Snow Globe Project

Fans of mine who have been wondering what I've been up to, (both of you,) these images should shed some light on that subject.

As you have no doubt noticed, this is a 3D snowglobe. I designed, modeled, and textured it for an iPhone app. The second thing you probably noticed is the lack of snow. The reason for that is that the snow is a particle effect added separately, so I had nothing to do with creating it myself. Rest assured, the real thing has snow that swirls when you shake it, quite fancy.

About the picture itself, the first image is the concept I went with for the 3D version, and the second image is the 3D version. After that, some closeup details, and a wireframe version. I'd have included more detail shots, but this image is huge already. If you noticed the globe is a bit odd, I cut the front out to save on the poly count. In the real app, it always faces the camera, so you'd never notice the removed geometry. Keeping this well within the technical abilities of the iPhone was a major concern, so I tried to keep the poly count low. In the end it ran quite smooth, so I wish I would have gone a bit higher poly with the trees, they're the only part that looks really noticeably low-poly. In keeping with the need to keep it from being too demanding, there's no lighting, all shading was hand-painted into the texture, which helps it to all look far smoother than the low-poly geometry would normally allow. And it definitely needs smooth shading for that calm snowy night feel.

If after looking at these beautiful development pics you suddenly realize how much you need a nice looking, attractively priced virtual snow globe for your iPhone with swirling snow and everything, follow this link to the Apple Store and download it yourself. And check out other Playscreen games while you're there, because Playscreen pays me money to do art. Support them and by extension me.