Tutorial 4 - Using Reactor

In this tutorial, we had to learn how to use Rigid Body Collections and Soft Body Collections in order to create an animation. The example we were given to start off with involved two blocks, with one block colliding on another. Reacto allows you to modify the gravity of the object and control how an object falls during an animation. There are three different modifiers which can create difference effects; mass, friction and elasticity. The mass of an object controls the amount of gravity that the object has. The friction controls the amount of kinetic energy which passes between the objects. The elasticity of an object gives the object a bounce appearance. After adjusting this options, the video below is my finished result for this part of the tutorial:

Next, we had to apply this knowledge in order to create a realistic bowling alley. The objects were imported into 3D Studio Max and a collection was created. All of the objects within the scene were added to this collection. The blue symbol indicates the collection however when the animation is rendered, this is not displayed onscreen.

The mass of the ball and the pins was adjusted. Then, using autokey, I moved the ball forwards over 5 frames. To add a more realistic effect to the movement of the ball, I slightly rotated it during this 5 frame period to give it spin.

After applying materials to the objects, creating the animation and then rendering it, the video below is my final result:

Tutorial 3 continued.. Yawning man

Here is a video showing what I achieved in the last tutorial:

Tutorial 3 - Head Morph

In this tutorial, we learnt how to animate a human head realistically.

The first step I took was to download the human head object which was already uploaded on my tutor's blog. The image below shows the head imported into 3D Studio Max.

I then created 3 copies of the head which I had to make adjustments to. These would then be implemented in the animation. In the image below, you can see that the first head has had it's mouth widened, the second head has his eyebrow raised and the third head is like the original.

I then decided to try and implement blinking into the animation. This involved converting the head to an editable poly and adjusting the edges and polygons to make the eye lid come down over the eye. This was quite difficult to do because the eye is curved so it meant that the x co-ordinates needed to be modified. The image below shows the head with the eyes shut.

The original model was then Turbo Smoothed and key frames were added to the timeline in order to create the animation. Using the morph tool, I selected the expressions that I wanted to animate and added them to the channel list. These could then be adjusted to different amounts during the animation.

Tutorial 2 - Bones

In this tutorial, we had to animate a human torso. In this post, I am going to describe and show how I did it.

First of all, I imported a sample torso into 3D Studio Max. After smoothing it to make it look more realistic and less angled, I used the Bone tool to create the arms and give them a realistic shape. The image below shows the bones that have just been created in all 4 view ports.

Next, I made the body transparent and added fins to the bones. This is so that the bones move with the skin and gives the skin its shape. The image below shows this. Then I had to use the IK limb solver to make the bones move in a more realistic way.

I had to create a bone which runs through the body which would connect the shoulders. This way, it will give the torso more realistic movement as well when the arms move. Again, bone fins were added and extended so that they were touching the skin. It does not matter if the bones extrude because when the shape is eventually rendered, they are not displayed on screen.

 

As you can see from the image below, when the envelope view is selected, and the arm is moved, it is still not moving in a natural way. Using envelope view, you can adjust how much the movement affects the other connecting parts of the arm.

The idea is to create the most red around the joint as possible and becoming more yellow and blue as it travels outwards. The two images below show the envelope view of the torso.

007 Logo Version 2

When I received my feedback, I was told that my 007 logo was not ideal to animate because it was made up of different shapes. Therefore, I felt it would be better to start this model from scratch.

The first step I took was looking at the logo I created before and finding ways of improving what I had already achieved. Upon this reflection, I decided the best method of action would be to create an outline for the logo in Illustrator, import it into a new 3dsm file and then extrude it.

Here is the outline I created using the pen tool:

This is how the outline looked after it had been imported into 3D Studio Max. It did not matter if the outline was horizontal or vertical because this could be easily modified afterwards. The next step was to add a modifier called Extrude on the logo in order to make it 3D. 

 

This is the result of using the Extrude modifier:  

 

As you can see,the images below show the same shot however on the second image, a smooth modifier has been used in order to smooth the polygon edges around the outside of the logo. This is important because it makes the logo look neater and will render better when it is animated. 

 

Then, I added the material to the logo and rotated the logo to 90 degrees. The image below displays the final result:  

I am satisfied with the results because the logo looks more professional and has demonstrated two more techniques which I had not used previously; Smooth and Extrude.

