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3D Steampunk 3D Printing Machine


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I really had some fun creating this new Blender image. Size: 6000x4000 pixel.

Many hours of work, but this time little frustration in producing the pipes, as I wanted them.
For the first time I had the good feeling that the effort to learn the program gradually pays off a bit.

I'm going to use this image for printing Flyers, Business Cards and Invitation Cards for my upcoming exhibition in February next year.

As always I'm open for your critique and suggestions.

X mas Card 2017 Front 1700.jpg

Quality Detail .jpg
Detail to check the quality. (Different perspective and colors for Xmas card).
 

Eggy

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:clap:
Marvelous Chris...probably the most complex design you've ever made. Hats off.
And the details, unbelieveble.

But if you're going to use it as your 'logo' shouldn't your name 'pop' out a bit more instead of the dull grey?
 

IamSam

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Great work Chris! I think the gray is consistent with the overall color scheme of the design and fits in well. But I do agree that your name is subdued slightly by the steamworks and might look better if you raised it a bit higher.
 

MrToM

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Just a few points...

On the plus side, it looks like you've got out of the habit of intersecting geometry....do you notice the difference?

On the downside there are a few issues...well one main one really and although I noticed this in your last project I refrained from pointing it out in the hope it was on your 'to do ' list....I guess it wasn't. :biglaff:

Anyway...whatever the Blender equivalent of 'Smoothing Groups' is you need to add it to your 'to do' list....its the one thing letting you down now, and as your projects get more complex and refined its beginning to stand out.

Take a look here and notice the 'faceting' on the surfaces....this is due to the lack of or incorrect 'smoothing groups'. (Or whatever the Blender equivalent is)...

smoothing_groups_MT_01.png

Also note those parts circled in blue, see how smooth they are? Did you edit those parts? My guess is you didn't. In the software I use, smoothing groups' are applied automatically and are only changed when the object is edited at sub-object level....poly, edge or vertex.

Its important to keep an eye on them as it can really make a difference to the render.

The right smoothing will also sharpen up areas as indicated below. There is nothing wrong with the geometry but polygons at right angles and with the same smoothing group will instruct the renderer to 'smooth' out the two.....which in the case of the gear teeth you don't want. place the polygons in different groups and the render will render them correctly.

Again, notice how the blue circled area looks much better...

smoothing_groups_MT_02.png

large flat areas can also be affected by not having a smoothing group assigned to them, although in the following case it may be more a lack of geometry than smoothing....difficult to tell without seeing the mesh...

smoothing_groups_MT_03.png


On a different note....spot the difference here...

smoothing_groups_MT_04.png

Why is there a 'gap' in the left hand pipe? A minor point and not really wrong but unless we can see a reason for it being like that it does look like an error....especially having the others as a comparison.

Of course none of this is crucial for the actual image you intend to use, it wont be seen, but its the small things that add up to an overall much better image...its just good 3D practice to be honest.

Overall pretty good, but learn about those smoothing groups!!!...(or whatever Blender calls them.)

Regards.
MrToM.
 
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Eggy gedstar IamSam
Thank you very much for your comments...always much appreciated.
In this case I decided to settle for a compromise and lightened the name. It was quite bit of postwork involved in PS, so to go back before the rendering is very time-consuming. But I seriously think about it.

X mas Card 2017 Front 1700.jpg
first version

X mas Card 2017 Front 1700 new.jpg
adjusted new version
 
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@MrToM
Thanks a million for explaining about smoothing groups. Never heard of that before.
I knew that am making some mistakes, because as you pointed out some objects are nice and smooth and on other objects I couldn't get rid of the facets without loosing sharpness at the edges.
In the meantime I went through a couple of Blender tutorials on this topic. In Blender they're called "smoothing groups" too. I have to try out this smoothing technique assap.

And of course the gap between the pipe and the reflection is "not exact positioning".

Regards Chris
 
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MrToM

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...Thanks a million for explaining about smoothing groups. Never heard of that before...
No worries.

...In Blender they're called "smoothing groups" too...
Excellent!

As I said, there is nothing you need to change regards the geometry, that's all fine, its just a very simple case of selecting polygons and assigning a 'group' number to them.

On 'curved' surfaces you want each polygon to be in the same group. If that curved surface was a cylinder, (similar to the one in your image), then you would want to have the 'end cap' polygons in a different group to the curve....but they too need to all be in just one group.

As a further example, if you 'chamfered' the edge of that cylinder then the 'end cap' AND the 'curved' sides could be in the same group....the 'chamfer' would be in a different group. This means you only need 2 different groups and still keep everything looking sharp, or smooth, whichever way you look at it.

I don't know about Blender but in 3DsMax there was a limit of 32 groups I think but in reality you don't need anywhere near that many.....3 or 4 is more than enough for even the most complex of shapes.

The thing to remember is that adjacent polygons in the same group will be rendered to look smooth.
Adjacent polygons in different groups will look faceted.

Any large 'flat' areas should also be in a group although there are situations where NOT assigning a group actually gives a better result.....its all down to your skill in modelling the mesh as to how that turns out.

Below is a very sloppy coloured example of how I break up my smoothing groups....RED is anything curved, BLUE is anything flat, YELLOW is any chamfer and green is NO group.

Careful modelling makes assigning groups so much easier and hopefully you can see that although this is a fairly complex piece it only needs 4 smoothing groups.

smoothing_groups_MT_05.png

Regards.
MrToM.
 

MrToM

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No worries.

One other small tip is do your smoothing groups AS SOON AS you finish each piece, don't leave it till the end....you WILL forget something! :biglaff:

Regards.
MrToM.
 
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Adjustments in Blender and new rendering.

X mas Card 2017 Front 1700.jpg
1. version

X mas Card 2017 Front 1700 new.jpg
2. version (Photoshop adjustments)

X mas Card 2017 Front 1700+.jpg
3. Final version (adjustments made in Blender, new rendering)
 

Eggy

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Now your name is good visible, huge improvement Chris.
 

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