I am currently doing a website project for the “forum of community radios” of Mozambique. While struggling to think how to visualize this concept, I decided to model an actual radio to feature at the top of the site. After thinking some more, I settled on an antique radio which I felt would be instantly recognizable as a radio, and some of these radios are probably still in use in rural communities.

So I set about modelling an actual Grundig 2440 radio (from this sample photo). Since I need the radio in extreme closeup, I needed to add lots of details. Texture maps were used for the fabric grille over the loudspeakers, and for the reflective dial plate.

It then struck me that it would be interesting to have the dial plate reflect an actual photo provided by the client, featuring people listing to radios or working in broadcast studios. I could then even turn the reflection into a slide show, there the images crossfade over time. Finally, I decided that the large ivory buttons on the radio would be depressed according to the web page currently being visited.

Here’s my render:

The model is not overly complex. Most details were added using texture maps, and reflection. I am not brilliant at drawing, but for this model there was no escape – I didn’t think all details could be modelled. Here is the actual model:

For the fabric, I used a diffuse map and a bump map. This images was actually taken from the sample photo, then rotated and straightened out:

The reflective dial plate had to be drawn according to the sample photo:

I did leave out a couple of details that would not enhance the look of the model any further (and because I was tired of drawing).