Hello fellow MoI users!

My thoughts were drawn to the time I created that speaker grill: http://moi3d.com/gallery/viewitem.php?id=420
I was amazed by the collaborative effort and individual creativity from many in the MoI community that took it upon themselves to try their own hand at rendering the model.

I'm presenting a new challenge here just for fun.
A utility box given a retro-military styling, full of nooks and "greebles" that could be used for anything.

Here is the challenge: Using your skill and creativity, take this model and exploit it to your liking!

You are free to add upon, alter, re-engineer, de-engineer, re-color, and anything you wish to do. Cut parts out, re-work it, whatever.
Then make some nice renders to show it off.
Slapping some cheesy control knobs on it doesn't really count. This is a good opportunity to show off your MoI prowess and inventiveness!
It could really become anything from a over-complicated lunch box to a Dr. Doom beverage warmer.











Feel free to go to this MediaFire link, download it and take a look.
The .3dm file (15 meg) and a zipped version (5 meg) is available here: http://www.mediafire.com/?6vzuv0lvtjqyl

There is no real deadline or prize :-/ but I will try to post the best results in the Gallery together within a month.

Have fun!

Sorry, found a nasty glitch in the side surface of the "lock bolt" object. - might be an interesting puzzle for some of you to figure out.
Not that I understand a lot about the inner workings of the NURBS library, but you'd think glitchy surfaces would not be allowed, or at the least could be remedied more easily.

Plus, I rotated the model to where the bulk of the box is a flat-inclination.
Re-uploaded an updated model.

Nice idea.....

That is a nice piece you've created... Perhaps I give it a try although I don't have much time...

Peace,
Rich_Art. ;-)

That's a "classic" Mike's stuff:when you see lot of blends-50's-rounded style....that's Mike !!
I'm working..gimme 3 weeks

Yes, it appears I have a penchant towards the retroesque. :-)


A cleaner look.

Now I have a question.
I render in Kerkythea using the .obj export from MoI.
I also have a nice scratched up an rusty army green texture. The surfaces are too convoluted to add textures by simple projection methods.

Is there a free third-party app out there that will let me do UV-unwrapping, of course with subsequent touch-up painting in Photoshop?

Blender. :-)

Peace,
Rich_Art. ;-)

Blender has a fantastic Uv unwrapping function but discards Vertex normal information on .Obj Import. :-(

Mar

Ah ok that is bad indeed.. Gladly I have C4D which works wonderful with importing OBJ files from Moi3D. Not free though...

Peace,
Rich_Art. ;-)

Hi Mike, a few different UV mapping tools here:

UVMapper: http://www.uvmapper.com/
Unwrap3D: http://www.unwrap3d.com/u3d/index.aspx
Unfold3D: http://www.polygonal-design.fr/

I think that UVMapper may have an older version there available for free, look for the "Classic" version on their web site.

- Michael

Thanks Michael!

The UVMapper is certainly no-nonsense. It'll be good to get my feet wet. And a small learning curve, no doubt.

Deleted

Mike's models are always fun to experiment with. No changes to his utility box model, but I wanted to play with textures, bumps and labels in KeyShot.

The KeyShot material I created has a camouflage texture applied to a green base coat, then a fine orange peel normal map texture, then a transparent background scratch label. This material was applied as a Box Map to the model.

Keep em' coming Mike!

Ed

WOW Ed! The camo pattern is a neat surprise. It's wrapped around quite evenly.
It's like a battle-tough med-kit or box to keep C4 in.

Hi ed- wow that texturing and scratching looks really great!

- Michael

That is a great job Ed...

Thanks guys.

If I really could spend some time on it, a custom scratch label that showed more wear on the ridge areas of the box would be great - but the random pattern is a quick and dirty job.

In my jewelry work, random scratches on renders are not something I get to experiment with :)

Ed

Yeah looks nice....

Peace,
Rich_Art. ;-)

Magic Mike Utility Box - Desert Version. Like new condition - no scratches.

Ed

You make a fine render, soldier!!!

Kinda reminds me of wood.

Yeah - the grain in the pattern flows because the only way I could get such a complex object to map in KeyShot was to use a spherical map. If I were doing this for a real advertisement, I'd make the camouflage background color solid with no pattern. Then it would have no "grain".

Update: OK - I cleaned up the background color in the source camo texture before applying it to the model. Much better. See new post below.

Ed