MechaTurntable

With my work being focused mainly on individual props rather than full scenes or environments, I thought it’d be a good idea to create a turntable in order to help showcase my models. I was inspired by the great work of Jonathan Truong; presenting 3D work on a platform in a studio environment. The aesthetic really boosts the standard and quality of the work, and got me thinking about what else I could do to leverage the work I’ve already produced.

From here, I began sketching basic ideas for a turntable, keeping in mind that I wanted the turntable itself to be interesting and to push my modelling skills further.
I looked back to some older mechanical-based projects, and brought forwards some aesthetic elements such as cogwheels, copper and wood materials.

A new design area that I wanted to explore with this project was “Mecha“ (a genre of Japanese manga and anime that heavily features or focuses on mechanical innovation). My preferred modelling style is hard-surface modelling, so this project suited me a great deal. I was able to explore interesting angles and lines, whilst considering subtle functions that may come into play with future use of the turntable. Early on in the sketching phase, I introduced the idea that the turntable could be modified to suit a range of object sizes. The cogwheel has three levels of adjustment, allowing smaller turntable plates to be used that are better suited to smaller objects. With the turntable plate forming a border for the object , I wanted to avoid having excessive space that would make the object look insignificant.

For the first showcase, I have used the Hermes Baby typewriter from my previous project, which helped to guide the overall scale of the turntable. I have a number of models that exceed this scale quite a bit, but my intention is to showcase smaller products that are typically used in conjunction with other props to form small scenes. The Retro Tech series should lend itself quite nicely to being showcased with the turntable…and is likely where I’ll be putting my efforts next.

The process for this project was a little different to how I normally work; I didn’t use any image references from real products and the modelling was lead quite heavily by iterative sketches. The first sketch was the very first idea, and later sketches were drawn in Procreate over renders from Blender. This allowed me to quickly try out potential details before going back in to Blender to model further. Once I’d gained momentum in Blender, I then added more details and adjustments without returning to sketching.

This is the first project I’ve worked on since owning an iPad, and I can’t imagine I’ll ever look back. It’s a great way to work and iterate, but new and different artefacts can also be produced along the way (as seen below).