Art Spotlight: Ironman Arc Reactor

About Me

Annyeong, my name is Sake. I live in Seoul in South Korea. I work as an AR Designer. I majored in Digital Media Design in college and studied UX/UI of Mobile websites. I thought that designing typical web and mobile screen was boring, so I began working on 3D UI graphics for a new era.

These days, I am interested in UI’s expression based on future technology like AR, VR, HUI, and so on. The questions I ask myself while I am working on it is:

“What is an efficient interface in 3D space?”

“What is the color of the UI that is suitable for the dark/bright environment?”

These questions make my work more meaningful. If you have any thoughts on these questions, please contact me by e-mail at any time. I think it would be very good to discuss these.

Inspiration

I’m usually inspired by sci-fi movies. It’s very interesting to rework the graphics that have been edited with the images in real 3D. As for this work, the central structure of the Arc Reactor was inspired by the Marvel film Ironman. Maybe you could tell. Other graphic elements, such as the UI, refer to Gundam, Martian, Ghost In the Shell, Blade Runner, etc.

Modeling

The software I use for modeling is Cinema4D, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and so on. Sometimes, I use Unity. The structure of this model is very simple. Except for the largest structures (Reactor), most objects are squares that use png images as textures. So, despite its visually complex structure, it has a very low number of polygons. Number of polygons is important for me because it is directly linked to the speed of operation of AR applications.

Texture

The program that I used to create the image-texture is Adobe Illustrator. Most of the textures started from a circle and were made by adjusting the thickness of the circle to fit the model, or adding and subtracting small elements. Initially it did not look exactly right, but through the process of making changes, I find and create the perfect look. The largest panel is also made of image-texture.

Other textures used the functions of Sketchfab Editor after selecting the basic color. Sketchfab 3D settings are very useful.

Color

Colors are one of the most important factors in creating textures. I thought that a combination of black and mint colors is appropriate in expressing the concept of the future. Personally, I think that the role of black is to show off different colors. It is basic color of my works.

Animation & Sound

Animation is also simple. The main object is in constant 360 degree motion. The movement of other factors was minimized because the purpose of this work is to express circular beauty.

I used sci-fi laboratory sounds. The “beep beep” sound creates a sense of sci-fi mood.

Editing in Sketchfab

I think the 3D settings in Sketchfab are very powerful. Opacity and Chromatic Aberrations played big roles in this model. The Chromatic Aberrations function is especially useful in expressing the feeling of future technology.

Finish

I have made most of my models downloadable on Sketchfab. I hope to communicate with those who have common interests with me. I hope the models that I made will be useful.

I’ll meet you again with more interesting work. Thank you.