Final Animation

Below is my final animation with all of the scenes linked together with a suitable background audio track.

Evaluation

Overall for my first 3D animation i think i have done quite well and i have learned a lot in a short space of time. Even though i have learned quite a lot of different technqiues for different scenarios there is still lots to explore in 3D studio max. The material editor has no bounds to its limitations and i would have liked to have more time using the editor to find the exact materials to fit my trailer. I have also learned that a reasonable car body can be created using a single box, other shapes are needed for the various features such as headlights but essentially the body is just one shape. one thing that i probably would have done differently is that i would have tried to name all of the objects i created, such as headlight, rearlight, etc. Selecting an individual shape proved difficult as they were named cylinder1, cylinder2, etc. i really enjoyed using the 3D software and hope to put what i have learned to good use.

Recommendations

Now that all of the files are complete i have had plenty of time to think about what i would have done differently and what things i would add or alter to make the trailer look better.

• The first is i would use the lighting and shadow effects more in my car scenes, giving the cars shadows as they move. This would add a lot more realism but bump up the render time considerably.
• Secondly i would spend more time on the biped feature and make the person move properly. I would also stick to my orginal plan and have another person running off in the distance in my oddjob scene.
• I would also add a little more detail to my laser scene, for example adding a door so that it feels more like a room opposed to a box. I would also like to add a window with curtains so that i could use the reactor tool.
• Sound effects would also give a good impression to the trailer. if more time was given i would add a car screeching sound effect in my car scene. A sound effect for when oddjob throws his hat would also be good and a laser sound for the laser scene.
• I would also like to use a few more materials and use the material editor more to try and find the exact effects i am looking for. There are so many things to edit in the material editor and i would have liked to experimented a little more.
• Finally i would probably scrap my oddjob scene and start again from scratch, re-modelling the person, the hat and then re-animating the scene. Modelling a person started out simple but i would liked to have gone in a lot more detail, such as fingers, proper face structure etc.

SWOT Analysis

Below is a SWOT analysis based upon my skills with the 3D studio max software:
 

Strengths

• Give a detailed write up of things created using 3D Max – I try to explain how I create something so that anyone can come along, read it and have a basic understanding of what I am talking about.

• Keeping up with blogging – I always make sure my blog is up to date with the current techniques I have learned or discovered and the stages my animation is currently at.

• Planning my animation based upon the models I created – I try to think in as much detail as possible about which direction I want my animation to go based upon the models I have chosen.

• Using the camera tool – I can pinpoint and direct the camera so that I get the desired effect I am looking for with my animation.

Weaknesses

·         Drawing and animating a person – after modelling my person I realised how hard it was just to draw, animating became even harder and because of this my animation storyboard had to be changed slightly.

·         Naming the objects, e.g. headlight, car body etc. – I could not seem to get into the habit of naming the objects I used to create the model, so selecting a certain piece became very difficult.

·         Use of lights and shadowing – due to the scenes I have chosen lights and shadows didn’t really help with my animation as such have been left out from most of my scenes. My scenes where too dark in the first place and the use of shadows made the animation still harder to take in.

Opportunities

·         Using the 3D software – using this software has been a great opportunity to get a feel to what it will be like to do this for a living, outside of the hard coding.

·         Start of a portfolio – with all of the tutorials available and the techniques learned in a short space of time it would be a good opportunity to put a portfolio together showing the progressive stage I went through with this 3D software package.

·         Good practice for future work – I really enjoyed making the 3D models, though at times it felt stressful and the models I created weren’t exactly realistic, especially when compared to others models, nevertheless it is the start of a good learning curve.

Threats

·         Limited knowledge of 3D studio max – due to my limited knowledge of the 3D software I have tried to make it as easy as possible on myself and at the same time experimenting with a handful of techniques. Some of my colleagues who have had experience with the 3D software have very realistic looking trailers compared with my own. For example one of my colleagues has the same scene where Mr Bond is on the table and the laser fires; he has gone into great detail giving a great effect to the trailer.

·         Not completing the person animation – as previously mentioned my storyboard had to change slightly so that I could make it a bit easier on myself to produce an animation for the person. Not completing this new animation has now become a threat.

·         Render time – once all my animations are complete I have to make sure I have left myself enough time to render all of my scenes so that I can link all of my scenes together to produce a full trailer.

Alterations

Grass

the grass has been altered using a different map (smoke) opposed to the speckle map used before. This is due to the fact that once the animation was rendered the grass looked like green white noise and was horrible to watch. The smoke map makes the grass look more patchy than grainy and is much easier to take in.

