MiniDisc
If you have been following my latest projects you might have noticed that I have been falling in love with retro tech.
First there was my GAMEBOY project, then I have built my first personal computer, the WANG and lately I have uploaded my mechanical KEYCAP project.
This post is following along the line of the trend as I got interested in a bit of retro tech that has a very special retro futuristic vibe with me.
Software:
As always this project was made with Cinema 4D. Including all modeling.
And rendered with Octane Render in ACEScg
Compositing was done in Black Magic Fusion Studio.
Shoutouts:
Cornelius Dämmrich & Ulf Ohnesorge for being good friends and our sweet daily talks.
Ahmet Oktar for his continuous support and development of Octane C4D.
Dino Muhic for his devotion when it comes to further developing the Octane C4D plugin.
David Gruwier for his Surface Imperfections.
Again Maxime Roz for his great HDRIs
Techmoan because its a damn cool YouTube channel about retro tech that I have been following for Years
Also a huge thank you to all my PATREONS who make works like this possible!
More at the end of this page.
As always with those posts, there will be text sprinkled throughout the scroll.
So I hope you have fun and enjoy the ride.
If you have been following my latest projects you might have noticed that I have been falling in love with retro tech.
First there was my GAMEBOY project, then I have built my first personal computer, the WANG and lately I have uploaded my mechanical KEYCAP project.
This post is following along the line of the trend as I got interested in a bit of retro tech that has a very special retro futuristic vibe with me.
Software:
As always this project was made with Cinema 4D. Including all modeling.
And rendered with Octane Render in ACEScg
Compositing was done in Black Magic Fusion Studio.
Shoutouts:
Cornelius Dämmrich & Ulf Ohnesorge for being good friends and our sweet daily talks.
Ahmet Oktar for his continuous support and development of Octane C4D.
Dino Muhic for his devotion when it comes to further developing the Octane C4D plugin.
David Gruwier for his Surface Imperfections.
Again Maxime Roz for his great HDRIs
Techmoan because its a damn cool YouTube channel about retro tech that I have been following for Years
Also a huge thank you to all my PATREONS who make works like this possible!
More at the end of this page.
As always with those posts, there will be text sprinkled throughout the scroll.
So I hope you have fun and enjoy the ride.
Motivation:
When I think of MDs I have to think about Matrix, about anime like Ghost in the Shell and a lot of other Sci-Fi elements of the 90ties and early 2000 that used that disc because of its style and interesting formfactor.
I personally do not own a MD system. But had friends on the late 90ties that did. I always wanted to recreate a MiniDisc for the longest time.
As I modeled the Floppy Disc for my WANG project, I could not help but notice how much those two systems had in common. And I said to myself that I will do a MD project this Year! No matter what.
When I think of MDs I have to think about Matrix, about anime like Ghost in the Shell and a lot of other Sci-Fi elements of the 90ties and early 2000 that used that disc because of its style and interesting formfactor.
I personally do not own a MD system. But had friends on the late 90ties that did. I always wanted to recreate a MiniDisc for the longest time.
As I modeled the Floppy Disc for my WANG project, I could not help but notice how much those two systems had in common. And I said to myself that I will do a MD project this Year! No matter what.
Look & Feel:
The labeling and coloring of the MDs seen in my projects is leaning on real world Sony designs. But I took some liberty to tweak them to my own liking. The model and its details however were kept as close as possible to the original. I bet if you would print out the model you could stick it in an existing player and it would fit!
Shading:
Next to retro tech there has been another trend emerging in my renders. And this is transparent / translucent objects. If you think about MDs you can´t but think of those nice transparent ones.
There were opaque ones as well but they were by far outweighed by the shiny transparent models of all colors. So I started building shaders to represent different levels of opacity as well as different states of roughness. It took quite a bit of experimentation to get the right mixture of SSS, surface structure and roughness. In the end I am very pleased with the result. And hope you are too.
Next to retro tech there has been another trend emerging in my renders. And this is transparent / translucent objects. If you think about MDs you can´t but think of those nice transparent ones.
There were opaque ones as well but they were by far outweighed by the shiny transparent models of all colors. So I started building shaders to represent different levels of opacity as well as different states of roughness. It took quite a bit of experimentation to get the right mixture of SSS, surface structure and roughness. In the end I am very pleased with the result. And hope you are too.
Rendering:
As you might have guessed with much translucency there comes a lot of render time.
All still frames were rendered in UHD. Rendering took about 1h for each frame on a 3200 Octane Bench system (3 x 3090 + 4090)
As you might have guessed with much translucency there comes a lot of render time.
