Final Project

For my final project, I would like to continue to make a scene using my midterm model and also making a model resembling this car also. 

To start my final project, I began modeling the front half of the dunebuggy. I began working on the front fenders, and with my mistake and not saving, maya crashed and I lost my work. 

I am not nearly as happy with it as I would hope, but for now it will do. Once I get more of the body done I can go back in and change it more.

I decided to go back in and change it again, maya has been crashing often on my computer and I am unsure why. After getting a basic nose shape I moved on, I had some trouble making the fenders. I tried to use a bunch of different shapes to get a curve, I ended up using a square and moving the vertexes and edges till I got a shape I liked. I also mirrored the shape so they were indented on both sides. I then added the base pan of the car, and added a cylinder and stretched and pulled it to fit the bottom shape.

Back fenders, seats, dashboard and back "bucket", steering wheel, emergency brake and head and tail lights added

I also started working on the environment that I would like the two cars to be placed. I was trying to add a background image just so the background isn't bland. It was difficult to find an image that was a high quality image that fit with the colors that I already had on my plane. I am going to continue to add little things to the plane, maybe some bushes or more rocks.

I added the first dunebuggy to the landscape I made, to see how it would look all together, I think it is coming along nicely. I also added a plane in the background so it does not look like the car is driving into darkness. I started working on the motion path the car will follow but I am having a difficult time moving the model around, the car like to distort and stretch into crazy shapes. I think I will try to export it and import it that way instead of just importing the file. I also would like to add dust particles to the back tires of the buggy.

I have always had a difficult time figuring out how to render out a test frame, and I wasn't sure why. After fiddling around for a little while, I found where I was messing up and was able to render this environment out.

Rendering out the dunebuggy with the environment, I was surprised that the buggy was pink, even though the color picked and shown in the working window shows green. I need to work on the motion path so that the buggy does not go into the ground, and instead follows the bumpy sand/dirt ground I made.

I redid the material colors, and I am pretty happy with the way it turned out!

I added in the second dunebuggy with it's motion path, I had them accidentally running into each other. I moved them around so they are close to one another when moving but never hitting. I need to adjust the colors on the wheels and small details but overall I am happy with it!

Self Evaluation

I think overall, given the rough semester my dunebuggy and desert scene turn out pretty well. There were things that I was having difficultly with earlier in the semester that I was able to figure out on my own, such as attaching textures and colors to the model itself and how to render out an image or scene. I enjoy the process of modeling the most out of everything computer animation consists of.  I feel like it is something that comes the easiest to me and for some reason the way I build that models make sense. It might be due to the fact I am modeling animations off of things that I have had in my life for the past ten years, but either way I really enjoyed doing it. I also really enjoyed using a granite texture on the body of the dunebuggies to replicate the multi colored flake the car is actually painted with. I also had trouble with the amount of light that the sand was producing, for some reason it was blowing out the render, so I ended up changing the color slightly to account for that.

I wish I was able to change a few things, I wrote about the addition of particles to the animation but I am still having a difficult time figuring out how to do it. I also wish I was able to animate the cars a little more then just following a simple motion path. I tried to adjust the car to move up and down on the motion path without changing it, but as I added keyframes it would not follow the path anymore. It is something that I will need to sit and spend time perfecting.

Animation has been something that I have been interested in for a while. Specifically of how it is made, being a Disney fanatic and I have always been curious as to how they do what they do. Even though I have only learned the basics of animation, I feel that this class will allow me further discover how animation works and hopefully one day be involved with a production in someway.

Class 12, Focusing on Final Project

For the final project I would still like to focus on what I had worked on for the midterm. Using the dunebuggy model from before, with textures. 

I will have it be driving through an environment, possibly a desert passing cactuses and rocks.

I would like to try and create another model if possible before the end of the semester, modeling seems to be my favorite part of creating an animation. I sometimes have difficultly adding the textures and adding cameras confuses me a little more then it should.

Possibly a model referencing this dunebuggy!

