Chloe Ferris: Week 5 Free Model

I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to create for my free model. I had so many different ideas, but I started to think up models that were getting too complicated for the size and scope of the project. I wanted to narrow it down and create something that would print well and be something that I could carry around with me. I decided on making a pendant that represented Orion, which is one of my favorite constellations. For the design, I focused on the main stars that make up Orion, and referenced the simplified symbols of Orion to come up with a simple design that would still be recognizable as The Hunter. I chose to focus on the three stars that make up his belt as my focal point, and the 4 outer stars that make up a rectangular/hourglass pattern around it.

Reference 1 - Orion, The Hunter constellation

Reference 2 - A Symbol for Orion

Reference 3 - Another Symbol for Orion

I made the model of the pendant in Maya, because I am more comfortable with that program. I created a large cylinder shape for the base, extruded it out, and deleted the middle part in order to make a ring. I also extruded the top faces downwards, to make an indent on the front face of the ring. The three stars in the middle are cylinders that are connected to the ring with a thin rectangle going through their middles, which I am hoping will come out okay in the print. I included a ring on the top, so I can attach it later to a keyring. After rounding off all the edges, I imported the model into Rhino in order to size it appropriately and check that all of the edges were okay.

Ghosted View

Layout Composition

For the lighting, I imagined the pendant as if it was a piece of jewelry, created out of fine, shiny metal. If the plastic print comes out well, then I would want to send this model off to be printed in metal, so I wanted to get an idea of how it would look. Plus, the reflective quality of the metal goes well with the curved forms of the pendant. I bumped up the intensity of the environment lights to show this off better.

Final Render 1

Final Render 2

The 3D print came out extremely well. The detailed parts I was worried about, like the indent on the face and the bar holding the 3 center stars came out just fine, and there are no real jagged areas or support materials that got stuck. All of the edges are crisp and nice. Since this came out so well, I would be confident in making it about half as thing, which was actually my original plan with the model, until I got worried about the strength of the plastic and the printer's build capabilities.

Final 3D Print

Here is a breakdown of how my time was spent on this project:
Week 5: Idea formation and planning
Week 6: Start and complete model
Week 7: Printing