Laser scene

A small change has been made for the laser scene, the scene has now been divided up into two small scenes which will be much easier when it comes to rendering. The first part of the scene will involve the camera rotating around the room taking in the laser and the person. The second scene will involve the the camera zooming in a bit on the camera and the laser shooting down. These scenes will have exactly the same layout the only thing that changes is the position of the camera and the laser shooting.


Bibliography

Below are the links used in the animation scenes:

Wright, E (2011)”Battersea Power Station: The Last Chance”[Internet]

http://www.building.co.uk/news/regions/london/battersea-power-station-the-last-chance/5012184.article

[Cited 02-04-11]

 This was used for the control panel in the two laser scenes.

Miriadna(2010)”Miriadna visual and motion design”[Internet]

http://miriadna.com/preview/286

[Cited 02-04-11]

This was used for the forest background in the oddjob scene, where he throws his hat.

Guilia(2010) “How to make a simple flame effect in 3DS Max” [Internet]

http://www.pxleyes.com/video-tutorial/3ds-max/13917/How-to-Make-a-Simple-Flame-Effect.html

[Cited 06-04-11]

This is a tutorial i used to make a simple flame used in the laser scene, the fire appears when the laser shoots.

Biped Character Movement

After using the biped for a little while i realised just how complicated it was just to get the biped positioned correctly withing the modelled character. To start first i opeded my basic drawn character created using one shape and brought up the biped tool. Next shape the biped so that it fits well within the character you have drawn. To make it easier you can make the character see-through and then freeze it, this will allow you to only click on the biped for now.

Now unfreeze the character and go to the modify panel and select physique. open the physique drop down list and select envelope, if you move a few of the body parts around you will see that the skin (Character) stretches, to minimize the stretching you can change the radial scale, which will help snap the skin to the biped.
Now in the motion control panel you can select footsteps, this will automatically make the character walk a few steps.

Once the footsteps button is highlighted you can select the number of footsteps in the new panel and then click ok. next in order to make the character move, the footsteps need to be created using the create keys button. This will add the fottsteps to the animation time frame allowing your character to walk.

The only problem i have with the movement here is that only the body shape moves, all of the extra detail that has been added is currently being left behind. This is because they are not correctly linked, but the basic walking animation is ready.

Story Board Alterations

Due to time constraints i have decide to make a small change with my animation. The oddjob scene where he throws the hat at an escaping person has now been altered. The new scene is now of oddjob facing the camera, taking off his hat and throwing it towards the camera. This is because the animation will be slightly easier to do and using the biped can be very complex even for basic animation such as walking.

i also think that this animation may look better, opposed to throwing the hat at a moving person, as the camera would not need to be moved around quite so much.

Bibliography

Below are links to the materials i used for my animation, the first is the fire which i have used in my title screen animation. The second is a sky material i used to incase my car and forest animations to make them more whole.

BackgroundPictures(unknown) “Free collection of exclusive wallpapers”[Internet]

http://www.backgroundpictures.org/p/fire/fire_04.jpg

[Cited 22-03-11]

Creativity103(2001)”The creative Element”[Internet]

http://creativity103.com/collections/Texture/blue_clouds_skyDSC_7054.jpg

[Cited 29-03-11]

Scene Creating

Car chase scene

The car chase scene will be split up into two separate animations but using the same scenery. This will make it much easier when it comes to rendering. To start a thin cylinder has been added which will form the floor of the scene. Next a number of planes have been added to form the road the cars will travel down and a number of trees have been added to make it more like a forest.

For the road a speckle material has been added with a black and grey colour to look like pavement. The grass has been given a speckle effect on the bump map, to make the grass stick out. A dark green colour has then been added for the main colour of the grass.

This will make up the two short animation clips. Below is a rendered version of the scene, the scene itself still needs a few things added and tweaked but this is the base of the animation scene.

Only the cars themselves need to be added and animating within the scene.

Forest oddjob scene

The next scene will be of oddjob throwing the hat at an escaping person. A lot of the scenery used for the car chase scene can then be recycled and used for this scene. The grass will remain the same, the only thing different will be the road and the trees. The road will not quite be visible, and the trees will be a little more spread out.

This is the basic of what the scene will look like, below is a rendered version of the preliminary scene:

The only thing left to add to the scene is oddjob and the escaping person.

Sphere:

For the two car scenes and the oddjob scene I have decided to use a sphere and place a sky material on the inside of the sphere.

To do this first create a big sphere and convert it to an editable poly and select all of the faces. Next under the edit polygons select flip, this will flip the faces so that they appear on the inside. Next using a picture of a sky taken from the internet and add the material to the inside of the sphere.

