Modelling Process – Campfire | Development

Intended Outcome:

• Create a realistic looking fire, ready to apply fire simulation.

Problems I encountered and how I overcame them:

• Creating the rocks came quite easy to me, as in my first media project ‘Changing creature in different environments’ I had experimented heavily with the sculpt tool in order to simulate natural materials. The main task for me in this portion of my model was not the creation process itself, but making the stones look similar but not identical. I was originally hoping to use my first rock as a base for the rest of them, but the resemblance was hard to change, so I decided to start each rock from a different mesh.

• Out of curiosity, I searched youtube for advice in creating rocks and stones and found the below tutorial uploaded by youtube member ‘Stym’, who used a rather complex method to create their game assets. After trying this method, I decided against it, as I found altering my rocks from an iscosphere gave me a more efficient and realistic outcome.

• After completing enough rocks to surround where the fire would be, I began modelling the centre. I chose to firstly add a large log to fit as the main fuel source, before building thinner sticks to surround it. To fill empty space and add detail, I also created a pile of soot by sculpting a circle so that it elevated unevenly, and consumed the log slightly.

• Crating the sticks that surround the centre was simple but tedious. I modelled the sticks by extruding and moving points of a cube so that it resembled the behaviour of a branch, before applying a subdivision modifier and sharpening the edges with a loop cut. I then propped them at the centre of the soot.

• To complete this model, I bevelled any edges that were too harsh, added a subdivision surface modifier, and I ensured that the normals of the mesh were correct and had an auto smooth angle of 30 degrees. I also removed any unnecessary faces/vertices and grouped parts of the model that would be textured identically.

Where to go from here:

• Create a tent to bring the scene together.

Timelapse:

Final Model: