This 3d model was created in 3ds Max and textured using Photoshop. I wanted to go for a realistic model and textures, so I increased the polygon count, adjusted the textures by hand-painting the bump map, and rendered the images using HDRI. The texture adjustments and rendering were done in Blender.

Before I started this project, I had about a month's worth of experience with Blender. Going from Blender to 3ds Max was like starting over. I used a lot of reference images and had to look up how to do many different things. Once the initial model was complete, I challenged myself to aim for more realism. I ended up with two models: the low-polygon model and the one displayed in this project. Texturing and detailing was relatively easy. I drew the bump map in Photoshop. However, I did not like how the rendering turned out with 3ds Max.

To polish this project, I made minor changes to the vertices. Most of the work was fixing texture issues. I used many techniques, from noise texturing for the plastics to hand-painting edges to make sure they lined up.

I gained some experience from a team project working with armatures and animating. I researched rigging and created a driver that synchronizes the movement of the slide and the barrel. I also constrained movement of the parts. This made animation much easier.

The biggest challenge with this project was fixing textures. Higher resolution images would clearly show some of the seams. This is why I used hand-painting. It was difficult lining up patterns in Photoshop. With hand-painting, I could make lines over seams easily.

I did not get much feedback with this project aside from how they liked how it turned out. The requirements were for simple textures. I changed those to physically based rendering (PBR) textures.

The improvements over the original include texturing touch-ups, PBR texturing, HDRI lighting, creating a scene, rigging, and rendering with a program I know much better.