NES Console Project - WIP 09

Get ready for some huge updates!

So, first off, a few weeks back I did a little test to see what the final scene would look like.  It isn't rendered or anything, just a screenshot of the 3D Viewport, but still, it gave me an idea of what I was actually going for.

...a lot of Path modifying (for the cables) will be waiting for me...

And then, over the last week or so (not counting the time I spent fighting with my laptop to get it working properly again) I finally started texturing some of the objects!

I actually had to completely rebuild the UV map for this, as the proportions were completely off O_o  I have absolutely no idea how that happened...anyway, moving on:

Render #1

Final Render

And then the cartridge, one of the center-pieces of the scene:

My first texturing attempt for the cartridge

And, finally, my latest (and awesomest) render so far :

 It looks...real!

There are some big thank yous in order though.  More specifically, to Quandtum and Levisarts over on BlenderArtists.org - they really helped me get that cartridge looking the way it is now, I was really struggling with it.

The final material was initially developed by Quandtum, and he supplied the *.blend file, so I created a similar material to test it out, and although it looked great, it wasn't fit for the cartridge, it was much too rough.  So after a lot of tweaking and actually creating a smoother duplicate of the material for certain sections, there's the final result.

As for the lighting of this piece, the thanks go to Levisarts - his area-lamp-based tutorial really helped make the two final renders come to life, they look really much more realistic.

I've realized in recent weeks that I don't think I could've gotten this far in the project without everyone's support and encouragement, so while I'm talking of thank yous I want to send a big one out to all my "followers" (as they're called on Twitter).  You've all been a driving force behind this project, sometimes I really felt like it was going to take forever...but then I'd read one of your great comments and it would bring me back up and push me to really make this the best I can.

Anyway, may the Blend be with you!