Class 11

For this weeks class, I decided to try and tackle the flour sack, giving it a jump cycle and so sort of personality. I found it a little more entertaining to move around compared to the Andy Rig. It is such a basic and bland object that it leaves you to create anything you would like.

While thinking about what I would like the sack to do, it reminded me of the mops in Disney's Fantasia, how without any facial expression you can see their intent and what exactly they want.

I would love to make a full animation using the flour sack and create a character out of it.

Class 10, Andy Rig

Using the Andy Rig was easier than expected, I thought it was going to be difficult to understand how to move the model itself. But as soon as I start it became easier and easier.

I started off by angling the head down and trying to change the posture of the model itself. Eventually I allowed it to stand up straight because it looked best that way. I tried to get it to do a walking animation using key frames. I rotated the foot and moved the arms back and forth to a more human quality.

I was unsure if I should be focusing on one individual part of the model and key-framing just the movement of one and then going back in later to the other limbs.

Class 9, online, 3/30

Using a YouTube tutorial, Basic Motion Path, I created a CV curve and a sphere. I used the  snap to curve tool to attach the sphere to the curve, then went into the animation tab and added motion path to both. The sphere begins moving on frame one and ends on frame 120.

Using the same tutorial as earlier, I attached my dunebuggy model to a CV curve. Begins to move on frame 1 and ends in the same spot on 120, making a continuous loop. 

Adding a camera and a CV curve path I had the camera flow a general shape of a path that I gave the model. I used a YouTube tutorial, Camera animation, to help me work somethings that I could not find on my own. I found a few things difficult, I would set the camera to the angle I wanted and would look through the camera perspective and it would look good, but when I played back the animation it would zoom in and would go faster the the model itself. So I still need to play around with the frame rate of the camera, maybe adding keyframes?

Class 8, online 3/23

Using my model from the midterm, I began adding textures to the body of the dunebuggy.

I also added two lights above the model, I am having difficult time figuring out how to properly render the model out. It currently renders showing no light in the plane, so I plan on watching a few YouTube tutorials in order to do it correctly. Also to figure out which textures I should be using where on each part of the car.

Midterm

   

I chose to make a model based off of a Meyers Manx Dune Buggy. Over the past six years my family has traveled the United States driving a Manx Dune Buggy, leading to me having traveled to 45 states. It is a complicated model that I felt would be a challenge, but I would also be able to add slight differences to the model that are not in real life.r

Overall, I feel that my model is successful for being new to the program, or any computer based media. I enjoy using polygons much more than Nurbs, and found polygons easier to manipulate into shaped that I needed. I think it would be fun to continue with this idea of the Dune Buggy and possibly animate it driving through the desert. I really enjoyed making the small details on the car, like the seats, items on the dashboard, headlights and little badge on the front nose of the car. I made the buggy come more to life than just having the basic body shape. Having the item being so familiar I think helped me in the overall process of creating it. I was able to use my knowledge and change things without having to constantly revisit my reference images. I also really enjoy the process of modeling as a whole, I do not fully understand how to render and add textures and colors yet. But I would love to continue to make models, and maybe even more complex ones.

As far as what I would change about the model, I think I would change the shape of the roll bar, and how I went about making the back of the car, body shape and engine. I was unsure of how I could make a rounded shape that would resemble the roll bar that are placed on these small kit cars. I used polygons cubes and stretched and squished them until I got the desired shape and added a bevel so it was not so boxy. While making the body I started with the nose and floor board as one piece and pushed and pulled vertexes to get the shape. I then added a rectangle to the side and again pulled vertexes till getting the shape of the fenders that somewhat resembles the Manx. I mirrored the shape and placed it on the opposite side of the body. I think there might be an easier way to do this, but I am unsure of how I would go about doing it. The back of the car might be the most difficult thing that I had to make. It is not accurate to the actual car, and I am not exactly happy with how it came out. I think I needed to add more sections within the rectangle before stretching it to be able to actually pull the vertexes where I want them to be. And finally the engine, again I did not know how to go about making something bend and be rounded, like the exhaust pipe. I added some shapes just to give the general appearance of an engine, which I think I could go into more details eventually.