Calendar Scene 2 - March

Bench on Grassy Bank

 

For my next calendar scene I chose the month March. As this month reminds me of new life when plants start emerging from the ground, I decided I would model another outdoor scene incorporating some sort of vegetation. Consequently I discovered the hair & fur modifier within 3DS Max that easily allows the modeling of grass and straw for example in any given scene. Therefore at a later stage I will use this modifier to add a carpet of grass to the ground in my final scene.

 

Bench Construction

 

To begin with I decided to produce a wooden bench that would be situated in an open, outdoor, grassy environment. Therefore the first thing I did like with my first scene was to research various reference images to gather some ideas of what I wanted my bench to look like. Below is an image illustrating a rough idea of what I plan to produce, I also have a bench in my back garden which will serve as a useful reference to establish the parts that make up a typical wooden bench.

 

I then proceeded to manufacture my bench starting with the box tool in 3DS Max, where I drew out a series of boxes for the legs on one side of the bench.

 

I then went about creating an arm-rest to sit on top of the lower front bench leg. I decided to construct this from a 2D spline, where I drew out the arm-rest outline using the line tool in the left viewport. I specifically inserted a bezier vertice on the right-hand side of the spline to produce a nicely curved end on the arm-rest, rather than leaving it as a straight end as I believe it will give the final bench a more ergonomic feel.

 

The spline was then converted to an editable poly and then extruded to the same width as the existing legs. I then positioned it in line with other legs and ensured that I didn't leave a gap around any of the connecting edges as these may show up when rendering, causing unwanted shadows for example.

    

 

The next step was to produce the curved support to hold the seating planks of the bench, therefore I simply cloned the lower support and moved the new copy up higher into position. I then used the modify tab to increase the height segments to "10" so that I would then be able to apply a bend modifier without distorting the box object's shape.

 

 

I then applied a bend modifier on the box's z-axis with an angle of 20 degrees and a direction of 90 degrees, the whole object was then rotated slightly clockwise so that the final seat will be raised marginally at the along the back edge.

 

 

This whole element was then cloned and positioned for the other side of the bench, leaving an adequate gap for the seating planks to be added.

 

I then began to add the seating planks themselves starting from the back of the bench I used the box tool to draw out a rough sized plank. This was then positioned on top of the curved supports and resized proportionally compared to the other elements of the bench. I then rotated the the plank to approximately the same angle as the support underneath it, so that it sat flush without leaving a noticeable gap.

 

The first seating plank was then cloned and the new copy was positioned appropriately in the same way as the original, a small gap was deliberately left between the planks similar to that found on a real bench. This process was repeated, where each new plank was rotated and moved along the supports until I reached the front legs of the bench.

 

I then came to the decision of adding another smaller seating plank on the very front of the bench as in my opinion the seat did not appear complete without one. An additional separate support was also created for this front plank, again using the box primitive tool. This front seating plank was positioned between the front legs and at a dead flat angle, giving the overall bench a more uniform appearance.

 

Now that I had finished the bottom of the seat I had to continue with the backrest. This again was produced entirely using the box tool, where I started by constructing the two main supporting beams to complete to basic framework of the bench.

 

These beams then had a thin notch added to them by extruding polygons along their top surfaces, this was done to ultimately create a groove for the backrest planks to be seated against.

 

The final feature to produce for the bench was the backrest planks, to start out I made one using the box tool and positioned it against the back supports. Then to save time and the repetitive task of cloning this object multiple times, I used the "Array" tool. The array tool is found under the "Extras" menu and is basically a cloning tool which allows an object(s) to be copied, instanced or referenced a specified number of times, along numerous axis, with varying amount of offsets. This is a really useful tool which can be used to rapidly produce objects that contain multiple copies of a certain element(s) for example a fence or set of stairs for example. In my scenario I used it to copy the backrest plank 15 times and spaced them out along the grooves evenly using the "incremental" axis number boxes. When using the array tool them I also ensured that the object type was set to "copy" so that each new plank would be independent from one another, which if left on instance for example may have proved a problem when later texturing them individually.

