Everywhere I look I see things and I think, ‘I should model that’. Almost any relatively simple object seems like good practice. At this stage just about everything turns out to be harder than I originally anticipate, but this is something I’m somewhat prepared for. Preparing for the unexpected might seem oxymoronic, but what I really mean is that I allow myself time to experiment, fail and start over if need be. I don’t try to impose strict time limits, and I don’t let it get to me if something takes several hours to do where I thought one or a couple would be enough.

These are loosely based on my own glasses mixed with a few different reference images. Extruded boxes were used for the arms and hollow thickened box formed the basis for the rims. I was going to use splines and rail extrusion, but I thought I’d mix things up and try what I thought would be the harder technique. Total model time ended up being about 5 hours, but on rendering I realised I missed the pads. I may go back and fix this at some point, but moving on and forwards seems preferable. After all there are at least a hundred simple objects within sight that I wouldn’t mind giving a go.

The render isn’t exactly crystal clear. Render settings is something else I’m working on. DOF particularly makes it hard to find a good balance between speed and quality. Total render time was about 30 mins preceded by hours of playing with surfaces and caustics (the later of which was abandoned).