During the iteration of the scene I stuck very close to the tutorial and even repurposed some of the assets that were provided to make the instructional scene.
For instance I used this picture from the tutorial as my own sky dome. A sky dome is basically the far-off view that encompasses the scene. In my iteration I fiddled with this picture in Photoshop to create a setting sun effect.
With this I will be able to create the ominous and suspenseful atmosphere that I am hoping to achieve for this project. Once the sky dome was set, I had to create a large disc to serve as the ground, warp the disc to create the ‘dunes’, and then put in a wall around the scene that will have an image on top to make it look like it is in the distance.
The first image shows the ‘skydome’ as the large grayish marble. For some reason it was not showing up properly in the view of Maya, but in an IPR it looked very nice. In the second picture the warping of the disc is clearly seen. I manipulated the vertex points on the disc surface to raise portions of it. Then using the tools in the sculpting section I was able to smooth, stretch and file down parts of the disc to make it more natural. Finally the last picture shows where the camera will be situated for the movie. Instead of creating a boat, (which I tried, but ultimately did not like what I was coming up with), I opted for a simpler castle tower that I would apply a yellowish lambert on to make it look like sandstone.
Bib:
Cromar, William. “Environmentspossibleworld01.” NewMediaWiki [Licensed for Non-Commercial Use Only] / environmentsPossibleWorld01, http://newmediawiki.pbworks.com/w/page/127695491/environmentsPossibleWorld01.
