Making Improvements To My Asset –
To show further development to my asset, I decided to remove the original barrel of the gun that I had created in the first model, and replaced this with an improved barrel that took more detail. There were more objects used in the second barrel whilst also using the boolean tool to create holes within it to increase the level of detail.
The next thing I set to improve was the sights on the rifle. The original one did not seem to be very realistic and looked largely out of proportion to the rest of the weapon, due to this I removed the original sights and replaced it with one that I thought was a better fit to the gun’s look.
In the picture above it is noticeable that I also included a new material. This material was created to replicate that of a very translucent and shiny surface. I did this by using the ‘blinn’ material and increasing the transparency property to a higher value, whilst also increasing the specular roll off for an extra shine. I lowered the Eccentricity down to a value of 0 to make sure that the reflection that came from the material was sharp.
The last thing I did to extend this model, was to create a better lighting, one that was not as harsh and directional as seen in the first project. To do this, I set up an arnold skydome. This was great to producing a light that covered all parts of the weapon. I set the intensity up high to bring out the colours of the materials that I had selected in the Hypershader, especially the shiny surface of the ‘blinn’ material I had set for the dark grey metal parts of the weapon. However, after adjusting the skydome, I had no bottom surface to cast a subtle shadow on. After creating a floor wiht rounded corners to create a forever effect, I then had to adjust the skydome lights again to make sure that the shadow that was being casted onto the fllow wasnt as sharp as the previous one.
In the end I really dimmed the intensity down to a point where the shadows are only just noticable to give the effect that there is a floor and not just a grey backdrop.
I think that the lighting in the current project is a large improvement on the first project as the contrast between the darker parts of the gun and the brightness of the sight’s glass-like material add a huge amount of contrast to the final render, increasing its ability to look like a real-life object.
Ash's Blog 