Monthly Items

I haven't done any of the small items for months, the last were done in May. So this time I have finished the two just in time. So here are some renderings of the beaker and the tube.

I haven't used a high number of segments for both, for the beaker it would at least be possible. For the tube I have tried to use more segments, but the changes done after the rotational constructor then don't work correctly any longer. Perhaps I will look into that problem.

The reddish group of books is the new object inserted multiple times.

Yesterday I modeled the next book, so I make it to create the two objects (although it feels a bit like cheating).

I didn't even create a cover image this time. So they look a bit bland. I fear it will take a lot of additional books to fill the shelf, using the same three books multiple times won't look good.

The light green books are the new object.

I fear I will not make it to create two objects this month again. But at least the book seems to work now, perhaps I will create a second one tomorrow. The pages still need a better shader, though.

I also have to find a good way to combine multiple books into groups. It still makes sense so I can fill a shelf much faster. The idea to model them as a group was not good, I think. I will try to combine the books with the CSG-operator. There is a small feature I have to add, the uv-maps are currently merged and I think I should add code so they are shrunk and put side by side.

Today I created a simple (very simple) texture and put the group of books into the book shelf. It still looks very empty, but at least some object is in it now.

For the next stack I have to be a bit more careful with the geometry. The books can't be separated, they look like one big block. If the angle is slightly from the top, it is better, though.

Oh, in case somebody wonders, what the title of the books is, the "words" are just some random lines I did with a pen. So they won't make sense (and are probably not readable in any language. I hope).

I didn't count the last images as monthly items. So this one is the real first item for April, I modeled a book shelf. Currently it is still empty, the books will be interesting to model. I will try to create bigger blocks of books so it is easier to fill the shelf.

I will try to model the books next, but have no clue yet how long it will take. But I think this model is already nice, some books and perhaps some other little items and it might be quite pretty in the background of some scene.

Two sockets side by side

As an addendum to last months monthly items, here are the respective modes with a dual frame. One combines two sockets, the other a light switch with a socket.

A light switch atop a socket.

For the dual socket I had to do the fixes in the CSG difference modifier. But now it hopefully works correctly. I think both look quite nice.

Socket

I have finally rendered some images of the switch and the socket. The socket didn't come out too good, it is not easy to light it well, it seems (and the light setup was done in a hurry).

Light Switch

I have only used the single frame, I will soon post an image with the dual frame being used to combine switch and socket. I think the objects are quite nice.

So this month I managed to finally post them. So at least in March I have created my small objects, though the geometry has been finished for a very long time.

Nearly didn't make it this month. I had some problems with my netbook (spilled some liquid over it on Friday, I still have to clean the keyboard, I was just too frustrated to do it today) I use for modeling. But I still managed to finish this wall clock. The wall is a bit dark or rather the exposure is not correct (slowly my models behave more like reality, so I should use my photography skills).

I think it came out very well. There are still some problems with the clear cover you can see in the image to the right. Where the surface has a vertex there is some disturbing reflection. I think I have to do a bigger change to fix that, I think the best way would be, if the object wasn't a polyhedron at all. I should directly render the object as a rotation surface made from a spline. That way there would not be any hard edge.

But I think I get much better at modeling and defining materials. Both images are linked to bigger versions.

As I was finally able to render the cabinet, so I can show the images. This object was quite complex and might be classified as medium complexity. It uncovered a lot of problems and was the reason for quite some additions.

The materials are still very bad, they are mostly stand ins. I changed the Phong shader to handle the ambient part similar to the Ward BRDF so the problems to use both together get a bit smaller.

As I wrote some days ago, I think my shaders are not good, that is an area I have to do something about. I could in theory use my wood shader, but that too isn't very good. Additionally I couldn't handle the look in this case. The doors are big enough that in reality they wouldn't be covered by one piece of veneer, but by multiple. And that is something I can't do yet.

Finally I need some way to help in controlling the movement of the doors and the drawers. Currently I can turn the doors in every direction as far as I want. I can also move them, the same with the drawers. I would like to be able to constrain the movements, e.g. to the rotation around one axis and only between two fixed angles. I hope to find some time to add something simple like this soon.

Today I have found and fixed the problem with the raytracer and the arrangement object. It was again some problem with transformations, the big changes I have made to the raytracer are still buggy. But slowly I get all the problems, I hope and then the results should be correct. The main problem is, that the old code was completely inconsistent and so the changed code often still suffers from that.

So here is the simple garden wall (or perhaps better fence). Nothing big again, but hopefully of use. The pillars are perhaps a bit too wide. But I think I will leave them as they are.

So I at least will post the spoon today. The other model (the garden wall) uncovered a bug in the raytracer (yet again). I think, I will have to change the object a bit, the part where the head ends is not very good.

But at least it looks like a spoon and it should also be useful in scenes in the future.

And finally I have also fixed the problem with the groups. So I can also show the image with the tea cups and their spoons.

So here the tea spoon is the new object. I am still missing a pastry fork and a tea pot. Also the sugar bowl is not completely finished and I would have to model a piece of cake, but then these object would also fit into a scene quite well, I would hope.

I think the tea spoon might need a bit more work, it looks quite flat at the back and very thin.

Together with the transparency I seem to also have fixed the refractive media. I am not entirely happy with the way the glass is rendered though.

Here the new objects are the lamp, the knife and the glass. You can also see the changed chair. I think I slowly get a nice collection of objects. If I would add a wall with a nice window in the background and some nice shaders especially for the floor, the image would look quite nice overall.

The images with the transparency I promised yesterday. When I remember correctly there are something like 900 holes in the image.

I think I haven't even posted the pin before. The pen holder was modeled in August, together with the texture. The ball point pen is from October with some changes from the last few days.

I finished the chair I had been working on. I also changed the proportions which were wrong. I think it looks ok, at least good enough to use in scenes in the background. I didn't apply any materials today, there is a small issue I would finally like to solve. Currently all the materials are owned by only one object and so if I wanted to change the color of the chair I would need to change 10 objects. Nine of them will nearly always have the same color, only the seat might be different. I want a way to set all the nine objects to use the same material.

I also consider to make a small change to the chair. The top piece doesn't fully fit and is looking strange. I think I will cut away a piece of the two bent bars of the back and put the top piece into them, so that it matches them, creating a level surface.

I used the parallelized raytracer for the image and it is cool how fast it is now. The image is rendered practically instantaneous. Very nice.