by Yiming Li
I enjoyed making this project. I’m also more than happy with the renderings of the final output. But honestly, if I had another chance to use maya I think I would definitely do a better job.
The process of modelling for me is a constant process of getting familiar with the operation of this software and getting better at it. The operations are different for each item, but the basic logic is the same, so I’ll pick a few that stood out to me.
When I started I wanted to choose an object that had enough character, so I started with a mug. Regarding the creation of its basic model, basically it’s a matter of constantly slicing a cylinder to make the body of the mug, followed by extruding the handle, and finally connecting the handle to the body with an anchor point welding tool. And keep adjusting the shape of the whole mug in the process. I think the most important thing I learnt during this whole process is to always look at your model from multiple views and to “think three-dimensionally” when making adjustments. Because very often an edge or a point can be operated differently from different angles, checking your model from different views is the key to make no mistakes.
After smoothing the model to check that there are no errors, it is time to attach the texture to the mug. I unfolded the UVs of the mug, and even though I was a little dazzled by the mess of lines on this step, I did my best to separate out the UVs of the body, bottom and handle so that I could make my own changes when it came time to follow up with the mapping. I know how important UVs are to an object, so I didn’t dare to be sloppy when unfolding them. Honestly, this part should be the most time-consuming of all the modelling. In fact, not only was I editing the UVs, I was also deleting a lot of duplicate lines and points on the model, which amounted to a double-check.
Then it was a matter of editing the maps I had in Photoshop and aligning them to the UV’s once they were unfolded. i noticed that the cup handles and the bottom of the cup were white, so I filled in the colours as I edited them all. There’s not much to say about this part, it’s kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, basically every item is mapped along these lines. I think the important part is when it comes to applying the finished mapping to the model in Maya. The mug is made of ceramic, and there is no way to show the texture of the ceramic with mapping alone. So I tweaked the reflectivity of some of the materials to make them closer to the ceramic texture. At this point, a mug is complete.
In summary, there are different ideas for making each different object. But basically, you can’t get away from geometry and curves. What I think I gained from this project is more of a different way of looking at things. There is no doubt that I enjoyed the process of making this project, even though the software can be quite annoying at times. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the next similar project, and I think I’ll be able to do better with this experience. Finally, the final rendering is attached:
