Building this scene took up most of my spare time over three months. The reason it
took so long was because I created everything from scratch (normally I use bits of models
and scenery that I’d done before). Here’s what was involved in making this
image.
The Cheddar Warrior was my entry in The Journey Begins 3D Challenge held at the
CG Society. People entering the competition
had to depict some small creatures or people embarking on a great journey.
The story which I wrote for it involved this rat and the mouse escaping from a science
lab. Their destination was the mythical ‘Rodent Island’, where
rats and mice run free in the sunshine.
Detail from the scene shown at half size (50% resolution)
I modelled and rendered the scene in Cinema 4D, and then finished it off using Photoshop.
Part of the reason why this project was fun was because I got to play with a lot of
stuff that 3D artists enjoy: things with geeky names like depth of field, sub-surface
scattering, sub-poly displacement and density maps.
But rather than lose myself in 3D jargon, I’ll explain in plain English some of
the steps I used to make this picture.
Those blurred leaves in front, at the top of the picture, were
modeled and rendered in a 3D program just like everything else
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Because of the incredible complexity of the natural world
you need to use some time-saving tricks when you create a tree
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That little guy helping to push the boat into water took
plenty of work too MORE …
I just couldn’t get the cheese to look right. Then
I remembered this thing call sub-surface scattering
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If you want to make a realistic mouse, then you’re
going to have to do realistic fur. MORE …
3D programs often give you the option for sophisticated
methods of creating fog and hazy atmospheric effects. But this way was faster to set up
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Water is strange stuff. It’s reflective, transparent,
refractive, colourless and a whole lot more. So how do you manage that in 3D if
you’ve got limited time? You cheat. MORE …
Compositing is sticking different bits of a picture, layered
on top of each other, to make up a whole scene. Of course, I used compositing here too
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