The Fire Pit
Yesterday in 3D class, we learned about some of the tools in the MOGRAPH module of Cinema 4D. After some play, I created this rather awesome look that I feel is rather reminiscent of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and if you are interested, I’m selling these fine leather jackets.
This is a small image that I made using some crazy geometry in 3D. We were learning how to use the Cloner Object in conjunction with the Step Effectors.
First thing we did was create a grid using the Cloner object. I made one of 19 by 19 tubes since I rather like their shaping. From there, we were taught how to use the Step Effector to influence and modify the attributes of the grid items. In this case, I changed the scale and y-position so that ones being changed by the Step Effector would rise up higher than the rest of the grid and get bigger. Next, I changed the Step Effector to including only a spherical region and moved it to the middle of the grid so it would effect a circular region of tubes. Around then, I discovered that one can affect the falloff of the Step Effector based on a graphical representation. The falloff controls which areas are being affected by the Effector. So, I created a graphical model such that the most affected and least affected regions had no change while the mid range was maxed out in terms of scale and y-position. The Step Effector also applied the red color to the image. However, I found that red alone wasn’t enough, so I added a Shader Effector as well with a yellow color and reduced strength. Thus the yellow would be more dominant in some areas while the red would be more dominant in others. Finally, I added a visible light into the middle of the pit with area shadows to create the dark, flaming effect.
I really like the overall feel of the image and really feel like there is some boiling lava at the bottom of the pit. I wish the tubes lined up a little better rather than showing some odd lines around the edge, but that isn’t such a big thing. It was fun to make this!
