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Shapes: Forms, golden ratio, shape psychology, negative space (free fbx "golden rule shapes"!)

Updated: Jul 14, 2021

Hey everyone! Have you ever looked at your 3d model and said "this doesn't look right" and you just can't pinpoint exactly what it is that makes your model look less good than you hoped? Are you sometimes struggling with proportions from your concepts and don't have a system to measure and translate that in 3d? Well in this post I will cover what solved these problems for me, and hopefully give you a better understanding on how to deal with this yourselves.


I always sort of knew these (title's) terms existed, but only when I developed a system I saw the change and an increase in quality in my models. The reason I first used them was King Arthur's artstation challenge, and my competitive spirit wanting to do as best as I could at that point (my artstation subscription for those interested). So let's start


1) GOLDEN RATIO


The golden ratio in art (or rule of thirds) is basically what our minds find most attractive, and apparently it's when we divide things roughly in thirds.

So how to apply this while modeling? Well an example may be "with object dimensions" but the more you can apply this, the better your art will be. It can be applied in coloring as well, object scattering, detailed areas vs non detailed areas, or whatever you can think of.

Here are some examples of how I started implementing this while modeling!


Example number 1

In the picture below, I used 2 circles as guidelines for my object's curves.The smaller circle is approximately 1/3 the size of the bigger circle. Same with the box itself vs the handle on top, etc. One extra thing that cannot be really measured but roughly calculated, is the amount of yellow vs gray area. It's about 1/3 as well.


Basic geometric shapes could be used to guide your more complex models, like the circle with the scorpion below. They don't need to be exact, but you must learn the rules before you break them


Example number 2.

In the following picture with the sword, I actually decided to stick with the concept art's proportions. Sometimes concept art is not 100% accurate and needs to be filtered and problem solved by the modelers themselves. I made the handle too thin, and its base could start lower. I went out of the 1/3 rule and something in the end it didn't feel right. I also had no time to fix it as it was late into the challenge.


Example number 3

The grail was the prop I took most time with modeling, so I made use of the golden ratio much more. It has some less straightforward uses of the ratios,for example the grail circle vs flower radial pattern, the details vs resting areas, the sides of the bone spines vs the circle, and much more, some of them displayed in the image.




2) SHAPE PSYCHOLOGY


When modeling, concepting is always a small part of the pipeline, as concept art doesn't always give you 100% of the details, functionality or proportions, or you just want to change it and make it your own. That's when you need to make some decisions and shape psychology might come in handy. You can search online for a plethora of meanings for basic geometric shapes or even more advanced, but don't take them too literally (just like the zodiac signs for those who believe them), they mean to add to your objects and not be the sole reason behind your decisions!




3) NEGATIVE SPACE


Negative space plays a big part for your overall shape. Sometimes it can make or break your design, and same as the shape psychology, it should be a guideline and not the main reason for your decisions.

One example is the picture above with the chest, its handle has a floral shape that adds to the "growth" vibe of the concept itself.


Another great example is with the following image of the grail. While I was modeling, shape psychology was the reason that improved my design,and acted as a guideline to place my items together, and form a better overall shape for the grail. Note that in the left side of the picture, the shape of the spinal cords go outward, and the ribs of the spine have a shape with no meaning. I was also trying to follow anatomically correct sizes of ribs, but that ended up with a shape that was not making much sense for my design. Adjusting the spinal cords to follow the spikes/horns in the middle, gave me a great shape with negative space, that is another horn, and a theme that I could now follow with the rest of the props' negative space. I ended up making the ribs all the same size, and they also give the feeling of wings. Note in the right side the green line that connects all the props, makes the shape of a a bigger "vial" itself. Some were happy accidents, some deliberately made, but if you keep a workflow like this, more positive things will happen!





4) FINAL PROP SHAPES AND LAST FEW THOUGHTS


So after implementing these thoughts for the first time, these are the results. What I came to realize at that point was, don't wait for your models to look good in the end. It needs to look good through all stages individually, for the result to be great. Meaning that it must look good just as a model,or just with the albedo/diffuse,or just with the roughness or just with the sculpted details etc. If it does, when you put it together, it's going to be top notch!



So after that challenge I sat down and made some guideline shapes I could import and use for every project. They are 100% real life accurate, starting from 1cm, becoming really huge and I'm glad to share them with you!


To get the file, download this and change the .jpg extension to .fbx (wix site doesn't let me upload non-media files)

golden rule helpers lazarosinep@hotmailcom
.jpg
Download JPG • 229KB

or click here (link for downloading via jumpshare) or click here (link for downloading via 4shared, needs to log in with facebook) if you know another better site to share files, please write it in the comments or email me :) Or if the link doesn't work at some point, email me at lazarosinep@hotmail.com and I'll send it to you :) Thank you very much, if you liked this guide share it with your friends/collegues! Always open to critisism and suggestions on what to add or improve

Have a nice day, Lazaros

https://www.artstation.com/lazarosinep https://www.linkedin.com/in/lazaros-inepologlou-42a326167/ https://twitter.com/Call_me__Larry https://sketchfab.com/larry_3d https://soundcloud.com/lazaros-inep #3dblog #3d_larry #3d_fam #polycount #artstation #80lvl #ExpPointsInt #DiNustyEmpire #lazarosinepologlou #lazarosinep

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