CSCI 140 Desk Gallery

3-D Computer Modeling 
CSCI 140 Spring 2003

Thomsen, Elizabeth

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Elizabeth ThomsenDesk Scene
Moving to College
 
Inspiration

My main inspiration for this assignment was that I wanted it to be different and unique. I also wanted it to be something that others in the class could relate to, so I chose the experience of moving away from home for the first time to attend college. I originally wanted to create unconventional objects, such as a cardboard box for a desk and candles for my light sources. After creating the objects and placing them in layout, however, I realized that my scene looked sparse and boring. At that point, I decided to create two stools and a table that were appropriate to the environment of my scene. I also created more candles and lamps, as well as the empty pizza box and the glasses of beer. Overall, the scene is supposed to illustrate that the inhabitants of the apartment have just finished a long day of moving, have had a simple dinner consisting of pizza, and are now relaxing with low lighting and glasses of beer. Each object was inspired by my own actual moving experiences. For instance, the red carpet and white walls were inspired by my first move to Lassen Hall on campus, the address on the paper is made up of my old addresses, the names on the boxes belong to myself and my roommate, and I actually have had beer and pizza after a long day of moving.
 
 
 
Objects:BoxesElizabeth
 BottleElizabeth
 Candles & Candle FlamesElizabeth
 CeilingElizabeth
 FloorElizabeth
 GlassesElizabeth
 LampsElizabeth
 PaperElizabeth
 PencilElizabeth
 Pizza BoxElizabeth
 StoolsElizabeth
 TableElizabeth
 WallsElizabeth
   
Textures:Candle Flame Texturehttp://www.freefoto.com/ pictures/textures/fire/ index.asp?i=10
 Cardboardhttp://www.aniway.fi/webtextures/ pattern_web/pages/ pattern_28.htm
 Carpethttp://www.ifloor.com/item_133428/ Carpet/Philadelphia/%20All_American/ Canyon_Rose.html
 Green Candlehttp://www.genwax.com/ candles/___0___9146.htm
 Lamp Shadehttp://www.lampshadeshop.com/ id178.htm
 Multicolored Candlehttp://www.digsmagazine.com/ lounge/lounge_texturewall4.htm
 Moon Viewhttp://www.newble.co.uk/ pg/moon.html
 Pizza Boxhttp://www.modelboxco.com/ pizza.shtml
 Purple Candlehttp://www.genwax.com/ candles/ ___0___P0698673.htm
 Lamphttp://www.glassworld.com.au/ shop/prod647.htm
 Rainbow Candlehttp://www.altavista.com/ image/results?q=rainbow+candle&avkw=xytx&stq=75
 Red Spiralhttp://www.genwax.com/ candles/___0___P0698673.htm
 Wallhttp://www.rit.edu/~djl9191/fwm/ project4/resource.html
 Woodhttp://shopping.corbis.com/search/ details.asp?imageid=11462714
 
Problems & Solutions:

I am still not familiar with Lightwave and am not accustomed to having to create 3D objects, so I had a variety of different difficulties and problems. First, I am unsure of how to make textures, and I had a hard time finding textures that I liked and that were appropriate to my objects in Lightwave, or online on 3D websites. I solved the problem by finding jpeg images that I cropped and converted to targa files and then used as textures. For example, the carpet texture came from a close-up picture of actual carpet. Next, I used Lightwave at home for the assignment, and the version that I have installed does not have all of the images and textures that are available on the lab computers. Since I planned to render my objects at home, I solved this problem by omitting images from Lightwave in my scene completely, and instead I just made all of my own objects, except for the view from the window image. I also had a very hard time getting images to line up correctly in layout. My pencil and paper did not want to lie correctly on my table. I would try to move them down slightly and they would pass through the table. I also could not get my lights to work the way that I wanted. I tried to fix them various ways, such as changing their intensities, rotating them, changing their colors, and moving them around. I also tried various different views in layout. I solved these problems by being patient and continuously adjusting things, then rendering many different times to get my lighting and object placement the way I desired.

Resources:

I made all of the objects, except for the view from the window, and applied textures myself by learning from trial and error, except for my glass objects. In order to make my glass objects have the right texture, refraction, reflection, and appearance, I visited the Graham's Lightwave Tips - Shiny Refractive Glass website. I followed his advice and my glass objects turned out great. I could not get the thickening plug-in to work, but that could have been because I am still relatively inexperienced with Lightwave. The URL is: http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/9315/lw/tip4.htm