Digital Rendering of Galaxy Buds

This one was set purely to push my digital 3D modelling and rendering skills. Choosing an object that already exists removes the design question entirely — the reference is fixed, so the only thing being judged is whether the surfaces, proportions and materials match what a photograph of it looks like.

Earbuds are a useful subject for that: small, almost entirely made of compound curves, and finished in plastics that behave very differently under the same light.

• Compound curves that have to stay continuous across every seam
• Getting the proportions right from photographs alone, with no drawings
• Two plastics behaving differently under one light setup
• A lighting rig that reads the form without blowing out the highlights

Sketching first, before touching Rhino. Drawing the case and the buds by hand is how the geometry gets understood — where each surface starts and stops, which curves are continuous and which meet at a break line. Working that out on paper meant the model could be built as clean surfaces instead of patched together.