Like many during the global pandemic, I sought to learn a new 3D program called Blender, and according to my research, the best way to learn the new Blender interface was watching Blender Guru's ever popular Blender 2.7 Donut tutorial on YouTube. The goal of the tutorial wasn't only to teach the Blender interface and tools, but also to instruct viewers on polygonal modeling, subdivisions, modifiers, digital sculpting, and particles.
The project starts with modeling the donut from a torus, a polygonal primitive, adding subdivisions before bending and distorting the polygon's mesh using the lattice deformer to get a smooth, organic shape. Duplicating the first torus, cutting it in half, utilizing the top-half only, by adding a modifier, the paper-thin mesh was given thickness and later deformed and sculpted to resemble frosting. Sprinkles were added by creating the basic shape from a polygon cylinder and then multiplied by applying particles, so that each sprinkle would appear in various orientations. The pièce de résistance, a coffee cup and saucers objects were added, modeled from cylinders and subdivided. Photo-realistic condensation bubbles were added along top portion of the coffee cup, and textures were created in Adobe Photoshop and added to the donut model during the UV unwrapping process.
This project not only taught me the basics and intricacies of Blender, but it also shed some light on Blender's non-destructive modifiers and sculpting tools I later used on Boris the Shark.
Hayden's Gate, a mystical place high upon a hill; the stone gate, a portal for warriors of new, honoring the warriors of old; created entirely inside the Unreal Engine.
