Stamp Model 3 - Stingray

I had now created 2 previous models, both I felt had very strong points but also had weak points. I decided that I would try and bring all my skills gained this semester and use them on this final model and in my personal opinion this is my best model overall. But then again I suppose I am biased but I'll let you make your own opinions on it. This post is in the same format as before. My final renders are posted first then the step by step guide.

I started off by creating a simple flat box with a number of segments so that I could edit the vertices. I then cut this box in half and added the "Symmetry" modifer. I moved the vertices around until I got a shape that resembled that of a Stingray. With the Symmetry on it looked more liek a Stingray.

I then added a turbosmooth modifier.

My next job was to create the main body of the Stingray. The main body of the stingray is located pretty much in the center of the animal. There is a large lump that not many people notice and inside of this lump is a stingray's version of the human digestive system.

I extruded the top layer of polygons in the centre upwards. I kept doing this until it was of sufficient height and then moved aroun some of the vertices to get the correct shape. It was just a bit of trial and error until I was satisfied.

A key thing to note is that I also create a lip around the edge of thhe stingray. When feeling a stingray you notice that the edge of its body is actully lipped so i moved the inner polygons down to give this affect. I think its worked quite well actually.

I was now going to add the stingrays eyes, which are on the top of its head. I did this by extruding some polygons inwards to get the eye shape when it was turbosmoothed.

I then used the same method on the underside of the Stingray for it nostrils and mouth.

I was now ready to work on the gills of the Stingray. They work in a very similar way to how they work on a fish but the Stingray just has more of them. A regualr Stingray is born with 10 of them but of course in some crazy cases across the world there have been different amounts.

I used the same method that I used for the Eyes, Nostrils and mouth by extruding polygons inwards. The only problem I had here was that I obviously needed a lot of polygons to extrude and also I needed a gap between then. This meant that on either side to just cover the gills I was going to need at least 9 polygons so that the spaces in between would work. To accomplish this i used the "Cut" tool, which I had used in both previous models and was now conifdent with. I started on the underside of the Stingray and ended up on top after going around the edge. It is important to have your cuts go in a big loop to improve the quality of the turbosmooth.

My next move was to make the tail for the stingray. Most people don't think about the tail of a stingray because of the so common large flounder like shape that everyone immediately associates with a Stingray. The "Sting" of the Ray actually comes from the tail and is the most dangerous part. You may use this information if you were unaware of this and come up against a Stingray in the future!!!!

I started off by turning my half a stingray into a full stingray. This is done by having the "Symmetry" modifier on and selected all of the model, right clicking and converting it to an editable poly. This elimiates the symmetry modifer and welds the two parts together into one big stingray. I then used the extrude tool to pull a tail out of the back of the stingray. I Extruded the main body of the tail at first and then used the vertices and Lines angles to create a more realistic shape for a tail.

My Stingray with its Pointy end to the tail and its jagged tail.

Most images of a Stingray's are taken when they are swimming. When they are taking up this motion the far ends of there wing like features extend up in the air and go down to propell them along. (It is hard to explain but if you look on my moodboard or on most images on the Internet you will understand me.) I wanted to add this idea onto my Stingray so began moving the vertices up in the air on both sides.

The Stingray, right before texturing.

I now had a finished Stingray that was ready to be textured. I was extremely happy with how it had turned out and felt it was a very good representation of how a Stingray looks. I also felt that the small features like the wings in the air, the lipped edges to the body and the main body hump in the middle of the animal made it look a lot more realistic.

In the same way that I had done for the goldfish, I applied the UV Unwrap modifier to the model and spent some time peicing the smaller pieces onto the larger ones to get an image that could be used for texturing.

Once I had pieced the bits together I placed the iamge into Photoshop so I could begin working on the materials.

I used the Internet to find an image of a stingray's skin that I could use on my model. Below is the texture that I found.

Once I had the stingray skin, I began working on the the image. The whole of the top side was going to be covered in this skin so that was pretty simple. On the udnerside the center part was going to be white however I had noticed that most stingrays topside material bends round and covers up some of the underside but at random stages. I tried to incorporate this into my image.

The big white splodge is covering the tiny pieces of the stingray. These were the gills and the innerds of the mouth,nose and eyes. I wanted these to be white and thought it would be easy to cover them this way. The top right part of the texture is covering the tail. The point of the tail was painted black but it will not show up in this image as the background is black.

I then added the material to my Stingray and I was extremely impressed with how it looked. I played about with the amount of texture that covered over the white colour on the bottom of the stingray. I just kept editing the amounts until I was happy with how it looked.

Below are my final Images of my Stingray. I took one of the top and one of the bottom so you cans ee the effect on both sides.

With the disaster that had happened with Goldfish texturing I was ever so happy with how the texture came out on the Stingray. With te final texture added I decided to add a "Bump map" to the model, a technique that Richard had showed us in one lecture. I used the same image that I had used for the material and I think it made such a greate difference and really made the texture come to life and look realistic.

This is the skin with NO Bump Map on it.
This is my final Skin for the Stingray that DOES have a Bump on it. I think it looks tonnes better and makes the model look more realistic.

I really enjoyed creating the Stingray. There were similarities between the Giraffe and the Goldfish but neither are similar to the Stingray so I had to start from scratch with no ideas. I tried to use skills that I picked up in the other two models and used them in this model. I hope you like it because I am very happy and proud of it especially with the texturing.