ANIM - 1005

[benherbert-anim1005]

Reflective Summary

For my assignment, I was tasked with creating at least two models in Maya for a theme of my choice, based on a selection. After choosing the “Fairy Tale” theme, my mind was instantly drawn to an enchanted forest that would not look out of place in classic games like Dragon Quest, Earthbound, Pokemon or World of Warcraft. From this mental image, I thought the best models to create would be a large toadstool mushroom and a butterfly - things you would usually see in a forest but not quite as colourful or cartoonish. I chose these models because I felt like they were complex enough to show off my skills whilst at the same time, simple enough to do to a high enough quality within the time frame. Having had a lot of experience with Maya before, I can more accurately gauge the scope of a model and how much time and effort it would take. In hindsight, perhaps it would’ve been better to increase the complexity of my models given that I have prior experience.

Before arriving at the ideas of a mushroom and a butterfly, I had drawn a couple more sketches from a few angles to get an idea of how difficult it would be to model. At this point I should definitely have slowed down and drawn more rough sketches to more quickly come up with interesting ideas before launching straight into the reference images, which themselves were slightly rushed and low quality, I didn’t even use the reference for the butterfly I drew. If I’d have done more sketches and dedicated more time to reference images, I would have had a much easier time modelling, and not had to rely on already existing images.

The actual modelling process itself was pretty straightforward for me and was the easiest part of the whole process. I didn’t learn too many new techniques during this process but I also don’t think I did anything disastrously wrong. I may have a few tris on my models but I did try my best to minimise the amount. I prioritised tris over non-planar faces which is a good habit to have, I believe.

I’d always had an issue with texturing before but I think I’m starting to understand it and get to grips with it a lot more - I’m starting to texture objects and edit UVs a lot faster and a lot more accurately now. My only real issue with texturing these models was the resolution of the textures on the mushroom, and I will remember to use a higher resolution image next time. Other than that, my understanding of texturing and UV editing has greatly improved, even if it’s still imperfect.

In conclusion, despite my still bad relationship with the software, I have learned a lot from this assignment, and has helped refresh my memory from my prior experience a few years ago. Whilst I still don’t completely enjoy using Maya, I do agree that my skills have greatly improved and I have learned a lot, leading for a (slightly) more satisfying experience and higher quality models.

[benherbert-anim1005]

Week 9

My models are nearly done - my mushroom is complete and textured and most of the hard work for my butterfly is done.

I have duplicated and mirrored the existing wing, combined the two wings into one object and merged the joining vertices together - now I have a complete and perfectly symmetrical model to texture.

However, given the messy business with fixing the non-planar faces earlier, the UVs on my model are now very messy and not easy to work with whatsoever. There is a simple fix for this - create some new UVs. Given that my butterfly is mostly flat, I’m pretty safe creating Planar UVs. After doing this, I have an easy-to-work-with butterfly-shape UV. I don’t really need to change anything about the UVs as I want the butterfly to look the same on the top as it does from the bottom, so I can simply paste the butterfly I used as a reference earlier as a texture, tweak a few things to make it fit perfectly, and my butterfly model is done!

[benherbert-anim1005]

Week 8

This week I decided to start work on my butterfly model. I thought the drawing I did of the butterfly wasn’t quite right somehow, so I opted to google some images for the butterfly as a reference image. Ordinarily in games, things like butterflies tend to be incredibly low quality (maybe only a couple of polygons) as they are so small and companies try and minimize complexity so as to preserve memory. However, for the purposes of this task, I’ve decided to do a model of much higher quality.

Using the same method as with the mushroom model, I made a primitive cube, added subdivisions, and moved the sub-objects to fit the butterfly image. This time around, though, I’ll only be modeling one wing. This is because I can simply duplicate and flip the model so as to make the second wing.

After transforming the sub-objects to fit the image of the butterfly wing, I joined the edges on the outside together to make the wing look slightly more natural. This led to some problems, however, making a lot of non-planar faces. To fix this, I highlighted the problem faces and cut them to clean them up. This created a lot of tris but this is much cleaner than the alternative.

[benherbert-anim1005]

Week 7 - UV Mapping

After finishing up the topology of the model, I’ve decided to make a start on texturing my model. I have had past experience with texturing so I decided to use the method I learned back in college.

