Cgtuts+ Workshop #18 Grip Pen
tuts workshop

Cgtuts+ Workshop #18 Grip Pen

on Jul 11th 2012 with 10 comments

We’re back with another entry in our weekly community project, where we post a render or animation created by a member of the Cgtuts+ community, and ask you to provide feedback and constructive criticism on their work. It’s a great way to learn more about the intricacies of computer graphics, express your viewpoint, and have your own content critiqued by your fellow artists!

Quick Ground Rules

  • Be nice! We’ve deliberately chosen work that isn’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
  • Feel free to offer any type of advice on – Modeling, Texturing, Materials, Lighting, Rendering, Composition, etc.
  • You can also link to another render that you feel offers a great example of this type of content done exceptionally well.

So let’s get to it, here’s this week’s entry created by Ryan Steel!

Grip Pen

Cgtuts+ Grip Pen Render critiqueClick To Enlarge

A Little Background

Hi, my name’s Ryan Steel, and I’m 16 from Scotland. This is a picture I created in Blender and was mostly to try and get the largest amount of detail I could possibly capture. It would be nice to hear what others think of my work and how I could improve. All criticisms are welcome.

Thank you!

Also be sure to check out more of Ryan’s work at: Imgur.com!
Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached this project or done things differently? Any thoughts on how it could be improved or taken to the next level. Chime in below!

The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site. Interested in submitting your own video or 3D render? You can do so here! and have your work featured in a future Cgtuts+ Workshop!

 
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By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

A long time Cgtuts+ author, Chris has recently moved into the role of co-editor at Cgtuts+. Chris has nearly a decade of experience working with 3D studio Max and has authored many in depth tutorials for Cgtuts+ as well as other websites. A generalist by definition, Chris spends most of his time modeling, but has many years of experience in the area's of UVMapping, Texturing, Lighting and Rendering. On rare occasions when he's not wasting away in front of his computer, Chris enjoys playing hockey, skateboarding, watching movies and playing games. You can find more of his work over at christateonline.com.  

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  • http://www.vfxrider.com Chandan Kumar

    Looks very nice! There is some scope to make it look much better like adding some details on the grip area, but overall it looks quite good!

    • http://nathanielmalouin.tumblr.com/ Le fou

      Same thing here. Nice work! ;)

  • Mauspat

    Nice job! :-) I think the shadow right underneath the tip looks a little fuzzy, the overall lighting could be a bit brighter, and the grip looks a little bit too much like hard plastic rather than a soft rubber-grip, but those are just small things. Other than that, keep it up!

  • Giridhar Sharma

    Quite Realistic.
    Except for the grip (as said by Chandar Kumar), its really a gr8 render :)

  • http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Artists/POPA_3D?referral=POPA_3D POPA_3D

    the model it self is good talking about modelling however I think the lighting should be improoved the scene look dark I will prefer a lighter background and put some indirect lighting (global illumination) also I think you should up sampling quality when you zoom in the render look noisy and glass reflection don’t look good, I am not a blender user to give you settings but maybe you can use my comments as guidlines, good luck

  • http://www.alexengelmann.com Alex

    As the others have said, your modeling is pretty good. Your image is almost there, owever there are a few of things I’d change to really make it pop.

    Texturing/Shading:
    -I’d add some little dents and scratches on the grip and towards the tip of the pen. This close to the camera, that stuff would be noticeable.
    - The rubber on your grip doesn’t look glossy enough. I’d up the glossiness to spread out your highlights. This will help differentiate your rubber material from the plastic.
    - Perhaps you could add a simple HDRI to add interest to your reflections. (Especially to the clip metal, and tip of the pen)

    Lighting:
    - Add a light coming from above and behind the pen. Try and get a specular highlight along the upper silhouette of your model. That’ll pop it out from the background. You can also try to have that light cast some caustics on the ground in front of the pen.
    -Try adding a hint of color to your lights. No light is perfectly white. (unless you want a black/white end result).
    -Even out the lighting in of your sweep. There is such a contrast from the foreground to the background, that I find my eye straying away from your pen.

    Composition:
    -I’d think about putting something under the back of the pen to lift the back of the pen up (maybe another pen). I’d also rotate the pen so the clip on the back adds to the silhouette of the model. Right now it is hard for me to read the shapes on the back part of the pen.
    -Try adding a hint of DOF (don’t over do it). At this close range, you’d typically get some DOF.

    Technical:
    -Up the samples in your glass material and your light’s shadows. The grain is killing the realism of the image.
    -On the image i’m looking at there are two white dots on the background.

  • http://digitalvandal.us Timothy Williams

    Hello

    Great job and I really like the way the refraction looks in the plastic. There is a touch too much noise but like most of the other comments I dont use blender so I cant tell you specifics to fix that. The metal looks good as well in the spring but the larger rings dont look as if they are part of a helix. I dont know if you can exaggerate that or not but thats what im getting to with the rubber.

    Exaggeration in 3d is how you can sell something that might be lost if you stay realistic.I recommend finding parts of your model that is lacking detail or realism and looking to see what other people do to fix that. The rubber could immediately be fixed by adding a bump map(normal map) of a leather texture and then take it into photoshop to reduce the effect. I spent about 20 minutes lighting and texturing this free model of a pen I used in an earlier project. (http://www.digitalvandal.us/1.html)

    The rubber grip with the circles was how its was originally made but in order to show you I made the really crappy tread in the grip. It gives the grip more places for light and shadows to bounce and that creates more interest. Specular highlights and shadows can create their own dynamic shapes, and that goes for all form of art. Also I saw you kept some grey in the rubber texture but in order to really bring that out I used some multi colored lights. All together there are 7 lights in my scene and 5 of them are either light blue or peach. Life is rarely filled with white light. I should have used a light tent to create reflections and light seeing that if this was a real photo shoot I would place the pen in a tent instead of in front of a cyc wall.

    But ive gone on enough. When I was 16 I was using Bryce studio to make crappy silver text floating over the ocean. You are on your way to a great career mate

  • http://create3dgames.wordpress.com Elijah

    I think the rubber grip doesn’t look rubbery enough. It looks plastic, or some kind of bendy plastic or something. And the shadow from the pen is a bit weird. Other than that, looks great!

  • Harris Mirza

    Nice pen but the part where the pen smoothes onto the grip makes it look sorta like glass i would slightly reduce the refraction rate

  • http://www.illustr8ed.co.za Modisana

    I love the tip and/ or front of the pen. Especially the specular highlights on the transparent part of the pen.
    I can definitely see where everyone else is coming from with their input but I’m not one to make any suggestions as I’m still learning myself and I’ve never touched Blender. My only input would be to have more contrast between your model and your backdrop. At the moment the model kinda disappears into the scene. Again, I’m a newbie when it comes to 3D.

    I modeled a pen a lil’ while ago and off the bat yours looks much better than mine. Actually, I did a whole branding thing for my small illustration studio. In case you’d like to see it.

    http://www.behance.net/gallery/illustr8ed-Creative-Studio-Branding/4477149