Now the forest and car chase scenes can be placed inside the sphere to make the scene more whole.

Laser scene

The laser scene is a little trickier as a want the camera to swivel round the laser which means the whole room will need to be created. To start five rectangles need to be created to form the four walls and the floor, this will ensure that the material I add to the will remain straight.

This is the basic set, the height and width can be altered later.

The next step is to add a small platform with a set of stairs, which is where the dials and buttons to work the laser are located. To do this a box has been created and converted to an editable poly, the front faces have then been extruded to form steps and a platform by just using one simple shape.

A railing and a plane have then been added, the plane to the wall just above the platform and the railing just in front of the platform.

Now for the middle parts of the scene, some sort of elevated box that Mr Bond will be lying on underneath the laser. To do this a cylinder has been added and rotated which will be placed underneath a box to give the illusion that the box is elevated. This is so when the camera moves around the room, the box won’t look like its floating in the air.

This is what the basic scene will look like without any of the materials, laser and people.

Now that the basic scene is complete the camera can be added to stage. For this scene the path animation will be used, first a circle shape has been added just a bit smaller than the room so that the camera can travel around it. Next the camera has been connected to the path by going to constraints – path constraints and attaching the camera to the circle. The camera now moves around the circle.

Now the basic animation is ready, everything just needs more detail and the objects need to be added to the scene.

Moving onto some of the materials, the walls and floor will be relatively simple to do as they are both going to have a floor board wood effect. The wall has been given a wood map and the glossiness level has been made up to 100 and has also been given a bump map of tiles which will hopefully make the boards stick out. It has then been given a horizontal count of 30 and a vertical count of just one, this will make then a lot more like wall panels.

The floor boards have been done exactly the same way, only this time the specular level has been boosted up to 100. This gives a shiny board look to the floor which gives the illusion of light reflecting off the surface. The stairs have been given the same material as the floor boards.

The middle box has been given a grey colour with a high specular level, to give a metal effect, this has then been added to the railing as well.

Now that most of the material has been added to the various parts of the scene, the laser can now be added. To do this go to file – imports – merge and then bring up the laser file. This will import everything from the laser file. After a bit of moving around a size adjust the scene is nearly ready to be fully animated.

The only thing left to add is the person lying on the table.

Goldfinger title screen

The goldfinger title screen is probably the easiest scene to complete at the moment. First using the text tool I created the name goldfinger, next convert it to an editable poly and extrude the text which makes it 3D.

Next make the text smaller and add a plane just behind the text and a camera just in front of the text.

Next give the text a glass effect by going to the material editor and under the maps heading choose refraction – raytrace, this will create a glass effect.  Next using a picture of fire, found on the internet, add the image to the plane.

 Now that the fire has been added to the plane the animation can begin. The text can be animated to rotate around and move towards the camera getting bigger. The fire on the plane can look like its moving by animating the offset value in the animation screen.

 

Reactor

The reactor feature is very useful as it makes objects act how you want them to act, without having to animate a path for it. For example adding weight to a sphere so that it falls when the animation is played.  This can be done by right clicking on the blank space next to the render button, to bring up the reactor panel. First create a box, with several spheres above it and make all of the objects rigid, this will make them solid. Next add weight to the spheres which will make them fall onto the box. Example shown below:

Now create another sphere and convert it to an editable poly. Take the vertex on the top part of the sphere and bend it in to form a bowl. Now in the object properties editor box, in the reactor panel make the bowl a concave mesh, which will make the reaction more like a bowl. Place the bowl underneath the spheres and play the animation, the spheres will act differently when the fall into the bowl.

Curtains can also be made using the reactor feature. First create a curtain pole, using a cylinder and a couple of spheres, then make a couple of hooks and place them on the curtain pole. Next make all of these objects rigid, which will make them a solid shape. Open the object properties editor and check the box “unyielding” which will allow the objects to move.  Next create two planes and give both of them the cloth modifier; this will make the planes appear like material. Now we need to connect the planes to the curtain hooks, in the modify panel click on reactor cloth and go down to constraints. Click on attack to rigid body then select part of the vertex of the plane and click on the “none” button, then the object you want to attack it to, in this case one of the hooks. Repeat this step several times until all of the hooks hare linked to the planes. Now make sure that nothing is selected so that the animation part can begin. Using auto key move the hooks apart, which will move the curtains when the animation is run.

Altered Car

The car has been altered slightly to make it a little more realistic. On the bonnet of the car, a cylinder has been added and cloned to make a space for the two headlights, opposed to just having two spheres on the front of the car. The two spheres were then made much larger and moved onto the cylinders that have been added. This makes the car look more like the Aston martin.

