Bryce: 3D Model Using Symmetrical Lattice

We have used the Symmetrical Lattice tool to build a 3D logo, but we haven't yet tried to build an object to be used in a full scene.  For example, if I wanted to create a graveyard for a Halloween scene, I could make gravestone blocks or even crosses, but what if I wanted more detail?  I could create a "bump map" (a square image where black is the lowest elevation and white is the highest) just as we did with our City Scene.

Here are some examples:

If you're looking for even more detail, you can create a painting in Photoshop such as this:

We are going to use these techniques to build a sword from separate pieces.  For example:

I will use this as the guard at the top of my sword handle.  Notice the gradient so the white part will be thicker and the darker gray will be thinner.  It helps add to the 3D effect.  I could also add decoration (i.e. text) if I wanted to.

The blade is pretty much just drawn and then a Guassian Blur is applied to soften the edges.  While common sense says a "sharper" edge would make a sharper blade, the blur gives the edge a gradiant effect, thereby making the edge thinner (or sharper).  Notice the random gray symbols which I can use as engraved characters.

We would still have to create a handle, align things properly, and group them, but you can see that the majority of the work is done now.

Sculptris: Sea Creature

Today we are going to be using Sculptris to create a "Sea Creature" -- or some other thing that we can put into our "Under Water Scene" when we get to Bryce.  There's really no right or wrong way to do this assignment (other than, "Oh, look... it's a bubble."), so get creative.

You can see from the examples below that there were several different approaches to this project -- some went for real creatures and some went for fanciful.  Notice the first picture in the set has an underwater background.  That is achievable by changing your background picture in Sculptris.

 

A student designed the following creepy creature in Sculptris...

Then put it in an under water scene in Bryce (another 3D program) later on.

IMPORTANT: I suggest saving regularly as Sculptris has a tendency to crash.  To do so, simply click the SAVE button (or do a CTRL+S) and save it to your Thawspace.  This will save it as a Sculpture file (.sc1).

When finished with your model, I would also like you to Export the file as an Object which we can use in other programs (such as Bryce).  To do so, simply click the EXPORT OBJ button (or do a CTRL+E) and save it to your Thawspace.  This will save it as a Wavefront (.obj) file.

Finally, I would like you to save an image of your file to include on your Blog Portfolio and your deviantART page.  Simply go to OPTIONS and then click on SAVE IMAGE and save it to your Thawspace.  This will save it as a PNG file.

So for each project you should have an SC1, an OBJ and a PNG file.

Sculptris: Head Design

In our last assignment we used a program called Sculptris to create a water creature which we will be importing into an underwater scene in Bryce later on.  Today we are going to continue exploring Sculptris by creating a 3D head.

Although we learned the basics of drawing a human head/face, we don't HAVE to make our creations human.  Be creative.

In these examples (right) I created an alien, a human, and an elf-like head.

Remember to:

• Save the Sculptris file to your folder.
• Save the image (PNG or JPG) file to your folder
• Click OPTIONS > SAVE IMAGE
• Upload your PNG/JPG file to your Blogger

Additional Examples Available