 

With the bench complete it was time to construct an actual scene for the bench to be positioned in. As this month was March I decided that a sloping grassy terrain, perhaps with a river running through the middle of it would act as an ideal landscape. Therefore I then started to make the terrain using the same techniques as with the snowy hills in my December Calendar Scene. However this time round I produced a square plot of land rather than a cylindrical plane. This was done merely for diversity and due to the fact that using a standard rectangular plane would make it a great deal easier to produce the river. Rather than having to make a cylindrical plane using the Boolean tool where the ends of the river on the curved edge of circle may have looked out of place.

I stared by using the "Quad Patch" tool found under the Patch Grids drop down menu in the create panel. This was used to draw out a square plane, already consisting of multiple length and width segments.

                       

 

Then to produce the basic shape for the river I used the "edit patch " modifier to select a random line of polygons from one side of the patch grid to the other. These selected polygon's were then dragged downwards in the z-axis using the move tool.

                        

 

These lower polygon's formed the river bed for my terrain, however the edges of the river were a bit to sharp and cliff-like due to the moved polygons.

 

Consequently I then applied a mesh smooth modifier to relax these sharp edges giving the terrain a much more natural eroded look. I also applied a slight noise modifier before the mesh smooth to make the terrain slightly uneven as no land is dead flat in real life.

 

Then to create the actual water I used a standard box object and drew out a box the same dimensions as the patch grid. This box was then positioned through the middle of the terrain so that its top surface could only be seen through the lower areas of the terrain i.e. along the river.

 

With the terrain more or less complete, I rescaled and positioned my bench in a reasonably flat location to prevent the need of having to rotate it to a certain angle in order for it to sit level with the ground.

 

I then surveyed my overall scene and decided that it looked a little empty as the bench was  the only model  in the middle of the terrain. As a result I came to a decision to make a flower pot containing plants of some sort. Therefore I then started to make the flower pot using the line tool in the left viewport, where I created half of the pot's outline as an editable spline.

 

A "lathe" modifier was then applied to the spline, which basically extruded the outline around the z-axis in 360 degrees, to form a closed pot. The pot was then given a mesh smooth modifier to smooth out the angular edge and to give it more of an organic feel.

 

I then created a layer of  soil to fill the top of the pot using a basic cylinder with a generous amount of cap segments. This then had  a noise modifier applied to it using a combination of strengths in the x, y and z axis.The layer of soil was then positioned in the centre of the pot using the select and move tool.

 

The last thing to model was the flowers, yet perhaps the most time consuming to produce, due to the fact that producing convincing organic objects requires a range of complex parts. As organic objects are significantly harder to model in my opinion I decided that I would make a relatively easy flower such as a Daisy for example. To begin with I made a tall and thin cylinder representing the stem of the Daisy.

     

 

I then beveled the polygon on the top face of the cylinder multiple times to form a cup shape to  which would hold the centre of the flower and its petals. With each bevel I gradually changed the angle to give it a curved appearance, this was all done in the left viewport in "wire-frame" mode so that it was easier to see the profile of the shape as I progressed. The whole stem object then given a mesh smooth modifier to enhance its overall appearance to make it look more organic.

     

 

The next stage involved creating the petals for the flower, I started by using the box tool to make the rough length and width of one petal. This was then converted to an editable poly which enabled me to access its vertices in the sub-object level. As the box had been given multiple segments I was able to curve the corners on one end of the box simply by moving certain vertices.

 

A bend modifier was then applied to the petal to give it a minor concaved surface, similar to that of real petals which are sometimes curved inwards to make water drops run down them.

 

After doing this  I created a small groove down the centre of the petal by  using the slice tool to add a number of additional edges. The middle set of edges were then moved upwards a small amount to create the desired raised bump/groove.

 

The entire petal then had a mesh smooth modifier added to it, again to dramatically increase the level of realism and make it look much more organic.

 

The petal was moved into position so that its base met the lip on the stem cup. The array function was then used to duplicate the petal multiple times around the centre of the stem, i.e. clone the petal about the pivot point in a circle.

         

 

The last step was to create the centre of the daisy, I started this using the sphere tool to produce a hemisphere (0.54 of a complete sphere) which fitted nicely into the stem cup.

