Not sure how we are going to present our stamps in the end but never the less I created a franking stamp that would overlay my actual stamp.  Just created the text in photoshop and used a layer mask and a dirty brush to give it an aged look.

Ive now added a omni light with a glow lens effect to give the fish its bioluminesence lure. To create the effect I first placed the omni light, then expanded the 'atmosphere & effects' modifier and clicked 'add'. I then chose 'Lens Effects' and clicked setup. I set the lens effect to 'glow' and adjusted the paramenters until i was happy with the effect.

I noticed I had a shadow being cast on the top of the head from the glow I created. This was caused by a sphere i had at the top of the lure, as the glow was hiding the sphere there was no reason for it to be there. So I removed the sphere and the shadow was no longer being cast, as shown in the last image.

I have decided to start to model my next deep sea creature and return to my angler fish once I have developed my 3DS Max skills further. I still need to work on the materials of the fins and the inside of the mouth.

Since the last update of my angler fish I have remodeled the fins much more to my liking, Ive also given the fish its notorious fangs, I may possibly be guilty of over exaggerating the size of the teeth but it defiantly gives the image a more striking effect. I have started working on the material for the skin of the fish, however I need to find out how to apply different materials to different parts of the same object. As you can see the inside of the fish's mouth is the same material as the outer skin. I also need to discover how to have the lightsource visible to show the fish's trademark 'fleshy growth' lure emitting light.

Im finding myself growing much more confident with 3DS Max, I think the initial learning curve is very steep but now I feel much more comfortable with the interface and the production techniques I have learnt so far. I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy 3D production before I started this module but now the initial basics are learnt im very much enjoying the module.

This is my result from my first attempt at lighting.  I enjoy the way adding just a few lights can totally transform a 3D model and turn it into an actual scene with atmosphere. Lighting will be a big part of my models due to the bioluminescence that many deep sea creatures have.

So after spending the best part of 2 days watching and reading various tutorials I have started modelling the first of my 3 deep sea creatures.I started off by inserting a plane and putting a reference image I created by tracing a photo in illustrator. I then drew a box and used it to create the basic shape of the fish. I created the teeth by making a cone and using the 'bend' modifier.

I obviously have a very long way to go but it is very pleasing putting the initial parts together. Il definatly look at how im constructing the fins because so far the way im doing it doesnt seem to be working the way I want.

I applied the smooth modifier to the model to create a smoother version of the logo, I found however that I prefer the non smoothed version. I was not able to get the bat part of the logo to smooth as I wanted, possibly not enough segments in the original cylinder?

After watching 'Eat 3D' tutorial DVD I have learnt to use the 'proboolean' tool. It works in a similar way the compound shapes tool works in illustrator. I used the technique to create this Batman logo. I created an initial cylinder and then copied it and made it slightly smaller to form the bat part. I then created a series of smaller cylinders and used these to cut out the parts of the black cylinder with the proboolean tool to form the bat shape. I will now look at putting some materials on the model, smooth the edges and generally just experiment with it.

An initial sketch created in illustrator of the Angler Fish which will be the first deep sea creature that i will be creating in 3D. I have come across an initial problem however, this being the fact that there are no clear images from all angles of the fish due to it living 650-2000 meters under the the sea. There are however scientific sketches that could help me to create an accurate 3D representation of the fish.

Produced using the same technique as the chess piece tutorial.

Happy with the shape of my banana but something has gone wrong towards the top.

Edit. On review it appears my banana has a face.