(Figure 1: Image of Tunnel Hill Mushrooms)

The Tunnel Hill Mushroom farm is a unique tourist attraction in Mount Rumney, Tasmania due to the produce being grown in a Railway Tunnel built in 1891. Its environment has proven perfect for growing a variety of mushrooms throughout the year and it remains open for guided tours. The original plan for undertaking this scene for 3D modelling was to focus on the tunnel itself, yet I found it lacked the key identifier.... mushrooms! This led me to expanding and exploring the completed scene as a challenge as organic shapes are difficult to replicate in Blender and this is an area I had not explored in prior experience. Although the mushrooms were of a slightly different shape and compost bags textured with solid colours in place of translucent, the final scene results reflect the intended location. The dampness and fluorescent lighting were key areas of focus due to the atmosphere created in the reference image and these worked together to thread the sense of environment. The bags of compost were formed with the use of sculpting with the aim of making each individual bag have slightly different wrinkles as the original duplicate method made the scene feel artificial. Although this duplicating method was implemented with mushrooms due to the amount to be integrated, with alterations made to the rotation, scale and placement to provide a range of visuals within the environment. The tunnel will be the section to be utilised within Unity, excluding the compost bags and mushrooms to have a simple object to work with inside the game engine. 

Key lesson learned: if you do something over 100 times in a row you will remember how to do it for the rest of your life :)

(Figure 2: 3D Model of Tunnel Hill Mushrooms)

The sandstone brick wall originally lacked 3D elements due to the 2D texture and to rectify this each 'brick' was extruded from the original surface and corners were defined with bevel. Cuts were made on the object where the texture defined a brick outline for improved visual quality as the shadows from the lighting would highlight this 3D area, adding a small detail to enhance the targeted realism.

Key lesson learned: it's the little things that add to the big picture :)

(Figure 3: Sandstone Brick Progression)

Although there were many difficulties encountered throughout the scene creation, a particular area was in creating the compost bags as the 'cloth simulation' technique  was not working as needed to form a bag shape. This led to much frustration and hours attempting to make it work when the solution was to explore other methods through sculpting. In reflection of this, a fluidity is needed when undertaking 3D modelling as trying to force methods to work will result in a loss of motivation while accepting failures and moving forward with other ideas allows for personal growth.

Key lesson learned: The frustration of mistakes builds knowledge for the future :)

(Figure 4: Cloth Simulation Failure)

Also here is my barrel! This was modelled prior to the mushroom tunnel as a way of refreshing knowledge of Blender and it’s interface. This is similar to Brackeys Blender Tutorial on Youtube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYKQwMc-WdE) which inspired a barrel creation.