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.
