Mood Board & Mind Map
Basic Model
I applied the lever principle to the vending machine. When the coin is put in, its weight will push down one side of the lever and lift another side up to release the door.
I did the models based on my sketches. The most difficult part for me is to model the decorative parts as they are irregular shapes. I learned from the videos online and used multi-cut to cut the decorations on plains and then extrude the faces to add volume.
UV Unwrapping
TEXTURING
Final Outcome
Short Story
It is a normal Sunday as usual. I was attending the Sunday worship. Everyone was singing to express their love and gratitude while I heard a boy standing next to me whispering to his mom: “Mommy, I’m hungry. I wonder if god could reward me some bread if I sing earnestly.” His naive idea somehow inspired me. I thought about his words all the way back to home. I know, it is ridiculous for someone to think about a sentence from a 5-year-old boy. But, for me, who was born in a small bakery but holds a dream of becoming an architect, it means a lot. I was passionate about architectural design since a young age. Somehow, I believe the era I live in is a remarkable time for the development of architecture. I am interested in the gothic style and always dream to design a gothic cathedral that can be a heritage passing down through the ages. Notre Dame de Paris is worthy of admiration by all, but of course, I wasn’t able to participate in the construction of any parts. Maybe, I’m not talented enough and I need to spend my life operating my family’s bakery. After the worship in the morning, I rushed back home and unearthed the long-sealed cowhide parchment and charcoal pencil. What if, I could design something that can sell bread outside cathedrals by itself? I don’t need to sell by myself but still set up several stores. Everyone who is coming to the church can just relax and have their meals with convenience. Swiftly picking up the pen, I sketched various drafts on the paper. I designed the selling machine in gothic style so that it can integrate with the cathedrals. I hope I can find some other architect to co-work with me and bring the plan to real life!
15 May 1395
I was so lucky that I found some architects who appreciate my creativity and could invest and cooperate with me on the project! We finished the final design of our bread seller (we called it a vending machine) by the end of 1395, and we continued to plan for the materials and real construction. We chose the same materials as making the cathedral for our machine which mainly includes limestones and stained glasses. On the other hand, finance is another huge concern. It’s impossible to let someone who barely has any extra money left after making a living, like me, raise enough money to purchase the materials and build that many vending machines on his own, which is why I sought help from investors of Notre Dame de Paris. Wealthy nobles, influential clergy, and prosperous citizens contributed financially to the construction of the vending machines in the city. The support and patronage of these individuals and institutions played a crucial role in the successful completion of the vending machine and I was deeply grateful for them. The vending machine was surprisingly successful. People use it on a daily basis and even wish there could be more among communities. I began to ponder on the reasons that led to its success, which turned out to be closely related to our living habits. Bread, as the staple food for us, is a necessity, regardless of social class. I believe this gothic vending machine will be passed down as a cultural heritage and benefits people through centuries.
20 March 1400
Research is the base of this project as my mission is to bring nowadays devices back to an ancient time period. The most difficult part for me is to combine the features of the vending machine with the gothic cathedral to find an equilibrium that the device looks like a gothic architecture but works as a vending machine. When exploring the gothic cathedral in the middle ages, I both searched online and read the art history book Mona Lisa to have a deeper understanding of its construction. For the vending machine, I searched its history to find how the machine worked without computer technology and studied the lever principle. Although I finally figured out how the product can be structured, I can make the whole research process more organized if I draw mind maps including the vending machine and gothic cathedral together to compare and find commonalities. Linking two elements together would make the whole process more efficient. Initially, I didn’t think much about which time period and device to pick, I just randomly picked from my lists and passed the task of linking them together to the next step. This somehow motivated my creativity and brought a good concept for the project. The vending machine involves not only the cultural elements of people at that time (which is the development of religious belief and dietary habits) but also showcased a remarkable emergence of an art style. The development of this concept inspired me to always be open-minded and curious when doing artwork, exploring more potential possibilities.
During the process, I found difficulties when modeling the ornaments with complex shapes. As a result, I searched for online videos and studied them. However, my lack of proficiency in using Maya resulted in several issues with the models. For example, in the beginning, I ignored the importance of keeping shapes clean with no more than 4 edges of one divided face, which caused a huge amount of work when cleaning faces and vertexes. However, it is a good experience for me to set as a reminder for the next 3D project. I used 3D Substance Painter to add the texture of the church. By adjusting the scale of dirt and changing the colour, I tried my best to approach the visual tactile sensation of real limestone. I hope I can have more opportunities to test with more textures such as metals and fabric. For my outcome, the aspect I was least satisfied with is that I failed to bevel some shapes such as the base of the machine. I realised the problem when I finished texturing it as the edges are sharper than that in reality. Another part I need to improve is modeling soft objects such as bread. Although the texture of the bread looks good, without a more flexible and softer shape, it doesn’t appear realistic enough. I could try to model soft objects in Zbrush the next time. Overall, I am improved compared to the previous “low poly world” project and I enjoyed the process.