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Modelling & Rendering Famous Danbo Character

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5 min read
Final product imageFinal product imageFinal product image
What You'll Be Creating

Modeling

Step 1

Create a cube with the following sizes; 135x327x68

Initial partInitial partInitial part
Initial part

Step 2

Press F3 and go to Right view. Here choose B-Spline and draw a spline around the cube just like the one shown below.

B-Spline drawingB-Spline drawingB-Spline drawing
B-Spline drawing

Step 3

Create a Rectangle spline, width 4cm, height 130cm.

Rectangle SplineRectangle SplineRectangle Spline
Rectangle Spline

Step 4

Create Sweep NURBS then drag and drop both Rectangle and previous spline, which we have just drawn, over the Sweep NURBS.

Sweep NURBSSweep NURBSSweep NURBS
Sweep NURBS

Step 5

Now resize the main cube object to fit in the border line. Here is the final result of the main part of the arm.

Final result of armFinal result of armFinal result of arm
Final result of the arm

Step 6

Now create a sphere with radius of 30cm. Place it over the arm as shown below.

Further modification on armFurther modification on armFurther modification on arm
Arm joint

Step 7

Press F3 to jump to right view. Here draw a shape with Linear spline tool like below.

Linear splineLinear splineLinear spline
Linear spline

Step 8

Now create a Extrude NURBS and make that spline the child of it then use the value of 9.5 for Movement parameter of Extrude NURBS.

Extrude NURBSExtrude NURBSExtrude NURBS
Extrude NURBS

Step 9

Copy that part and let them to hold the sphere object in between them.

Arm connectionArm connectionArm connection
Arm connection

Step 10

Create another cube object as body, dimensions 145x355x210.

BodyBodyBody
Body

Step 11

Now with the rotate tool, R, turn the arm and connect it with body. Then copy that arm to create the left arm. Here's the final result so far.

Upper bodyUpper bodyUpper body
Upper body

Step 12

Select the body cube and make it editable, C. Select the bottom face and apply extrude inner action with offset of 6cm.

Extrude innerExtrude innerExtrude inner
Extrude inner

Step 13

Now select the outer face of the bottom and extrude it just like below. Repeat that action for other three parts.

Cardboard lidsCardboard lidsCardboard lids
Cardboard lids

Step 14

Secondary-click over the body and choose Knife tool, then choose the loop mode in the options tab.

Loop knife toolLoop knife toolLoop knife tool
Loop knife tool

Step 15

Here, slice the bottom part of the body twice as shown below.

SlicingSlicingSlicing
Slicing

Step 16

Press U on your keyboard then to activate the Loop selection tool. Select the middle line, then squeeze it with scale tool.

Loop selectionLoop selectionLoop selection
Loop selection

Step 17

Copy and resize the main part of the arm to use it as a leg. Below shown the wire-frame view.

Copying arms as legsCopying arms as legsCopying arms as legs
Copying arms as legs

Step 18

Create a new cube object as head 260x295x490.

Creating the headCreating the headCreating the head
Creating the head

Step 19

Make that cube editable C then select the face bottom of the cube and with Extrude inner tool create a new face, offset of 8cm.

Extrude innerExtrude innerExtrude inner
Extrude inner options

Step 20

Now extrude it to inside.

Extrude innerExtrude innerExtrude inner
Extrude inner

Step 21

Select knife tool and change mode section to loop to make slices on corners. Do this for every corner which exist on the top side. Every corner should look like below.

Slicing with knife toolSlicing with knife toolSlicing with knife tool
Slicing with knife tool

Step 22

Now create a HyperNURBS and make the cube object child of it. Then under the settings of hypernurbs give as value of Subdivision editor section.

Using HyperNURBSUsing HyperNURBSUsing HyperNURBS
Using HyperNURBS

Step 23

Create two cylinder and a triangle geometry like below to use on as face parts.

Creating face partsCreating face partsCreating face parts
Creating face parts

Step 24

Create a Boole object then drag these geometries and the cube object, which we created as cube and make child of the hypernurbs, but make sure that cube object comes first and other geometries stay together in a group object. Objects tree should look like below.

Applying BooleApplying BooleApplying Boole
Applying Boole

Step 25

Copy these geometries and paste them to the same place but this time they should be thinner.

