Hi,

I have finally decided what I will be attempting to build for the Marvelous Machines contest. I hope it's not overly ambitious and that I will be able to finish it in time.

So here comes the WIP thread, in the hope that you guys will be able to provide feedback and make this model as good as it possibly can be.

First steps are always the hardest for me, so lets start small and focus on a tension screw (reference picture below).

Attached is the cleanest and most precise Sub-D thread that I ever made

Very nice start. I need to find a direction to go with my entry as well. Looking forward to your progress. I made need some sub-d tips along the way.

Happy Hunting.

-DjD-

edit: On second thought, scratch that, there's no way I'm going back to CPU rendering (Mantra) now that I've tasted Redshift 3D's GPU rendering power.

Tiny update for those of you that like the small and simple Sub-d things in life.

One tiny piece at a time

Need to stop adding detail that will never be seen.

Curious, what are your render times for these previews?

Hi,

It takes about 18 seconds to render. I am using a GT80 Titan Notebook (currently on business travel).
You will find in the screenshot the render settings I am using to have a quick glance at how the model looks.

I am literally learning about Mantra and Houdini's Shaders because of this contest. I am currently going through the tutorials from Rohan Dalvi.

Spent the entire evening experimenting with the Disney shader and Mantra render settings. Slow progress.

I think that everybody likes ball bearings

More detail no person will ever see

The base of the tension element is done. Now comes the trickier part.

Spent quite a bit of time working on method to make a coil for the electric motor. More work needed to control the randomness and the twists better. The goal is to have 2 wire bundles wind their way through the entire assembly.

I had a senior moment and managed to wipe the only copy of the file off my USB disk. Now that I am back at my main workstation, I am rebuilding it from scratch.

I started with the ball bearings as i wasn't happy with the original ones.

Playing catch-up. It helps that Houdini is a real pleasure to work with.

Does this application ever crash?

I need to re-think my approach to this model and reduce the amount of geometry. My machine is about to blow up when I hit the render button.

Here is the beginning of one of the electric motors.

Ball bearings again

This looks really good. Especially the coil!
I'm looking forward to more WIPs.

I like the coil as well, when you can share I can't see your network clearly in your first screen shot ?

Although the shading isn't something to write home too, but I understand the reasoning for that

If by coil you mean the thread, I can do a 1 minute tutorial on that if you like.

The balls are moving!

PS: I know that the contest requires Mantra. During the modelling phase, I will use Octane as my lack of skills in Mantra is getting in the way. I am hopeful to be able to reproduce the shaders in Mantra as a last step. (fingers crossed)