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2007 Spring ->3D Computer Modeling ->Galleries ->Desk Gallery ->Valerie Rodriguez
| | | Valerie Rodriguez | | Desk Scene | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Your Cat's Secret Desk | |
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| | Inspiration
Cats often disappear for hours on end and we humans have no idea where they go. I often wonder what kind of affairs they may be attending to while on their own… perhaps they have a secret space somewhere, down in the basement or up in the rafters; a filched rug here, an old flashlight there, and soon they have a makeshift workspace all their own to relax, smoke some …catnip, and plot their own grandiose, nefarious schemes. With some paper, a pencil, and a bowl of (live) goldfish snacks, they can remain safe and cozy as us large folk go blundering about the main halls.
I wondered where my calculator went.
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| | | Objects | Rafter Room | Valerie Rodriguez | | | Makeshift Desk | Valerie Rodriguez | | | Scratching Post Lamp | Valerie Rodriguez | | | Glass Fishbowl w/H2O | Valerie Rodriguez | | | Papers | Valerie Rodriguez | | | Pencil | Valerie Rodriguez | | | Ball of Yarn | Valerie Rodriguez | | | Calculator | Lightwave | | | Rug | Valerie Rodriguez | | | Cat Photograph | Valerie Rodriguez |
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| | | Textures | Particle Board | local.wasp.uwa.edu.au | | | Crossbeam Wood | www.planit3d.com | | | Desk Plank Wood | www.planit3d.com | | | Cat Food Labels | Friskies cat food cans | | | Scratching Post Carpet | local.wasp.uwa.edu.au | | | Rope | www.mayang.com | | | Paper 1 | www.myomancy.com | | | Paper 2 (schematic) | digg.com/tech_news | | | Yarn | www.angelyarns.com | | | Rug | www.bencloward.com | | | Cat Photograph | Photo by Matthew Batryn |
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| | Problems and Solutions
There were, of course, innumerable small problems that go along with learning a new program; fortunately, however, I was able to get around most of them with experimentation or asking a classmate. Here are some of the larger problems that required more significant measures:
1) I did not know how to make it look like a rope was holding the flashlight to the scratching post. I tried to bend a straight line around the two object, or making connecting points, but neither of those had the tractability or the thickness to look realistic. Once I learned that I could sketch a line, use the drag tool to fine-tune it, then apply the tool rail extrude for thickness, I was able to come up with an adequate-looking rope.
2) The Friskies cat food label textures gave me a series of small problems. I scanned them in all right, but later discovered (after some inconvenience) that I had to go back into Photoshop and change their orientation before they would wrap correctly around the object. They also looked bad with the Preset I had applied to the cans, so I eventually just went back and removed it. Later on, I noticed that all the labels were facing the same way and it looked artificial, so I had to learn how to rotate the textures individually.
3) The papers seemed deceptively simple to make, but I actually had a lot of trouble getting them to lie flat on the table. They would appear to be sitting on the table until the render, which showed them up by their awkward shadows. Changing the grid size helped somewhat, but even in the final render they are sadly still a bit above the desktop.
4) The glass fishbowl was pretty challenging because of its shape. I followed a tutorial that described how to put liquid in it, but it took a few tries before I could successfully replicate all the steps. I really wanted to put little goldfish shapes in it as well (cat snacks!) but once I tried to make them I realized that was beyond my ability at that point. It could still use some tweaking but overall I’m satisfied with the result.
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| | | Time Frame | Room | 2 hours | | | Desk | 6 hours | | | Lamp | 6 hours | | | Bowl | 5 hours | | | Pencil | 2 hours | | | Other | 4 hours | | | Texturing | 4 hours (searching, scanning, and editing in Adobe Photoshop) | | | Arranging | 4 hours | | | Lighting | 2 hours | | | Total | around 35 hours | | | Rendering Time | 20-35 minutes |
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