Final Still Life

In case you don't already know, my final project for 3 of my classes (Modeling, Surfacing, Rendering) was to produce 5 objects for a Still Life image.  This is my final rendered still life image (click to see full size)

The 5 items that I modeled, shaded, surfaced, and textured were the mitten, the Superman toy, the Flash doll, the camera and the desk lamp.  The rest of the scene was given to me (although I did slightly alter the texture of the desk to make it look better) and it was up to me to pick the composition of the shot and light it however I chose. As you can see I chose a night time shot where some light comes in through the window but the main light source is the desk lamp.

I am very happy with how this came out. I put in a ton of time and effort and I think it looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

So now I would like to show you guys close up pictures of each item so you can see the details that I put on them a bit better. One of the things that killed me was that my final submission was this single image and some of the details that I spent so much time on aren't 100% visible in the image (especially on the camera since I put it towards the back of my composition). So here are the close-ups, plus a reference photo of the real one (again, click for full size image)

Camera

The Flash

Desk Lamp

Mitten

Superman

 

My favorite parts of the models are probably the small details that I put into them that you may have not noticed at first. Like the scratches on the camera, or the scuffs on the back of the camera or the fading of some of the writing on the buttons.  Also, on Superman the paint job isn't perfect (like on the toy itself). Some of the red mashes into the yellow of the belt, or the red paint from the boot comes onto the blue of his pants.  And I don't know if you can see it in these images but on the side of Superman's arms there is a small plastic seam that comes from the neck, down the arm, and around the hands.  This I assume is comes from the mold the toy was built with.

So I spent a ton of time working on small details that I knew would never actually be in the final image. For instance, there are only two sides of the camera that are visible in this shot, yet I spent HOURS working on the other 4 sides.  Some of this could be justified by saying that I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to composite my shot so it was good to cover all my basis.  But I knew for a fact that I wasn't going to show the bottom of this camera (which is  4th/final picture I am showing you guys) in my shot, so I didn't really have to work on it. But I did.

I guess I spent that much time on the sides that weren't going to be shown to practice. But the main reason is that I'm a perfectionist. There was no way I was not going to do it. It would have drove me insane leaving a side not finished, not to mention untouched.  However, later on in my schooling (and when I get a job) I will have to learn to just let things go. You always work for the shot that will be shown.  There is no point in actually doing something that no one will ever see. But since this was my first exercise I wanted to go all out.  I hope you guys like it.  This is why I didn't sleep much the last week and a half of last term.