Week 12 Lab(3 bouncing balls exercise)

This aim of this exercise is to allow us to learn how to control the speed of three different balls falling, each of different 'weight', as assumed. The heaviest ball is on the left, followed by the middle ball and finally the one on the right. We had to set the extreme key frames of each ball and starting from there, slowly tune the speed of the ball to suit its 'weight'. The heavier ball will land first and followed by the lighter ones. Using the graph editor, I was able to control the falling and rising speed of the ball but seems to be some minor mistakes that I spotted but found it difficult to solve as the correction made to the speed is too insignificant.

This is the video of the final output of the lab exercise.

Week 13 Lab 1

Learning about inverse kinematics. We were learning about some skeleton/joint tool. Also, the IK Handle tool.  The IK handle tool is to connect a 'line' from the first to the last or designated joint so the there will be like a 'movement'. For my case, it is like an arm bending movement. I felt that this part was quite easy for me to do.

Learning about IK handle and turning on and off the layer 'mesh'. This method is to allow easier view of the skeleton and joint instead of viewing the model and the joints/skeleton altogether.

 Adding in a locator and annotation so that it is easier for us to rotate the entire crane. We learnt to use the locator and annotator tool. The locator tool is to allow easier control of selected parts of the model/ skeleton/joints. As a result, when the locator is selected, the entire arm (colored pink in the picture) will move together. The locator increases convenience during the animation process and makes it easier for me to set the key frames when everything is coordinated with each other. On the other hand, the annotator allows the user, me, to see where the locator is as the locator is marked with only a 'X' or '+' shape, which might make the locator hard to find if the grid is switched on.

Ending product. However, I am not really satisfied with the first two seconds when the box canbe seen moving up and down on its own, maybe due to the parenting/ constraints. I will try to rectify this problem and repost and new video if the problem is fixed.

Week 11 Part 2 (E-learning)

For this e-learning, the objective was to make the ball bounce as realistically as possible. There was much usage of the graph editor for this lab exercise. The ball had to bounce as if there was 'gravity' acting on the ball. The bounce rhythm had to be faster and faster because of the reality of the situation. I had to adjust the Translate Y gradient as it was the key point that controlled the falling and rising speed of the ball. The accuracy of the lab exercise had to be precise as possible so that I can gain as much experience.

Week 11 Part 1 (E-learning)

Through this e-learning part 1 lab exercise, I learnt more on how to do animations on Maya. The animation of this bouncing ball became smoother than my previous exercise with the help of the graph editor and tutorial provided. Through controlling the tangents of the key points, I was able to make my ball bounce more realistically in terms of elasticity and the 'gravity' acting on the ball.

At this part, the graph editor and smoothness of the bouncing ball is almost done except for some part where the gradients of the Translate X and Y have to be edited before running the animation. The static channel and others have yet to be deleted to make Maya run the animation run more smoothly.

The final 3 second animation of the lab exercise

Week 10 Lab (Basic Animation)

For this lab, I learnt how to do basic animation, frame by frame. I made a bouncing ball for both lab sessions. However, I encountered some problems while making the animations. Firstly, the physics of a bouncing ball. It was a little tough at first to make the ball drop faster when it is falling onto the 'ground' but after re-doing the frames for a few times, I was able to make a better gravitational effect compared to my first attempt.

Assignment Research and Self-Critique

Research


Initially, my only resources to make my model were the tutorial PDF files and videos provided in OLIVE, and also, my gun. However, I felt that the limited resources were not enough for me and hence I went online to a Maya FAMAS tutorial to reference on modelling a gun (although the tutorial showed how to model a rifle, I thought  that I still learnt something from it that can be implemented in my pistol modelling). The tutorial was especially helpful when it mentioned that vertexes are especially helpful in shaping a gun model. However, there were some parts that did not work well when I used vertexes. As a result, I had to use the face mode to do the shaping of the gun, although the results did not turn out as nicely compared to the usage of vertexes.

Model of a chain gun

This is a model of a chain gun. The tutorial of making this chain gun is somehow similar to the bucket exercise I did previously. Although I didn't learn much from this tutorial, I got some minor tips like being careful while modelling anything. Anything can seem easy but when it comes to modelling, it is really tough and requires intense, undivided attention.

Self-Critique

VS

                      Model                                                    Original


I think the final model of the gun is quite successful, except the fact that there were some details missing if compared between the original object and the final model. The left-out details proved to be too challenging for me and hence I left them out and concentrated on the easier details so that the gun model will not look so empty.

Secondly, another problem with my model will be that the scale did not turn out as I wanted it to be. This was because the reference image in my Maya turned out to be compressed at the length. Hence, the body of the gun turned out shorter and thicker compared to the original object.

I also could not find an appropriate rusty, bronze texture which I needed for my gun model. I ended up applying a normal bronze texture colour as a replacement.

However, there are also positive thoughts about my own model. Firstly, I think that I adapt quite fast when facing problems like the lack of details. I would concentrate more on the details that I added on so that the details will still look quite similar to the one on the original object as I am more concerned of the quality than the quantity of the details in the final model. I also think very positively of my final model because it looks much newer compared to the original which has rusted.

Assignment 1 Modelling and Texturing (Gun)

 Original object for the assignment.

Done with the basic shape of the gun, I'm planning to put in the minor details of the gun soon. I think the details of the gun will take me more time compared to shaping the model as I have the image reference here in this stage. Shaping the gun took me a few hours even though it looked easy at first. Much extruding and moving of the faces was needed in the process. The shape of the body had to be as accurate as possible and I had the scale and move the faces and vertex of the polygonal cube around to get the satisfactory shape. The trigger and the handle was completed with the Create Polygon Tool which made it quite easy for me to make them. The only hard part was that if I made a mistake in tracing the handle or trigger, I had to restart tracing these parts from square one.

Made some progress with the minor details that I needed to add in. The minor details  which looked easy to do were in fact difficult without reference and I had to estimate the positions of these details by looking at the real object. The two details added in took me two whole hours to complete because if it looked unsatisfactory, I would re-do the details all over again. The hole behind is basically made by creating a polygonal cube and putting it where I wanted the hole to be, then using the Boolean -> Difference tool to create the hole. The detail near the gun barrel is made by scaling, moving and extruding the faces involved. I had a small problem before which was that the Split Polygon tool didn't work for me. Hence I had to use the Edge Ring tool to aid in making the part which I wanted to extrude. It took me a longer time compared to if I was to use the Split Polygon tool.

Up to this part, the details are more or less done, apart for some details that are really hard for me to make. I had to make these details as accurate as possible so that it will look like the original object. This part of the detail only requires me to split the polygon and extrude the targeted faces. However, scaling was the hardest as I only have the real object as my reference at this point of time.

Perspective view of final model

Side view of final model

Texturing is done at this point. Using bronze for almost the entire model with exception of the handle which should be orange. I also used the blinn material as the gun is initially shiny. Using the lambert material will cause the gun to actually look as if it is made out of wood and this will not be a closer replica compared to using blinn. The orange handle is made of lambert material as it has a non-reflective surface compared to the body and barrel of the gun. I referred to the tutorial video provided for us but it turned out a little difficult for me to follow up with my gun model and hence I just inserted the bronze texture face by face.