Oh.. How I love my stapler

[Ryan Timothy B]

So I downloaded Maya a couple days ago (shhh, don't tell anyone). I got it because I need a few 3D textures for a game I'm working on and I may as well do it myself rather than pay someone. But when I started it up the other day I had no idea where to start! It took me like 5 minutes to make my first cube. So I jumped online and watched dozens of youtube vids.

I've worked with 3D a little before, making Duke Nukem or Half-life levels when I was younger, but this was my first attempt at making something 3D in several years. I started it Tuesday evening and this was the result. I was also going to texture the floor with wood but decided a glossy gray floor was better than watching another tutorial video - for now.

I had a hard time getting the metal shiny and realistic.. Does anyone know any ways of doing it? Hopefully without having to download any surfaces.

I also found lighting was one of the hardest parts of the process. I placed and adjusted my lights so many times until I said screw it. Does anyone know of any good Maya lighting techniques?

(Oh, and why a stapler you ask? It was sitting on my desk and it had the perfect shape and intricacies inside to learn how to model with Maya. I actually made almost everything on the inside, things you can't even see in this photo. Just for practice. Everything but the spring that pushes the staples.)

[Anian]

That's pretty good for "I don't know how to make a cube" + couple of hours of youtube videos = a finished model.
For a chrome type of metal, those materials are not determined by their color (except when it's gold, brass etc.) but by reflection (they're mirrors basically). Also a good detail for realism is a hdri map, it just makes it a notch better. If you're working with mental ray renderer, there are sites like this http://www.mrmaterials.com/

(btw you can get Max, and even Maya I think, with a 6 month license if you're unemployed or a student legit from Autodesk)

If you're going from scratch, you probably should've gone with Blender though.

[Mouth for war]

I agree...Extremely well done after just being able to make a cube and watching some tutorials!!!

[selmiak]

nice! Now make a model of everything else around you and post it in the show your desktop thread!

[CaptainD]

You should make a game where you play the role of a stapler on a mission to save the world from paper clips (or sellotape).

[Viking]

Shouldn't it be red?

[Squinky]

I really dig that stapler. Good work.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Thanks guys. I am pretty proud of my first serious attempt. Maya really is an incredible tool.

Anian, yes, with the few searches I did, I actually heard that color doesn't matter with the reflecting object. I kept making the metal white/gray until I bumped into one of the sites that mentioned to use black. But as you can see, I still couldn't get it to look shiny like the real thing. Perhaps I just needed more white light bouncing against the walls for a better reflection.

I also believe I downloaded Blender once before. I wanted to learn how to animate 3D characters but I never did manage to figure it out. Unfortunately it never once occurred to me then to look for youtube videos. It's unbelievable how one can simply learn almost anything they want by just a few Google searches nowadays. The internet is powerful indeed - and to think, all I used it for when I was younger was chatting and porn.

Also Anian, the few times I've checked that site out it seems down because of spam.

As for the realism, I never did intend to learn how to make anything look realistic. Since the stuff I needed to learn Maya for are small cartoony objects. But once I started making the stapler, that's when I decided I may as well put this time to good use by actually trying to make something look realistic.. of course though I half failed. The HDRI map is a brilliant idea. I was also tempted to make one of those bump map textures (no idea what they're called) that help make scratches and such look real. Where it allows the light to bounce off depending on the gradient of the bump map.. or some such magic.

nice! Now make a model of everything else around you and post it in the show your desktop thread!

Funny thing is, I actually thought about it while I started making this stapler. But once all the work was done, I laughed at the idea and figured making my 3D game sprites would be a better idea.

[Anian]

As for the realism, I never did intend to learn how to make anything look realistic. Since the stuff I needed to learn Maya for are small cartoony objects. But once I started making the stapler, that's when I decided I may as well put this time to good use by actually trying to make something look realistic.. of course though I half failed. The HDRI map is a brilliant idea. I was also tempted to make one of those bump map textures (no idea what they're called) that help make scratches and such look real. Where it allows the light to bounce off depending on the gradient of the bump map.. or some such magic.

Remember to use the ink and paint material (you can get an outline on objects without post process).

Bump maps - black and white textures (can also be height maps for terrain, but that's not really texturing) - use them for scratches and stuff like wooden and tiled floors, bricks etc., they give just a bit of detail to surfaces - you for example adda bump map that'll show the name of the manufacturer on that staple and in the render it would sort of "pop up" - gray is flat, black is indented, white pops up.
Displace maps/normal maps (you'll find different terminology) - can be b&w images but usually people are talking about those purplish textures, they're mostly made out of using 2 different models (one that is more detailed than the other) and what you do is basically is a shell from the one with the higher number of polygons (details) on the model with less polygons (simpler one).
Main difference - bump maps have 2 colors (1 less than normal maps) and they're for smaller details (scratches for instance) and you don't actually change geometry when it renders, while normal maps actually make stuff, as in the details actually cast shadows on the world etc.
My advice is to try both with letters on a flat planes then maybe a cube with a brick texture to see how they work.

[Theme]

Metals just need something to reflect.