For this Render I decided to try an additional challenge. None of the textures in this scene are from image files! All the textures and bump maps (normal maps) are procedurally generated inside Blender! I had to come up with some pretty complex shader node networks in order to get some of these effects. I also had to use a handful of vector-mapping nodes to convert the UV space to make some interesting patterns. For instance, the ripples around the lid of the cup are actually a bump map. I had to use two different ramp (gradient) nodes using grayscale and add them together. I had to rotate one 90 degrees using a mapping node. Another good example of creative node use is the Ranch sauce texture. I took three Voronoi texture nodes, one at scale 9, one at 18, and one at 36. I subracted each one from the other, and the interference from three different sizes ends up with a pattern of chaotic speckles. I used this black and white pattern to control the factor value between two diffuse shader nodes (creamy white and dark green), and then finally mixed in a glossy shader.

Anyway, this was a fun project – especially since it forced me to think creatively about nodes. Also, food is challenging on it’s own. The only thing that I feel I could have done better was to use Sub Surface Scattering for the burger Bun and Fries (maybe even the nuggets bread). Unfortunately, SSS isn’t supported on GPU render yet and this scene was ridiculously slow to render on CPU. So I decided to do my best without them.

(Click for full size)

May 11, 2011 at 9:45 pm | 3D Modeling