Finalizing the faceFinalizing the faceFinalizing the face
Finalizing the face

Step 26

Create a cylinder object—radius of 50cm, height of 25cm—then create a cube object over it, 13x12x70. Apply Boole to those shapes to get a result like below.

Button on the bodyButton on the bodyButton on the body
Button on the body

Step 27

Rotate and stick it over the body.

Sticking button to bodySticking button to bodySticking button to body
Sticking button to body

Step 28

Draw a spline like below and use Extrude NURBS to make it 3D.

Drawing the switch baseDrawing the switch baseDrawing the switch base
Drawing the switch base

Step 29

Place it side of the head and also create a little cube as a switch.

Drawing the switchDrawing the switchDrawing the switch
Drawing the switch
I've finished the modelling. Next, rendering with Vray.

Rendering

Step 30

I'll create four different simple materials. The first is brown and I'll use it for whole body parts. Use colour channel and select a brown colour.

Material for the bodyMaterial for the bodyMaterial for the body
Material for the body

Step 31

The second one is for sphere objects (joints). Use a dark grey as color and turn the reflection channel on. Use 15 for Brightness and 20 for Blurriness.

Joint materialJoint materialJoint material
Joint material

Step 32

The third one is for face parts. Just use colour channel with dark grey colour.

Face parts materialFace parts materialFace parts material
Face parts' material

Step 33

The last one is for metal parts. Go to the Color channel and choose simple noise from texture section, Surfaces > Simple noise. Then click over simple noise and increase the value of U a V frequencies to 10. Turn the Reflection channel on and use 10 for brightness and 5 for blurriness.

Metal parts materialsMetal parts materialsMetal parts materials
Metal parts materials

Step 34

Assign all materials to parts they belong to. Here's the final result.

Final result with materials appliedFinal result with materials appliedFinal result with materials applied
Final result with materials applied

Step 35

Create a new scene and create a rectangle spline.

Rectangle splineRectangle splineRectangle spline
Rectangle spline

Step 36

Under the settings of that spline check the Rounding option then assign 100cm as the value and also increase the width value to 720.

RoundingRoundingRounding
Rounding

Step 37

Create an Extrude NURBS then drag and drop the rectangle spline over it. Use 1000cm for the -Z axis of the movement parameter.

Extrude NURBSExtrude NURBSExtrude NURBS
Extrude NURBS

Step 38

Make the extrude NURBS editable, C. As a result of that, under the extrude NURBS there will occur two cap objects, delete them. Then with live selection tool select the faces of extrude nurbs and delete them, you have to get a geometry like below.

Rendering platformRendering platformRendering platform
Rendering platform

Step 39

Create two cube objects, then resize and reposition them just like below.

Image based illuminationImage based illuminationImage based illumination
Image based illumination

Step 40

Create two Vray materials and just turn their luminosity channels on. Assign light blue for the first one and light yellow for the second one. Then use each one of them on each cube object.

Light source materialsLight source materialsLight source materials
Light source materials

Step 41

Create a camera object and make it main camera, to do that just click the little square icon shown below.

CameraCameraCamera
Camera

Step 42

Copy and paste the Danbo character, we have just modelled, to this new scene. Then go to Plugins > Vray Material Convertor to automatically convert all the materials and make them compatible with Vray.

Material conversion for VrayMaterial conversion for VrayMaterial conversion for Vray
Material conversion for Vray

Step 43

Secondary-click over the Camera object and add Vray Physical Camera tag.

Vray Physical CameraVray Physical CameraVray Physical Camera
Vray Physical Camera

Step 44

Use the settings given below.

Vray render settingsVray render settingsVray render settings
Vray render settings

Step 45

Now go to render settings, Command-B, and turn on VrayBridge. Enter the settings of it and choose the Indirect illumination tab. Select the GI on option and choose the High Quality for Presets option.

Indirect illuminationIndirect illuminationIndirect illumination
Indirect illumination

Step 46

Jump to Antialiasing tab and select the Adaptive DMC for type option. Then change the value of min subdivision to 4 an max subdivision to 8.

AntialiasingAntialiasingAntialiasing
Antialiasing

Step 47

You'll have to make the spheres editable, otherwise they won't appear on render. Also on the body part of the character, you should delete the Pong tag in order not to get a smooth surface shading.

Deleting pong tagsDeleting pong tagsDeleting pong tags
Deleting pong tags

Final Result

Here is the final render result

Final resultFinal resultFinal result
Final result
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