Continuing my MoI education - still with a musical theme - today's modelling challenge was an Armenian Duduk. The reed isn't as correct as I would have wanted it as I was struggling a bit making the material the right thickness - which one wouldn't really be able to see anyway, so I settled for making it look correct from the outside, which for most purposes is all that matters.

The material of the reed doesn't look right, but as this isn't really a rendering exercise but a modelling one, I'm quite happy with it.

And, another version, just for fun...

Great job. Love the texturing and materials on the first render, they look very realistic.

Beautiful works! May we ask what rendering engine you use for these?

Thanks, Ron,

I rendered this in KeyShot. It's not exactly the cheapest render engine out there, but of the ones I have tried, it is by far the easiest and fastest, meaning that the cost can quickly be offset against an easy workflow and an increase in productivity. It does have its quirks, of course, but the developers seem to listen well to feedback and have frequent updates.

A new version 5 is on the horizon, and I think everyone purchasing version 4 now will get a free upgrade to version 5.