Week 9

I started week nine by modelling a part of the engine called the Magneto. This was very simple to create as only used generic shapes. I used two box's, two cylinders and a rounded box. After creating and scaling the shapes I positioned them accordingly and then grouped them.

With the fairly easy task of creating the Magneto finished I moved on to producing the pipe work and wires for the whole engine. To create the pipes and spark leads I used the line tool. When drawing a line you have a variety of options. I chose to draw my lines smooth with smooth corners. In the line drawing window there is also a drop down menu labelled rendering. If you enable the box that says 'Render in viewpoint' you can set a line thickness. This is how I achieved the complex shape and bend on all of the wires. I varied the thickness depending on the application of the wire or tube. I could have used cylinders and modified them but this way is simpler and more effective.

Gear Housings

I modelled the lower gear housing from a cylinder and half of a sphere which I squashed using the scale tool. The two parts were scaled in relation to the rest of the engine. The other two gear housings were simply created using squashed capsule shapes.

Detailing

To give the model a more realistic feel I decided to add some detail in the form of rivets and bolts. The bolts on the head cover are made up of tiny cylinders. There are thirty-two on each cover. The rivets are made up of spheres. These are used on the crankshaft casing and lower gear casing.
There is a mix of fittings on the main gear housing. The bolts around the outer edge are modified cylinders. These have been modified to look like a two part bolt. Around the inner edge of the gear housing I have used tube shapes to simulate open screw holes.

Another addition to the model was the six exhaust ports on each piston block. These were created from modified boxes. I used Boolean to cut out the centres.

I also added the Rolls-Royce wording using the text tool. After writing out the words I used extrude to give the lettering depth and applied it to the covers.

With the model completed to a respectable standard I decided to start adding textures and materials. I wanted to keep the main parts of the engine matt and the top covers were to be chrome.

The hardest material that I had to create was the chrome needed for the head covers. I followed the basic principles from a couple of tutorials which I had read. To start with I opened the materials editor and with new material selected I set the diffuse colour to a dark grey. This acts as the base colour.
The next thing I did was to go into the maps pull down and assigned 'Raytrace' in the Reflection bar. By doing this the material reflects other objects and the environment in the animation.
When returning to the parent material panel I adjusted the specular and glossiness levels to suite the animation. The adjustment of these levels depends on what environment and lighting is being used.
With the other metalic textures on the model I decided just to use bitmaps and alter the specular and glossiness levels to give a shine and reflection.

The braided texture on the two front hoses is made from a bitmap which I sourced. To add extra depth I added a Bump Map in the Map pull down. All I did was to assign the original bitmap into the Bump Map bar. This gives the material extra depth by exagerating the darkened areas. The lighter areas of the bitmap will appear raised. On the model I created this gives the raised woven effect of the braided hoses.

All of the materials and textures which consisted of a Bitmap image were scaled using the UVW Map tool in the modifier pull down. When clicking on the UVW Map you are given an option of 'Gizmo' which once selected allows you to alter and manipulate the texture on a chosen object.