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2005 Spring ->3D Computer Modeling ->Galleries ->Todd Brown
| | | Todd Brown | | Desk Scene | | | Stark Surface | |
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| | Inspiration
I originally had planned to make a fairly complex image of a desk with very low lighting featuring various computer parts. After actually rendering the scene with the optical mouse I had modeled, the mouse really did not fit.
In order to follow the project guidelines I decided to ditch my original plan and create an alternate scene. This one has a much more normal lighting setup such that all the objects and textures are clearly visible.
The style I finally decided to go for is a stark garage type scene. The idea came to me when I was trying to decide what to use as my light once it was obvious my original optical mouse would not do in such a role. The light bulb idea came to mind and I did a test render and decided it would do. I tend to like simple scenes with little clutter such as this one.
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| | | Objects | Desk Surface | Todd Brown | | | Light Bulb | Todd Brown | | | Laser Pen | Todd Brown | | | Glass | Todd Brown | | | Pencil | Todd Brown |
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| | Problems and Solutions
The main problem I had with my project was following the requirements. My original idea was too specific for a non-freeform project and thus would never have worked with the required pencil and glass.
The other major issue I had was with getting objects properly smoothed. When I initially made the optical mouse which did not make the final cut, I was attempting to use the smoothing surface property which created some very poor results. I later tried using the sub patches with significantly better results.
After struggling to find a way to fix the over smoothing of sub patches, I found out how to apply weight maps to create sharper edges. Unfortunately, the weight maps are vertex based, not edge based, so many of my objects were horribly misshapen using this effect. Just as I was about to lose hope and resign myself to doctoring the image up after the render, I discovered that using the knife tool to subdivide polygons on either side of a sharp bend created the desired result.
One other problem I encountered which may be nothing more than a bug in Lightwave involves textures not updating properly. At fairly random intervals in setting up my scene the objects would simply refuse to update their textures and I would have to start a new scene file to fix the problem.
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![](javascript:launchRemote("../../../../album/2005S/desk_scenes/ToddBrown1.jpg"))
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