CT4APP-TEACHING BLOCK 1NICOLA DE NOBREGA

CHAIR MODELOur very first task in Maya was to model a chair. Below are different angles of the chair. It was a nice simple introduction to the modelling in maya. We very lightly touched on ‘textures’ although on this model I’d simply changed the colour of the lambert on each face within maya. Although it was very, very basic modelling I did enjoy it.

BOUNCING BOXES & CO.After the chair we moved away from modelling completely to something I enjoyed a lot less: animating. While these very basic exercises were good for learning (obviously) the basics I found them incredibly frustrating.

While I understand all the basic principles of a bounce when it comes to 2D animation I couldn’t translate it to 3D. Despite being incredibly basic animations (which I do think I eventually got the hang of after a few weeks) they were pretty poor and frustrating things to make.

I also would if time allowed it redo the playblasts.

OVERLAPPING ACTION & CHAINS

After covering the very basics of animating the bouncing boxes we moved into animating using different methods. Again, I understand generally how it should look like and the principles behind it but these were more difficult and frustrating.

Again, I eventually understood and managed to complete the exercises. I found it all very confusing and difficult to remember.

TAILED ANIMATIONThe first task was to come up with an idea for what obstacle the squirrel will need to face. After some brainstorming I eventually settled on a fairly simple idea for him to simply be chasing an acorn that falls down a hill. In the end, in his excitement the squirrel box sees a rock but is running to fast to stop itself.

TAILED ANIMATIONWhile I am very happy with my storyboard and I got the basic idea of it in the animation — I’m not happy with the end animation. I couldn’t translate what I wanted to 3D.

TAILED ANIMATIONWith the squirrel and tail model already made there wasn’t much design or models for me to design or make as I wanted a simple tree on a hill set up. I had a very clear idea in mind of the sort of textures I wanted so there wasn’t too much exploration with it other than some trial and error on the same painting till I thought it looked good.

After finishing all of the animation of the piece I then began on the textures. I wanted a cartoony and slighted painted textures for the squirrel but still wanted to keep it relatively simple as it was only a short piece. To the right is the texture for the squirrels face. Other than the planning and designing this was probably the other enjoyable part of the project.

TAILED ANIMATION

TAILED ANIMATIONRather than modelling and figuring out the lighting to get the effect I wanted when the

camera looked up to the falling acorn I used a flat poly and texture to get the effect I wanted. I used transparency to make the gaps between the leaves and painted in the light around the

edges of the leaves. Below is a rendered frame of how the shot would’ve look if I managed to render it out.

I attempted to render the squirrel but after there was a bit of a technical problem - it stopped part way and I didn’t have the time to complete it. Below is one of the rendered frames. Although I had also only realised afterwards that I’d changed the settings for the atmospheric light and must’ve not changed it back as the image came out too dark anyway.

TAILED ANIMATION

TAILED ANIMATIONI spent a fair amount of time playing around with lighting. While the rendered film would’ve been too dark I think the playlist image was too saturated and the shadows don’t look good.