Has anyone seen any? I'm looking but not finding - I need this for an image I'm making, I can texture the object by myself, but I don't have modeling skills so I can't make one myself. Does anyone have any idea where I might get one? If it came up at the MarketPlace, I'd certainly be willing to buy it as well. Thanks!

Do you have pics of the medals? Some programs can create a 3D relief from a B&W bitmap.

The relief can be simulated with a bump map. I'll be happy to model a medal for you, if you provide images. The design varies with each Olympics, and I haven't found any pics of the 2002 medals on the 'Net. You'll have to handle the ribbon yourself; I'm not up to creating conforming figures, yet. nerd has a sash here in Free Stuff that could probably be adapted.

I saw some 2002 olympic medals on tv. I dont like their design, the gold looks too dull, or something. Ya know, you could create your own version of the medal, because most folks won't notice that it is not the actual design of the medal. As long as it creates the impression its authentic, etc. But this is a good idea for a model though!

This years medals were made by a Salt Lake City company called O.C. Tanner... they're one of the customers of the company I work for.. www.octanner.com They have pictures of them on their website. :)

Too all the free model makers, yall should make a free authentic olympic gold medal, with three textures: gold, silver and bronze. Give it away free, except to the canadians. Make them pay for it. j/k

To Cin - Uh, sorry about those derogatory comments about the medals!

Thanks, Cin-. I caught a glimpse of one on Letterman a few nights ago, but wasn't paying attention. Not exactly symmetrical, are they? Looks simple enough. I can create one of these tonight. That fine picture at the O.C. Tanner website would make an excellent texture and bump map. If you like, I'll post them in Free Stuff. If I do this, I won't have the Olympic copyright committee coming down to my cave for a little discussion, will I?

I guess the medals aren't too bad. I just saw a passing image of it on tv, and I thought the gold looked a little dull, but hey, what do I know.

Attached Link: http://www.octanner.com/html/3oi_img.php?pg_id=256

Whoops, just noticed this statement at O.C. Tanner:

*Usage Rights

These photos are for editorial use only in newspapers, news magazines, trade publications and broadcast media. All images remain the property of O.C. Tanner Company. Under no circumstances can these images be used for any personal or commercial purpose.*

That definitely rules out using the pics as textures. No problem, though. I can fake it with Paint Shop Pro.

What modelling program do you have LD?

what do I know Given what you said about the Canadians, apparently not much. =)

lol, it was a joke, parodying what happened to the ice skaters...

Now, Now VS. He said he was sorry. everyone is allowed to slip once in a while. ScottA

Thanks for the defense Scott! Yes, I love my Canadian allies. I'm an American! The Canadians are going to let us borrow their tank for our war on terror. lol. Just kidding again. Canadians are basically Americans, but they say "about" real funny. Oh boy. The Canadians are really going to hate me now. To all Canadians: I'm just kidding.

....WOW! I never thought I'd be starting such a thread. :o) All I really need is a very generic round thingy with a ribbon. Actually it's the darn ribbon that's the real problem, 'cause I could probably figure out how to do the round thingy. hehe! Just for the record: I'm from Montreal. Canada. Seeing as I'm a French-Canadian, female, Mac user, I'm as close as it gets to being a joke magnet. At least I get noticed, LOL! ;-)

Phew! I'm glad your not angry at me for my canadaphobic comments. =-)

You're from Montreal? It's too bad that, although you Canadians deserved the medal, the only gold medal the judges would originally think of giving you would be a 3D one. Ok, that's my last Canada joke. I'm done. Mac user! Now, you are a joke-magnet. Why not assimilate? Resistance is futile.

...Ah... darn, and I'm a Trekkie, too!

lol! Ok, I admit. I like Star Trek. I like Star Wars better, but I went to go see Star Trek: First Contact. And I'm ashamed to admit, I liked it. And of course the Wrath of Khan, and those earwigs that chew through your brain.

I was once asked by a guy in California where we stayed after our igloos melted during the summertime..... ROFL! I've never seen an igloo up close in my life! Anyway.... this is the image I planned to put on the medal in the first place: http://www.ioneil.com/site/gallery/medals/m76.htm You can get all the images of the medals from that site (and actually buy them, apparently). As you can see, it's perfectly round - not like them American ones. Hehehehehe! ;-)) Yeah, yeah, I know that's an old one -- I don't suppose many of you guys remember Nadia Comaneci, do you? ;-) (now why do I suddently feel a little old?) Bonne nuit et bient! ...et merci pour votre aide, surtout! (http://babelfish.altavista.com) ROFL!!

