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View Full Version : Model of Micro HiFi (WIP. Please some tips)

TNTJack
09-08-2002, 04:02 PM
Hi there. I am new to these forums. I am a hobbyst that does some 3D stuff every now and then, and every often I bother forumers with some WIPs and questions. Here are my problems:

I am modelling my desktop micro HiFi system (is not very original, but good for just practicing). This is what I got so far. I am quite happy with the speakers. The hard stuff is the set itself. I am having problems in carving some holes that surround some buttons. I don´t want to use booleans ´cause they turn the mesh into a mess. I have already use it for the small knobs holes, and I will have to repair it.

Am I supossed to build some polygons on every place that needs a hole, and then extrude-outline-move them?. I did that for the three groups of 4 buttons.

Is it easier to use the "Shape Merge" compound object, or will this destroy the cleaningness of the mesh as boolean does?

This is the 1st picture (Pictures rendered with Brazil Public Test Version)

http://picserver.student.utwente.nl/getpicture.php?id=14178

for the 2nd picture, I added slight raytrace (Max´s) reflection to the main body. It reflects the enviroment map, but I cannot get it blurred enough (played with some settings). That sharpnes makes the mesh look somehow corrupt:

http://picserver.student.utwente.nl/getpicture.php?id=14180

Any tips on the above mentioned and on getting a better non-polished metal look will be greately appreciated.

I almost forgot! What is the best way to put the "titles" on the buttons and on the main body? is it wise to make flat boxes, texture them with the text and an opacity map, make them not to cast shadows and place them very close to the surface of the body?. I tried this, and seems to work fine on the Max´s scanline, but in Brazil I get fuzzy textures.

These are many questions!. I am not expecting a full answer, just some tips on any subject that you want to.
Marcel
09-08-2002, 05:48 PM
Looking good already!

I agree with you about the booleans, they can become quite messy, especially with the curved surfaces you have in your Stereo set.

If I were to build that particular model I would use Subdivisions (Meshsmooth), maybe with some help of freeform deformations.
I'd build the lowres mesh cage first, being totally flat. When that cage is finished I'd try to bend it with some FFD and tweak it afterwards. The subdivisions would allow me to add tiny bevels on all the edges, very important for photorealism.

For the unpolished metals you should try to blur the reflections. It probably takes ages to render, but that would look very good. The big knob probably has a anisotropic shader on it.
To make the reflections a bit more appealing, you could add some more black in your enviroment (maybe a gradient from white to black). You could also add some whitecards: white planes with a very bright material on it (use a white to white gradient in diffuse slot with output->rgb level set to 8 for example).

I'd use a simple planar mapping for the textures. Select all objects and place a planar mapping on them (all at once) Tweak the map and render from the front viewport. Use that template to place the texts in Photoshop. That way you don't wast time creating dozens of textures for every button, you can do it all in one file.

When you are making a final render try to get rid of the very dark shadows between the set an the speakers. A fill light shining up would probably fix that.

Well, hope this helped a bit, good luck! :)

Oh yeah, I made a stereo set once (also a Sony), I had a lot of problems making the LCD screen look good (it was very blurry). Back then I didn't know I had to use supersampling to get the screen sharp enough. Probably no problem with Brazil...

Here, I looked up my stereo model :)

http://members.rott.chello.nl/mvijfwinkel/stereo.jpg
TNTJack
09-09-2002, 01:28 AM
Thanks for your help!.

I will try texturing it like you said, and I will post any updates.

PS your model is cool:thumbsup:
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