#unit68

Unit 68 consisted of researching, planning and the production of my 3D environment. 

I started off my project by researching into how 3D modelling is used within the industry. For example it's particular uses in architecture and product design and it's obvious use in TV & Film. I explained how 3D modelling is used to show a concept in an accurate representation. Next I began to plan my 3D environment. I found some source images that interested me and began to visualise how i could incorporate these images into a 3D environment. Once I had my concept visualised I planned how I would work and drew up a schedule to work by. The purpose of planning was too make sure I was organised before rushing into the production. After watching endless tutorials on pretty much everything maya, I began production. The purpose of production was to create a 3D environment from my own design. 

I believe my research, whilst being adequate, was not close enough to a professional standard. I could have included more examples and images to convey what I was writing better. I think I was too excited by the prospect of the production too be enthusiastic about research, something which next time I will put more effort in to. 

My planning was perhaps a little off the mark. In my schedule I planned to be completed by the first week of December, something which unfortunately didn't happen. I didn't account for the amount of tutorials I would need to watch and the amount of new ideas I had whilst modelling. So next time I will try to create a more realistic schedule to work by. I believe my planning was still good enough to keep me organised and i often worked off the planning when i was modelling. 

The production was my favourite part of the project and one that I really enjoyed. I began my modelling a pillar. This would be the only pillar I would need to create, as it was possible to just duplicate that one pillar into the many I needed. Next I created an arch to connect two pillars. Once again, this would be the only arch I would need to create, because of it's repetitiveness throughout my environment. Techniques such as this was good because it saved me masses of time in my modelling. At various times I struggled with my modelling because it was messy and I neglected the principles of keeping something that should be simple, simple. This would come back to haunt me in a few weeks time when it came to texturing. After creating my archways, I began to create my main window. It took me a long while to create the perfect window shape, but in the end I got my desired effect, a large towering window that would be the visual focus in my scene. The best bit of my environment is the ground floor. It took me a few weeks to really get the desired look of my floor, which is not only textured but displacement mapped. This gave me the ability to create a reflective surface that would act as standing water in-between the brick surface. Using this technique was difficult and if I am to be honest, I'm not entirely sure how I achieved it. But by experimenting I got an effect that really adds to my environment, and for that I am pleased I did try something new. I initially used a 'nCloth', but due too my hand in date gradually drawing nearer and not being able to get it looking perfect, I decided to go without it. Using the 'nCloth' would have been a great addition, but I had to make a creative decision and I believe I made the right one. I created other models such as a roof and side-aisle, both I decided were cluttering the scene. Next I moved onto texturing, which became difficult when doing my pillars and arches. Using the 'detach components' tool, I split my grouped objects apart. The problem I had with my arches was that where i needed to spilt my objects, there was no edge. So using the 'spilt polygon tool' I manually split up my arches. My texturing went well and I was pleased with the textures I managed to find after some trial and error. A particle volume shader was my next addition. I wanted to create light rays beaming in through the windows from my 'physical sun & sky', and in the end I got an effect that was half way to my desired look. I wanted bright 'god rays' beaming beautiful yellow sunlight down onto my environment, but I got more of a hazy look. But, due too time constraints I decided that what I had was good enough and decided to stick with it. After adding this, I began adding my vegetation using paint effects, and lots of it. This crashed my computer various times causing loss of work. Luckily an earlier save file had most of my objects, just not the textures. I decided that too many trees was in no way efficient and decided on just the one tree, placed in the middle of my environment which broke up the monotony of pillars and arches. I also re-linked my textures. I learnt from this mishap that I need to save my work more regularly and have backup saves elsewhere. I then began adding vines and grass to add realism to my environment. My last experiment was 'Depth of Field'. I used a polygon plane and transformed it into a focus plane, linking this to my cameras depth of field parameter. This unfortunately greatly increased my render times. So, unfortunately I had to go without it. Due to my environment taking a long time to render, I had to go with still shots of my environment in 720p to meet the hand in. I will next time allow myself sufficient time for rendering where I can fully animate a camera through my environment in 1080p. Something that i wish i could have done for this unit. 

Evaluation

My task for this unit 68  was to design and a 3d environment, with in 12 week. Within these 12 weeks I encounter  different issues , and I had to resolved them using new sources other than my knowledge. Saying this I did find me using other sources  which expanded  my knowledge which will  help me with my other tasks in the future.

my use of time could of been better on my project, I was more concerned  about my skill to able to do some of the modelling, this slow me down to proceed with my  3D environment. 

my lack of consideration of what needed to be done first within the project was not taken accounted for whilst in  the processes. the organization of my textures was poor it was a  massive issue which also slow it down.How ever. me losing textures was quickly replaced and my knowledge of UV mapping and texturing expanded, which will also help me with my project within the future.

I think my biggest achievement  in the project was the process of rendering utilizing the setting for best output, This was because of my research skill. I discovered how to use my setting effectively and efficiently.whilst being in the research stage of this unit.

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This is my evaluation/brief summary of the project overall.

The purpose of each task was to know what we will be doing in creating a 3D environment and how we will complete it in the time we have so we can make the most of it, it will also help me understand what I have completed and what I can now move on to.

For task 1 I had to research the process of creating a 3D environment for example what steps I had to follow in order to create a 3D environment efficiently and with ease it helped me understand what I had to actually do in order to achieve what I have now and if I didn't research on how to create a environment within maya I wouldn't know what to do and probably wouldn't have completed the project.

