Enigma's Guide - Complete abstract design from scratch

[Enigma]

Enigma's Guide to a complete abstract design starting from scratch!

Part I : Creation of abstract 3D object.
Part II : Integration of Object within Photoshop.
Part III : Combination of photoshop effects.
Part IV : Final touch-up.


Images are provided at every step. **If anyone can provide a better, free host for these images (no imageshack) please, PM me**

This guide is not yet completed. Please PM me any mistakes you see.



Part I :

Programs used : 3D Studio Max Pro 7. No third party plugins.
Objective : To get a decent abstract object to be the main component of the image.

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1. Setting up 3D Studio Max.

In my opinion, there are 2 important changes to make. Both are within the Render Scene Control Panel (F10).
a) The render size. In my example 1280x960. To match my desktop resolution.
b) The renderer itself. Mostly out of habit, I generally work with Mental Ray for the production.



2. Adding some basic elements.

For this example, we will start of with some of the proverbial torus knots, and some play cylinders. These objects can be inserted from the tab on the right. Cylinders are in standard primitive objects and Torus Knots are in Extended primitives objects.

I generally place them after a guts feeling and whatever generally feels good for me.



3. Modification and Distortion of those objects.

Here I present 2 interesting effects. Once all the objects have been created, in the Modify tab of the panel to the right (the modify tab is the second, blue colored icon starting from the left), I add some modifiers to my plain cylinders.

a) To all the cylinders, I add the TWIST modifier, with settings of a 25.0 Angle twist on the Y axis.
b) To all the twisted cylinders I add the NOISE modifier, here with random settings that all include ATLEAST:
- a different seed value
- a random value of "STRENGHT" on all the axes.
- activated fractal noise. (You can leave the Iterations to 6.0)

Once this is done, you should have palette shaped items, that are somewhat distorted.



4. Creating a visually interesting setup.

In this step, now that I have a couple of objects that are somewhat distorted, I will know arrange them in a visually interesting setup.

a) Add a camera, from the Cameras sub-section of the create tab. Add a TARGET Camera. Position it as to have a full view of your objects. To see what your camera sees, right click on one of the viewing windows name, and select Camera 01.



b) Randomly move around, until you find an interesting angle, for my example, I try to fill up the screen, and have a decent amount of visual elements within.



5. Material Editor Pleasures

For this example, I will use a material a really affectionate, which provides a very ?cartoonish? look to the objects.

a) I will start of my group all the objects. (Select all the objects, then Group -> Group)
b) Open up material Editor (M) and click on a new material.
c) In this new material, set for the Diffuse Option a FALLOFF map.



d) In the more advanced option, (the falloff settings), first set the colors you want, for the example, red and black, and then proceed to the Mix Curve.
e) Transform the Mix Curve into a Mix Stair! Use only vertical and horizontal lines, in order to create a stair so that there are no shift colors. (The Red and Yellow button creates new points, and the Cursor with the arrows moves them).
f) With the group selected, click on Apply Material to Selection.





7. And there was light.

There is simply no magic formulae to add lighting to a scene. You will use combinations of Target Spots and Omni Lights to create a good amount of variations from shades to full blazed spots.

Don?t forget to use the Light Lister under the Tools menu to adjust, mainly the ?multiplier? or the intensity of the given lights.

Once you are done with this step, you can proceed to rendering your first shot.

My final composition looked liked this.



8. Rendering and adjusting

Once you reach this step, return to the Render Screen, (Press F10) and simply click on Render. Depending of the speed of your computer, this might take some time.

The rendering done, if you are satisfied by the result (this will be somewhat the base of your creation) you can save the result under the PNG format and PRESERVING THE ALPHA CHANNEL.

I then return to the composition, save a new file, and play away, in order to get a second and third interesting angle.




Results

These are the PNG images I obtained. The zip file contains the scene I used, for those that want to stick very closely to my example. You can also get my renders right here.






Zip file with the scene.

[Enigma]

Place holder for PART II.

Yes, double post. I don't know the max size for a single post here. "Wow, 1 more post for me."

[Enigma]

Place holder for PART III.

Yes, triple post. I don't know the max size for a single post here. "Wow, 2 more posts for me."

[Enigma]

Place holder for PART IV.

Yes, qyadruple post. I don't know the max size for a single post here. "Wow, 3 more posts for me."