Macro

I had a bit better luck today than previously.  Here's a couple of shots taken with the 18-55 reversed.  Manual mode at f22, 1/80sec.  I'm not sure if the aperture setting is being stored once the lens is taken off, but I like what I acheived today.

Macro photography

Maxforums competition

The Brief:
"In this round you are to create a device of torture. Most importantly, the device must be really inefficient i.e. require the most amount of energy to produce the least amount of actual result. It must be really bad at what it does.
It doesn't even have to be a device that tortures humans. It could be used to torture robots, aliens, coconuts, gerbils, crazy frogs; it's up to you!"

Well.. its not that inefficient I guess, but its just a first idea..

Completed Maxforums Competition Image - Ant

Kitchen visual nearing completion

Here's one that I experimented with - including various Ambient Occlusion and compositing techniques to improve the quality.  I still want to add some more geometry to the kitchen area such as pots and pans.  Think I need to improve the wood finish of the nearest vertical panel.

3D Kitchen

A photo from the Poggenpohl website

Final image

Well, I think I've done my bit on this project.  I've learned a heck of a lot putting this one together and I'm looking forward to the next Maxforums competition so I can have a go at a new subject.

Ants- update

Foil corrected!

Photos

The weather is FINALLY half-decent today, so I popped out into the garden with the camera.  I'm pleased with the spider shot particularly since I've not got a proper macro lens.  I'll have a mess with the RAW image when I get a chance.

Have a break

I had a break from working on this for the last few days, when I came back to it today it seemed logical to add the kitkat in that I made a while ago.  I still need some help to get the foil right though :\

Ants, Plural

I haven't spent much time on this in the last couple of days, but at lunch today I did re-render with some different camera angles.  The really wide and low angle wasn't making the ant look small, quite the opposite infact.  I've adjusted it so its a less distorted image and that has helped to make the ant more like a little'un.  I need to plan proper composition for the finished piece.  This is what I've got thrown together now:

Sparkly.. :(

Partially completed render - I'm having real problems with the materials and their specular reflections :S

Test composition

Ant texturing

I'm finally getting some textures together.  My first attempt at unwrapping and texturing a "character" is teaching me a lot about Max.  It's a really fun process but it takes a fair bit of patience!

Unwrapped

Boy, you is UGLY:

 

More detail

Abdomen and leg segments refined.

Slight update...

I've tweaked the mandibles and added some more detail to the antennae.  During this process I also detached the sections of the ant into separate objects so that the mesh is easier to manage.

6 legged Hairball

Hmm... think I still need to learn some before using the Hair & Fur modifier...

Sweet!

An ant's-eye view of sugar granules.

Research

A bit of visual research for the ant's scene. I want to put some sugar granules into the scene for the close foreground.