Earth, from Houdini

Here's an Earth (and the Moon peeking out to the side) scene built from scratch with Houdini and several custom shaders. This was built based on techniques from 3DBuzz's "Maya Fundamentals" tutorials, and adapted to Houdini. I'd strongly recommend these to anyone getting started in 3D, really worth the money!

First initial cut (youtube video), using low resolution texture maps:


After looking around a bit, this is a render with much higher resolution texture maps, and the result is pretty dramatic, in my opinion:

From 3D 2009-2010

A few changes to the settings, and using even better imagery for the texture maps, I got this. The images can be found at Tor Oera's site.

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

Same thing in video format:

Another cut of the foofighter

Here's version two, which I think is what I'm going to stick with:

Clay shot

From 3D 2009-2010

Wires

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

More clay shots:

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

With materials:

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

Detail close up, near the power charging unit:

From 3D 2009-2010

New model for tutorial

Started a new model, intended for a modeling and materials tutorial for Houdini. The model is a "Foo-fighter", what was recovered, and now stored at places like Area 51!

Initial shape:

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

Detailing:

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

Close up:

From 3D 2009-2010

Now some initial attempts at adding materials:

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

Underside "glow"/lights:

From 3D 2009-2010

Details:

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

Close-ups:

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

Finally a crude attempt at compositing:

From 3D 2009-2010

More texture work on the E

Got more uv/texture work done on the Enterprise. Stuff like the various registry decals on the nacelles, saucer, saucer rim, hull got applied. Various bits of clean up in the mesh got done. Most of the core textures now applied.

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

From 3D 2009-2010

Details, lighting, and some texturing work on the E

Got some more work done. A first stab at UVs and textures:

From Learning 3D

From Learning 3D

Add some spots, adjusted the light "tempature" to make it a bit warmer:

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Further details, textures on the hull rings:

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More lighting

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Sensor details:

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Engineering hull details and fixes to saucer, dorsal, and front hull ring textures:

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More bridge details, and added bridge spots:

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Corrected saucer texture:

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More dramatic shot:

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More details

Got further cleanup and detail work done this past weekend.

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From Learning 3D

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From Learning 3D

Global Illumination with the Enterprise

I stumbled on how to get GI working in Modo last night, as well as fixing bits of geometry and adding the rear shuttle bay panels and shuttle bay doors.

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From Learning 3D

Some pretty shots showing GI plus various bits of initial attempts at adding materials to the model.

From Learning 3D

From Learning 3D

From Learning 3D

From Learning 3D