More Free Stuff
In the last post, I showed how I had located and prepared a free 3D model of a spray paint can. The spray paint can was the first of many 3D items that I would need to build and fill the gremlin’s garage. I decided that I would approach the building of the garage starting with the smallest elements and assembling them into larger elements. For example, the gremlins garage has several metal shelves filled with all sorts of different items. Therefore, I would just need to track down and prepare more free stuff to fill the shelves and then assemble them. After the shelves were complete, I would then load the shelves, along with the other larger items into the garage.
Of course, the first thing that I would need to acquire were the shelves themselves. Unfortunately, I could not locate any suitable shelves that were free and had to pay $4.00 for mine. Ironic that an article entitled “More Free Stuff” starts out by buying something, huh.
Since I had a shelf and can of spray paint, I started with those items. Here is a short clip of the shelf being populated with spray paint cans:
While the close up looks pretty good, this is what happen if you look at the bigger picture. 
There is a whole lot more shelf to fill up.
I then wandered out to my own garage to look for inspiration on how to fill this large open expanse of shelf space. I came up with a list of items to start with. The initial list looked something like this:
Milk Crates
Books/Manuals
Shop Rags
Spray Bottles
Plastic Bottles of various sizes
Container of nuts and bolts
Boxes
Thus, I began my search for free stuff to fill the shelves. It was not a long and difficult search. The only real challenge was finding models that I could import into Blender. Not all model formats work. I eventually found all of the items on the list and more. However, almost all of these free items required time and some degree of rework to fit into the scene properly. Here are a few of the treasures that I found:
Milk Crate: 
Shop Rags: 
Plastic Bottles: 
Nuts and Bolts: 
…and after a considerable time of trial and error, here is what the completed shelf looks like: 
Note that I found quite a few additional free items (and one more paid item) to fill out all of that empty shelf space.
At this point there is only one problem with the garage shelf. It looks too good. Not very cartoon-like.
So, back to Blender to make a few adjustments and out popped this: 
Much better.
…And here are the gremlins examining the new computer drawn shelf for the first time: 
10 thoughts on “Pesky Gremlins Comic 711 – More Free Stuff”
Binky
That is really neat! And a lot of work, I’m sure. The realistically rendered shelf could be a picture of a real shelf. It’s great that you’ve found so many free 3D models.
H Stacy
Thanks Binky! It is a lot of repetitive work, but after you figure out the basics, it stops being work and gets to be kind of fun. The realistic shelf does look pretty good, but that is due to the Blender rendering engine, not me. The cartoon version still needs a little work, though. At the very least, I think the cartoon version needs heavier line weights and maybe a little more color saturation.
What do you think?
Binky
I guess that’s true if you look at it critically. That would make it closer to your drawings. It is also a little darker than your characters.
H Stacy
Yes, the shelf and its items are a little darker and need to be lightened up. I think the compositor might be able to fix that.
David Hurley
I don’t know, but Fubar found something tasty!
H Stacy
Ha! I didn’t know if anyone would catch that. Have you ever notices how much a grease cartridge looks like a large pudding-pop?
Dan
Your cartoon shelf sure looks a lot better than my real ones. Nice job!
H Stacy
Thanks, Dan. The cartoon shelves look better than my real garage shelves, too.
Dana Atnip
Just wow, it looks so cool! I like how the gremlins and the shelves are two different styles yet they work together so well. I do not have your patience to create this! 🙂
H Stacy
Thanks Dana! I am still working on getting the two styles to be more alike and have some work to do in that area. I am sure that you could 3D thing and it would work well with you space ship interiors!