The door frame and bonnet frame have also been given the same colour as the car, so that the objects don’t stick out so much.

Goldfinger Title Screen

Using a plane and the text tool a fiery effect can be created giving the text a flame look. To start a plane was created with a picture of a flame placed on to it. Next the text tool was used to create the word “Goldfinger” which was then extruded to make the text 3D. A glass effect using the refraction and raytrace material in the material editor which was then added to the text. A small animation was then created making the text move towards the screen and getting bigger as it moved. The fire on the text was then animated to look like the fire was moving in the background. This emphasised the effect the glass gave the text as the fire moved.

Path and Bond Animation

The path technique will come in very useful especially for my laser scene. I can create a cirlce path, similar to the one the ball followed, but instead of attaching a ball I can attach a camera. This means I can create the scene, place the laser in the correct position and the camera can move around the laser, taking in the whole scene. Below is a Basic clip of what the scene may look like, the laser and characters have not yet been placed in and there are a few materials that need tweaking but it is only a first draft:

This is how I want the camera to move around the room, I just need to bring all the objects together.

I can also use the path tool for another part of my animation (The car chase scene). I have now decided that it would be best to break the car chase up into two separate scenes. This will make the file size much smaller, therefore much easier to render once finished. The first part will be the cars driving towards the camera, two of them turn off in time, the last will crash into the camera. This means the camera will go black and be easy to end the short clip, ready for the next clip to be started. The second will be a side view and overhead view of the two cars stopping in a layby.

Below is a list of scenes that my animation will contain, including roughly how long they will last, now that the car chase has been broken up into two separate scenes:

·         Car chase – cars speeding towards the camera. (8 seconds)

·         Car chase – cars come to a stop in a layby. (4 seconds)

·         Oddjob – oddjob throws his hat at an assailant trying to escape into the trees. (6 seconds)

·         Laser scene – the camera rotates around the laser, taking in the whole scene, once one rotation has happened, the camera zooms a little as the laser shoots. (8 seconds)

·         The title screen appears. (4 seconds)

This is just a rough estimate of how long the animation will run, the laser scene may even be broken up into another two separate scenes, one rotating scene, another laser shooting scene. This will depend how the animation progression goes.

 

Animation Path

Below is an example of the path animation:

Animation - Path

The path animating technique is probably the easiest technique to use. first you create a path, whether it is a line, or a rectangle, circle or even a free drawn line. Next Place an object on the path by going to "Animation" - "Constraints" - "Path Constraints". With the object or camera selected click on the line, which will place the object on the path. When the animation plays the object will move around the path.

In this case the ball has been linked to the circle, when the animation plays the ball will move around the circle.

Basic Animation Tutorial

Now that the modelling side is over the animation has begun. To start we first need a shape of some sort to move around, so create a shape, in this case a torus knot.

Now that we have a shape the animation can begin. To start the animation we need to click on the set key button at the bottom part of the screen, this will bring up the animation mode. To animate you simply click on the set keys icon (Picture of a key) to set the first key frame in the animation.

To animate the object simply move the timeline to the place where you want to set the next key frame, then move the object where you want it to go and click on the set keys icon again.

This has now set the object in its new position. You can check to see if it has worked by moving the time line up and down over the key frames you have set. Simply repeat the steps until you have completed the animation.
Now that the animation is complete the file needs to be rendered. This is done by going to render setup and selecting the number of frames that need to be rendered.

When the number of frames has been selected go down the menu and click on the render save file option. This allows you to save your file in video format so that you dont have to keep rendering it everytime you wish to view the file.

Save the file in avi format which is a standard video format.
Below is the simple twisting turning torus knot:

Storyboard

As the models have been created i have given a lot of thought as to how i want them to appear in an animation. Below is a storyboard of my ideas and how the scenes will flow into one another:

Research Board

Here are a few ideas for my animation using the models i now have:

Model 3: Person

 The final model is the model of a person, which can then be replicated and changed slightly to form different people. To begin a box has been created and given segments. Next convert it to and editable poly and take the two points on the lower part of the box and move them up.

Next extrude several more layers from the top of the box to make the torso of the person bigger. When this is done take the top two corners and move them out a little, this will form the arms.

Next move back down to the two sides and extrude both at the same time. This will keep both legs the same size and will save a lot of time trying to make them look the same if done one at a time. When roughly half the leg is done the bevel tool can then be used to form a knee cap, this can be adjusted slightly once the leg is complete.

Once you reach the end of the leg then the two faces either side of the leg can then be selected and using the bevel tool can create two feet on the person.