All still frames were rendered in UHD. Rendering took about 1h for each frame on a 3200 Octane Bench system (3 x 3090 + 4090)
The clear turntable animation was rendered in 1080 x 1080 pixels and took around 10h to finish on the same 3200 OB system. I therefore rendered the translucent blue turntable on the Render Network (RNDR). Also to test the new beta of C4D file upload capability (no more ORBX export in the future) and it worked flawless on first try.
BREAKDOWNS:
The Light passes were rendered out as separate AOVs and then brought together in Fusion Studio. This always helps to gain fine grained control over the exact contribution of all the lights. For example the "sun" power was very strong in the main render. So I turned it way down in comp to get the more balanced result you see in the final.
Model:
I took it onto myself to model the whole thing using Subdivision Surface (SDS).
With all the details, especially the interior of the cassette, it took quite a while.
About 9h modeling site per side plus the extra parts as the “slider”, the slider lock, the record protection and of course the disc itself. I decided to model everything SDS because of multiple reasons.
Modeling SDS has something really relaxing. It’s a bit like meditation to me. But it also has something of a riddle: How it will all fit together in the end?
And it feels so incredibly fulfilling when you finally finish it.
Finally I can use a clean SDS mesh to create vertex weights for convex and concave parts of the mesh to bring into the shaders and give them some surface dependent variance. This is what brings the object to life in the end.
I took it onto myself to model the whole thing using Subdivision Surface (SDS).
With all the details, especially the interior of the cassette, it took quite a while.
About 9h modeling site per side plus the extra parts as the “slider”, the slider lock, the record protection and of course the disc itself. I decided to model everything SDS because of multiple reasons.
Modeling SDS has something really relaxing. It’s a bit like meditation to me. But it also has something of a riddle: How it will all fit together in the end?
And it feels so incredibly fulfilling when you finally finish it.
Finally I can use a clean SDS mesh to create vertex weights for convex and concave parts of the mesh to bring into the shaders and give them some surface dependent variance. This is what brings the object to life in the end.
MD SCENE WIREFRAME:
Every part was carefully modeled. I initially wanted to use displacement for the SONY logo on the slider. But then decided to model it into the geometry. This MD really is a labor of love!
FRONT SIDE From the front and back:
BACK SIDE From the front and back:
CLIPLOCK for the slider mechanism:
RECORD LOCK Knob:
NODES:
As always here are some images from the nodes of the materials used.
As mentioned above, I have been using Vertex Maps to get in some details. As for example some dents on the convex parts and some subtle dust / roughness increase on the concave parts of the topology.
Below here is the node tree of the clear transparent MD.
As mentioned above, I have been using Vertex Maps to get in some details. As for example some dents on the convex parts and some subtle dust / roughness increase on the concave parts of the topology.
Below here is the node tree of the clear transparent MD.
The Opaque Black Material
Metal Material
You might have seen this one on other projects as well. This is one of my master materials. You can get hold of it in some provided scenes by subscribing to my Patreon.
Disc Material
A lot of you have asked me for a tutorial about the iridescent disc material already. As you can see here, there is remarkably little to it.
A lot of you have asked me for a tutorial about the iridescent disc material already. As you can see here, there is remarkably little to it.
Decal Material (SONY Logo)
This is how one of the decal materials looks. I used transparency and C4Ds material stacking as well as poly selections to place the decals on the MDs.
This is how one of the decal materials looks. I used transparency and C4Ds material stacking as well as poly selections to place the decals on the MDs.
For those who have been following my journey over on YouTube probably know already I have setup a Patreon page for eager supporters to help me make tutorials as well as my spare time work, such as this.
So a huge thanks to all the people out there who started supporting me and my work!
So a huge thanks to all the people out there who started supporting me and my work!
