I have been really focused this week working on the parts and pieces for this year’s Holiday Card. If you remember, I pretty much finished the Snowman, well modeling him. There are a few more things this scene is going to need and I have worked on that all week. Really. I didn’t touch Greezbly, the Alien. I didn’t work on the rigging for Sticks. I just worked on parts for the Holiday Card scene.
So what else is going in the Holiday Card scene? Well, a tree. And the Snowman is going to decorate it. And I think it’s going to need some presents. Which is what I have been working on all week. The first one was pretty easy. I did a box with a lid and put a ribbon around it. Not too hard. Though I did do some adjusting and tweaking so they don’t look like perfect crisp square type things. That’s just not right.
Of course after I got the first present with the lid and ribbon made I decided it needed a bow. This took a bit of thought. But it turned out to not be too bad. I started by creating a shape that I figured I would be able to use as the base. I figured I could copy it and rotate it a few times and put them together to make a ribbon. I have to say, I got it made and then had to stop to go to Taekwon Do class, and I was giddy. I was so excited that it was going to work. Yes, a little geeky. Still very exciting.
When I finally got back to working on the bow I tested the idea I had, copy and rotate and see how it was going to look. It’s a good start.
But it was a little skinny. So I widened the ribbon and then set about shaping it nicely. It took some work. I wanted it to really look like the parts were overlapping each other and not to break through each other’s surfaces. So lots of tweaking. But I think it came out pretty good.
I decided to put it all together, the present and the bow. And I changed their colors to something that looks festive. I haven’t applied any materials yet.
Next up was a long rectangular type present. With a ribbon of course. It was pretty easy. Though I did have a little weirdness with one part of the ribbon. I got some points moved wrong which caused part of it and then the lighting in the modeling view seems to have been the other part of the weirdness. But it came out nice in the render. Again, I just applied base colors to the box and the ribbon, I haven’t applied any materials yet.
Then it was time for the ribbon. With the size and shape of the box, it really called for a good size bow with nice long tails. So I went back to that base shape that I started with. First I made it nice and wide to match the ribbon on the long box. Then I had to figure out how to get it to look like a bow, like tying a ribbon bow. I know that makes so much sense. Anyway. I started by first adjusting the angle of the loops so that they weren’t straight across. Then it went a little crosswise. At first I tried by creating a gap on the bottom part of the loop and using the in between surfaces to create the tails. I was a bit disappointed to
discover that was not going to work out right. To get everything to look right, angled correctly and so that the crimping would be right the tails had to come from the top of the loops.
I seriously did not expect working on bows to take nearly so long to create and get just right. I think I spent 3 or 4 hours getting that second bow just right. And I tried to be smart about creating it, working from a base shape and all that. It just takes as long as it takes I guess. Once it was done I moved it into place and changed the color to match the ribbon.
So here’s the two presents with their bows. I think things are coming along. I still have one or two more style of present boxes I want to create and a couple more style of bows. I think once I have those done I’ll have a nice number of choices for mixing and matching. At least hopefully.
Of course, I did have to take some time away from the modeling to attend the reception at FuManchu Cupcakes in Charlotte. It was a really great night. There were cupcake samples and wine and music. And there turned out to be a pretty good crowd. That was nice. I got to see me art on the wall and that was really cool. Oh and I picked up a few cupcakes for later.
As I said, I have a few more presents and bows to create before I’m ready to put everything together. I expect that’s what I will be working on this week. I might take a short break and work on Sticks a bit. I think I needs the break from Greezbly so I can come back to the coloring issues with a fresh brain. So plans for getting back to other things, it will just depend on how quickly the parts for the Holiday Card get modeled. Though I may find myself taking a break to do some painting. You’ll just have to check back to find out.