The title refers to the rare, chance discovery that explains why this student is no longer at their desk. They ran to get their camera.

Roughing out the scene.

The first props.

Electronic props and scene elements.

Creating the insect mandala motif for the charger and textbook.

Working up the holo-projector.

Props and prop elements.

A small selection of the scene WIPs.

Render Layers

The final scene from the right.

The final scene from the top.

The final scene from the back left.

A set of foam with formed clay insects, drying and awaiting painting.

The workboard base.

Clay sculpting tools.

Craft nails (like icing flower nails) awaiting use.

A magnifying lamp on an arm, with cord.

Ok this really is a lump of clay.

A set of rough pliers. I was running out of time and knew they would be in the background, so I could have done MUCH, MUCH better on them.

Wire for armature in different gauges.

A pile of various reference books.

The induction charger with a mandala design.

Just a silicone cutting mat.

A simple tablet.

To create the mandala for the charger and books, I used the insects provided by the contest organizers to create a mandala, render it in Dimension, run it through Filter Forge in Photoshop, and then make a Substance from it. I can't believe it worked!

The holographic projector.

The monitor.

The monitor screen made, using a photo from my garden for the background and one of the insects provided by the challenge.

The simple smartphone.

The screen for the phone, which was designed to control the projector.

The "product promo" style image rendered in Dimension, for the background of the phone screen.