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
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 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.
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)