Refelection upon the first 6 week mark

Today, I received my mark for the first 6 weeks of modeling. I was slightly disappointed with my result because although I had missed a lot of tutorial time due to illness, I hoped that I managed to make up for the time I missed but evidently I hadn't. Therefore, the next 6 weeks are going to be crucial to improve my models and demonstrate new techniques when it comes to animating.

3D Animation - Tutorial 1 - Bouncing balls

Today is the first day of the tutorials where we learn to animate objects within 3D Studio Max. This will be very import for our trailer because the objects will have to be able to move around onscreen. The first technique which we have learnt is using the auto key and set key with the timeline.

The video above demonstrates my final mini clip of my first animation. Key frames were created and then the objects were moved during the keyframe. To make the balls bounce more realistically, I used the dope editor and the graph editor and made adjustments to the curve. Making it more into a bubble shape will make the ball travel slower when it bounces up and faster when it's coming back down again.The image below demonstrates the timeline with the keyframes on it.

My 3D models and how they were created

In this blog post, I will contain screen shots of how I created the 3 3D models which will feature in my 30 second James Bond trailer. In the target brief, it states that a minimum of 3 modelling techniques must be used in order to produce the finished results. This blog post will show how I used each of the techniques to make my models look more realistic.

The first model that was created was the 007 logo. In order to do this, I created a plane object and placed the 007 logo on the object as a material.

The UVW map was used to adjust the position of the logo. This was then used as a template so I could model the logo on top of it. One the model had been created, the plane was deleted and the logo was rotated 90 degrees so that it was standing vertical. After applying materials to the different sections, the lighting was edited in order to make the material stand out more when it was rendered.

The second model that was created was the martini glass. The first step I took was to create the basic glass shape which was to be created in a similar way to the Chess piece in Tutorial 2. After creating a template in Adobe Illustrator (see left), I imported it into 3D Studio Max and ensured that the pivot point was in the correct position.


 Then, using the lathe technique and adjusting the levels to ensure a smooth finish, a basic martini glass was created:

The material was then modified to make the glass look transparent and a lighting effect was added to make the glass look more shiny. Now that the glass had been completed, the components had to be created to add to the glass. These were made in separate 3ds files and then imported once they were finished.

Firstly, I created the lemon slice by making a cylinder, adjusting the width to make it thinner and then by adding a material on top. The material layer was then adjusted to make the lemon look more realistic (slightly waxy looking).

Next, I created the olive. This was made up of 3 different shapes which were all rotated and adjusted to the correct size. Again, an olive skin material was added to the shape to make it look more realistic and the smooth option was chosen to smooth the line between all the shapes together, making it look like one shape.

Finally, I created the cocktail stirrer simply using 2 shapes and joining them together.

These components were then imported and positioned using the move tool and the rotate tool to give the best effect. I decided to choose a background to edit the environment when I rendered my final design because it allows you to see the transparency of the glass better. In the final trailer, there will be a different background used which will create an even greater effect than what can be seen at the moment.

The third and final model that I designed and created was the roulette wheel. I decided to create the centerpiece of the roulette wheel first so, similarly to the martini glass, a template was drawn using Adobe Illustrator and was imported into 3D Studio Max. Using the pivot tool and the Lathe modifier, a 3D object was created and smoothed out to create a finer finish. A gold, metallic material was then added to make it look more realistic. 

 

After importing the centerpiece into a new 3ds file, I created the base for the roulette wheel using cylinder, positioned them and placed the centerpiece on top.  

After adding materials to all of the sections individually, I then started making adjustments to the cylinders to give the wheel it's bowl appearance. This was done by converting the object to a poly and then making adjustments to the vertices, similarly to the leaf tutorial. This is the effect that was created: 

The wooden table that the board was placed on looked too block-like so I used the squeeze modifier. This is the result:

  

Although this was closer to the effect I was aiming for, it still did not look quite as it should, I wanted to make the table top bigger and the base of the table smaller so I used the stretch modifier: 

Because I was finally happy with this model, I imported a roulette ball (which was created as a simple, white sphere with no sheen) and placed it on the outer edge of the board, to demonstrate how it will be animated in the next half of this semester. 

