Primitive 3D model – Production log

We have been tasked with creating a 3D model using only basic primitive shapes in 3Ds Max. I have done a very similar task a few years ago so I

know I can do it well.

I’ve decided I want to take the challenge a step further by using only cubes and cuboids to make my model, instead of the whole range of shapes

available.

I have decided that I want to challenge myself a little further and will create a basic room using only cubes and cuboids.

First I will gather a bit of secondary research:

Source 1

Source 2

I want it to be able to see it from this kind of angle. Ideally I would want it to look like a top down view from “The Sims”.

I will start by making some walls and floor

Now that I have made this, I will start decorating it with furniture. I have also decided to try and recreate a room from my flat since I am

familiar with it and can easily recreate it.

By quickly dragging out rectangles, I am creating furniture for this bedroom. I have started with the larger objects first such as the bed

and wardrobe and also a spot where the wall juts out.

I added small details like the wardrobe door being open and the bed being a mess to add a small amount of accuracy and realism.

I have added the bookshelf, door and picture above the bed. I wasn’t able to add much detail to the bookshelf since we aren’t allowed to

bevel or extrude the shapes. To compensate for that, I added a couple of books poking out of the shelves.

I created the desks and table tops from my room. Next ill add draws and doors on them, as well as a few items littering the top.

This part was quite easy using the “Autogrid” tool. I added the doors and draws, as well as a few electronics such as the radio and lamp.

I want to continue to add electronics so ill now add my computer, laptop and accessories.

I have added my computers and the rest of the electronics and feel like I can call this work done. I wasn’t able to get absolutely everything

perfect but for a quick challenge, I feel happy with it.

Sources:

http://imgkid.com/3-point-perspective-bedroom.shtml

http://imgbuddy.com/2-point-perspective-bedroom.asp

Mr. Cuboid Animation Production Log

I have animated people before in the past, so I decided to try something more challenging for my animation by making an accurate walking loop.

Ive started by taking the original model, to get a feel of how the animating works in 3ds Max, I moved one of the legs up.

Having done that I moved the arms and legs into their starting point.

I worked out that if I wanted a smooth looping animation then I would need to have the first leg lower and the second one planted in 25 frames, this means a full cycle would take 50 frame. After that, I

copied the necessary frames to repeat the cycle.

The result is a perfectly looping walking animation, but it doesn’t look realistic. That’s because only the legs are moving while in real life

the entire body moves while walking.

My solution to this was to add slight movements to the model as it walks. It now sways slightly as he walks and made him look up once every

2 cycles. I also recoloured him to make him more visually appealing.

It’s beginning to look much more natural but his arms are still frozen in place. Ill make them swing gently as he moves, remembering that the

opposite arm goes forward with the foot.

His arms seem a little robotic so Ive changed it slightly to make his forearms move more realistically.

Now im happy to call this animation finished. I wouldn’t be able to

improve the animation further without erasing what I have already done and I feel like I has been completed well.

Penguin Production Log

I wanted to something a little different for my animation but I wasn’t sure what to make, I started just playing around with primitive shapes.

I liked the shape of the “Oiltank” primitive, it reminded me of the kind of “cute, round animals”. I began putting together some of the shapes.

It began developing into a kind of bird-like shape. I decided I wanted to go with this and create a penguin in this style. The beak could be

improved a lot so that’s what ill work on first

This is the new beak I built. I made it using 2 pyramids to make it easy to animate later on.

I placed the beak and eyes on the body. It doesn’t look very cute yet though.

I made his eyes bigger and a little closer together. I also remembered to give him feet and a top hat.

I made a lot of changes since the last shot. Most notably the new colour scheme to make him seem much more like a penguin. I also added a few

more “cute” features such as his tail, tufts of hair and cheeks. I also made his eyes even bigger.

The model itself is now complete. I have parented the body and now I’ll begin animating him.

I did all the animating in one screenshot so that I could focus on getting it right. I made his wings flap several times quickly and made

his beak open and close a few times. He is also waddling a few times too.

I feel like I have now completed the model and animated him well. I have also “TurboSmoothed” him.

Male Proportion

Using the Extrusion tool, I am going to create a 3D model of a man. First I have placed the reference images into the

viewport.

Starting from the leg, I create a single tall rectangle with many segments and

then began moving the segments to align with the reference image. I

“Turbosmoothed” the box so that I would have a better idea of what it will look

like when it’s finished

Ive continued using this method to build the torso. Im going to create half of the body here and mirror it when

enough is done.

I have built out his left arm. This part was quite difficult since there wasn’t much reference imagery to work

with, the hand was particularly difficult.

I mirrored the body but it looked a little broken. Ive reverted to having no smoothing to

fix it.

I tried building a head on the model but it went a bit wrong, I may try to fix it in the future but for now ill be leaving it to

progress with other work

Camera Rigging Exercise – Production log

The mapping exercise starts with this model of cereal box that was provided. I will need to

create a Target camera from the “Create” drop down menu, and a directional or area light from the “Create” Tab.

Ive Created the target camera and area light, the next thing I need to do is add a background and a track for the camera to move on.

The best track I can use for this would be a ring so that the camera will rotate around the box in a circle. To attach the camera to the

ring, all I need to do is go to “Animation; Constraints; Path Constraints” and drag the camera to the ring

The final part of this task is to use. keyframes to record the video. I had to expand the keyframe timeline in order to have a good quality

video.

[https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=05re7njpr1A]

My own work:I used this method to record a short video of a model I made in my own time, the camera is a little less centered in this video mainly because

of the unusual shape of the model.

Video:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skgdoc0L2ig]

UV Mapping tutorials – Production log:We began this tutorial by creating some primitive shapes like cubes and spheres. We then opened the Material Editor with the “M” key and applied a bitmap, this let us chose textures to put on each object. This is the most basic form of texturing and will likely never be used so we moved

onto the more complex “UV Unwrapping”.

UVW Unwrapping:The benefit of UV unwrapping is that it provides a much more accurate finish but also allows you to edit the individual faces. The easiest way to do that is by taking the UV map into Photoshop and painting directly onto the surfaces.

I painted a dice texture onto the unwrapped map of a cube and will now apply the texture onto

the cube.

This is what the finished cube looks like. It would be acceptable for a game if this model was really small but the texture is slightly broken

around the edges.

I wanted to do something similar, but using professional quality textures, I took this one

from online and created a new map for it.

I was more careful this time to not include any broken textures but the texture I got had a seem

in each corner which carried over to the finished box.

I tried

to apply a similar texture to a sphere but it turned out to be much harder than expected. Ive left that for the time

being.

This is the unused UV map. Ive been Told it would be easier to apply it to a box and

turbosmooth it.

I have also taken an old model I built and applied a bone texture to it, it dosent look very good but that may be

because of the amount of polygons and how unorganised some are.