Hogwarts style emblem

[Super-Ted]

I produced this emblem today. I am hoping that you can provide some tips and advice. I would like to give the shield a more rounded look, instead of the flat beveled look it has now. Anyone good with Modeler?

Also, I am going to add a parchment scroll to the top and bottom. Anyone have any advice as to getting the rolled look of a parchment?

Thanks,

Super-Ted.

[nthused]

Not really sure what you mean about the parchment scroll...I know what that is...just don't know how you're thinking of incorporating it.

Model looks good.

On your "gold" material.

Open your Surface Editor and reduce it's diffuse to 20% or so.
Set it's Specularity to 60%
Glossiness to 40%
Reflection. Select the Texture button and the Gradient for your Layer Type. For the Input Parameter select "Incidence Angle". "0.0 should be 95% or above and 90.0 set to 35%.

Give the "gold" something to reflect, perhaps just a reflection map under the Environment tab.

Go to Advanced Settings tab and Change your Color Highlights to 80% or so.

This should give you a much better looking gold material...if not play around with the settings and the environment to get the look you're after.

Keep the WIPs coming in.

[Super-Ted]

Hey there,

I added the Gold texture advice. I think it added a little extra glimmer. I am using a foil.tif for the environment. I think it is a little too crumpled. Any ideas for a less crumpled texture? Or does it look ok to you?

As for the Parchment, I want to create one scroll, arched nicely above the shield, and one below which is straight accross. I am eventually hoping to add a 'coffee-stained' texture to the open scrolls. I think I am a LONG way away from adding worn-like serrations!

As a Noob, I am quite enjoying my first project WIP! I sense long late nights ahead.

[loki74]

hmm...I'm sure there is a better, faster way to do this, but for the parchment i would just use a box with many segments and rotate selectively as needed. a few things to keep in mind if you do it this way:

1-I'm not actually doing this, only kind of working it out in my head, but it seems to me that the segments would have to increase in frequency where it is more tighly curled. (i guess this would be towards the edge)

2-Either you'll need LOTS of segments or you'll end up using sub-d. I would use sub-d. But keep in mind that before you curl it up, you'll want to use the knife tool parallel to and very close to all the edges, as to prevent unwanted curvature on the corners. I also like to add a division down the middle just for good measure.

3-You can either have a zero-depth surface, or one that is very very very thin. I would go with one that has depth but is very thin. The visibility of the bevel on paper is often underestimated imo, especially on parchment which would be thicker than normal paper, right? But if you do decide to make it 0-depth, make sure your surface is double sided.

===========

other things... I think some ambient occlusion would be nice where the emblem intersects the surface of the shield thingy. I use a plugin called "SG_AmbOcc" im not sure where i got it from tho.

for the gold, I think it looks a little too yellow; i would try making it slighly more orange (decrease hue). but that is just me taste.

regarding the environment... im assuming youre referring to the texture on the shield? I would probably go procedural with that one, but im a lazy texturer and im partial procedurals. I think it would be cool to have a velvety ro cloth-like effect going on...*shrugs*

oh and about serrations on the parchment--if you decide to make it zero depth, you could use an alpha map to accomplish this no? Otherwise the only think i can think of is using a boolean operation, but then you end up with ngons which arent good for sub-d. depending on how it works out, you may be able to use the triple command to compensate for this, but it may or may not work out the way you want to.

one last thing--it would be cool to see this nicely lit and on some sort of background... its simple now i guess, but i have a feeling that once youre done with it a plain ol white bg wont do it justice! ;) .

good luck!

[Super-Ted]

Here's my new update. I was wondering if anyone out there has a cool Wood texture available? Something like the 'Tiger stripes on a Gibson Les Paul guitar would be nice.

[nthused]

Good morning, Super-Ted...well, it's morning here :)

Remember, for your reflection maps, that your surfaces of your object are all located in the same environment and therefore would be reflecting the same thing...just with different values.

Sorry, don't have any wood texture as you're describing.

Keep going, it's looking better with each try.

[Super-Ted]

Hi,

I have my 'Maple' wood texture. It is in .jpg format, and it is 640x480 pixels. I am wondering how to apply this texture however. Do I simply go into Surface editor > environments tab > Procedural/Spherical? Or, is this too simple? Are there bump maps and what not to consider aswell?

Thanks again.

[nthused]

ST.

Do you want that mapped to your shield?

I you do, go into Surface Editor, Basic tab, select the Color "T" button, Projection: Planar
Select and hold down Image and select :Load Image

make sure your Texure Axis selection is appropriate.

