The task for this one was to create the main shape of my space ship or enigmatic object to start with my final piece. I made a few sketches, but wasn’t sure about how to approach this task. So I made the first sketch which was heavily influenced by the BB-8 droid from Star Wars. The shape is hard to recreate in 3D though, because of the flattened top and bottom, as well as the panelled surface. So the second object came into existence, a pyramid flipped upside down, which I imagined to be slowly rotating. This shape was surely more doable, but also probably too easy, and despite that not interesting enough. I still built it in 3D to see if it might look better than what I imagined it. So the way I built it was, I used the start up cube and scaled the bottom face down to create the main diamond shape. I then used extruding out and inwards, scaling and the loop cut function to create the shape below. I also cut the shape in half with box selection and then used a mirror modifier to make sure that the mesh’s symmetry is ensured.

This model was discarded in the end, because it isn’t interesting enough visually and didn’t fit into the main idea of a steampunk-y space ship. The style this shape gives the viewer is quite sci-fi one, because of the harsh edges and corners.

Before working on any projects I played around with the software without having watched tutorials beforehand. The result is following : 

To be honest I’m not entirely sure how I created this object. It looks interesting, but I’m sure that it’s full of mistake that would make working with it, let alone texturing it, impossible.  I think I used pretty much every modifier there is, because I remember just going through the list. And unfortunately I applied them all before saving the project, so there is no way for me to find out what I did.

What I CAN talk about though is the material. I played around with the material in a way that I knew from Cinema 4D. I didn’t know about nodes and node trees at that point so I used the settings in the side panel. I created a new material, changed the diffuse colour and the specular colour and created a green material with a blue gleam. I then turned on the transparency and played around with those settings. This all together playing around with the software allowed me to get a feel for where certain settings are. I also relearned what ‘Diffuse’ and ‘Specular’ do.

I’ve done quite a few test pieces for various skill sets such as tracking, 3d modelling etc.

The first tutorial I followed was a simple beginner’s tutorial for Blender, where you build a simple cup.

I followed the steps, but did create the shape of the coffee mug differently, which in the end made attaching the handle more difficult. I had holes in the mesh of the handle and distortion in the surface in form of pale triangles.

With this tutorial I learnt to use the basics of Blender and mesh modelling, such as extruding inwards, scaling and adding modifiers to a mesh such as the Subdivision Surface modifier. In hindsight I can safely say that my love for and overuse of subdivision surface modifier later in my final piece probably derived from this early tutorial. Before having a go at this tutorial I watched several ‘getting used to the interface of Blender’ and ‘first steps in mesh modelling’ kind of videos on youtube such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcpfCrQWHA8

My Proposal

I’ve written my proposal in about week 5 or 6,because my tutor told me to do it as early as possible which was really good on hindsight.

What is the intended idea/concept of the project?

I intend to create a dynamic showreel showing my skills in 3D
modelling, texturing, and matchmoving for visual effects using
a science fiction overall theme with steampunk elements to fully
exploit the possibility of creating photorealistic textures that tell
the object’s story. I plan on creating a semi-complex model that
I’ll put into a short urban scene. This so called ‘matchmoving’
is generally the traditional entry route for VFX artists, combines
texturing, modelling and putting the object into moving footage
and is therefore a valuable skill to have.

Describe the intended audience:

My intended audience is potential employers, visual effects
companies as well as computer generated image companies that
I can send my showreel to or that might discover my work on
video streaming websites such as youtube and vimeo or in dedicated
forums.

How will this project extend your creative and technical
skills?

I switched from Cinema 4D to Blender. This software swap already
challenges me in a great way of relearning how to model
in Blender and getting used to the program. I have general
knowledge about 3D modelling, but have never learned about
texturing, UV unwrapping, realistic lighting or matchmoving.
I was taught the basics of modelling, but everything else I taught
myself by watching, reading and following tutorials. Therefore
creating this showreel is a great opportunity to learn the basics
of the before mentioned VFX skill set.
I want my showreel to stick out, so I will come up with a very
short story for the object I created, preferably raising a question
or talking about an age old question or topic such as ‘Nature vs.
Human’. This allows me to challenge myself with coming up with
creative ideas for an enigmatic object, that isn’t too complex to
understand in roughly 30 seconds.

What other work (by animators, designers, film-makers,
writers, digital media producers, etc.) is relevant to your
project? (This work may either be relevant for its conceptual,
inspirational or technical similarity):

I have looked at several VFX studios such as ‘The Mill’, ‘Cinesite’,
‘Double Negative’, ‘milk’ and ‘Zeilt Productions’. I looked at
their showreels and noticed that although these vary from 2 minutes
to 5 minutes in length, they do share one common trait: The
footage snippets showing the VFX work are all very short and
snappy, straight to the point. I also looked at David Elwell, Jacob
Flint and Maxwell Smith’s showreels, that are each roughly a minute
long and have come to like David Elwell’s Stålenhag best.
It is a simple and short concept, but it does tell a story and raises
questions such as ‘What is that object?’, ‘What is it doing in that
field?’, What is that man doing with the box he takes out of the
object?’ and many more. This effect of leaving the spectator with
questions is exactly what I wish to create with my showreel. Binding
a story to the showreel makes it stick out of the crowd of the
many ‘here is all my work, look what I can do’ presentations that
flood youtube and makes the work stick with the viewer. An enigmatic
object in moving footage also shows all of the VFX skills
you need to get started in the working world.