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Dynamics Assessment - UFO Tracker Beam

Refined Solution.

For the assignment, I decided to refine playblast number 1, while trying to incorporate a simpler version of playblast number 2 to achieve an intriguing result. 

Why I have made the decisions I have for this effect. (How do these relate to the brief - Do you have any ideas for multiple options)

I decided to use 3 particle systems within my scene. I decided to use a small number of systems to reduce the complexity of the tractor beam, as I did not want it to be too over complicated - The client and I wanted something simple yet effective that engages the audience. 

The core element (the main cone shaped filled with particles), is the basis for the incorporation of my particle systems. I feel like my element needed this overall area filled with little particles to create a sense of continuity and flow within my tractor beam that tied all the systems together. I therefore looked up references of a number of different looks that I could use within this area (snow, mist, fog - see reference folder).

With the inclusion of stronger beams circulating around in this area, I feel brings a sense of movement into the element - which is exactly what I was trying to achieve. The client said he wanted our subjects to be within a 'cone' or 'volume'. I attempted to do this, keeping in mind I wanted to create something emitting energy in a circular form. I feel with this circulating element, the energy is directed towards the middle of the system (right under the UFO), and the sense of motion is in all the beams of light - this definitely fit in with my reference picture 'sunRays_multipleRays'. I also thought this element solidified a sense of 'variance in thickness' within main beam which is what the client was after.

For the final system, I created a ring that descended down from the main source of the UFO to the ground. I felt like this further enhanced the ideals of movement and constant motion within the element - which connected the UFO with the environment surrounding alike the images shown in Chris' reference files. I used the toon outline method to achieve this look and felt like it worked out quite well and tied in nicely with the other two systems. I feel like even though it does convey this sense of motion, it's in a fashion that's nonthreatening and this is due to the consistent blue and green colour schemes and spread, which becomes less and less noticeable until it disappears in with the core base system.

Troubleshooting.

- Mental Ray was not downloading / loading into Maya in 2015 at my house. I tried re downloading the whole program, as well as just downloading mental ray and it just wasn't a fan of doing what it was told. I ended up having to convert back to Maya 2014 to complete the final refine of my assignment and even then had problems - where it still didn't load. I ended up having to render in Maya software and Maya hardware.

- As described in my prototype 1 analysis post, I had issues with making the particles emit from the curves - the colours were changing and then they were becoming transparent when they weren't supposed to be. I fixed this by changing from using dynamics to nDynamics - even thought I thought it didn't need to be. It worked perfectly using nDynamics and I didn't have any issues with changing the shading, particle size or particle render type. 

- When I was creating the 'core base cone' system for my element, I found that I wanted the particles to be jagged and randomized throughout the area. Because I created this system using the 'fill object' command rather than just emitting from the object or creating a separate emitter, I found it quite difficult to get them to start in a 'non-uniform' pattern. They would float around and become more random as the frames went on using a turbulence field, but I could never get them to start how I wanted them to. I fixed this by using the 'Initial state' and 'Start from current' commands once I'd gotten to a point in the timeline where I was happy to start. This worked perfectly and I was really happy with the result.

Areas I want to improve.