Otter Scene Update 1

Here's a screen shot of the progress of my otter scene. This is my 3rd attempt. I initially tried doing it by manipulating a simple cylinder, but ended up drawing an outline in illistrator and lathing it.



After getting a nice 'wavy' shape for the body and tail, I started to extrude polygons to form the legs and arms.


After a lot of playing around and tweaking, I got to the stage where the limbs look fairly realistic. I do seem to have manipulated it so much that it has quite a few 'dents' and I have lost the 'wavy' effect to the body (but I can get this back).

Cat Update 1

Hello! An update on my Cat stamp:

I have a complete body shape, just need to add some detail such as facial features and a fur coat. Not quite sure what it's sitting on yet. Was going to be a person's leg but it would be sitting uncomfortably close to the crotch...

Thinking the armrest of a chair, and then a hand can stroke the cat's head. (I would only have to make the hand and forearm then rather than the whole body, and a part of the chair).

As for a camera angle I like the idea of the last image's point of view.

I personally like the tail, how it wraps realistically around the curved surface it is sitting on. Pleased with that!

Tiger Update 2

Here it is, the next update to my tiger! After hours and hours of fiddling with 3ds max, I finally have the complete body. With a turbosmooth, it looks pretty damn nifty if I do say so myself:




I have had a go at assigning a material to imitate the fur.



It looks completely diferent when it is rendered, the stripes go in a completely different direction. (You can just about see under the hair in the right image they are horizontal instead of being the same as the left image, the one i played with for ages!!!).

I will assign a short fur cover to the entity to make the tiger look more realistic (and there is a mane that will stick out further around the neck too). I have assigned different ID's to polygons to allow for the white underside. I actually used a Zebra fur design as there were no decent white tiger ones. As you can see I need to alter that a bit more, however, ignoring this problem for now, I have carried on creating the scene. I created a plane and used the hair and fur tool once again to imitate grass, and it renders extremely well.



Now another problem! I am going to use a spotlight to cast shadows of the overhanging branches and leaves (to be created) across the tiger's back. Whenever I render I just get black. Off to play with the settings AGAIN...

Tiger Update 1

A quick update on my tiger stamp.

Starting with just a cylinder, with the scale tool I have moulded the shape of a feline torso, complete with a tail.



Started to add a leg by extruding certain polygons repeatedly. Then rather than do it all again, copied the leg, changed it so the model wouldn't be symmetrical, then welded it back together. Of course the front legs are bigger and more muscular so I did this first one from scratch again.


And copied, modified and welded it...

Now I have the torso and limbs. All I need is a head! Might make that tail a bit longer...

My Ideas

Here are my final three chosen ideas for the project. I really want to emphasise FEELINGS in my stamps rather than it just being a picture, because that is something that we all forget about in biodiversity, sure there are animals, sure there are places and habitats, but all these animals feel things. They feel happiness, they feel fear. So I will use appropriate lighting and layout to try and emphasise what I am trying to get across.

1 - Otter Scene (feeling of happiness)
Though the surroundings for the scene haven't been confirmed yet, I am going to do a scene of an otter swimming. If time allows, I will create a second 'playmate' otter that might be breaching the surface of the water, allowing me to play around with opacities and create maybe the scene of a river bed also.
I'm going to try an make them cute so it'll make everyone smile.

2 - Tiger Scene (feeling of darkness / evil / fear maybe)
This scene will be lit like a night scene so that it puts across a tranquil yet tense atmosphere, as a tiger lurks in the shadows underneath a tree, possibly stalking a deer? Maybe I could position it so you can see the tiger in the background behind the deer with a worried expression?
I could completely flip this and show it from the tiger's point of view and make it about survival or the feeling of power and dominance.

3 - House cat Scene (feeling of love)
Although not quite as strong an image as say a pair of lions getting it on (highly inappropriate for this project) there is a sense of love between house cat and owner. The scene would be urban (different to the other two ideas) and hopefully give a bit more variety to my project, with more man-made objects rather than trees in the background, especially if it is indoors.
Why a cat? I just think I'm more of a cat person than a dog person, and it goes with the tiger!

I decided on them quite a while ago, and have been trying to get used to the 3ds max software to enable me to create these ideas successfully. Most of what I have done is the same simple transformations over and over again because I just could not get to grips with it, or make it work for me.

Now however I am really starting to be able to create objects that look decent. Check back soon for screenshots of work I have done so far for my ideas.

SWOT Analysis

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been busy learning 3ds max! Below is a SWOT analysis of my progress on the project so far.


SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS - I have a good idea of what I want to achieve (if only in my mind) and am very passionate about achieving what I set out to do. Being somewhat of a perfectionist I will (guaranteed) spend hours fiddling with vertices in 3ds max just to make my work that little more realistic.

Also, I have quite a good 'imagination' and can understand 3d work quite well (whereas some others in the world have difficulties with this).


WEAKNESSES - I am completely new to 3ds max, and things I learn just won't go in! I keep referring back to tutorials and forgetting how to do simple things. But generally, I'm ok moving things around and simple transformations, but I will fall behind when it comes to advanced modifications and really in depth stuff, and others in the class may 'overtake' me.

OPPORTUNITIES - I have access to 3ds other than at university and so can spend extra time using it, even just becoming more familiar with the software.

THREATS - Other's creativity may make their ideas more interesting, whereas my tastes in subject are more 'usual' or 'realistic'. For example I am creating realistic artwork, however others may pursue abstract or unusual pieces.


(Coming soon, my 3 official ideas in detail. I have decided and started working on them, I just need to post it!)