Final Stamp Renders.

Well the wait is over. Here are my Final 3 Stamp Renders.

I will start will start with my Koi Design.

After adding the backdrop and the right lighting, I think I got it looking pretty good. However I was toern between 2 Final Designs on this stamp, so I have 1 with a single Koi, and one with Multiple Koi.

Here was my second stamp idea, A snake about to pounce!

I originally was only going to render the head of the snake, coming towards the screen, mouth open wide. However once i started making it, I couldnt stop myself from making the whole snake.

I also made a nice rock for it to sit on, and put in a backdrop which matched the rock.

The lighting I chose gave a warm hue to the image, to give the impression the snake is sitting in the desert light.

My Final stamp is of our Solar System.

This stamp took me quite a long time, as I had to create all of the materials for the planets out of images i found on the internet. This was tricky as the material had to wrap around each panetary body.

I added a plane in the background, which i textured with an image of space.

For lighting, I added an Omni light, which i coloured yellow, and placed in the very corner of the scene, which turned out looking like the Sun, which i had not originally intended.

Finishing Up.

Just added the finishing touches to my Models, and rendered them in photoshop into their final stamp designs. Quite pleased with how they turned out, although I'm sure if I had had more time to work with the program, I could have mastered alot more of the features.
I have read through a number of the other blogs from around the group, and I'm impressed by the work that has been turned out... Well Done Guys!

I will be adding up the Final Stamp Images tomorrow, as I don;t want to give away the final designs until the last minute ;).

Creating my Koi - Write-Up

Updating this blog, seeing as Saturday is the hand in date haha.

Ill run through how I created my Koi fish, its environment, the lighting and the textures, and then finally how I made the 3D Model into a stamp design.

I started my Koi, design by creating a 3D plane, which I materialised with an image of a Koi. This acted as a template for me to base the shape of the fish around.
I used a capsule shape to create the main body, and tweeked it into shape using the Soft Selection tool. I deliberately flattened the head end so I could just concentrate on the body for this part.


Now I could make the other main features of the fish, the head, the tail, and the dorsil fin.
For the tail and dorsil fin, I used a very thing box, which I pinched and tweeked with the soft selection to create the shapes you se here. I finished them off with a turbo smooth to get rid of any lumps or bumps.
For the Head, I used a sphere, which I elongated into a rugby ball shape.
I then cut this in half, deleting one half of the head, and with Richards help, used a mirror tool, which allowed me to tweek one side of the head, whereas infact both sides would be modified. This helped me create the head alot faster than I initially thought.


Next, I created the material for the body.
For this I used photoshop, and created a camo pattern, consisting of red pink and white colours.
On a seperate layer, I created scale shapes using a brush preset I created. once these were layered over one another, it gave the impression of fish scales, that differentiated in colour all over the body.
I did initially try to find some actual Koi scales on the internet to use, however most images were too small, and would have come out incredibly grainy.





Whilst in photoshop, I also created a material for my backdrop, which I will go into more detail with later on...


Now back to the Koi. I applied the material to the body of the fish, then opened up the UVW Maping editor, to ensure the material was sitting on the body right. To do this I had to indivually stitch together the pixels so that everything aligned correctly.


Now i created the front fins on the Koi, and gave it a quick render to see where I stood at currently.


To give the fish abit more realisim, i tweked the fins and the tail so it look like they had a ripple to them, which gave the impression the fish was moving around in the water.


Here is a shot of the whole fish after these processes. This saw the Koi model finished.


Now I had create a backdrop for my fish.
I decided to create what looked like the bottom of a pond, seeing as this is where you are most likely to find Koi.
To do this I created a box, flattened it using the scale editor, and tweeked it with soft selection, finishing it off with a turbo smooth.
It looked like this.


I wasnt really happy with how it looked, but instead of changing it, I decided to clone it numerous times, layering each one over another. This ended up turning out pretty well. And after adding the material to the floor, it looked even better.
To give the impression that the Koi was in water, i added a target spotlight, which i then added a volume effect too, with a slight green hue.
Prior to rendering, it looked like this.


I then decided to multiply the Koi, so it looked like my original Koi had some friends and family!
Here is the Final Render of my Koi Model.

Progress.

Here is the image I said I would post a few posts below. This is how the Koi will look in the finished stamp design, apart from a couple of little finishing touches.
This image does not show the background or the other elements i have created, so you will have to wait until next week to see that ;).

BBC - Life.

Again if you havent been following this series on television you are missing out!
Seriously this series is amazing. I even went out and bought the book to accompany the series, its that good.
I have always loved nature, and this program shows you how amazing every type of animal around the world is, and how unique they all are.
I will no doubt be buying the DVD for it soon aswell!

An Update?!

I thought I had updated my blog recently but obviously not.
My first 3D is done; the Koi Fish. After much fiddling around and getting it looking how I wanted it to look it is finally there. I have one hitch in the model though, the material on the body of the fish. It seems to revert to a weird position everytime I reopen the file. I'm sure Richard can help me out with this, as the UV Mapping technique was quite tricky to use.
The other 2 models are well under way and one is nearing completion. I managed to get a copy of the 3D Studio Max software at home, which was useful as it means I didnt have to make the trip to the university campus whenever I wanted to work on my ideas.
I will post up a screen shot I made of the Koi before completion so you can see where it was going.

Progress on the Koi.

Creating a Koi in 3D is turning out a bit more complex than I expected.
Probably wasnt the easiest option I could have taken, but it's getting there.
Here is a snippet of some progress on it before the remaining smaller features and textures.
Stay tuned to Koi TV.