society. People entering the competition had to depict 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.

Detail from the rat

Above: Detail of the rat, seen at 50% resolution (half-size)

I modelled and rendered the 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			The background tree
	Those blurred leaves in front, at the top of the picture, were modeled and rendered in a 3D program, just like everything else MORE...			Because of the incredible complexity of the natural world you need to use some time-saving tricks when you create a tree MORE...

Making a mouse			The hairy bits
	That little guy helping to push the boat into water took plenty of work too MORE...			If you want to make a realistic mouse, then you're going to have to do realistic fur. MORE...

The cheesy bits			The hazy bits
	I just couldn't get the cheese to look right. Then I remembered this thing call sub-surface scattering MORE...			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...

The wet bits			Sticking it all together
	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...			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...

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Making the Cheddar Warrior

The foreground leaves

The background tree

Making a mouse

The hairy bits

The cheesy bits

The hazy bits

The wet bits

Sticking it all together