This model was produced as one of several 3-week-long "VFX Challenges" set as part of my postgraduate studies in visual effects at George Brown College. This challenge involved producing a realistic 3D model of an "old tin toy" (although it did not necessarily have to be made from tin). I chose to produce an old model tractor from the Dinky Toys series, eventually settling on the Dinky 300 Massey-Harris, which was based on the Model 44 tractor and was produced 1948–1971, with several variations across the years. As a bonus submission, I produced the simple farm diorama above to give the piece some context.
I modelled most of the piece in Maya, except for the farmer, which was modelled in ZBrush and then finalised in Maya. I used Substance Painter for procedural texturing and then exported the various maps were to Maya for lighting and rendering with Arnold. Final still images were composited in Photoshop, and videos in After Effects.
I chose to go more glossy with my texturing than the toys in my reference images, as I wanted my final version to look more like a tin toy than a die-cast toy; however, on reflection I would like to revisit the texturing and lighting to make a version that more closely matches the original toy. I would also like to adjust the textures on the farm diorama and add more details to improve the scene further.
Dinky Model 300 Massey-Harris tractor reference image
Maya 3d model progress
Base UV tile layout for the tractor
Farmer model and reference image
Simple turntable render
Tractor turntable
In a separate class, we integrated our toy models into photographic plates that we found or created. I discovered an exellent image of a toy diorama by Tina Nord on Pexels.com and used this to build my scene. Owing to time constraints and other projects, I was unable to spend much time test-rendering and adjusting the lighting and texture on the tractor to better match the plate, which was disappointing; however, I was happy with the submission and it was great experience for plate integration.
Original plate image (Tina Nord on Pexels.com)
Blocking out basic geometry after matching the camera
Refined geometry completed
Final scene submission