Stage 1 - Dolphin

First I created a cylinder then in the modifier panel pressed the Calapse button while the end vertices's were highlighted.

Next I reshaped the cylinder so it thinned out at the tail end. I then selected the polygons where the fins will be then clicked on the Bevel settings button and changed the height and outline amount to the desired amount.

Next the tail needed forming. This was done by using the slice plane and the slice button to create some new vertices's. Then I selected the end of the shape and clicked on the Bevel settings again, this time I selected the 'By Polygon' setting which bevels each polygon individually I then changed the parameters accordingly.

Dolphins

There are 37 types of Dolphin and they all have different shaped noses. What one shall I copy? Or shall I design my own species as my scene is meant to be set way into the future? Here are some examples of Dolphins and the kind of shot I want to achieve.

Ocean Floor Finished

In the Advanced Effects I have added a new Projector map with the name 'Caustic' this has put some uneven black patches on my sea floor. Lastly I added a volume light within the Atmosphere and Effects scroll down. Here I changed the density and the strength of the light beams. I'm very happy how it has turned out.

Ocean Floor

I started off by creating a box with the lenghth segments 75 and the width 75, after that I added the 'Noise' modifier to the poly. Here I changed some of the parameters to give the sea floor base a bumpy uneven look. Next I opened up the material editor and added a bitmap to the diffuse and the Bump maps. I experimented with a few different maps but decided on a simple grainy sand texture called 'Sandshor'.

The sea floor looked o.k but the textures weren't very clear when rendered so I added the UVW Map Modifier and moved the U and V Tile counters up to 2. This made the textures finer and more 3dimensional it was a big difference when rendered.

The next step was to open up the Rendering Tab and go to 'Environment and effects'. Here I clicked on Add Atmosphere and chose the 'Fog' map. I also changed the colour here to a pale blue colour, which created the underwater feel to the scene.

The next stage was to create the light beams that shine through the water. Firstly I put a camera target in a good position over the top of the scene and changed the Spotlight Parameters: Hot spot & Fallout. Next I changed the Intensity/Colour Attenuation to a pale blue which made the light shinning through the water look duller.

Stamp 2 - Sketch

Here is a sketch of my next stamp I want to produce. This underwater scene shows the old and corroding hand and torch of the Statue of Liberty lying at the bottom of the ocean with Dolphins swimming around it (Yeah just like The Planet of the apes). My idea is that even after humans are long gone Biodiversity will survive. I think that by using the Dolphins as the animals circling the torch makes the scene very thought provoking.

I want the scene to look quite gloomy and dark but to have beams of light coming down from the ocean top. Also I want to use the silhouettes of the Dolphins. I like the silhouette idea because of the research i did on stamps earlier on is the semester. I'm not sure how or if it's possible for me to model this scene but I will give it a go.

Final Design - Flower & Background

The final part was to add the flower to the scene. The flower on its own didn't show up enough so I added a spot light and reduced the Hot spot Beam and the Fallout because I didn't want to overpower the other lighting effects. It also produced a nice shadow. The flower now has a mysterious look to it which I think works well.

I might change the size of the flower and the colour but i'm not sure yet.

Stage's 3 & 4 Moody Background

My scene now needed some lighting and atmosphere. I started by adding a Target spot Light to the concrete slabs. I was very happy with the way it looked when it was rendered. The background merge into the shadows well giving it a desolate feel.

The results are good but the scene still didn't look moody enough. It was very clean so I'm going to experiment with the Projector Map in the Advanced Effects within the Target Spot modifier.

After experimenting with a few filters I stuck with the Smoke filter which had the patchy feel i was looking for. I needed to edit the map in the Material editor first. First I swapped the black and white colours around because I didn't want the dark smoke effect to overpower the scene. Next I changed a few of the parameters to expand the pattern and to dull it a bit. These are very subtle changes but I think they enhance the slabs greatly.

This is the background scene finished and it is very close to what I was looking for.

Stage's 1 & 2 Moody Background

I have decided to to put a dark and moody scene surrounding my flower. My idea was to add a man made concrete pavement where the flower will sprout out from a crack in the stones.

First I created a simple box and shaped it into a slab shape. Then I added the concrete map to the with the Material Editor to the slab. I also added the same bitmap as a bump map to give the stone some texture.

I then produced instants of the the slabs and made a block of 8x8. Within this block I rotated a few of the slabs to give it a more natural and non uniformed look.