50 Euro Tier:
Gilles Augustijnen
Leonstudio TV
15 Euro Tier:
@domesticgodindahouse
George Luna
Kris Clemson
Laon
Lukasz Pason
Marty Kane
Part1of2
Rayko
renderking Alessandro Boncio
SEEN CGI
Shamus Johnson
Yassin Rupp
5 Euro Tier:
4dthieves, Adam Zen, AMI SHEETRIT, Andreas Resch, Andreas Wolmer, Benjamin, Bergmann, Benjamin Hajdu, Coodoo.es, Cornelius Dämmrich, DavidBaertz
Dino M, Doktor Shoen, Dusan Vukcevic, erik, Fernando Lardizábal, Geoffrey Carrier, GOHMN, hugo z, Igna Llompart, James Kittel, Jan Schepp, jason wilde, Jose Manuel, Saez Merino, Leo Miedaner, Les Sandelman, Liang Zong, MacDaffy (RNDR), Marcus, Conge, Mark Creaghan, Mi chi, Michelle Sweeney, Miguel Faber, Minki Kim, Neon Gold, Nicolas Papin, Oliver White, Olivier Beaugrand, OptioN, Oswaldo Alvarez, Perry Harovas, Quốc Anh Đặng, raidZer0, Rui Rodrigues, Sevenmine, Supeeeet, Terry, Ranson, Thomas Collier, Tim Grove, valentin naffetat, Vincent Huang, Wendy Sarrett, wp82, Zetsk, Zhuoran Yang, Zotake, 민수 전, 浩然 李
1 Euro Tier:
Adrian Mahl, agSENPAI, Aleš Balantič, Alex Arenas, Alka-Seltzer, Bobby Ushiro, Cars10, Chainstone, Cornelius Seibt, cristian alex agudelo urrego, darren mc sweeney, douuggggg , Final Result, GeneralZodz, Hana, Howard Winterson, Ilias Chalkiopoulos, ilias chalkiopoulos, ivanb, Jaskirat Panjrath, Jimioc123, Jochen Ulmer, john ford, Justin Leduc, Klaus Karlo, LachlanVFX, Loshak3D, Lui Nogueira, Mark, Matthäus Niedoba, Mete Tüfekci, Micah Hesse, Michback, Mikhail, Muzd, nardo x, Neoooo0, Nick Ito, Niclas , Nikon Basu, ohaoming , Ömer Yılmaz, Paddy, phreakasso, Rodrigo Ortega, Romanos Senikidis, Rueijhe Cai, Ryan Sears, simon oberli, Steven Tracey, T Curtis, TAE YANG LEE, Tanguy Didier, taptap , Thom van Vliet, Wayne Bilton, Weiz, wen Yi, Zachary Antell, 선용 김, 凯强 张, 怨天 龙, 曾捷 谢
Gilles Augustijnen
Leonstudio TV
15 Euro Tier:
@domesticgodindahouse
George Luna
Kris Clemson
Laon
Lukasz Pason
Marty Kane
Part1of2
Rayko
renderking Alessandro Boncio
SEEN CGI
Shamus Johnson
Yassin Rupp
5 Euro Tier:
4dthieves, Adam Zen, AMI SHEETRIT, Andreas Resch, Andreas Wolmer, Benjamin, Bergmann, Benjamin Hajdu, Coodoo.es, Cornelius Dämmrich, DavidBaertz
Dino M, Doktor Shoen, Dusan Vukcevic, erik, Fernando Lardizábal, Geoffrey Carrier, GOHMN, hugo z, Igna Llompart, James Kittel, Jan Schepp, jason wilde, Jose Manuel, Saez Merino, Leo Miedaner, Les Sandelman, Liang Zong, MacDaffy (RNDR), Marcus, Conge, Mark Creaghan, Mi chi, Michelle Sweeney, Miguel Faber, Minki Kim, Neon Gold, Nicolas Papin, Oliver White, Olivier Beaugrand, OptioN, Oswaldo Alvarez, Perry Harovas, Quốc Anh Đặng, raidZer0, Rui Rodrigues, Sevenmine, Supeeeet, Terry, Ranson, Thomas Collier, Tim Grove, valentin naffetat, Vincent Huang, Wendy Sarrett, wp82, Zetsk, Zhuoran Yang, Zotake, 민수 전, 浩然 李
1 Euro Tier:
Adrian Mahl, agSENPAI, Aleš Balantič, Alex Arenas, Alka-Seltzer, Bobby Ushiro, Cars10, Chainstone, Cornelius Seibt, cristian alex agudelo urrego, darren mc sweeney, douuggggg , Final Result, GeneralZodz, Hana, Howard Winterson, Ilias Chalkiopoulos, ilias chalkiopoulos, ivanb, Jaskirat Panjrath, Jimioc123, Jochen Ulmer, john ford, Justin Leduc, Klaus Karlo, LachlanVFX, Loshak3D, Lui Nogueira, Mark, Matthäus Niedoba, Mete Tüfekci, Micah Hesse, Michback, Mikhail, Muzd, nardo x, Neoooo0, Nick Ito, Niclas , Nikon Basu, ohaoming , Ömer Yılmaz, Paddy, phreakasso, Rodrigo Ortega, Romanos Senikidis, Rueijhe Cai, Ryan Sears, simon oberli, Steven Tracey, T Curtis, TAE YANG LEE, Tanguy Didier, taptap , Thom van Vliet, Wayne Bilton, Weiz, wen Yi, Zachary Antell, 선용 김, 凯强 张, 怨天 龙, 曾捷 谢
LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
As always at the end, there is a small special. So this time again, as with the WANG computer there is the question: Does it come in black? Yes, yes it does:
As always at the end, there is a small special. So this time again, as with the WANG computer there is the question: Does it come in black? Yes, yes it does:
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR WATCHING!
