Art Portfolio Two - 2D Elevation process and research

During last week, I had the chance to explore a new design software called 'SketchUp'. This programme is found online with easy access and it is used for making 3D illustrations and architectural designs. I began exploring SketchUp by making basic shapes and familiarising myself with all the different tools and I found it difficult to use at first. However, after watching instructive videos on YouTube.com and practising all the tools, it became much easier to use. 

First I added a circle with the circle tool on the left menu. I placed a centre point at the middle and from it I expanded the circle.

On the right side of SketchUp there is another menu that has a tool button named 'Materials'. In 'Materials' I selected 'Browse' and from the list that appeared I found the lawn texture in 'Landscaping, Fencing and Vegetation'. I selected the colour and then added it to the circle.

After That I made two circles within the lawn circle from the same centre point using the circle tool on the left. The woman at the centre is my reference point for the scale of the design.

On the small menu that has the circle tool there is another button named 'Rectangle'. I used this tool to draw three rectangles that are intersected with the outer circle of the roundabout on one side and cross with the big lawn circle on the opposite side.

And again, from 'Materials' I selected 'Brows' and chose the 'brick' texture from 'Brick, Cladding and Siding' menu and applied it to the roundabout (in between the inner circles) as well as the path ways (three rectangles).

Then I selected the lines where the rectangles and the circles meet and deleted them.

There is a button found on the left side menu under the circle button called 'Push/Pull'. This tool is useful if you want to take a certain 2D horizontal object and change it into 3D. Furthermore, I drew a circle within the inner circle of the roundabout and coloured it using the selected 'Water' button which is found in 'Browse' in 'Materials'. Then, with the use of the 'Push/Pull' tool I raised the water circle from one point on the circumference till it became 3D. I used the glass container of the sculpture for the shape reference.

Then I added another circle just outside the watery cylinder using the circle tool, and selected the 'Glass' texture from 'Glass and Mirrors' found in Browse in Materials on the right side menu and applied it to the circle. After that, I selected the glass circle and raised it using the 'Push/Pull' tool, slightly above the water level. 

I placed another smaller circle on the surface of the water and used the 'Push/Pull' tool to lower it and give it volume as you can see in the pictures below.

once again I applied the Glass texture on the smaller cylinder.

I looked on the internet for 3D guppy models and found a website called '3D Warehouse' which has a big collection of 3D objects that were made using SketchUp. I found the Guppy that you see below and downloaded it to my computer in SKP form. Then I inserted the guppy from the computer into the model.

Using the 'Scale' tool on the left side menu, I adjusted the size of the model to make it fit in the small cylinder (plastic bottle).

Then I used the 'Move' tool to place it inside the cylinder.

I wanted to raise the small cylinder but I struggled to do that, so I selected the walls of the entire sculpture and deleted them.

On the small circle which was the bottom side of the small cylinder, I drew another slightly smaller circle.

After that, I selected the area in between the two circles and raised it with the 'Push/Pull' tool.

Then I selected the Guppy and used the 'Move' tool to place it inside the new cylinder.

Then I selected the area between the outer circles and pulled it down with the 'Push/Pull' tool to make the walls of the aquarium.

Furthermore, I made another circle on top of the aquarium and placed a smaller circle on it. The small circle is in the centre on the top of the aquarium. After that, I used the 'Scale' tool to adjust its size and removed the big circle.

Using the 'Push/Pull' tool, I raised the area between the outer circles and the new circle, and repeated the process on the small cylinder as well.

Furthermore, I searched in '3D Warehouse' and found 3D models of trees that can be found in British public parks such as Birch, Beech, Oak ...etc. I downloaded the models and inserted them into the design with some size adjustments.

This model was made to show the sculpture in its location, namely on a roundabout where three walking paths cross in a public park. I chose this hypothetical location because I want to the sculpture to be seen by as many people as possible when they walk by. This would mean that the intended message of the sculpture would reach a large audience and hopefully it will eventually be replaced by another meaningful art in the future, rather than staying there displaying the same unsolved problem forever.

Reference:

‌Benjamin (n.d.). Guppy. [online] 3dwarehouse.sketchup.com. Available at: https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/88ffa6f0439cd37eec8b4278552324cf/Guppy?hl=en [Accessed 31 Aug. 2020].

CreativeSketchup (2020). how to make a cone sketchup 2 different ways - YouTube. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpS6noL_oTU [Accessed 31 Aug. 2020].

Daniel McArdle (2017). Importing 3D Warehouse objects into Sketchup - YouTube. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cK7XLdGEWg [Accessed 31 Aug. 2020].

‌Sketchup.com. (2018). 3D Warehouse. [online] Available at: https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/ [Accessed 31 Aug. 2020].

Sketchup.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://app.sketchup.com/app?hl=en [Accessed 31 Aug. 2020].