LOl. Thanks for the shot back regarding our "uniquely shaped" Olympic Medals. Thanks for the sense of humor. Sometimes folks here get too serious! I was born in 79, I didn't even know Montreal got the Olympics. I thought all montreal had was the Expos, and whatever the name of your hockey team is, lol. You Canadians can play some hockey, I got to give you that. But why can't any other country compete with us in Basketball, and why no football in the Olympics?! Have you ever read Huck Finn, where Huck asks Jim, "Jim, what would you do if someone came up to you and said, "Poly-voo franze" Jim replies, "I would bust him over the head!" (paraphrased) And by the way, can you get Canada to make Peter Jennings to move back to your country?

lol nice one tb. (one hint though is to just get off it before you really piss someone off)and i agree we americans should get a little more compition in basketball. and i don't know where it happned but this thread is nolonger about medals now its jokes on canada

Orkin, Yes you are right. And sorry about derailing the thread.

why no football in the Olympics?! Because the wimpy Americans would insist on wearing all their padding instead of playing the real way the Europeans do? And, if you were feeling really brave, you could try playing Aussie rules football -- I'd love to see the million dollar jock boys try that sometime...

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=575801

VS, Bwahahaha! Remember, when I say "football" - I mean the oblong ball, made of pigskin! Not a soccerball. The only thing the Aussies can compete with us in is Alligata wraslin' (ever see that guy Steve on Animal Planet?) and boxing. I would like to see Mike Tyson go up against one of your kangaroos. It would be hard to tell who is more civilized.

Oh, and TalmidBen: at the moment, I'm using MilkShape 3D, a $20 shareware modeller. I have a passing familiarity with the earlier versions of trueSpace, also.

LD, that is SUPERB!!! WOW!!!!

Know what you mean about them Aussie rules VS, We used to have an Aussie rules league played in one of the parks, where I used to work. boy oh boy. And We had the American school play there as well. So got to see the comparison up close.

Just downloaded, installed, and am trying it. Man, why are 3D programs so confusing? We Americans need things quick, and easy. Anything too complicated goes to the recycle bin. What is the easiest 3D modeller to work with? I've tried: 1. Rhino (that is like reverse engineering an alien spaceship) 2. Blender (above) 3. Truespace (I was able to make some sort of pottery looking thing) 4. Anim8or, (I was able to make a messed up morph for Mike!) Any tips folks? I need it to be simple, cheap, and able to make good models.

I also tried Amapi. I need something moron-compatible.

I never understood Blender, Anim8or, or Amapi, but I didn't really try them for long. I got the hang of trueSpace 1 after a while, but the changes made to the interface in recent versions aggravate me. By contrast, I dived right into MilkShape. The simplicity of the interface appeals to me. I'm looking forward to version 2.0. Well, back to Paint Shop Pro. Stay tuned for further developments.

Hey! It's a start! Now what program did you download? I'm mentally model challenged too! ;)

lol! I downloaded MilkShape 3d, which LD just recommended. I made it pretty quick, and I bet you could do some good stuff in there, if you learn it. Here's the link: http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/ I also have a "strict" policy of never reading the manual, so that probably contributes to my ignorance.

I have a hard time myself. Maybe if I can get the basics down I can start using Rhino. My aunt bought it for me for my birthday and I sit there just stumped (feeling pathetic and very guilty). Thanks!

judith, we have a Rhino forum here at Renderosity. It might help.

I've done some preliminary UV-mapping, and finished the initial texture and bump map for the medal. Here it is, rendered in Poser.

As you can see, I haven't created a unique texture/bump for the back of the medal yet.

OMG! This is just stunning!!!! Amazing work, there, LD! :o) This is looking wayyyyy cooler than I expected. Yayyyy!! :o)

Bonjour, laetia. :) It'll look even cooler when I'm done. Since my last post, I've increased the contrast on the bump maps and modified the texture slightly. As soon as I finish the backside texture, I'll recolor everything for silver and bronze, then post the finished prop in Free Stuff. It should go up by noon. By the way, just out of curiousity I applied the hi-res images of the real gold medal from the O.C. Tanner website as textures and bumps. It's a pity we can't use them, because the results were practically photorealistic. :(

Remember, when I say "football" - I mean the oblong ball, made of pigskin! Oh, right, the American alternative to the real football... =) (Sorry, folks, couldn't resist...=) )

Thanks so much, LD - you're an angel! :o)

The medals should be uploaded into Free Stuff in a few minutes. The package contains one 2002 Winter Olympic medal prop in Poser .pp2 format, thumbnails, three sets of textures, and bump maps. Total filesize is 305KB.

If anyone feels like creating a matching ribbon, I'd be very appreciative.

Thanks for waiting.

Man, LD, your talent is shocking. Those are incredibly superb. Wow. God bless.