[Thomas An.]

Is this a critique on our consumption/disposable oriented society?

You know me well

.. One tiny bit at a time (each looking insignificant in itself), but the cumulation from 6 billion of us is a substantial sum...

[Thomas An.]

Chris, Jeremy, Mihai, Jeong, JurX, Curt, Kabe, Mike,

Thank you all gentlemen, I appreciate your comments

@ Mike: I kind of know what you mean. There are little things here and there that I didn't explicitly copy into the model. For example the top rim is a little more round than in a real can, and the break-away portion is attached to its side in a real can (usually the left side) when it breaks open, also there might be some minor texturing issues and material settings.

@ Mihai: You could be right ... and I was looking at a real can, trying to figure what the heck it is doing under light. The real can does have some glossiness (it looks glazed at some angles and it looks matte at some other times, so I used a two layer material), but I might have gone a touch more on the glaze ... although this can also be subjective (I was staring at the glazing aspect of the rendered image for 2 hours ... zoning out on my desk )
Here is a reference:


@Kabe: hmm I will have to disagree about the thickness. The image does show thickness and it is exactly the same as the real thing. You can see it by looking at the 'can' in the foreground on righthand side of the image; there is a tiny bit highlight there on the left side of the opening (some other cans exhibit this highlight too, but not all of them depending on how light hits them). Your point about using a normal map is noted. Thanks (although the bump is not too bad. No ?)

@Curt: Yes, it is a Rhino image using Jeremy's plugin. The letters are indeed a bump-map.

[Xlars]

This is really beautiful... I cant help but wonder what the render look like in color. Excellent stuff

[mverta]

Thomas -

This might help a touch... all my aluminum materials are 3, sometimes 4 layers. I always find need for an .r2-controlled "super glossy," that just kisses the edges as near mirrors. I bring that up depending on the shininess of the base layer. But my alu's are almost always base isotropic with 2 layers of varying anisotropic layers. There's usually a hint of blue in the aniso layers, which allows the highlights to have a touch of coloration while leaving the base layer more or less neutral. Speaking of which, all my metals are at least a little colored. My alu's tend to have juuuuust the slightest blue or green in the base color, depending.

_Mike

[Thomas An.]

@Mike: Thanks Mike ... it is always interesting to hear what settings other artists are using for their materials

@Lars: Thank you ... the raw color render looked like this: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/155/4116 ... 1234_o.png

[Maximus3D]

Thomas, as always when you create something it looks great! this piece is no different from your previous creations. This is a real jawdropper

/ Max

[michaelplogue]

Oohhh! I much prefer the color one. Great stuff!

Being the sloppy person that I am, I'd put some residue soda (with bubbles of course) in some of the rims - you know how I always like to 'dirty' things up.....

[ivox3]

What color one ? I thought Thomas was in his B & W period ?

[sandykoufax]

Wow, the color version is great too.

But I prefer the b&w version.

[iandavis]

thomas,

my apologies if this has been mentioned. The only thing I see which would sell the black and white for me... (or rather don't see) is the natural result of someone drinking that much soda is the soda itself. Invariably soda is left in the little crease around the top, and in dried spots on the tab. Of course, hyperrealism may not be your goal... but they look freshly washed... which makes no sense to me for 'used' cans.

Also, I think a bit more variety in the angle of the tabs would be good. Some people even remove them.. so perhaps a couple cans with them missing entirely?.

Dude, it's a stunning image! I love it.

Ian

[Thomas An.]

Hi gentlemen !
Once more many thanks for your comments I read them all one for one (thanks for the crits Ian)

[Thomas An.]

Art is not just what we see on canvas, or in a gallery.
We all have our criteria of what makes something worth appreciating.

I can see art in many fields and many forms, but there is one criterion that never fails to impress me: "It is the elegance of thought in pursuit for minimalism at maximum utility"

In this case the engineer who designed the following motor was well within the realm of art. His imagination operating beyond the mundane.
There are many hydraulic designs of the bend-axis type. Yet this one makes use of minimum components; thus minimum wear and service requirements, while having maximum fluid displacement for its size. The bevel gear is a stroke of genius (while other designs would use a convoluted universal joint at the center of the shaft to drive the piston housing). On top of this, there are no undue stresses developing in this design. The friction is minimal; due to the pistons being actually hollow (like straws), allowing fluid to reach up into their ball joints. Surprisingly the *only* force developing is the fluid against sockets of the shaft (not the pistons themselves as we would expect) and there are no torsional forces on the piston housing at all (the bevel gear only acts to keep it in sync with the rotation of the shaft). The only mechanical stress in this design is what is being absorbed by the bearings.

This motor always has a place in my gallery !

[jeso]

superb work thomas

[trofaster]

Wow - someone should do a render of that.

[NicoR44]

Thomas, you know I really love this kind of stuff, it's fantastic it is art