Kalimba Process
Detail Shots:
References:
The Kalimba I modeled and textured is a replica of a Kalimba I play and use often. So I used the physical kalimba as a reference. I also took pictures of it on an iPhone and used those for orthographic image references.
Modeling:
Modeling the Kalimba took place in maya and was the quickest part of the creation process. I wanted to focus on making sure the curves in the wood where hands rest were as accurate as possible. Another detail I wanted to include was the discrepancy in height of the tines at the top of the Kalimba.
Textured UV Island from Substance
Base Color
Roughness
Normal
Metallic
Texturing:
The texturing and lighting/rendering process went hand-in-hand. It took a bit of back and forth to get the wood roughness and normals to match the physical instrument. I also wanted to put focus to the dust in the crevices of the tines and to the fingerprints I would often leave on the metal after use. I ended out creating normal stamps to make the symbols on the ends of the tines to ensure that the numbers and letters lined up perfectly. I also wanted to pay as much attention as I could to the size, length, and location of the wood grain since I noticed some areas had noticeably long ridges, some areas had only medium length ridges, and the grain in some areas were so short they appeared to be dots.
Lighting:
Again there was a little bit of back and forth when lighting the scene and matching the textures to the physical instrument. I lit and rendered the Kalimba in Maya using Vray and used three point lighting. After some test renders I ended out having to tone down the symbol normals on the tines, adjust the roughness and normal of the wood grain, and refine the Vray reflection color.