After being slightly disappointed with the final product on the last clay sculpt I did, and wishing there was a way that you could go back and edit a piece without needing to start from scratch, I took the plunge and started to learn 3D modelling.
It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while but I’ve always run away from because it seems so complicated at first. But, with 3D printing technology getting better and better, I thought it would be a good skill to have for the future, so I tried to stick with it this time… and I love it! All the fun of making 3D things without all the mess, AND you can edit and undo any pesky mistakes, woohoo!
These were the first few models I made. I wanted to start simple, and after learning the basics I decided to model a few familiar characters for practice – I think this was quite a good way for me to learn, because I knew I’d have to make them look right because other people would know what they were supposed to look like, so it pushed me to learn how to do things that I might have run away from again or changed if they seemed too complicated on a design of my own 
I’ve still got lots to learn, so for now I’m just making up projects for myself that incorporate learning a new technique and then I can start having some fun making more 3D cuteness!
Love them! This makes me want to go back and re-learn Blender all over again.
Oh, Blender had me running away when I looked at it. I found the interface a bit unintuitive so it was like trying to learn too many things at once! It’s a great programme though, especially for a free one. I’ve seen excellent stuff done with it.
I’m using Cheetah 3D – mac only, free trial then it costs around £50 so not too bad.
Love these – looking forward to seeing more!
Should be more soon – maybe something that makes me have to learn a bit about that terrifying looking material node editor thing next?
These are your EARLY efforts?!
*Picks jaw up off the floor*
Bloody hell!
Well, they are more like my ONLY efforts so far! They’re pretty much in the order I did them as well.
Love your blog by the way – are you off to anywhere else after Japan?
Probably Texas to see friends
Your work is just unbelievable!!! I’m starting Cheetah myself and I cannot comprehend how you got this level on your first renders. Maybe I should just stop right here and become a fish monger. Have you been using video tutorials or did you just experiment all the tools one by one? Anyway congratulations, your renders are just stunning.
Thanks for the nice words
You shouldn’t give up, just concentrate on learning what you need to know first instead of trying to figure out everything the programme can do (there’s huge parts of Cheetah I haven’t even looked at, and probably even more that I don’t even know exist yet!) I still find myself not knowing how to do stuff, so I just practice making shapes to see how things work.
I’d say it’s a good idea to pick an already existing simple thing or character, and then set to work figuring out the best way to do it. This means you’ll have plenty of reference material, won’t need to worry about the creative side of the design and will be pushed to learn things to make it look right. Learn to get the model right first using the default materials – custom materials, mapping, reflections, lighting and all that jazz is a whole other thing!
I find the Cheetah forums really helpful, if you ask nicely and paste up examples of things you are stuck on somebody will always give some tips and keep helping until you get there. There are lots of good basic tutorials on there too, and I often look at the general section to see what problems others are having – it might not be something I need to do myself at that moment but I think it ends up getting stored in your brain for future reference anyway!
I find the video tutorials by Glen Southern really good – he isn’t actually using Cheetah but the principles of box/polygon modelling are the same and his videos really made me understand the basics a bit more.
There are some tutorials of his on his own site – http://southerngfx.co.uk/, and some on Nevercentre – http://nevercenter.com/silo/?section=tutorials
Although not a tutorial as such, Dave Eliis aka NoVolume’s Cheetah product render studio helped me to learn a lot about rendering. Things come out looking amazing when you use it, so by checking out the set up and reading up about which render tags and stuff he used, then clicking things on and off to see the difference it made, I was able to build my own version with a few little tweaks here and there. He also has some Cheetah specific tutorials on his new blog which is here – http://www.mac3dsoftware.com/
Hope some of that is useful!
Hi there Sarah and thank you for taking the time to answer my query. I will definitely take your precious advice on board. I know about Dave Ellis; Actually, I discovered your work on his blog; but I didn’t know about Glen Southern. I will check out his tutorials without a fail. I think you’re absolutely right about taking one step at the time. It’s very tempting as a beginner to jump to rendering transparent or glossy textures, but I’ve got so many issues with the modelling at the moment… I really appreciate your help. Kind Regards.
Hi, my name is Victoria from a crafting blog called Crafty Girl. Your blog is one that I have looked at from time to time, and I have nominated your blog in turn for an award called Very Inspiring Blogger Award.
I also wonder going from rendering to the making, will you be using a 3d printer to make them come to life?
Hey Victoria, oh that’s really nice of you – I’m a pretty sporadic blogger to say the least though, so I’m not really sure I’d qualify!
3D printing is definitely something I’d like to try at some point. I need to find out a bit more about the technical side first – I think there are rules you need to follow when you make your mesh to ensure things print properly. I was thinking of making a blog post about 3D printing once I’ve done some research actually, there’s some cool stuff being made!
I love all your creations…vinyl, clay, 3D! (｡♥‿♥｡)
The characters are always cute and funny!!Can’t wait to see what’s next!
Thanks Myria
I’m trying to make a few old characters of mine in 3D at the moment for a bit more practice so hopefully they’ll be next (if they turn out okay!)
Kookizu, your C3D characters are charming and quite impressive in the way you’re able to create ‘knitted’ & sugar-cone textures. Any chance you might share your skills in a video tutorial or two some time?
Andrew-
Thanks Andrew! Well… I’m still a bit of a 3D noob myself so I’m not sure I’m ready to be making tutorial videos just yet! (I’m still watching other peoples)
The knitted texture was just made using a fairly simple bump map of ‘V’ shapes. The cone was modelled with a cylinder made of diamond shaped polygons, which were inner extruded. I then added some ring cuts to sharpen up the edges after it was subdivided and tapered it with a modifier.