WebCam

[Surrealist.]

A web cam.

[Surrealist.]

Backside

[Etch]

Very nicely done, great poly flow around the extra stuff on the surface.

[Surrealist.]

Thanks. :)

[Hopper]

REALLY interesting poly flow for the holes on the back. That'll twist yer noodle. Really cool model.

[Surrealist.]

Thanks Hopper.

[THREEL]

Nice job, Richard! :thumbsup:

I even see a 6 poly point. Whew! It looks like it needs to be there though to keep the poly flow proper around those slots.

Could you post an un-subpatched shot of that area, so we can see what it looks like that way? Also, did you start with a primitive and build on that?

tHANX!

AL

[Surrealist.]

Yes. I love breaking rules!!!. Especially the ones I write about!!! :D

Well OK in all seriousness I have mentioned even in my tutorials that you can get away with them on a flat spot. And it is relatively flat so I think it works.

Attached is a a render of that area.

I started out by lathing the profile. I used 20 sides because I knew I was going to cut in and model the power light and the other small holes. I knew that the polyflow would be a problem for this and that a more dense subdivision of the disc would be the solution to keep the thing tighter. Here it is just a matter of finding a balance and also of choosing a number that would help me with the next step which was to break it apart into three pieces.

I was going to do a tutorial on it but I ran out of time.

But that is how I started it.

[Steamthrower]

It's almost a shame that the real-life webcam doesn't show your poly flow. They're intricate to say the least. Maybe one day my polygons will be as pretty as yours...:D

[Surrealist.]

It's almost a shame that the real-life webcam doesn't show your poly flow. They're intricate to say the least. Maybe one day my polygons will be as pretty as yours...:D

Thanks.

LOL. I am glad I am not the only one who loves to look at polyflow. I think it makes great art. :)

Intricate as they may seem however it is really just simple stuff that is all in my subpatch tutorial.

[THREEL]

tHANX for the un-subpatched renders, Richard. They really explain a lot. Preplanning can go a long ways in creating a model with good poly flow.

AL

[Surrealist.]

No problem. I learned a few things on this one that I can apply to the next one. Still a lot to learn about modeling for me. Just that I knew a few things to look for on this one because of some other stuff I had done.

[Surrealist.]

First try at a realistic render. I can see a few bumps around the holes I was afraid of. May have to fix that.

[Surrealist.]

A little larger a little more AA.

[JeffrySG]

The cam looks great Richard! And of course the modeling looks great as well, nice flow. Count me in as one more who enjoys looking at great polyflow... geeks we are... geeks I say!

Not sure I like the pattern on the floor of the render. It kind of takes away from the product. Two ides; maybe try a color that is a little more saturated for the floor, and maybe try a little reflection blurring on the floor - I know it will add render time but it might be worth it.

[JeffrySG]

I didn't say it, but I really like the texture on the light plastic/silver portion. I don't know what the real product is like but it might look nice to apply a very subtle bump map to the black portion of the plastic areas - it would help break up the specular highlights a bit.

Also, if this were a real product shot, the wire coming off the back would probably go off in a very nice arc rather than a very wavy fashion. It looks real the way you have it but not very studio photography looking, if that makes sense.?..?

[lightripple]

Pretty nice... I agree about the black.
Also would kill the spec and use reflection and ref blur with luminous polys or hdri...

[Surrealist.]

Cool Jeff, thanks.

All good points. You are right about the black. The product does have a little fractal bump. I completely forgot to add it. Thanks. And good call on the cord too. You are right I was trying to replicate what it does sitting on my desk but of course what does not sell webcams. I understand your point completely. The silver is pretty close but I have it a bit more glossy looking than it actually is.

And lightripple, if you want to expand a little bit on that I would be definitely all ears.

So I am off to make these changes - including the floor. But I really want to learn this stuff I have been putting off for a while about getting real nice realistic renders. Thanks for all the pointers.

[lightripple]

Here is a setup that I use for a lot of stuff...

spec is evil and usually a dead give away that something is cg. All spec is... is reflection of a light source. I always like to model my light source and use reflection.

[lightripple]

Another thing that I do that helps is... use occlusion in the reflection channel. If your using GI with high settings the occlusion isn't needed in the diffuse... also, nothing is all one solid color, even if it looks like it...Its not!

Here is a black plastic surface that i did recently... best viewed on a 100mm scale cause it was for a small object

[Surrealist.]

Thanks. I will look at that and put this information to use.

[theWOODman]

Yeah that's a really cool job. Poly flow can be a real pain in the rear sometimes. If it's not absolute perfect, you'll get those slight bends and dents. Not much, but just enough to show and cause some real migraines.

About all you can do is sit and spin quads for the next few hours hehe.

[Surrealist.]

Yeah I know what you mean. For something like this I am finding the solution to be adding another loop next to the area so that it tightens up the place where the 5 poly points connect on the curve. This takes then editing that loop with point normal move and moving things around a bit to get the curve back. I tried to anticipate this and add enough geometry to start but it looks like in a couple of places that was not enough. We'll see how it goes in with the next few new renders if I can get away with what I have. :)