Sundial Compass

Software

• Blender
• Adobe Photoshop

Overview
A hard surface 3D modelling project with focus on adding enough detail for close-up renders while also keeping the geometry light enough for animation and quick renders.

Breakdown
I made the model using a physical “West London” compass that I had. Using Photoshop, I designed the engravings for the compass rose, base plate, and scale. I then exported these engravings as black and white images that I could use in Blender as displacement maps that I then baked down into normal maps. After that I was able to texture all the parts using a mix of the black and white engraving maps, some downloaded PBR textures, and procedural texture nodes to create the remaining surface details.

Polycount

• Verts = 10’795
• Tris = 21’496