  

 

I then continued by selecting all of the edges on the hemisphere's top surface and extruded/beveled them to give a raised honeycomb type of appearance similar to real plants where the pollen would be located for example.

 

The whole Daisy was then grouped and had a bend modifier applied to it, where I previously ensured that the pivot point was positioned on the stem, rather than on the flower itself which could otherwise harm its current condition. A small bend was used to simulate the weight of the flower has on the stalk, as no plants are perfectly straight in the real world. 

 

Now that I had modeled a finished Daisy I made a range of copies and adjusted the bend modifier on each one to make them unique. They were all then rotated and positioned in the plant pot so that the stems penetrated the top of the soil, in essence to avoid them from seeming to float in mid-air.

 

Texturing the Scene

 

Having completed all of the modeling elements of my March scene I advanced onwards by obtaining the necessary bitmaps for the textures. The first being a grass bitmap for my sloping terrain, the bitmap was loaded into the diffuse slot of an empty material in same way as my previous scene.

 

I then utilized a UVW Map and selected the planar option to apply the bitmap evenly over the selected ground. Again I certified that the width and length dimensions remained the same so that the plane was symmetrical i.e. to restrain the bitmap from being stretched. I then tweaked its scale/tiling by the addition of a Unwrap UVW where I used the edit feature in combination with the scale tool to basically increase the size of the texture map.

 

Following that I implemented the same principles to import a wood material in order to texture my bench.

             

 

Due to the fact that each element of the bench had multiple faces which all required to have the texture aligned diversely, I had to employ numerous mesh selects, UVW Maps and Unwrap UVW's to get the textures looking respectable on each surface. Consequently I executed these modifiers in order on each part of the bench, which to be honest was a slow and tedious process. However the end result was well worth the effort as each part looks like a proper piece of wood i.e. with the grain running length ways and matching adjacent faces. When creating the wood material I also ensured that I changed the material type to raytrace so that I could add a slight shine/varnish effect to the wood. The wood material was also given a bump map by converting the original bitmap to greyscale in "Adobe Photoshop". This new image was then imported into the wood material's bump map slot and was given a strength/bump amount of "80".

             

         

 

I then created a terracotta material for the plant pot using an assortment of map types to created a speckled yet faded and aged texture. To commence with I set the diffuse slot of a new material to a "mix" map type where I then applied noise and output maps to the two mix slots.

          

 

The noise map was given two varying shades of brown/terracotta to give a more natural look to the material's final colour.

      

 

On the output slot of the diffuse mix I copied the first noise map except I changed RGB level in the output parametres to "0.9" to add further colour diversity to the material.

         

 

Then on the self-illumination map slot of the parent material I added a "falloff" map with a falloff type of "shadow/highlight" which basically introduced a slight sheen to the material.

        

 

The last thing I did to this material was to add a noise map on its bump slot, consisting of a "splat" map type to add small indents on the textures surface.

         

 

These factors should enforce an authentic weathered look to the material once it is applied to the pot and rendered using "Mental Ray".

 

I then created the materials for the different parts of the flowers including a speckled green colour for the stems which was created using a noise map on new material's diffuse slot and two alternate hues of green.

        

 

A similar material was also created for the petals using a diffuse noise map combination of a white and soft yellow.

         

 

For the centre of the flowers I used a mix map to blend a "Noise" map and "Speckle" map together using an array of orange and yellow colours, characteristic of a typical Daisy. This was done to recreate the real colours found in this species of plant in addition to convey pollen on the centre of the flower.

          

         

          

 

As I needed to use a number of different materials on a single object I had to compose another material consisting of a Multi/Sub-object material type where the three flower materials could be added to the various material slots in conjunction with assigning selected polygons material ID's. I used the same technique to texture the logs of my snowy cabin scene which required two wood materials on each log object.

Therefore to successfully texture the flowers I selected each of the flowers individually and went into the sub-object mode to assign each specific part a material. All of the stems where given an ID of "1", the petals an ID of "2" and the centres and ID of "3". These ID's then linked to the corresponding material ID slots in the Multi/Sub-Object material that I had already produced.

