Metal Lighter

A faithful recreation of a classic-style metal lighter of mine. As one of the many fascinating objects on my shady desk, I gaze at it and fidget with it daily, so this simple metal machine presented the opportunity for creating a realistic 3D asset. To make this showcase, the only reference I relied on was the physical lighter in my hand. Everything was based solely off the real object as seen through my eyes. I took no pictures of the lighter for use as image plane reference guides.

To construct the mesh, I used Maya primarily but also relied on Zbrush for some UV mapping as well as the remeshing and completion of the flame-housing geometry. The PBR textures for the different metals and other materials like the wooden tabletop were created in Gimp using a combination of texture scans I have personally procured as well procedural textures of my own creation. The flame was simulated with Bifrost Aero. Final scene was rendered in Arnold.

This project required a bit of many different disciplines to produce everything I needed to make the finished product. This is why having at least some knowledge of the fundamentals of every step in the CGI-process is incredibly helpful and necessary, even if you only specialize in one area. I always endeavor to practice every step of production to gain a greater understanding of the entire process. It also helps in any situation to be capable of creating everything you need for a project entirely on your own, which additionally gives you maximum customization ability.

Every asset in this render was created start to finish by me, with the sole exception of the HDRI skylight map.