Mantis stage 1

Ok, so with the mantis, what i wish to do first is create the basic anatomy of the mantis then add the intricacies and what not later on.

So, shown in these pictures is the head of the mantis, quite simple to model, basically it's 3 polygon cubes and with using the editable poly modifier I just switched on the NURMS subdivision to get a nice and smooth shape, I could have done it with 3 spheres, but I found this approach much more hands on and I personally found it a lot easier to manipulate the shape as a cube using this approach.

For the antenna i used the same modelling approached but used a cylinder shape instead, also using the extrude tool to help shape the antennae to the way I wanted, when i was happy with how it looked I cloned the antenna to make two (lazy I know!!). Although using this approach to modelling smooth objects I did find that you have to be really careful to make sure that none of the polygons in your model are overlapping or in a odd position as it creates a grim looking fold which when rendered just looks like a pocket of shadow.

Leaf Render

Well, heres the leaf tutorial, working on the house one now, it came out ok, but for me personally I think the leaf's texture could be made to look more crisp! More fannying about required!

Mood board

Apologies for lack of work on the old blog, been a bit up and down with everything this past week or so. following here is my mood board for biodiversity.

From what Ive placed on my mood board, Ive made my decision on at least two stamps which I would wish to create for the fact that from a modelling point of view these two creatures would be highly challenging and interesting, they will make me delve deeper into understanding all the tools available to execute the task of creating the creatures in MAX. The creatures I have decided on so far are a praying mantis and a mud skipper (the little fish on the bottom right). Not only from a modelling point of view would they be interesting but also from a texturing point of interest. Praying mantis's range in colours and definition and the challenge of the mud skipper would be to create the wet look, not to mention accurately texturing the mottled finish on it's body.

I will create further mood boards for these two creatures for more visual reference for myself and also for the praying mantis a better insight into the variety of species and colourings which exist.

Also during this week I WILL finally be posting up the tuts weve been working on with Rich and perhaps a cheeky bit more ;), have fun guys!

Banana

Well, here it is, not the best but there we go, plenty of room to improve on MAX

Brief

Had a read of the old brief, interesting and pretty bloody random!! But all game for it