Auto Size or size to your liking

Select "Copy" at the top left of the Texture Editor Dialog box.

Close this window.

Select "T" under Bump

Press "Paste" and replace current layer.

Adjust the bump value as desired.

Wa-la! You've mapped the wood texture to your shield surface.

[Super-Ted]

Well,

I figured out how to apply maps to texture, Diffuse, Bump, Glossiness etc..
I really like the automatic sizng function! Made things a whole lot more straight forward. Well, I am happy with the logo for now. Time to create a parchment scroll! Any help will be greatly apprectiated, as I find Modeller scary... Wha-ha-ha-ha......

Thanks.

[nthused]

That looks SO much better...

I wouldn't be much help on the scroll, sorry to say. Haven't gone down that road yet. There may be a tutorial at flay.com or other sites. Check those out.

[Super-Ted]

Hi.

Latest update. I added a Lion to the logo, altered the wood texture levels and added a three point light setup to combine with radiosity.

I am having great trouble creating a parchment scroll to go accross the bottom of the shield. Can anybody help me with the modelling procedures for this part?

Thanks.

[Super-Ted]

I give up with the Parchment idea. Oh my head hurts. I tried to produce a lame parchment in Photoshop. However, It just doesn't cut the mustard. I just read like 5 chapters of Ablans' books! I think perhaps too much input for one day...............

[nthused]

I'm sure it's possible to do...may just be REALLY difficult :D The shield looks great. I can understand your frustration...I work with AutoDesk products all day...Could be worse, you could be trying to do something in Civil3d...AAARG

[Super-Ted]

No work done today. I've been busy eating KFC and pondering life. I have to start thinking about producing a website anyhow. If anyone out there has any tips on producing the parchment, speak up please!

[iluvatar]

First of all I like the embleem :) nice project!

about the parchment:
this forum shows a tutorial for a "fantasy letter". I haven't tried this one but looks pretty ok to me: http://forum.mgfx.net/viewforum.php?f=5
on newtek's website is a tutorial on how to unroll a scroll: http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/animation/unroll/ This technique can be used to position the fantasy letter any way you like it :)

greets and have fun,
.-=~ iluvatar ~=-.

[Super-Ted]

Yeah, I read the newtek scroll tutorial. I can't figure out how to do the UV-part using Seashell. I get this kinda message 'UV inactive'. I can't figure out how to 'Activate' it I guess!

[Super-Ted]

Well, i have a new update! If someone told me a couple of days ago that I would be writing this message, telling the Newtek community that I have created what I set out to complete from the beginning, I would have told them to take a hike! But I created my scroll! And I linked it with the emblem! And i'm happy!
I created the scroll using a simple box, with 54 polygons. I created surfaces, bump maps and diffuse maps in Photoshop. I drew bones onto my polygon to create curves.

If anyone has any suggestions for improvement please submit them!

- How come the shield is affected by radiosity differently than the Scroll?

- How can I add text to the scroll? Do I Create a .jpeg text image and map it? How do I get it to fit centrally?

- Anyone got any animation suggestions? I am much better at animation than I am at modelling and surfacing!

Suggestions, suggestions, suggestions please!

-Is this the lightwave euphoria i'm experiencing?-

[Super-Ted]

I messed about a little with lighting. Using lighting with raytracing & radiosity was making my computer weep.

[nthused]

Wonderful work, Super-Ted. Patience and perseverance...we learn more from those two things than any other thing.

It's looking great. Keep the renderings coming in.

[lede]

Nice start here so far.

To map text to the scroll you could do an image map and place the text over it. One thing though I would suggest not using a jpg file unless your computer just can't handle larger images. If you create some text in Photoshop you can turn of the background layer off and just only the text will display on the parchement. Now the fun trick will be to get it positioned correctly. There are several ways to do this but I think the easiest in the long run would be a UV texture map.

I know UV maps are complex at first but once you get the concept down their easy. Basicy what they do is map a 3D polygon on to a flat 2D image plane. Then you can paint your textures on to those polygons and not worry about streaching from a planer/spherical/etc.. map.

You can get a good source of tutorials at:

http://members.shaw.ca/lightwavetutorials/Main_Menu.htm

They have a wide range of tutorials to help you get on your way to using LightWave.

Patience is the most important thing you can have right now while your learning the Lightwave tool sets.

-Lee

[natcoll]

you should be able to create a photoshop image for the text. If you make it a layer and save as a .psd, you can use it on the surface as though it as alpha channel. Load it on the surface as Planar. :)