This is a wip for a pen. The first part is how I made my entry for SMC 49.
My entry for the SMC is shown here and how I made it follows.
Writing Instrument
-
Finis
- Captain
- Posts: 5410
- Joined: 21 May 2009, 18:26
- Type the number ten into the box: 0
- Location: America!
Writing Instrument
- Attachments
-
Last edited by Finis on 22 Sep 2009, 03:13, edited 1 time in total.
I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful servitude. -- Thomas Jefferson/Jean Jacques Rousseau
-
Finis
- Captain
- Posts: 5410
- Joined: 21 May 2009, 18:26
- Type the number ten into the box: 0
- Location: America!
Re: Writing Instrument
The main feature of the pen is the tapered spiral tube.
My goal was to make a circle of circles and sweep that into the tube shape.
First I made a 2D regular polygon. Then I made a radial array of them. Even though these are 2D shapes the sweep tool did not work on them.
I converted the radial array to a group object. That would sweep but attempts to shrink or rotate a floor of the sweep (to taper and spiral the tube) changed each circle rather than the whole group. So I ungrouped the cirlcles and unioned (boolean add) them into one shape. Surprise! The single shape acted like it was still composed of separate circles! Rotate still turned each circle instead of the whole floor on a sweep.
Time for work. More later.
My goal was to make a circle of circles and sweep that into the tube shape.
First I made a 2D regular polygon. Then I made a radial array of them. Even though these are 2D shapes the sweep tool did not work on them.
I converted the radial array to a group object. That would sweep but attempts to shrink or rotate a floor of the sweep (to taper and spiral the tube) changed each circle rather than the whole group. So I ungrouped the cirlcles and unioned (boolean add) them into one shape. Surprise! The single shape acted like it was still composed of separate circles! Rotate still turned each circle instead of the whole floor on a sweep.
Time for work. More later.
- Attachments
-
- WIP_RadArray.jpg (6.83 KiB) Viewed 3361 times
I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful servitude. -- Thomas Jefferson/Jean Jacques Rousseau
-
Finis
- Captain
- Posts: 5410
- Joined: 21 May 2009, 18:26
- Type the number ten into the box: 0
- Location: America!
Re: Writing Instrument
To make the tube I made one 2D regular polygon and a radial array of them. Then I used the array in top view as a guide to place floors during a sweep of the regular polygon. That gave the spiral and moving the middle floor inward gave the taper. Then I made a radial array of these shapes. I resized that to give the right proportions.
The ball is a geosphere.
The other pen parts are made from cylinders which I rounded and made into a truncated cone using the primitive panels. Right click on the primitive icon after making one to get these panels.
Then I point edited one cylinder to create the clip and the cone to add non-tapered section.
Lighting is HDRI light using the kitchen image for general fill and two spot lights. One lighting the pens from the front and one from the back. Only the the back light casts shadows.
The ball is a geosphere.
The other pen parts are made from cylinders which I rounded and made into a truncated cone using the primitive panels. Right click on the primitive icon after making one to get these panels.
Then I point edited one cylinder to create the clip and the cone to add non-tapered section.
Lighting is HDRI light using the kitchen image for general fill and two spot lights. One lighting the pens from the front and one from the back. Only the the back light casts shadows.
- Attachments
-
-
-
Last edited by Finis on 27 Sep 2009, 19:05, edited 2 times in total.
I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful servitude. -- Thomas Jefferson/Jean Jacques Rousseau
-
Finis
- Captain
- Posts: 5410
- Joined: 21 May 2009, 18:26
- Type the number ten into the box: 0
- Location: America!
Re: Writing Instrument
This is a render with Virtualight.
- Attachments
-
I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful servitude. -- Thomas Jefferson/Jean Jacques Rousseau
-
tahnoak
- Master Chief Petty Officer
- Posts: 339
- Joined: 02 Sep 2009, 01:31
Re: Writing Instrument
Nice work Finis. Thanks for sharing how it was done. Almost like a mini-tutorial 