3D Crates

This week we have been modelling crates in 3D class, here is the result of Wednesday’s workshop.

Medieval

The medieval theme is characterized by organic shapes and forms, even geometric forms would have an organic feel to them due to the crude tools that would be available in the world. Using sharp clean lines and geometric forms would take away from the historical illusion. Textures used in this theme are mostly metal, wood, stone and cloth. 

Skyrim is an excellent example of this theme, mainly due to the textures and shapes that are used. Even if the buildings look man-made lines and shapes make them appear somewhat organic, as if the world is built from what nature provides.

 

Another example is the first Assassin’s creed game, although it is not the typical western European medieval environments, the developers have done their research and used shapes and textures while referencing real history. Similar to Skyrim the shapes and lines are somewhat organic and much of the style is provided by the earthy, organic textures.

I was aiming for a simple wooden chest with metal reinforcements, adding details to make it seem like it would fit into the medieval theme. As far as the shape goes I feel that it is perhaps not typically medieval but considering this was my first real creation in 3Ds Max I am quite happy with the result.

I had an image that I used for inspiration but I did not really feel as if I could clearly picture what to do and this first one felt a bit as a trial run. Also I think that much of the medieval theme will be accomplished by the use of textures as I feel that material is essential to this theme. 

What I feel that I probably failed to accomplish was to make it look more organic, all lines are very crisp and the edges are straight so that is something that I should work on but I think I need a bit more practice with the program to do so.

Urban contemporary

This theme would be made up from a lot of geometric shapes, almost all elements man-made, values can range from high to low key and textures can be made from a ton of different materials, usually a bit worn down and dirty.

GTA is a good example that I took inspiration from when creating my dumpster, it is in the middle of a city, not the fancy blocks but worn down and gritty.

 

Need for Speed is another good example, where high key neon-lights is placed in a low key city environment built of geometric shapes.

I wanted to try and make something different from a typical crate so I took inspiration from GTA and created a dumpster, I decided to make mine a bit simpler than the one I referenced, maintaining clean, sharp, geometric shapes to make it fit in the theme. 

When I get more experienced with the program I could probably do more details to it but I wanted to try and make something that had just the information needed for the silhouette and be put right into a game and I feel that I accomplished that.

Sci-Fi

In this theme you will find clean lines, geometric, but often rounded, and streamlined shapes. The colour schemes are usually blue, sometimes purple, and the textures used plastic and metal looking materials.

The Mass Effect Series is a typical game from this theme, the shapes, textures and colours used, create a world that looks futuristic and outerworldly.

Star Wars the Old Republic is another example, again the shapes, textures and colours makes the environments look as if you are in another world.

I was aiming to find the shapes that you see in Mass Effect and Star wars, when creating my crate. The first version was a bit too simple though as it was not instantly obvious what theme it fit into, so I decided to add a bunch of details, unnecessasy to function really after listerning to my teacher saying that Sci-Fi is a genre that really suffers from the Z-brush-syndrome.

 I am very happy with the end result and I feel like I got better with each crate produced. It is pretty much exactly what I was aiming for and I felt this was probably the easiest one since I had a clear image in mind of what to create.

As a beginner I do not really see any negative points to this exercise, as I have studied Life Drawing, I have learnt that everything is made from boxes and cylinders. By doing this exercise we got to learn how to manipulate these shapes and although I will need tons and tons of practice, I feel this exercise went through the basics tools that can be used to manipulate boxes and cylinders into anything.

Using a theme was also very useful as it forced you to think of the Elements of Art, what shapes would I need to accomplish a certain theme? It also made it easier to form a clear image in my head of what to create, which I think is one of the most powerful tools when creating 3D, or art in general.

I felt as if I did better and better for each crate although I still have a long way to go. All in all I am happy with what I have created but I still think that the medieval one could use some more work. The urban one also looks a bit plain after doing the Sci-Fi one but I think that is a stylistic choice that I feel fits the theme.