For task 2 I created a proposal and creating one before any project is always a good idea and you will thank yourself every time you look at it before you do anything and you will also know what to do on certain weeks and if you stick to it you will almost always complete the project on time, it may not be great due to being rushed but you will at least have something to show for the weeks you had to create the environment. I created a table of what I would do each week and also my other ideas if the main idea doesn't work out or I just couldn't achieve what I visualized, and then lastly the equipment I would need to create the environment.

Task 3 is production this is where I started to create the 3D environment it I had estimated it to be complete between the third and tenth week I first created the walls and floor to get a basic shape of the hallway and the frames for the doors to each room after I started creating objects outside of the environment for example I created a door and a door frame and duplicated it I also created a bed, wheelchair and windows. I wanted to go for a creepy dark vibe in the hallway so I turned physical sun and sky off and used artificial dim light i then made it so a light will flicker in the hallway giving it the old and worn feel, after the lighting was finished and I was happy I started to texture and that took some time to get them all together and go well with each other but finally I feel like I cant improve on it anymore, I then created three cameras and animated them so that they pan across the hallway in different directions 180 frames for each camera. The modeling was complete the texturing was complete and the lighting was also complete so I went a head and started to render.

What worked well? I feel like the lighting was really well done and I actually (I hate to say it) didn't mean to make it look like what it is now on purpose I was messing around lights and it sort of came together and i'm pretty proud of myself, the bad thing about my 3D environment is that I kind of set myself to do a lot of modeling but realized I could not complete it with the time I had what I mean is that I was going to do more than a hall way I was going to make a living area where all the inmates gather and play board games; cards etc and a longer hall way with a big bay window but I had to scrap the idea.

What did I learn? I improved on my modeling skills dramatically for example I may have spent a long time on the wheelchair but the end result I am very happy with, I have improved on using lights within maya and how they react to walls and objects and what intensity they should be in certain areas, I have also got better at animating cameras for example the minecraft animation I made a while back the camera shot upwards so we had to cute a bit of the end basically deleting rendering time so now I will always check to make sure the cameras are absolutely perfect and no mistakes.

I feel like I planned my project well although I had to compromise modeling areas to save time I completed the hallway and that was my main priority to begin with so I am very happy with what I have created and the way it looks, everything fell into place and It was completed on time.

Living area that was scraped.

bay window that was scraped.

Task 1 was to do project research. The purpose of this task was to research other 3D environments and gain an understand of how they're made, how to plan how to create one and how to texture one. Having this understanding of a 3D environment would help us get ideas and help overall to create the environment. This went well, coming into the project I can't say I knew much about creating a 3D environment other than the basics of Maya.

Task 2 was too gather idea/ write up a proposal. The purpose of this task was to write a proposal which is pretty standard. The next part was to get ideas for what we were going to create on this project, this could be done by either having an idea already or you could look at images of other 3D environments for inspiration. This task also went fairly well, whilst doing the research I had come across some images which helped me develop an idea I already had, had for a while.

Task 3 was production. Pretty much explains itself but the purpose of this task was to produce the 3D environment. This task had some ups and downs as it was the longest part of the project. I'll start off with the things that i personally think went well first. Modelling the houses, I think the houses I modelled were actually quite good and I waas quite proud of them, especially the 2nd house I made which if you watch the render you'll probably see as the 'medium' house. Modelling fo the bridges, this is something I also think I did a good job on and another model I am also proud of. The last thing I think went quite well and stands out from the rest was the fog/mist I created, although I followed a tutorial Mike had created I came across no real problems apart from having to play around with the settings of the fog which I wouldn't really describe as being a problem. Now I will list the things I feel went wrong with this task. First off te texturing, I am really not proud of some of the textures in my environment, I feel they don't do the models I was proud of justice, If I was to do this project again or when I do end up texturing again I will definitely plan more time for texturing so I can get everything just right and make it looks more than just 'OK'. Another thing that went wrong for me was getting everything in proportion, for example the bridge was way o big for someone to walk over if you compared it too the doors of the houses which was give you a fairly good estimate at the size of the people, If I was to create and environment like this again I would plan out how big everything is going to be so that I could get all the proportions just right.

Task 4 was rendering the project. The purpose of this task was to take the project to it's final stage by beginning and completing the rendering process. I only came across 2 problems while TRYING to render my project, the first being that the programme kept crashing forcing someone to keep restarting the render and secondly I had a texture issue which meant I had to jump on too another mac I was working on a find the file, wasn't a big deal but was unnecessary. After speaking with Mike he thinks that the programme crashing was nothing that I did wrong but something to do with  the network? So when I render again there is not much I can do.

As this project comes to an end I think it's fair to say I've learned a lot. One of the main things I've learned is too take your time when texturing and do not just rush it as a bad texture can almost ruin a good model. I've also learned how to create mist/fog in Maya, which I'm sure will come in handy in the end.

I think I planned my time quite well, I was actually ahead of schedule at one point, you could view that as a good or bad thing I guess. The only thing I'd change about my plan is how long I gave myself to texture my project, as I've previously said I feel like I should have spent at least 1 or 2 more weeks on the rendering, just spending time making sure every texture was perfect. 

I decided to create a low resolution texture, rendering in 640x480 and it has already surprised me and looks really good.

To render this I first set up a sun and sky by going into window, then render settings and in here this panel I had to make sure it was rendering in mental ray and that I had set the resolution to 640x480.

I then clicked on create physical sun and sky of which puts three arrows in the centre on the grid, here you then rotate it to what angle you want the sunlight to come from.