Portfolio/My fruit designs.
These are the images of my final designs that I have modelled for this assignment and I am really proud of these ones because I feel like I have improved a lot since my first models. For these ones I wanted to focus on the perfect shape of the fruits by looking at the reference images that I gathered.
These are just the google links for the places where i got my reference images for each of the models that I have completed. I have used the method we learned the first assignment where you take an image and have up inside Maya and you shape your objects just like the image. When it comes to the size and the general look so that was fun when it came to me figuring it out.
This is also the link to the Sketchfab where I have all of my finished models of the fruits and another model of the arranged fruits all together.
https://sketchfab.com/Lagyo/models
Model scene files
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1bh6DtQ9ncjrYB2dsDEt8wcD6ohhxy22C
The Blog
This is the link to my google drive with all of the finished maya scenes in zip files. I compressed them and they turned into zip files. They also include all the textures and images that I have used for these models. Everything is in the zip files.
This was an another modelling assignment and I was really excited about it because I wanted to try out different things and trying out different methods of modelling and adding textures to it. I really liked how you van look a specific image and then use it for shape and size of your model. This is what I am planning to do for my fruits and see if I can make it work.
There are some of the tutorials that we have watched the first few classes when we got introduced to this other task and I am just going to have a few links to capture my research.
So for this assignment we get to model 3 fruits of our own choosing and explore different options with them. Just have a bit of fun. The 3 fruits I have decided to do are Lemon, Banana and Orange. These are like in my top 5 range of fruits and its kind of weird, but I love lemons.
When this assignment started I asked for help from Henry with UV mapping instantly because that is something I had a lot of trouble with when I was doing my first models and I have a lot to learn still. This is going to be a really good practise as well when it comes to modelling/sculpting and adding textures to something. He gave me a whole speech about the uv wrapping and what does it actually mean and I found it really helpful because he simplified it for me.
I have modelled these fruits on maya and I wasn’t really able to use other applications so when it comes to the poly count of my modelled fruits it’s not an issue for anything and I didn’t need to use Retopology for them either. In the future if i would be using more difficult designs and use different applications I would probably have to do this to make it easier for myself to work with them as well.
When we transferred home and we had to work from home I had many difficulties getting everything together so I would have something to work with to begin with. When i got the resources to do anything I found Henry’s tutorials on slack very useful and needed for me. This is because he would link the best ones and the things we would need. The tutorials are also not that hard to follow so I really appreciate that.
When I was figuring out how to actually paste in images because I completely forgot how to do it properly as I didn’t want myself to get lost in the work. I have looked at references for all of the images since it is useful and I haven’t used that method for my first models so I wanted to try something different this time. And I think it worked out pretty well because I was able to look at the images and take some objects and form each of the fruits. It is not perfect by any means, but I definitely learned a lot.
These are some screenshots of the guides that I have used throughout this modelling task. They have helped me a lot throughout this whole task when it came to me modelling the perfect shape and different parts of these fruits. I really enjoyed doing this because I think it was a little easier then the last modelling assignment because I would say you didn’t have to detail it as much because they are just fruits.
Most of the shapes i used were either squares or cylinders and then modelling and modifying them to make them look like an actual fruit. I had a lot of fun doing this. I was a little scared doing this task because I thought that I was going to get stuck at some point and not be able to move on. I developed these fruits nicely with a lot of effort. I also had to be very careful because If I did something that I could not undo I would be in trouble. So I would save all of the models like every 5 minutes.
This was one of the problems that I ran into while I was working on the lemon. On the left side you can see that for the branch part of the lemon I have used a simple cylinder and adjusted it to fit the model. As you can see that it just looks very hard and not realistic at all. I knew that the branches of the fruits often don’t look like that and are quite unique when it comes to their shapes so I knew I had to redo the branch for the lemon because I was not happy with the first one.
I had learned things like using bevel tools and adjusting different shapes to make them look way better and way more realistic. So I did just that I applies what I learned in the first assignment when it came to small details and using different tools like bevel on them. I wanted to make it look like the branch has some life to it and that it looks like its actually attached to the leafs and the lemon itself. This was really challenging to do because it is very small compared to the lemon and I had to be careful modelling each corner of the branch to make sure I don’t interfere with the lemon model.
While doing this I also researched different looks of those stems to have something to look at while I am fixing the original stem. This was a difficult development of the stem because I had a hard time adjusting it perfectly to the lemon. I managed it in the end. I had to go back to the tutorials and look at how they approach different styles of the stems.
So in the end I am very happy with the outcome that i got. The flat part of the stem on top of the lemon was probably the hardest part because I had to adjust it any times to make it looks perfect to me. The outcome that i got makes the lemon look really realistic and very nice now, which I am very happy about. I hope everyone likes it too.
These are some of the models that I have made without the textures and you can see that I made them very smooth and nice which I am very happy about since I didn’t think I was going to achieve that without a sculpting tool like Zbrush.
I wasn’t able to use Zbrush because it was expired for me and I didn’t have a drawing pen so even If i had a chance throughout the task I think it would of been very difficult. I am willing to trying out later on because I really found out that it is a fun application to use while I was watching those tutorials assigned by Henry.
When I was applying different textures and trying out my options I knew I wanted to use my reference images for the textures of the fruits.
I had to go back to the couple of the tutorials like the cereal box from the first assignment and learn uv texturing because I will say that it’s the hardest part for me when it comes to texturing anything. I was always confused with the whole UV’s and how they work when it comes to a model. This tutorial brought back the information and the development that I have did for the first models. I also had to remember the Henry lessons and his explanations to the whole texture part of the model.
He told me that its basically un wrapping or wrapping something like a Christmas present so I always have to look like i am wrapping a model with wrapping paper. So I used that advice and the tutorials above and I kept working on my projects. I have developed more hate for this part of the modelling, but more skill at the same time.
I just used the images that I have use for referencing my models and then used the UV mapping on each of the models. I had a little difficulty with this because the textures would look very weird and would often go out of place. I had to keep adjusting all of the textures on all of the models and that took me very long to do because the objects would go weird all the time. This was difficult to keep fixing, but I always had a copy of the models without anything inside of them incase of accidents.
I was also making a cave and modelling different things for it for the other project so It was very useful as because I would be learning more and more when it came to perfecting models and certain textures.
Reflection
Overall I really enjoyed working on these models and I learned so much. It is such a good practise every single time and I use this time to find out all the tools and options that I can use whole working on the models. This time I learned way more about UV wrapping and fixing textures because I had a lot of mistakes occur when it came to textures. I didn’t have lectures beside me to help and I really wanted to figure it out and see if I can fix them myself this time and see if I can beat this challenge. Without all the tutorials I would probably be pretty stuck and wouldn’t know how to fix any of the textures.
We all had to work through this hard time in the world and try our best and I think I tried my best. I lost motivation a lot because of the uncertainty in the world. Not knowing anything is very scary and I don’t really know what is going to happen in the future. Even though this situation made everything worse we had all of our lecturers support us in any way possible and I appreciate that. They were so helpful and nice. Understanding us and helping us emotionally.
I had to work with many difficulties and boundaries like not being able to attend most of the classes since I don’t have good wifi and that did not allow me to do that. I would catch up with everything from my class mates and always visit slack because the lecturers would leave us help all the time. It is a difficult time and ending with positivity is all we can hope for and try to do.
Mantas Macidulskas 