Surface modeling is an area of Solidworks many learning the program struggle with, as did I. To culminate the course, I decided to focus in this area in order to finesse this skill. I chose an existing product, Brooks' Cambium saddle, in order to anchor my objectives. Doing so would push me towards a certain level of realism, simultaneously driving a need to create custom textures and bumpmaps through photomanipulation. I feel that custom texturing is an area not often tapped among students with access to the multitude of textures shipped with Keyshot. The styling of my renderings was achieved through my attempts to replicate the qualities of Brooks' product photography found on the Cambium site.

As an exercise in realism, I prioritized the use of authentic typography. However, I was not able to discover the families used through research. For "CAMBIUM", I was able to find an image of the saddle's packaging sitting on a countertop. Through photomanipulation in Illustrator, I was able to grab a vector version of the type. However, the letters were skewed in perspective. After correcting for this, I had a usable version of the type. Two of the rivets have type detailing, "C17" & "395". "C17" specifies the saddle model, while "395" indicates that this saddle was the 395th saddle produced of this line. Brooks did an initial limited run of these saddles, each marked with a similar number. (Fun fact: I actually ride this very saddle!) To etch these rivets, I found a structurally similar font which was available on the school's computers. I then manipulated the vector curves to account for differences in cap height, compression, and kerning. The Brooks logo was available thanks to "Brands of the World".