1. Indoor plant modelling tutorial

experience level -intermediate

Create a disc with outer radius of 15cm(picture 1 and 2)


Press C key to make the object editable.

Select Polygon tool from the tools menu or from the toolbar on the left side.

Select all polygons with CTRL+A

  • Go to structure menu and select matrix extrude tool.

    • (You can also use the quick keys! First press M (keys menu) and then X)



    Matrix extrude settings



    3.

    1. Add 12 steps. Input move value of 6cm on z-axis. Rotation value of 15 degrees on x-axis. (picture 3)


    1. Let’s have some variation on the extrude. Select Per Step in variation.

    Our model presents an organic form and that’s why we should have some “natural chaos” in it’s structure.



    4.

    Finally put 60% value in Rotate min.

    Then just click on “Apply”

    If all went ok then you should now have a plant like object.

    Save your work!

    Have some coffee.



    Creating a pot for your plant



    5.

    1. Make a tube with inner radius of 18cm and outer radius of 20cm. Change value 3 in height segments. If you want smoother edges for your pot you can use the fillet option. For example with values of 10 in segments and 0.5cm in radius. (pic. 5)
    2. Press C key to convert tube object into editable polygon object.
    3. Hide the plant object. This makes it easier for you to handle the model.
      Move the plant object to meet your pot object.
      Picture 6. Polygon selection

      Scale selection to:

      X: 30cm

      Y: 14.875 cm

      Z: 30cm

      (or any other suitable scaling amount that looks good!)

    4. Go to the polygon mode and select all polygons. Then use live selection tool (cursor pointer) to reduce the selection from the top of your pot (as seen in the image 6.). Good method of selecting polygons is to use Ring Selection tool in Selection menu (ver. 9, 9.5). It is fastest way to select polygons in this type of 3d-geometry.
    5. Use selection radius between 10 and 20 and keep unselecting polygons with CTRL key pressed down.
    6. Once you have your selection ready use scale tool to scale the selection smaller. In this phase you can try to find a suitable scaling amount. However I have scaled the selection to X 30cm Y 14.875 Z 30cm . The original size of the pot object was 40cm.
    7. Use move tool to place pot around the plant.
    8. Save your work.
    9. Have another cup of coffee



    Creating material for the pot and the plant


    1. Material for the flower pot: Go to the material menu and create new material. Use RGB values of 80, 30, 20 . This gives us dark brown color. Disable specular if you want to change the material more dull. Usually pots are non reflective. You can also use bump channel to add some detail to the surface.
    2. Apply material to pot.
    3. Material for the plant: Go to the material menu and create new material. Use RGB values of 90, 150, 90. Change color brightness to 100%. Adjust specular height to 60%. We want the plant leaves to shine a bit more.
    4. Apply material to plant.

    Adding some lights

    Finally you can add some lights to your scene. Create omni light 100% of intensity with soft shadows. Coordinates X 50 cm, Y 100 cm, Z -350 cm. This is our key light. You can create also a fill light with intensity of 50% and add it over the top of your plant coordinates X 0 cm, Y 200 cm, Z -50 cm. On the fill light we don’t use any shadows.

    Ok. Hope you got this far. Here´s the plant I made.

    http://www.kraphik3d.com/images/indoor_plant_final.jpg