I’m going to be blunt and say that progress has been less than ideal. Referencing and preliminary sketches didn’t take long (they were done in an evening), though the modeling process has proven to be the most time-consuming part yet. This is mainly due to two constraints mentioned in the previous post — having to look up an online tutorial when encountering a problem/don’t know how to do it and realizing some ideas don’t translate well when done in Blender, then going back to the drawing board (multiple times). 

However, despite veering far from the planned schedule, that doesn’t mean I haven’t made any tangible progress. 

As seen above, I’ve made substantial progress on the project — geometric groves in the side panels adjusted the container’s geometry for a better overall appearance, a door with a retractable step in the front for easier access, and alterations to the interior that will be mentioned later. 

I’ve also changed how the side panels unfurl to have the bottom one act like a pseudo wall once deployed to accommodate the shortened expanding floor that is stored within the bottom portion of the container — one of the changes I’ve realized when modeling in Blender. While less exciting as an expanding housing module I initially envisioned, I could see this as a means to load larger cargo that cannot fit through the door. 

I’ve also included a built-in ladder in the rear to enable access to the top of the container and a circuit box (which will be further detailed down the road). These two were a late addition to the project as I noticed the rear of the container was rather void of anything. Moreover, I could see this being implemented given the container’s perceived utility. 

Due to time constraints, I’ve settled on simply focusing on modeling a storage variant of the container. While far from what I had envisioned going into this project, I nevertheless want to stick to the idea of the project and flesh out the interior further. 

Cargo nets were added to the side that doesn’t open, which would be useful for housing smaller objects. While I was planning to add cargo netting to the other panel (the one that opens up), I’ve decided against it and plan to have lockers or something along those lines instead. 

Once the modeling aspect is done (hopefully by the end of this week), then I’ll use next week to add color/material and animation. From the tutorials I’ve seen, these two shouldn’t be too time-consuming. However, that remains to be seen, given my experience so far with the project. 

References

[1 -6] Program Used: Blender 4.0