A golden earth globe model on top of a golden lattice sphere. The first in a set of 3 globe models I've created.
This model is pure geometry, no maps used to generate the landmass.
The continents and lattice are in a group called 'Group 1', if you ungroup, you'll see two objects, GLOBE and sphere001.
GLOBE is the continents. The geometry contains a 'shell' modifier underneath a second 'edit poly'. You have the capability to edit the geometry, but I suggest you leave it as is. The lattice is a sphere with a lattice modifier applied with an edit poly modifier on top of everything. Both of them have a mental ray material on them. It's 'Arch & Design' brushed metal, that's been tinted gold. It looks best in more contrasted light settings (look at the renders further in the images gallery of this model)
I have a very slow laptop, so renders in the scene took between 5 -7 minutes, but this laptop is really old, so I imagine it would be about 2 minutes a render on a normal, industry-standard machine.
Scene is lit with a skylight with mr Photographic Exposure Control on the environment and effects panel.
Two more of these globes are currently in progress. One for 3d printing and for general 3d work. Hope you enjoy!