Day 3 - Mesh Modeling Deep Dive

Today we’ll talk about creating a backstory for an art piece, and also a bit about color theory.

Reminder:

• Assignment 1 - How Did The Artist Convey The Message? and Assignment 2 - Primitive Modeling were due at the start of class today (Wednesday).

• Assignment 3 - Mesh Modeling a Rocket is due tomorrow (Thursday) at 8:30 am.

• A new assignment, Assignment 4 - Backstory, is due in two days (Friday) at 8:30 am.

• A new assignment, Assignment 5 - Low Poly Bedroom, is due next week, Tuesday, at 8:30 am.

Telling a Story

In Assignment 1 - How Did The Artist Convey The Message? and How did Sintel Use Art to Communicate? we talked about artists can communicate specific messages, and even emotions using art.

Good art can tell an entire story. Let’s practice.

Take a look at this image. Brainstorm some ideas on what the backstory could be here. What happened before this image, to bring it about?

1. First, pick up cues from the image. List those items in the image that hint to a story.

2. Next, list what aspects of a story that could explain why those elements are in the image.

3. Finally, how do those elements fit together?

Image from Amir Hossein Ghasemi 1

Got the idea? Great! Let’s try it again.

Image from Javier Diaz 2

Here is an example of an image, and a story that goes with it.

Image by Marek Denko

Sample Story

James glanced at his watch, quarter to seven, he thought, where does the time go? With a sigh, he extinguished his cigarette and flicked it into the terminal’s ashtray. Leaning on his umbrella for support, James made his way to the windows for a closer look at the metallic bird that would soon carry him to his next home. Carefully, he surveyed the room from the reflection on the glass, but he saw no sign of anyone suspicious. How much longer will they chase? It’s been thirty years. In his prime, James had been a man with the ability to infiltrate buildings with ease. His skill-set was so great that he had been nearly set for life by 24. One last job was all it was going to take. Fifteen minutes in and out, no one around, a lightweight mark, and a fence already set up. Everything went smoothly for the first ten minutes, and then all hell broke loose.

Ten minutes to seven. A voice came over the intercom announcing boarding would begin in five minutes. James hobbled down the row of windows, taking notice of an older woman sitting in the seats. Being careful to keep his full face from view, he caught her reflection in the glass, that’s odd… She seems almost familiar. Cautiously, James turned back to the planes, five more minutes and he would be boarded. Off to the next country to pick up a cache and go into hiding once more. As he reached up to adjust his hat, he heard a click and a soft voice speaking behind him, “It’s been a long while, James.”

See Assignment 4 - Backstory where you’ll create your own backstory to an image.

Technical

Fonts

Before we talk about color, let’s talk about the difference between serif and sans serif.

Talk about color and text. Note text of news sites like:

• Washington Post

• Fox News

• Wall Street Journal

• New York Times

Always, white text on black, or black on white. Avoid colored backgrounds or text.

Color Theory

• Talk about color theory.

• Talk about creating color schemes. Look at Adobe Kuler.

Understanding Polygon Count

Polygons:

• What is a triangle?

• A quad?

• An n-gon?

• How to see polygon/vertex count

Advanced Mesh Modeling Tutorial Videos

Some of the videos uses a chair. To follow along, download the chair here and open in Blender. I highly recommend trying out the concepts demonstrated. Just watching rarely builds the needed skills.

I’ve rated each video on importance, high or low.

Pre-Modeling Basics

• Edit Mode Selection and Deleting (9 min - high)

• Object and Mesh Data (8 min - high)

• Transform Orientations (10 min - high)

• The Normal Direction (8 min - low)

• Gimbal, View, and Cursor Directions (1 min - super low)

• Pivot Points (10 min - med)

• Smooth, Flat, and Custom Normals (6 min - high)

• Mesh Shading and Visibility (7 min - med)

Modeling Basics

• Finding Modeling Methods (10 min - First half high, second low)

• Subdivide (5 min - high first 2/3)

• Loop Cut and Slide (7 min - high)

• Extrude (13 min - high)

• Inset (5 min - med)

• Bevel (4 min - med)

• Knife (9 min - low)

• Fill and Connect (8 min - high for the basic ‘F’ fill, low for the rest)

Optional Advanced Modeling

I don’t recommend watching these, simply because it would take to much time and might be quite fatiguing to watch so much in one day. However, if you are really enjoying learning 3D, I’ve left them in as optional.

• Snapping (9 min)

• Proportional Editing (9 min)

• Advanced Selection (9 min)

• Hiding and local View (9 min)

• Parenting (9 min)

• Subdivision Surfaces (9 min)

Modeling a Low Poly Room

This is the first part of Assignment 5 - Low Poly Bedroom. This assignment has you model a low poly room. Later on, we’ll add lighting and textures to it. Once both parts are done you’ll turn it in. For now, concentrate on the modeling part.

• Modeling a Low Poly Room

1

“Amir Hossein Ghasemi”. Dec 2020. Retrieved 2021-05-04.

2

“Javier Diaz”. Mar 2021. Retrieved 2021-05-04.