First, I found a few free-use textures on the internet just from some google searches. Then I assigned a new Lambert material and had a look at the UVs. I separated the UV shells into the three different textures I wanted to use (The mushroom cap, the underside of the cap, and the stalk) and tidied them up a little. I then exported the UVs as an image and loaded it in Photoshop so I could lay out the textures on top. This way, when I save the image, I can use it as the File texture on the Lambert material. I like this way of texturing because once the file is uploaded you can see straight away if the texture looks how it should, and sure enough, it looked just as I’d hoped, give or take some resolution issues.

[benherbert-anim1005]

Week 5 - Modelling Workshop

Today I started to work on my actual toadstool model.

I began by putting my reference drawings on their respective planes so I know exactly where to move my sub-objects. The drawings aren’t perfect, but they provide a good enough reference to create an accurate looking model. Otherwise, it would be difficult to gauge where to move my sub-objects.

I decided to use two different polygon primitives to start with - a cylinder and a sphere. Despite how these shapes include tris instead of being made entirely of quads, I feel like this is forgivable considering this method takes a lot less work and looks much nicer. There won’t be any non-planar faces and the model is to be used as an environment object anyway.

[benherbert-anim1005]

I drew a couple of ideas for the models I’ll be making for this assignment. I drew a few of them from a couple of angles so I can use these as reference images when it comes to modelling. The first is the toadstool I had decided on (seen from both the side and the top) and will use these drawings as reference. The second is a tree stump with some fungus growing out of the side (seen also from both the top and the side). This was an idea from one of my peers which I rather liked but upon drawing it the model seemed rather dull as well as particularly difficult to model given the randomness of how tree roots grow. The third is a single drawing of a 13-hour clock made out of a tree stump. I noticed this from “Laverre City” from Pokemon X and Y and found it had a certain whimsical charm to it. I would also have the ability to animate the clock hands, but once again I decided against this for the same reason as the tree stump. The final drawing is one idea of a butterfly. I probably won’t use this drawing as a reference simply because I don’t like the shape but I will be making a butterfly for my second model.

[benherbert-anim1005]

Week 4 - Modelling Workshop

I’ve decided on the two models I wish to complete for this assignment.

The first is the toadstool I described last week. I chose this because I thought it won’t be super complex but the shape is still unusual and relatively difficult to model so it will still push my skills.

The second is going to be a little butterfly. The idea here is not to focus too much on the actual modelling aspect and focus more on animating it. The shape will only be very simple. I have animated in Maya before but it was a long time ago so I will need to watch some tutorials to refresh my memory. I would also love to get a glow effect and/or some particles to give it a magical feel but these are things I’ve never done before so will have to look into researching how to do them properly.

Upon asking my peers what they thought of my idea and sketches, they were generally pretty positive. They thought my ideas were well thought out and were excited to see what I produce. Their only concerns were that my models might be a bit basic.

[benherbert-anim1005]

Week 3 - Research and Workshop

I’ve decided that the theme for my final submission is “Fairy Tale”. I feel like this theme is broad enough to explore the fantasy genre which I very much enjoy.

Upon hearing the phrase “Fairy Tale”, I imagined a typical enchanted forest that one would be likely to see in a western fantasy setting, with bright colours, pixies, butterflies and big toadstools. I decided to start my research based on this mental image.

Here’s an example of something I was thinking of - an artist’s interpretation of “Laverre City” from Pokemon X and Y. The toadstools in this image are the kind of object I’d like to model. It’s simple enough to not take too long but still requires some degree of skill.

Another example of the enchanted forest I was thinking of - World of Warcraft’s “Eversong Woods”. This is a screenshot directly from the game. The bright colours and the strange shapes of the trees give a whimsical and magical feel to the area which is what I want to encapsulate.

[benherbert-anim1005]

Week 2 - Image Planes and Getting Started

In today’s workshop we were tasked with making a model for the object we chose last session using image planes, which are basically outlines for the object from different angles.

Here are the images I intend to use as reference for the model. They aren’t spectacular but they’re still useful for modelling.

After importing these images into Maya, I can use them as a template and move the sub-objects around to more-or-less fit the shape I’ve drawn.

And with that, my fork is complete!

[benherbert-anim1005]

Week 1 - Introduction

During my time on this module, I hope to have a clearer and better understanding of the basics of Maya. I already have a lot of experience with Maya during my time at college, so I have a very good head start in that sense, however my relationship with the program is not the best so I hope I can get to grips with some of the things I don’t understand so well. Given how I’ve felt about Maya in the past, I am honestly not looking forward to 3D modelling, but with a bit of luck, that will improve over time.

I’ve chosen to draw a fork for this task because I feel like it’s simple enough to ease me back into modelling but not so difficult that it would take forever to complete.