Rust makes it better!

Tonight's post is a pretty quick one!
We delivered the prototype for the current show we're working on safe and sound. Once that gets a sign off, were on to a whole bunch of them! Not a lot of tough work to them, but they'll be kinda fun to make.

While we were moving some stuff around to accommodate the build, I found a sample piece I did a couple of years ago, but never got it finished!

Not sure if you remember this from awhile ago, but it was a bit of a time capsule for us!
I decided that there was no point in keeping it if it wasn't going to get finished.
So, we got to work right away making it rusty. Working for film and television allows us to try, try, and try new stuff that we wouldn't normally do. The rust that we use is kind of something that we were forced into in a pinch. We were dealing with a super short deadline a long time ago and had ordered the waterbased paint that rusts with an activator applied to it. No big deal, as you can order it easy enough. BUT.....when we needed the commercially available stuff right away, it got held up in customs....for a week! This led to improvising in a pinch. Knowing how the rust paint is made, we decided to duplicate it as best we could.
This led us to painting the part with a dark grey latex paint, then dusting the surface with iron powder that we already had lots of. We could have put it in the paint, but we decided to go right to the surface to save powder, and time. We learned alot on that job, and decided to apply the exact same thing to our newly found piece!

We sculpted some barnacles to add to the look, although I don't think barnacles are around where the Titanic lies, but it's kinda fun! while the piece was hiding for 2 years, it developed a nasty warp to it, which makes it look even better now!

Tomorrow I start modelling a cartoon F1 car for Grand Prix Montreal. So far we've only been asked to model it, but who knows, maybe we'll get to build it for real!
8)
JO

Texture Panel 2

I thought that one of the panels should have a curve to it, it would be a little more interesting than just a flat panel. Back to the very important 2 rail sweep function. Just like always, we need 2 drive "rails" and 1 cross section that we want to drive down the "rails" You can see in the picture below, the pink dotted lines I will use to create the new component and its results.

Once that shape was complete, I just selected the vector outline of the textured panel I created earlier. Hit the "clear area outside vectors" and now my original panel shape has the new curved surface!

I also decided a perfect rectangle panel was a little boring, so I adjusted the rectangle borders to make them all wavy. It would have been easier to just draw them this way  in the beginning, but Aspire is so flexible and quick, you can manipulate the individual parts at anytime. This keeps the creativity flowing by allowing you to design by the seat of your pants.

 I also liked the idea of having more rivets looking like they were holding the seams together. Instead of drawing new vector outlines and adding a dome shape, I just select 1 rivet from the rail, and copied it 3 times to the new location. You can see the results of all the parts coming together very quickly. It still needs some more interesting stuff though. I know.............maybe a punched out, raggedy hole.

Another job for the 2 rail sweep! 2 offset ovals and a cross section later, I have the underlying shape for my hole. I also drew raggedy outline of what the hole opening would look like. Clear the component inside the raggedy outline, and there you have it.

 Now to identify what this panel might be. I came up with some text, and added a prism effect with the create shape tools. Now this piece of metal makes sense.The hole on the left still needed some work, so I used the sculpting tools to add some dents and such.

I think this panel is done. With being able to control every aspect of this design, including how all the components merge/subtract and add, as well as all of there individual heights, The freedom is endless.

Texture panel

In the style of samples I started earlier this week, I have designed a new piece for the production company that I can keep on hand for the shop.
I thought I would make a rusty, beat up metal panel with some interesting components. I started by opening an image of a textured loam wall and converting it to a component. 

I then drew a rectangle and cleared everything ouside it. Next was to duplicate that panel so I would have 2 of them.

I also thought a riveted rail across the bottom would look interesting, so I drew a top and bottom line the height and length of my new rail. Then I drew what the cross section would look like. Using the 2 rail sweep feature, this was done in three easy clicks.

I thought a straight extrusion looked kinda dull after it was made, so I drew 2 new vertical lines at each end of my newly created rail, and drew a wavy cross section. Again I used the 2 rail sweep. Adding this new shape to my first boring rail gives me a whole new shape.

Now to get it all textured, I just turned on the very first textured loam wall shape I had hiding, added my rail I created and now its all textured! A quickly drawn outline around my rail, clearing the texture OUTSIDE my outline, and I've got my exact shape in the texture I need.

Now for the rivet heads. As in the picture, I just drew a circle the diameter of the heads I wanted, and used the create shape tool to make it a dome. All I needed to do then was to draw a line from the centre of  that rivet head to where I wanted the last one to be placed. I copied the object along the line vector, set my number of heads and that's it! Simple stuff. And by ADDING the dome component, it automatically takes on the texture surface of the model your adding it to. If I had just merged it, it would have no texture, as it would behave like an independant surface.

Tomorrows post should wrap up the software end of this sample, then on to painting it!





JO