Thessa Vu - Assignment 4 - Serial Slicing Creature

 Inspiration 

    I decided to base my creature on a variety of animals. The basic anatomy of my creature is that of a human. I wanted to add aspects of feathered creatures because I liked the flowy and graceful look, so I made it into the hair of my creature. I also added antlers to incorporate aspects of a deer into it. I decided to give my creature a tree theme, so the antlers are made of wood and the feathers are colored like leaves. The face of the creature is not based on anything, but I wanted to give it a minimal look. The eyes are just dots to make the creature look mysterious and otherworldly.

References

Concept

Process

    

    For modeling my creature, I first started by making the base. I created an oval shaped cylinder and then used the fillet tool to round off the top for the shoulders. Then, I created a cylinder for the neck. After, I created a sphere using the subD tool and modeled the head. As I worked on the head, I used the mirror tool to make sure that both sides were equal. After I finished creating the shapes I wanted, I used the Boolean join tool to combine all the pieces together. I also used the subD and mirror tool to create the antlers. After I sliced the image, I extruded everything and used the change layer tool to move each item that would have its own material assigned to it onto different layers.

    As I was modeling my project, I had an easy time using the subD tool with the mirror tool. It allowed me to form the shapes that I wanted easily. However, I had a problem turning the model into a solid object after I was finished with it. After I Boolean differenced out the rods and sliced the image, the rods did not go all the way through. So in the end, I laser cut all the pieces and put the head together without the use of the rods. Also, there was a lot of small pieces created but the tips of the antlers when modeling. So after laser cutting, I decided to just leave out all the small pieces and make the antlers short.

Rhino - Ghosted - Layers

Rendering

    In keyshot, the main body of my model was assigned the material of rough maple wood. The antlers were given the material black walnut wood and the leaves were given green satin cloth. I used these materials to keep the tree theme of my creature.

Keyshot - 2D

Keyshot - Orthographic

Keyshot - Environment 1

Keyshot - Environment 2

Fabrication

    For my physical model, I laser cut the base of the cardboard at the machine shop. Then I combined every layer together with two dowel rods and glued it all together. The antler cardboard pieces had too many little pieces, so I decided to leave a lot of it out and ended up making it a lot shorter than in the rendered model. I used newspaper, flour, and water to paper mache the outer layer. I then painted the outside with acrylic paint. I decided to use white as the main color to keep the design simple and to allow for the leaves to stand out. After painting, I glued all the leaves onto the head and painted on the eyes.

Physical Model

Physical Model - Orthographic

Physical Model - 2D

Thessa Vu - Assignment 3 - Makercase Lamp

 Inspiration

    My lamp was inspired by the traditional Japanese shoji lamps as well as the traditional Japanese brush paintings. Two sides of my lamp have simple line works to allow for the light to shine through. The other two sides I got inspiration from koi fish and bamboo paintings. Those sides are more focused on the image and the overall aesthetic.

References

Design Sketch

Process

    After importing the base of the lamp into rhino, I used the rectangle tool and trim tool to draw the inner cuts. For the bamboo and the koi fish designs, I used the polyline tool to draw them out and adjusted them using their curve points. As I was putting together the 3D model, I used the extrusion tool for the sides and the move tool to make sure they lined up correctly. For the wire, I drew a few circles and then used the polyline tool to draw the initial shape. Then i used the revolve tool to create the actual wire. Towards the end, I used the linear dimensions tool a few times to make sure everything was lined up properly.

3D Model - Layers

3D Model - Naked Edges

3D Model - Orthographic

Laser Cut

Materials

    In Keyshot, I assigned the material oak wood to the main parts of the lamp. The wire is made of a black plastic and the lightbulb is an area light. I added thin panels behind each the the sides and assigned it the material frosted white glass as a way to allow for light to shine through an opaque surface. For the lighting, I added two pin lights, one white and one yellow. I put both lights above the scene on both sides to make the scene look slightly lit and allow for the lamp to cast a shadow onto the ground.

Keyshot - Orthographic

Keyshot - Environment

Keyshot - Environment (Closer)

Keyshot - Close Ups

    For my physical model, the whole lamp is made out of MDF. It turned out darker than the keyshot image because I used a dark brown gel stain to cover up the burn marks. The opaque inner sides of my lamp that were assigned the material frosted white glass in keyshot are made of vellum paper. I decided to take pictures of my lamp in both a bright setting and a dark setting. In the bright setting, I wanted people to be able to see the designs made out of the vector engravings while in the darker setting, I wanted the effects of the light to be seen through the cutouts.

