Hey all, I am relatively new to Blender, and very new to making scenes and Renders.
So this will be my first attempt and I hope to get it done by christmas.
The idea is a Santa (or other character) holding out a gift to another character.
Since my modelling sucks and I only know how to extrude verts and rotate Bezier curves, any tips you guys know are appreciated.
Currently I have finished the gift and plan on improving it after I have done the rest of the scene.
Not a bad start.
It looks like your scene needs better lighting/presentation, no pun intended 
lol
Anyway, here are some tutorials i usually give links to…
Rendering an Infinite Ground Plane: http://vimeo.com/8107842
3PT Lighting Rig: http://vimeo.com/7171194
Is the ribbon set to smooth, or is that a silky material? Also, the ribbon shouldn’t wrap under the lid, it should go from the edge of the lid straight to the bottom, but that’s a minor detail. Also, check out those links. They are very helpful!
Thanks for the links, I’ll definitely use them.
The scene isn’t actually set up, and by Render I meant scene 
That was just something which will be in the scene. I checked out your ironman model, extremely nice but I don’t get how you made it, did you use vertices to make the entire model? or is there osmething else?
I don’t really understand materials so it’s just set to smooth…
It doesn’t actually wrap under the lid It kinda moves in an angled motion down so it is back a long the box
Hmm, not sure exactly what you mean by verticies, but, i dint do box modeling if that is what you are wondering. I modeled each part separately, using edge by edge extrusions, so yeah i guess verticies…
Oh yeah and a whole lot of references 
Thanks!
the little points you move around = vertices
Haha, yeah i know what verticies are, i just wasnt exactly sure what you meant by if i used verticies for ironman, cuz ofcorse i did ^.^
I mean everything is made up of verticies, even your box, so that is what i was confused about.
oh ok i thought it odd you could make a model that detailed w/o knowing what a vertice was but eh
just a little point, the singular of vertices is vertex. i guess what you mean by vertex modeling is, not nurbs or sculpting?
Correct, I only know how to do Extruding vertices, I don’t understand subsurfs or anything like that. I also don’t understand nurbs or sculpting… Don’t even know how to sculpt
Lets face it, I suck with Blender 
Aw dont say that, you are just new. Once you learn blend, and get your skills up then youll produce better images. I didnt start my blender ride with ironman!
Look at this guy i was making…eek lol
I rarely use curves,and i only sculpted once on a cube and that was just to see what sculpting was, i never really made anything with sculpting yet.
And subsurf is just a modifier you add to your objects. Basically it rounds your mesh by simulating more face on it. Why is this good? well you get much more smoother objects that are closer to real life.
Hey thats not too bad, you have the general shape, i think you can make an actual t-rex out of this, all you need is a few edgloops on the side, and some topology correction, and you can be on your way to getting that done…unless you already have.
I actually find it beneficial to return to noob projects.
Take this model for example… I made this, and the returned to it when browsing through my blender folder, and desided to make it better, so i modified ir, added a background, put some new materials on…
I can probably make this even better now…haha.
Eek dont wanna steal this thread…hmmm i have an idea, maybe we can make a thread that shows all of our first projects! It could definitely boost the morale of people just starting to learn blender and 3d modeling in general…
Anyway back to the Glewisguy, any progress on your present?
You can steal the thread if you wish
I don’t have an update on the present, I’m going to save that for some other time… I have actually been working on the Santa Character! I have part of the upper torso done and am working on the arms and neck, After this I plan to add the gloves and hat and boots, then the final details… I am dreading the hand since when I modded Fallout, I had to rig gloves on some armors, that was absolutely horrible, gloves and hands are just so difficult to control… Oh well…
I’m sure the hands will be one of the lesser rigging problems… the intriguing things about rigging are IMO the shoulders and waist area. Well, good luck anyways, if you need help with your hands I’m sure we can help you.
Yeah I already went back and redid it, started from scratch and this was the result
eventually i plan to finish the rigging and fix the feet
Its the modelling them I am worried about… We have already seen my modelling is not very good
Ok so on an unrelated point I decided to make a random character.
This model is designed around Cult figure Cthulhu and it kinda makes him look like a toy…
The idea is he is stood on some cheap back alley club’s stage and is giving a performance… Not sure whether or not to pursue this, may do… I can add the santa to this I guess and make it truly ridiculous… Anyway… Here he is…
Regards,
glewis
