In this lesson we practiced more 3D modelling in class by modelling a cup with a straw and a vase with a flower in it. The main new tool of this lesson was learning how to use Bezier curves in order to create things such as straws and stems.
I feel that I’m becoming much faster at modelling in blender compared to how I was when modelling the skateboard and pullcart as I was able to finish all of the modelling for this classwork during class. When creating the coffee cup I found most of the modelling quite simple and enjoyed learning how use Bezier curves to create the straw as it is far easier than trying to extrude a solid shape into a curve and makes the final mesh look far smoother. I also found the proportional editing tool to be very useful when creating the appearance of something organic such as water.
When it came to applying colour, I had the idea of making the cup be filled with blood as if it is a kind of drink brand for vampires which sells blood instead of coffee. As I wanted to have a label on the cup I found a video which informed me on how to add textures to an object using uv smart unwrap.
I designed my own logo for the label in Clip Studio Paint and then used it as an image texture. I also found a blood texture online and used it for the drink inside the cup. I then made a simple background with an extruded plane and a red light.
The vase, similarly to the cup, was also quite easy to model, however I struggled slightly at first to get the instances of the petal to move in the way I wanted them to. I also decided to texture this model using the same method that I did for the cup, but with more realistic textures which I found online.
When it came time to model the zubat I was feeling far more confident in being able to model it However I did struggle a bit in using the knife tool to cut out the mouth as I find it very disruptive and tedious to have to problem solve how to get rid of the ngons and triangles that it creates in the topology while also trying to preserve the loops of quads to make selecting things easier. I found the rest of the body quite easy to model especially with the use of the proportional editing tool. For modelling the wings, despite disliking the knife tool I found it far less tedious when using it to cut the wing out of a plane as I was able to create my own face loops. I also found it helpful that you can convert lone edges into curves to have much better control over their shape for making the ‘bones’ of the wings. I also found animating the zubat to be quite easy as I feel I am getting more accustomed to how animating in blender works. I also appreciate the feature that allows you to cycle a specific animation.
For the background I decided to try to create a cave environment using the uv smart unwrap to apply a cave texture to a plane. To make it more convincing and dynamic I then modelled a rock and a stalactite which I then exported as .stl files to import into my scene where I could unwrap and texture them. I find that one of my favourite parts of making a model or project in blender so far is creating the surrounding environment and staging everything for the final render.
