Going Photorealistic for the first time TARDIS

[Elissa]

About two years ago I made a TARDIS model, that famous blue box from "Doctor Who".

 

 

I made a fresh version of the model recently, here's the wireframe:

 

For a while I was aiming for a toon look, but that hasn't panned out:

 

I'd like to be quite daring and go for photorealistic based off the new TARDIS, which is a rough painted wood look, my attempts to make textures/decals:

 

 

 

:blink:Oh, and just for kicks...at one point, I lost my mind and made this:

 

Now, I'm asking and begging and humbly throwing myself upon the mercy of wise hasher for your advice as to how to begin.

[KenH]

That's a nice model!

For photorealistic, you're just going to need beveling. No getting round that. As far as the paint goes...obviously grime is needed. I'm not sure what the attributes would be. It's tricky.

[NickHutson]

Ahhh...... the TARDIS. That really makes me feel like I'm back home. Accept that its just a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Brain is also "Dimesionally Transindental"

[Paul Forwood]

Hi, Elissa.

 

I haven't got too much that I can add to what Ken has said. Bevelling and grime are definately required for photorealism.

 

One thing that needs fixing is the horizontal window bars. At the moment they are thinner than the vertical window bars but they should be the same thickness.

 

For texturing flat surfaces avoid using photographed textures that include reflections. In short, use your Tardis photos as references as to what goes where but paint new texture maps that don't include reflections.

 

Use bump maps to add texture to worn areas or to add wood grain, if visible.

 

Look at your Tardis photo. It looks as if the Tardis has been painted with a pale blue first and then overpainted with a darker blue. Try doing the same in Photoshop or your image editor of choise.

 

I have only seen the first 10 minutes of episode one, from the new series, but I am looking forward to watching the rest later today.

[Rodney]

I love your tardis.

 

That toon render... the one you can't seem to reproduce again... that is really neat. Makes me think there should be a Dr. Who cartoon series.

 

Are you modeling the interior next?

[Sevenar]

Didn't even know there was a new series of Dr. Who. What does this make, nine Doctors, or only eight? Did the 1996 movie count?

[Elissa]

Ok, thus far:

 

-via photoshop make grime

-horizontal window bars need adjustment

-beveling

 

Beveling? Can someone elaborate? I'm tadbit confused.

 

 

Oh, Sevenar, go here this will update you on all things Doctor Who:

http://www.gallifreyone.com/

 

To geek myself out... disclaimer first, because I'm only joking BBC, don't sue....

I "burrowed" 1st episode on March 6th, which didn't have the new theme nor "next time" trailer.... then on the 26th "burrowed" the 1st episode with the new theme and "next time" trailer. I'm quite pleased, they have embraced CG properly.

[nixie]

I caught some of the first episode also, the next one looks better!

 

http://www.ypoart.com/tutorials/bevels-intro.htm

 

there you will find yves brill tuts and everything youd wish to know about bevels!

 

Nixie

[Mr MM]

How many hours? modeling... How many splines?

Beveling all that... too much work...?

Just some good texture... some little bump..

 

I wonder how it is rendered?

 

Why not try skylight - radiosity -. that will do!

 

And what purpose? Gonna animate something? Or just still?

 

The ground? The background? How gonna do that? They count...

[Elissa]

My purpose, achieve photorealism in still form. The backaround, I'd like to keep simple, a starfield, a grassy plain or insert the model into a real photograph.

 

:huh:skylight - radiosity? This is where I sound dopey again, but the only skylight I know of is Jeff Lee's software or am I confused?

[Godfrey]

This is how I'd do grime on the TARDIS:

 

Load up an ortho shot of one side into Photoshop, The GIMP, or whatever you like that supports layers. It could be a wireframe, or a toon render, something that shows the actual divisions between sections such as the recessed door panels. I don't have a model of the TARDIS, so I'm using a schematic I found on the Web for my examples.

 

Create a new transparent layer on top of your background, and select the new layer.

 

Make a selection or mask around a portion you want to dirty up. For instance, let's do one of the recessed panels in the door.

 

Select a good-sized paintbrush with "soft" edges. Draw a thick line across the top of the selected area (the mask will keep the paintbrush from drawing outside the rectangle). Draw some thinner lines on the sides and bottom.

 

 

Change to the smudge tool (usually looks like a finger). Set it to around 50% to 75% opacity, and choose a soft, circular brush, perhaps a little smaller than the one we used to draw the lines. Now drag it downwards, across the thick line at the top. Get a nice streaky look to it. Then pull the lines out from the sides and bottom, not too far.

 

 

Now, reduce the opacity of that layer until it's just barely visible. I ultimately reduced that down to 8.2% opacity. Now create and select a new layer, and draw some random spots on it.

 

 

Smudge those around, too, like so:

 

 

Reduce the opacity of that layer to perhaps 25% or so. Do a couple more layers like that, experimenting with brushes. Here's one I did with an animated brush (I've started smudging it on the right).

 

 

Perhaps do some scratches in a lighter color (I'm doing this as a diffuse map, so I'm only using black and white). I add an all-white layer in front of the background, which I toggle on and off as I work so I can get a good idea of what it'll look like (and which I enable before exporting, to remove the background image). For example:

 

 

Anyway, just follow that procedure all over your image, masking off individual bits and dirtying them up. Play with the opacity levels of your layers until you get the look you want, then export it in a format A:M can read and apply the whole thing to your model as a decal. I like doing the grime as a diffuse map so I can tweak the color map without having to redo the grime, but your mileage may vary.

 

Hope this helps! (Apologies for all the images.)

[Mr MM]

Here you can have a look on skylight:

http://www.ypoart.com/tutorials/skylights-intro.htm

 

And there is a Radiosity Forum on A:M with some tutorials.