Recently I have been working on my 3D skills. I would like to show you the process that I take to develop each of my 3D models, using the example of one of the most amazing plants I have seen. This plant is Macodes petola, also known as the Jewel Orchid. Nature is amazing! I am always surprised by the form and shape you can find in it.
First of all you need to find some reference images. I recommend the free program PureRef. Just drag and drop any images from the web or your computer and organise your own pin board.
After that you can start modelling in 3D. I use Blender, a fully open-source 3D software as it is as powerful as most of the commercial programs.
You now need a pot for your indoor plant. And a special plant needs a special pot. I found this old pot with human feet made by the Egyptians in the Predynastic Period (ca. 3900–3650 B.C)
I then modelled the pot using the same process that I used for the plant itself, i.e. in Blender.
When you have completed your 3D modelling, you can start the really fun part: texturing. Let's bring life to the clay. For this you need to unwrap your 3D shape on a flat surface because the textures are in 2D. Then you can 'paint' the shape with the texture you want.
And finally we come to the rendering part. This is when you take a picture of your finished model and incorporate it into an environment that you like with appropriate lighting. For this render, I chose to put the plant on a stand in a museum.
And the good thing with 3D plants is they don't need too much care, they are living in the cloud.
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