Physical Model - Orthographic

Physical Model - Darker Environment

Physical Model - Environment

Physical Model - Close Ups

Thessa Vu - Assignment 2 - Adornment

 

Inspiration

    I chose to make part of a costume based off the character named Venti from the game Genshin Impact. On the bottom left of his belt, Venti wears his "vision" which is what I chose to base my model off of. For the majority of it, I kept the key components like the center and the feathers; however, I added a few details like the keychain and the stripes of the wing.

Reference Images

Concept and Design

Process

    At the start of making my model, I used the polyline, square, and circle tools to create the base sketch of my model. After, I extruded the parts and used boolean difference to add the details. For the holes on the wing, I used the array tool before I used boolean difference. I used the extract isocurve tool to add the extra detail for the top of the wing and fix the placement of the keychain holes. I also used the fillet and chamfer tools to get rid of some of the hard edges like around the center piece and the sides of the stripes on the wing. Throughout the process, I used the linear dimensions tool to check my measurements.

Rhino Ghosted - Layers

Rhino Ghosted - Naked Edges

Rhino Ghosted - Orthographic

Materials

    In keyshot, I made the clear part of my model out of glass and the basis of the brooch out of brass with the texture called herringbone. The feathers at the bottom are made of a shiny blue translucent plastic. I added in the small blue and black parts and made those out of plastic as well. I also added an object behind the front part and made it into an emissive white light to make the model look like it glows. All my choices of material were to make it look like the original from the game. In the environment, I added pin lights to make the center part look shiny and adjusted everything to balance the light and shadow areas. I also adjusted the lights like this for the model shown being worn.

    

Keyshot Orthographic

Keyshot Worn

Keyshot Closeups

    For my actual 3D model, I made the base out of plastic and painted it a brass color. To add the glow of the center, I used glow in the dark paint and painted inside the center piece and the feathers. I used resin to fill in the center as a substitute for the glass as in the keyshot rendering. The chain and clasp, both of which were bought from Michaels, are made of iron. I took pictures of my 3D model in a well-lit room and edited the lighting afterwards to make it easier to see.

3D Model Orthographic

3D Model Worn

3D Model Worn Closeup

3D Model Closeups

3D Model Glow

Thessa Vu - Assignment 1 - Castle

Inspiration
My castle was inspired by the old castles and cathedrals of Europe. Along with the basic grouped together building look, I tried to incorporate parts of the architecture like the spires and the window placements. Although I incorporated the old stone look, I did give it more of a bright, fantasy-like appearance rather than the grand, historic appearance as in the references.

Castle Reference

Cathedral Reference

Process
For my model, I first started off by building the base and basic castle shape using the box, cylinder, and pyramid tools. After placing the shapes where I wanted them and being satisfied with the overall composition, I started to add the details. I created a small rectangle for the windows and used the linear array tool to multiply it. I then used the Boolean difference tool to cut out the rectangular shapes from the walls of the castle. For the smaller details like the flags, I used the line and shape tools to draw out the shapes. After, I trimmed the unnecessary parts, joined the open curves into one closed curve, then extruded it. I copied and pasted these parts and put them where they were needed until I finished the model.

Ghosted - Naked Edges

Ghosted - Layers

Materials
For my model, I used a total of seven materials. The walls of the castle are made of a white translucent ceramic material with the addition of a downloaded brick texture to give it the old European architecture feeling. For the roof, stairs, fountain, and outer walls of the castle, I used two multi-layer optics materials, one being the low-pass filter 500nm and the other the high-pass filter 750nm. Because there were no leaf related materials, I used the sponge material for the foliage and colored it green, and the dirt underneath the foliage is made of old wood planks. For the base of the whole castle, I applied the champagne fizz paint material and finished it off by using a white leather material for the flags. Overall, I tried to give my castle an aesthetic design rather than a realistic one. I applied mostly blue lighting around the model and added tints of pink and yellow for a bright and happy tone for the piece.

Ghosted

Bird's Eye View

Pedestrian View