Sizing and Slicing 3DS Max Model

 Here are some development shots of dimensioning and slicing the 3DS Max hero model into pieces for Illustrator

The dimensioning cube - to get the sizes right in 3DS Max

Getting the dimensions right

Slicing

Acrylic Model Precedents

I found some interesting acrylic models that I decided to use as precedents for their simplicity and elegance. Because one of my three words for my original model was "flux" I think that I would like to mold the plastic using heat to give it a fluid effect that I felt my original model showed so well

Hero Shot

Here is the Hero Shot for my DSDN104 Project 1:

Here I maintained the idea of a fire in the desert quite literally, and used a blizzard particle render effect to give the model the appearance of being on fire which also turned out to be an effective and beautiful way of lighting my model, in combination with the fiery edgings on the model they captivated my vision of "incendiary".

Along with the aforementioned effect of the fire in the desert I used purple texturing, luminance, glossy and glow effects to further give my model that sense of enticement. Whether a traveler would be attracted to the warm glow, the standoffish jagged edges surrounding a curious interior (much like a rose in thorns), the promise of psychedelia or the unnatural glow, I feel that these elements relate well to both my precedent and my word "entice"

For "fungus", I feel like my model looks quite like a mushroom, which ties in with both the words, the idea of enticement for the purposes of psychedelia, and in turn relates to the precedent image.

The 81

Here are my final 81 images for DSDN104 Project 1:

 I really like the idea I mentioned before about a campfire in the desert, and I wanted to arrange my 81 such that they resembled a campfire in a dark desert. The models are arranged such that the families are in lines outward from the original model in red in the middle, and get progressively lighter in colour the more they change and the hero model is in it's place in the family lit with a purple spotlight. I wanted to keep the background really dark so it appeared to be night-time to further give that sense on enticement and attraction, and the idea of a fire also worked with my word "incendiary". I also decided to make my own desert in 3DS Max using textures and mapping so that I could arrange the models so that I could use lighting and position the models to give the the image a sense of depth

Testing Scenery

 I wanted to put the final model in a scenario that would enhance the models "enticement", and I thought that because of it's glowing, incendiary nature a low-light situation would be best. I recalled when I was overseas camping in the Arabian Desert how the campfires that we had at night-time always attracted a crowd - whether it was people, animals or bugs, the campfire shone out like a beacon in the night. Especially when we were collecting wood far off in the distance it always stayed as a point of reference and inevitably drew us back to it's warmth.

I tried finding some low light images to feature my model in, and here is an attempt at photoshopping my model into an image

As much as I like this image, I think I'll have to find a way to have the model much larger without sacrificing the appeal of the far-offish glow of attraction that I'm intending to get

Testing some lighting effects

 So the textures seem to be working, but they don't seem to be quite as vibrant as I would like them to be to make them as enticing and incendiary as I would like them to be. Time to have a go with some lights!

I thought I was doing something wrong when I first began this, but it turns out that my models are quite large in terms of scale so the lights weren't really doing much. Now that I've got that under control, It was time to get some mean looking renders!

I also had a go with using some of the Architectural textures, and using images for the 'Diffuse Map', so that I could play with some luminance, glossiness, and glow features to get my models to look more incendiary and enticing. Here is what came out:

I put some lights inside the models, to make them appear like they had an internal source of power, to make them look like a front door light to an inner world, or like they were glowing from heat such that they could spontaneously set on fire, effects which both suit my words. I have also decided that purple is the kind of colour I want to use for my final model, as it look enticing and psychedelic which relates both to my precedent image and my words.

More Texture Testing

It's taken a lot of fiddling, but I got there! Just take a look...

Kinda looks pretty ominous too.... I may well try some more lighting effects to see if I can get it to look a little more "incendiary", but I think this colour scheme could work quite well for "entice" :) And while I was trying out this mushroom texture, I thought I'd throw in a garden variety mushroom for good measure

It looks more mushroomey, but not quite as enticing.... But it is making me quite hungry! Time for dinner I think :)