Now two arms can be created using the same technique for the arms, extrude both faces on the side until the arms are long enough. About half way up the arm two sides can be bent in slightly to for the elbow joint.

From the centre face on top of the shape a new rectangle can be bevelled out to form a head shape. The rectangle can then be bevelled back down to round off the head rather than ending it as a flat top. Now that the basic shape of the person is formed an appropriate colour can be selected. Black is most used in a normal suit so the whole person is coloured black. For contrast a red plane has been added so that the person can be viewed during render tests.

Next to form the basic shape of the shirt, for this an upside down cone can be used. The cone can then be placed in the centre of the chest, converting it to an editable poly and extending the point a little way down the chest.

Using the line tool an outline of a collar is drawn to add more detail to the suit. This line can then be lofted to give the collar a 3d affect. Once one side has been sized and placed it can then be cloned and rotated for the other side of the suit.

A small box is then drawn and edited using editable poly to form the look of a tie. This is simply done by bending the vertex in on the top part of the box, and bending the vertex out on the bottom part of the box.

The loft tool can again be used to create a belt; this can be done by drawing a rectangle using the line tool, then instead of using a circle to get the path a rectangle can be used instead. This forms a long, thin rectangle with a large gap in the middle of it. Once sized and adjusted by converting it to an editable poly the belt appears to be hanging around the person’s waist rather than the person standing in a rectangle ring.

As I am mainly modelling odd job a hat is needed for him. This can be done by creating two cylinders, one thin and tall, the second small and wide. These can then be grouped to form the hat; most hats aren’t completely circler so by converting it to an editable poly and bending it slightly makes the hat more oval than round.

Lastly some facial features can be added to make the person look more like a person and not a rag doll. The eyes are two simple spheres that have been bent slightly and the black parts of the eyes are two smaller spheres. The eyelids are boxes that have been edited using editable poly and then shaped around the eyes. The lips are another slightly larger box that has been shaped using editable poly thus forming the basics of the person.

Model 2: Aston Martin

The second model will be the Aston martin from the movie goldfinger. To begin two planes are inserted for the blue prints to be placed on, this will help model the shape of the car. Next a box has been added and placed where the main part of the car will go. Using the blue prints as a guide the general shape can be modelled using the poly tool. The box has been broken up into segments to make the modelling much easier.

Once the box has been mesh smoothed to make the shape more rounded, the wind screen needs to be added. This is done by creating a box and converting it to and editable poly, this allows the box to be moulded at will. This box too is then mesh smoothed and placed in the correct position.

This step can then be repeated for the back windscreen.

Two more boxes are then created, converted to poly and moulded to form the two side screens in the car. Once these two are done they can then be cloned and placed the other side of the car. This keeps the side screens the same size and shape for both sides of the car, without having to draw separate boxes.

Next two spheres are needed for the front headlights, first creating one sphere and making it the correct size. This can then be cloned for the next headlight too.

The bonnet of the car can also be created using another editable poly box. Once moulded and mesh smoothed it can be placed at the front of the car.

The two rear headlights can be created using another box that has been moulded using editable poly, mesh smoothed and cloned to form the two rear headlights.

These form the basis of the car, now a little detail can be added. Using the line tool draw a shape around the first side screen to form the shape of a door. Next create a circle and using the loft technique a solid 3d door frame can be created. Once the fitting and size has been adjusted the frame can then be cloned to form a door frame for the other side.

now moving on to the wheels of the car. To begin a sphere has been created and sized to match the size of the tires from the blue prints. The sphere is then cloned three times to mark the place of the four tires. Using the Boolean technique a space can be cut out of the box shape to make way for the tires.

Here the spaces in the shape indicate where the tires are to be placed.

For the wheels the lathe tool will come in handy. First by drawing half of the wheel and adjusting the pivot point the lathe technique creates a 3d wheel.

This wheel can then be sized and placed and once again using the clone tool can make many more even tires.

Now the basic shape and form of the car has been created there is still one thing missing, the colour.

using the same metal from the laser model the car is instantly given a shiny metallic look and already feels more like the Aston martin. The wheels are broken up into two parts, the inner part of the wheel is given a creamy coloured look, while the outer part is given a black look to match a tire.

The wind screens are all given a black chrome glazed look to round of the main features of the car.

Now that these parts are complete a little more detail can be added, to round of the whole feel of the car. First a small editable poly box is created, moulded and mesh smoothed to form a door handle, this brings the door to life.

Next using the loft tool again a small pattern is created on the bonnet of the car which gives the illusion of an engine inside the car.