Category Archives: projects

Project 03 – Entities

And so we’ve reached the end – well, I’ve reached the end. Of the semester! With everything intact, it seems, including a massive headache…

But it’s not over yet! I still have to present the final project: the Entities project. AKA the rigging project. I also had to model an environment using textures instead of materials.

It was crunch time for this project; somehow the last few weeks of this semester were thrown off calendar and a three week assignment turned into one. With that in mind, there was no way I was going to render the video (remember the last time I rendered? It took a record 56 hours) so I just made it a playblast.

My video is a little on the long side, a minute and a half. Since I am also involved with a two semester ACURA project called Transmedia Narratives, the theme of my video revolves around that. It follows a moth that travels through time in a place known as Concrete City.

Obviously, the video is not perfect; there are editing flaws and there is no music (though this is the “official” song for the video) but those can be fixed next semester.

In short:

What I learned: Blendshapes. It saves lives.

What I liked: I liked editing and animating the video. It was fun watching it all come to life.

What I didn’t like: The modeling. Particularly the bump mapping and texture mapping and creating the environment.

Overall: Rigging is tedious and, while not terribly difficult, I don’t like it. I didn’t care for textures either. I think animating it my best bet.

But without further ado, here’s my final project of the semester! Whoooo, I did it!

Project 02: Photo Real Modeling

Where to begin…

This project was challenging. It was essentially what 3D modeling and Maya are all about. The goal was to model about 5-6 objects in such a way that when rendered, would be indistinguishable from a photograph. Despite this, the real challenge was not perfection— after all, it would no longer be a model. Rather the “sleeper” objectives were time management and work flow. These two things were just as critical, if not more critical than figuring out how much geometry to input into a model.

In completing those objectives, I think I think I accomplished them. I completed my models in a reasonable amount of time (1-2 objects per working session), finishing before the given deadline. However, I encountered a major problem.

Rendering.

This was where things got (and continue to get) dicey. In short: my project refused to render. It absolutely would not. I attempted on many different occasions, at different time, on different computers; one day I rendered for 7 hours and 45 minutes and it still would not finish. It was almost done but that doesn’t cut it.

To try and balance the scales, I cut some items from my master scene, since a lot of my objects were reflective objects. I lowered the intensity of my lighting AND cut the pixel height and width of my image from 6000 x 4000 to 2000 x 3000. The result?

screen-shot-2016-11-07-at-8-08-12-pm

One completed rendered image. It took 56 hours, 6 minutes and 53 seconds. A little under 2 days. To say I was frustrated, would be an understatement. This ONE image rendered over an entire weekend and change.

The project requires four rendered images from four different camera angles.  I have already started rendering another image but if history tells me anything, it won’t be complete for the next couple of days.

Speaking with peers in my class this semester, it appears I’m the only one with this issue. After some research, I’m still not sure why. Maybe I need to cut out some more objects from my master scene or change the materials applied to them. That being said, I will still render the other 3 images and update this post as they finish.

In the end, I am disappointed. Like everyone else, I worked hard on this project — my first modeling project and I was excited to see how I fared in the modeling department. It was the one I was most interested when I signed up for this class. After all this, I learned I am not a modeler. As art becomes more digital and we all sit and click on our computers, I thought I’d feel a little more at home in the world of meticulous modeling but I was wrong. I don’t hate it but I just don’t particularly enjoy it in the same way I did while animating the Mondrianimation.

All that said, here is the one rendered image I was able to recover in this endeavor. The view is from my firs camera. Despite all the issues, I’m satisfied with how it turned out and I’m excited to see the other rendered angles.

Should they ever actually render.

photo_real_render_1

Mondrianimation

Here it is! At last complete, my Mondrianimation!

As mentioned before, the Mondrianimation is the first official project of the semester and I’ve already learned so much.

The complete project is in a playblast but the rendering option was available. Rendering, in short, presents a cleaner, smoother version of the video. The problem with it is that it is time consuming and takes a certain amount of power. It wasn’t a requirement for this project so I opted it out. Maybe I’ll revisit rendering sometime in the future. Changing the background color was also an option, but I like the grey. Again, for reference, here is the piece I chose to model:

mondrian_composition_1921

My work flow was great, better than anticipated. I gave myself enough time to explore most, if not all, of my options for the project, in terms of cameras and timing. In other words, I wasn’t stressed about meeting the deadline which made the process – dare I say – fun. I also got a feel for how long certain things take in Maya, like timing key frames. Timing is definitely something that took time to refine. It’s something I’ll continue to work on throughout the course.

I’m also thinking that I like animating more than modeling. Granted, there wasn’t an extensive amount of modeling for this project, but I found myself more engaged in camera angles and keys. The next project is a modeling project so that may well change.

Overall, I liked the project. It isn’t perfect but I like the result and I’m proud of my work. I was worried about Maya getting the best of me, but so far –

– Gigi, 1, Maya, 0.

 

1. Ball drop (1st attempt)

When faced with a new program, I tend to take some time learning about the new software, its interface – not unlike anyone else learning something for the first time. I, being a go with the flow type of person, like to take my time. I also tend to repeat things like rewatch tutorials and reread how-to articles until the skill becomes second nature.

I think this course, the Art 314 will definitely change that.

That is, I am going to have to find and manage my pace and work flow when working with Maya.

It is daunting for sure, but doable. Like this first attempt at animating a ball drop in Maya for the first time. I tried capturing two things I plan to work on throughout the semester: roundness and exaggeration. I really like animation that exaggerates movements like in old cartoons like Tom and Jerry and Ren & Stimpy. And by roundness, I mean the world is round. Sometimes, as a primarily 2d creator, it’s hard to capture that. It’s easy to keep things flat on paper.

But as I said before, 314 will definitely change that.

I know I will revisit this exercise again, later in the semester. By then, I will be able to execute my ideas better. For now, I am satisfied that I was able to get this far at all.