Utilitarian Modular Container: Specs and Constraints

Specifications:

1. Utility 

The project’s primary focus is emulating the feeling that it can provide something useful when presented. Being a very stylized cargo container, it already provides the benefit of a storage unit. However, I wanted to add utility such as cargo nets along the portions of the panels for smaller objects, light sources to illuminate during the dark, things like that. 

2. Modular

Like actual cargo containers repurposed as housing units, workstations, or their intended uses to store things, I want the project to appear to have the same capabilities. If someone sees this and says, “Yeah, this could be used for something else,” I have done it. 

3. Animation 

This is to fulfill the mandated dynamic aspect, which — as of writing this post — entails unfurling one of the container’s sides and having other pieces like the wall, floor, and other pieces deployed. However, I am open to other suggestions that could be implemented. 

4. Detailing

While the project’s primary focus is the overall container and the ‘functionality’ it possesses when deploying, including the little things such as the previously mentioned cargo nets and light sources would give other things to look at.

5. Visual Feedback

If the modular containers manage to evoke the same feeling I have with utilitarian hardware or gear in other creative media, such as the motorized cargo transporter I found online (and using as a reference for my project). If the container can give that feeling, I have succeeded in my main goal for this project. 

Constraints: 

1. Still Learning Blender

This is definitely one of the most time-consuming aspects of this project. When I encounter an issue or have no idea how to do something in Blender, I have to look up a tutorial video or forum online that (hopefully) explains how to resolve said issue or instructs me on how to do something specific.

2. Modeling Issues

Like any CAD program, there are times that I’ve encountered problems with the model’s geometry/mesh that manage to consume an absurd amount of time to resolve. Rogue vertices that screw up the model when applying modifiers like bevels or position an object’s origins being unable to produce a specific shape due to limited experience, and so on and so forth.

3. Sticking with One Idea

As of writing this post, I have already scrapped numerous of my original plans due to technical and time limitations. I wanted to have different container variants to further display the project’s modular nature. However, due to time limitations, I will only be able to produce one of the modular containers I planned to model.

4. Authentic Visual

One of the things that I had initially planned was incorporating UV Wrapping into the project. UV Wrapping entails putting 2D images onto a 3D model. While excluding UV Wrapping does not have a deteriorating impact on the model, it would affect the aesthetics without seeing the small things such as general wear and tear, imperfections, etc.

5. Translating Ideas 

Most of the time, something I envision does not translate well or reveals something I did not consider when modeled in Blender. This forces me to either revise the idea if it is manageable to fix or outright trash it if I cannot resolve it in a timely manner.

References

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Stretches-Carabiners-Oversized-Universal-Organizer/dp/B07VZLWY6F 

 

[2] https://www.askerikonteyner.com/en/p-11/military-container 

 

[3] https://www.artstation.com/artwork/mzaqGa 

 

[4] Program Used: Blender 4.0

 

[5] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/411657222186956284/