[#3] Digital Mash-Up: The Render

Testing out different materials.


This week we are refining and rendering our top creation from last week's digital mash-up. 

Unfortunately, I came down with a cold this week and was unable to attend class. I missed out on the feedback from others during critique but have enlisted the help of some family members and friends to help decide which creation to use and what to refine.

The top creations that came out of the feedback I received were the cookie with teeth, the dragon bee, and the crystal hamster. The creation that had the most positive feedback and others felt was the most unique was the crystal hamster so I decided to go with it. Specific feedback that was given for the hamster was to better balance the placement of the crystals, create a more gradual size change across the clusters on the back end, and to add many more crystals. I agreed with the first two of those points but decided to go lighter on the addition of crystals so that the hamster was still recognisable and not swallowed up by the crystals. 

Refining and composing the scene.


I refined the creation by adding in more variety in crystal sizes and filling in some of the empty spaces on the hamster's hips and rear end. I also added the smaller crystals on the back of its hind legs to match the front. Slight rotations and changes to the placement of the crystals were also applied to better fit the contours of the hamster's body. To finish off the scene, I added a ground plane and two spotlights.

When it came to rendering, I played around with many materials to see what looked the best. My favourites were the more crystalline materials that showed the detail of the hamster and meshed well with the crystals. I used different colours and materials for the crystals and the hamster to better reflect the changes in texture between them. I set the render to output at 1920 x 1080 and 72 DPI. The ground plane material in the renders below is light grey plaster.

Here are a few of my favourite renders:

Materials:
Hamster - Sapphire Gem
Crystals - Blue Glass

Materials:
Hamster - Dark Maroon* Plastic
Crystals - Burnished Copper
(*looks black against the copper)


Materials:
Hamster - Burnished Bronze
Crystals - Pink Frosted Glass


This crystal hamster creation is a fitting example of remix culture. I was able to combine two existing models of objects in a hamster and a cluster of crystals, mashing them up into a new take. This remixing was only possible because others made their objects available and open for others to use. A hamster with crystals growing out of and integrated into its body has a sense of juxtaposition in terms of its composition/form, as well as its inorganic vs. organic materials. It isn't something that exists in our reality but could feel right at home in a fantasy world or role playing game as a creature roaming a mystical land. At least, I hope it doesn't exist in our reality since it looks like it would be pretty uncomfortable to sleep with all those crystals attached.

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