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.