Trash, Trash Everywhere!

One of the cool things i like about detail-work is, after hours and sometimes days, when you start to become really frustrated, eventually you look at the model and think to yourself "hm, ok, wasn't for nothing" or "whoohoo i'm done!"

And at this point it's most important to keep myself drawn into the project. So, some high detail props
are just what the model needs to give an impression of detail and scale. It adds a lot to the overall look of the current model, but let's start at the beginning:


The trashcans in Epcot look just like they do in other parks, i thought.
But after a little research trip through the depths of the internet,
i live in a land far, far, far away from Orlando, i quickly learned it's not the case.
I did already build a theme park trashcan, but it wouldn't do as it looks slightly different (out of 10 people, maybe 2 would notice they don't look the same. Still...).
So i used the base model, had to remove most detail (like the ridges, covering-plate, etc.)
and remodel it almost from scratch. You will likely think "why? it's not an important detail. Who cares.." But if you look at the renderings, you will notice he level-of-detail makes a huge difference.

Below are a few renderings from the old model

SO, why create such a high detail model of a trashcan?
The answer is simple, bins like these are scattered all over the park and yet you notice only a few of them. They vary in shape or colour, depending on where they are located throughout the park.
The more detail these 'props' have, the more they contribute to the overall appearance of the park model. Say i would only build very basic shapes for the benches, bins, lights etc.
They give an impression of detail and thus go hand in hand with the more prominent features of the park and attraction models. And if they lack detail, so will the rest.
(However, of course we'll need to keep in mind the overall poly budget)

Final model

animation of functionality