   

       

 

Another material I created within 3DS Max was the soil inside the plant pot. This was created in the more or less the same way as the pollen for the centre of the flowers, instead I used a combination of a noise map and a speckle map in addition to four different shades of brown. This should help to add variety to the soil texture rather than remaining a flat brown colour which would have come across dull and unrealistic in the final rendered image.

        

        

        

 

Having textured the main features of my scene with the exception of the river material which I will leave to last so that I can setup its reflections based on the final environment. Therefore the only other material that required to be produced was the sky for the scene's background. Due to the fact that I had already made the majority of the materials I decided to make the sky as well so that I had entire control over which colours to use, rather than relying on a downloaded bitmap to pose as a genuine sky. The sky was surprisingly simple to create yet provided and an effective result which suited the rest of the materials already in use throughout the scene. I created it by applying a "noise" map to a blank material's diffuse slot, using a light blue and white as the noise colours. The noise type was then set to "fractal" rather than the default "regular" which basically randomizes the noise map, keeping similar colours together. The size was also increased to "25" which resulted in large clumps of white noise instead of a grainy effect which would have been produced if the size was left on a low amount.

        

 

This material was then designated as the scene background by drag/dropping it onto the environment map slot in the environment & effects menu.

      

 

Producing Grass

 

Although I had textured the entire scene I still thought the ground material appeared a bit inadequate, as I result I decided that I would introduce 3D grass to convey a more natural feel to the terrain. This was achieved by using the "Hair and Fur" modifier which is pre-installed within 3DS Max. Upon applying the modifier to the terrain I navigated to the preset tools menu where existing examples of the hair and fur modifier can be loaded. I chose to load the "tall grass (breeze)" preset as this was the only one that had already been setup in a grass style.

          

 

Using this as a starting point I then altered a range of parametres including the length, width and density of the grass until I was content with its appearance. This proved to be an exceptionally time consuming process that involved endless numbers of renders so that I could preview each of the changes to the grass. Although this was an monotonous task, the end result in my opinion was well worth effort.

                          

 

Creating the water Material

 

As I earlier stated, I left the water until the last possible moment, due to the fact that I wanted a complete environment before producing the water material itself, so that the reflective parametres can take full use of the scene's objects. This should as a result promote the level of realism within the final scene, as a convincing reflection on the water will make it seem more lifelike. I started by selecting my water box object that I produced earlier during the construction of the terrain. Then I opened the material editor and created a new "raytrace" material. I set the diffuse colour to a light blue and turned up the transparency amount to "64". The specular level was increased to "120", in addition the glossiness was also changed to "83" these properties will give the material a highly shiny finish which is essential when creating a water material such as this. The "reflect" amount was also altered so that the water material would actually reflect the environment due to it also being raytrace material type, the index of refraction was then adjusted which will give the material more depth as well as distorting the the reflection.

         

 

Another essential setting was to give the water some sort of texture via using the bump slot, as without doing this the water material would be dead flat i.e. resembling a mirrored surface. The bump map consisted of two separate by different noise maps assigned to either slot of a mix map. I varied each of them by adjusting "size" and "levels" amounts; the mix map then combined these differences to create a unique and random bump map enhancing the water's creditability.

           

         

         

            

 

Lighting

 

With all of the scene's assets now complete, I finalized my scene adding a couple of lights in order to simulate more of an outdoor environment using the "Mental Ray" renderer. The first light I inserted was a "mr Area Spot" which was positioned high above the scene, this will provide the main light for the scene by acting as the sun.

             

                          

 

The other light I introduced was a "skylight", however rather than using it to simulate daylight of the entire scene it was primarily used to brighten up the water and improve the visibility of the reflections. Consequently it was positioned just above the water in the middle of the river, the settings were also turned down considerably so that only the nearby area was affected, rather than un-balancing the overall lighting in the scene.

                         

 

Final Render

 

Now that the lighting had been setup as I intended, the scene was rendered by positioning a "free camera" in an appropriate position to capture the majority of the scene's features in as close-up detail as possible. The renderer was set to "Mental ray" and then the scene was rendered, the final image was then saved as a Jpeg seen below.

 

Final Scene - March

Click this link for full size image