Storyboard for Trailer Design

This is the storyboard I have created for my 30 second James Bond trailer:

Scene 1(a, b, c, and d): Intro

The 007 logo will appear onscreen and rotate 3 times. Then, a gunshot will be heard, a gunshot hole will appear in the top right hand corner of the screen and the title music will start. While the music is playing, “blood” will begin dripping out of the gunshot hole and will proceed to flood the screen and cover it in red.

Scene 2: Roulette board/cast list

A roulette board will appear and cover half of the screen.  The board will rotate while there is a silver roulette ball rotating in the opposite direction to the board. The cast list will appear to the left of the roulette board, telling the viewer of the trailer who will be starring in Casino Royale. 

Scene 3: Playing cards transition

5 playing cards will be displayed onscreen, face down at first, covering the previous screen up. After a couple of seconds pause, they will rotate and then clear off the screen to reveal the next scene underneath.

Scene 4(a and b): The bar scene

The cards will clear to display the Casino Royale bar and a martini glass in the middle.  You will see the martini itself being poured into the glass. Then after a few seconds, you will see a slice of lemon being attached to the side of the glass, an olive being placed inside the glass along with a cocktail stirrer. The glass will then be moved across the bar and the Casino Royale title will be displayed onscreen.

Research Boards for what I have chosen to animate in 3D Studio Max

After a lot of consideration, looking at the time I have available to me and looking at the skills which I have picked up during my lectures and tutorials, I have decided that I am going to model and animate the following:

•          A martini glass with a cocktail skewer, a slice of lemon and an olive.
•          A roulette board with the roulette ball.
•          The 007 logo.

The reason why I have chosen these subjects is because I felt that, considering the time limit, I would be able to design and develop some decent models which will express skills such as Lathe, allow me to edit the poly using Gizmo and use many different materials to make the models look as life-like as possible.

I have created research boards which have come in useful when designing my models because it will give me a starting point for when I begin to make the models.

Here is the research board for the martini glass:

In 007, James Bond’s common catchphrase is “shaken not stirred”. I felt that I could incorporate this into my design because in every bond film, he always likes a martini.

Here is the research board for the roulette board: 

One of the key features in Casino Royale is the scene in the casino with the roulette board and chips. I felt that it would be more beneficial to model and animate the roulette board with the ball spinning in the opposite direction because it would allow me to demonstrate more of my skills. Not only will I have to use different textures, I would need to adjust the light settings to set an atmosphere to the scene and I would also need to use particular techniques in order to achieve the correct shape of the roulette board.

Here is the research board for the 007 logo: 

The 007 logo is the central point of all of the films; therefore I felt I could demonstrate that by emphasising it in my 30 second trailer and animating it during the opening scenes. 

Camera Tutorial

This is the tutorial which I missed last week due to illness.

Cameras are very important when it comes to rendering a scene. This is because you can manipulate them to create an effect on the person viewing the film/trailer/clip. If you want to have a more personal view of the scene, cameras are usually focused on the characters. However if you want a more general view of the scene, cameras are usually positioned further away so that all of the components are captured onscreen. In this tutorial, I just experimented with the different types of camera lens and pointed the cameras at different degrees and in different places.

Lighting Tutorial

This was one of the tutorials which I missed when I was ill overt he past couple of weeks.

Lighting is very important when it comes to creating a scene because it can set an atmosphere and can be manipulated to form different effects which have an impact on how an object is portrayed. In this tutorial, I decided to create an underwater scene involving bubbles. I felt this would be appropriate because I would also learn how to alter transparency which would come in very handy when I create my martini class.

First of all, I created spheres of different sizes and at different heights to one another:

Then, I modified the material using the material editor, similarly to what I have done before in previous tutorials with the leaf and the wood example:

After adjusting the options (highlighted with the red circles which control the amount of light that the object will emit, how much light will be reflected from the object and how much light will pass through the object which is the transparency) I had the following result:

I then adjusted the lighting to the scene and I selected Target Light because it would let me have more control over where the light will be coming from. After adjusting shadow settings as well, I changed the environment background to something more suitable and rendered my design.

This is the lighting tab:

This is the final result: