3D Modelling - Assignment 2

Assignment 2 is complete! For this one, I chose to model a telescope. I've always been interested in astronomy and antiques, so an antique telescope was the perfect choice. Because I have never done any sort of 3D modelling, I wanted to make this project non-organic to get a good basic grip on the concepts and tools. That way I didn't have to worry about whether or not it was smooth enough or detailed enough for something naturalistic. I started out with the telescope itself, using spice planes and the extrude tool to create the brass rings. Then I moved onto the stand. The base was made out of a cylinder and a lot of slice planes, just like the telescope, to get the right look. The legs were made out of an elongated chamfer box. The end caps and the sections were again made with slice planes and the extrude tool. 

The most complicated bit was definitely the two rails on the side that connect the telescope to the stand. At first I tried booleans, but that didn't give me the precision I was looking for. Splines turned out to be the best option. I created all the individual shapes, like the half moon bits and the bulge in the centre, and connected them. To create the rounded ends, I made an arc and connected the vertices to the shapes I already had. I used the new rounded semi circle to create the cut-out in the centre. After getting everything just how I liked it, I extruded the whole new shape. That gave me the thin, sheet-metal appearance. I then positioned it next to the telescope and the base and adjusted the rings on the scope to fit.

I sculpted all the extra parts, like the legs and the rails, individually. Only after I textured them did I duplicate and finish positioning them. I drew up the brass and wood texture myself, which ended up working surprisingly well. I feel like it gives off a sort of stylized video game look, which I personally quite like. 

I added a galaxy (which I did not personally made) to the lenses, just as and fun extra detail.

 

The two top bitmaps are the ones that I drew up. They ended up being pretty simple to map, at least for the telescope. Because it's essentially a fancy cylinder, I was able to just use the UV map modifier with the cylinder selected. I did the same thing for the other pieces, just with a few extra steps. Some of the faces didn't line up properly on the main base, so I selected the faces I needed to move and went to the gizmo. That way I could rotate the texture just on the selected faces. This did warp the texture a bit, but I think that works in my favour. The warped highlights make the material appear even more like true metal. I went through the same process for the brass caps and ring on the legs.  

I used these two imaged for reference: