CLUTCH CHAIRZ

Summary

Ghost Keyboards, a Vancouver-based gaming peripherals company and its sister company, Clutch Chairz, which focuses on gaming furniture, both offer ergonomic gaming chairs to the market internationally. One of my main projects throughout the work term was to create 3D visualizations of their gaming chairs that were utilized on their website and social media platforms for marketing and product showcasing purposes.

As an individual project, I have handled 3D modeling, texturing, rendering, lighting and environment setup in coordination with my supervisor. Through that, I have received feedback from him to ensure the quality and accuracy of the model and scene were up to standard.

3D Visualizations

Here are some of the 3D models and visualizations that I created throughout my occupation at Clutch Chairz.

Process

During the initial phase of 3D modeling the gaming chair, I first gathered resources for references to ensure the model would be accurate in terms of dimensions and materials. However, the information regarding them was not available for the time being, so I asked my supervisor to provide me with the actual product to take measurements from for reference. I then sketched each individual part and took notes of the part’s dimensions.

The challenge here was to come up with a solution to create all those visualizations in a limited amount of time but also look professional and outstanding at the same time.

During the early stage of 3D modeling for the gaming chair, imported the photos that I took of the parts and imported them into Autodesk Maya, in which I traced the model approximately to ensure that the shape of it was accurate.

The hardest part was that, as the photos that I took were slightly distorted due to the focal length of my phone’s camera lens which affects the accuracy of it, especially for the body of the chair as it has a larger surface and shape. Therefore, I came up with a solution of taking photos of the same part at different heights and made sure that the subject that I needed to model was in the center of the frame.

To add realism to the model, I manually sculpted the wrinkles and bumps for fabric parts of the product, to make it uneven and create imperfections.

After completing the process of 3D modeling, I transferred the model into a texturing software, Substance Painter for creating and adding realistic textures onto the chair with materials such as leather, embroidery, and plastic.

In the final stage, I modeled a bedroom scene in Maya with respect to human scale and later imported it along with the chair into a 3D real-time architectural visualization software, Twinmotion to set up the scenery of the bedroom.

The most difficult part in this stage was setting up the lighting in the room, as I needed to create a realistic and natural visualization. To ensure everything looked right, I asked my supervisor for constructive feedback. I then took the feedback that I received to further correct and enhance the lighting and other elements in the room.

In the end, the final render was used for the back-to-school promotion as a banner on Clutch Chairz’s website and social media, which eventually improved the number of sales.

Takeaways

Overall, I successfully met the objective of demonstrating my skills in 3D modeling, graphic design, creative thinking, and working as an individual. My supervisor was impressed with my progress and had given me positive feedback on my work.

From this project, I learned the importance of orientation and communication working along with my supervisor as an individual, since I often had to ask for feedback and help from my supervisor. I realized the efficiency of work when there were clear communications and goals.

Moving forward from this project, my technical skills with Maya, Substance Painter and Twinmotion improved drastically after I put enormous efforts and time into it.