SWOT Analysis

This is officially the last post I will be creating for this blog, which is a SWOT analysis table of myself.

Strengths

• I work hard and try to do my best
• I enjoy any module that is interesting and exciting
• I have patience which you need for this module

Weaknesses

•   I have never used 3D's Max before
•   I do get worried about the final outcome
•   I do not feel comfortable about learning something new that seems complex

Opportunities
 

• I have taken a lot from this module that I hope to use later in life.
• I have also taken from this module what 3D's Max is capable of and also what Adobe Premier does also.

Threats

• I did not think I was going to have an animation that was worthy
• I did not think that I was going to finish this module on a high, but how wrong was I

Everything Must Come To An End

This is going to be my last post for this module (apart from the SWOT analysis diagram I am going to do in the post after), which is going to be my evaluation of the module.

I think that I have really enjoyed this module and have had lots of fun with the software that I have been using. There have been some up's and down's but have managed to sort them out in the end, with it eventually all coming together and I am pleased with the final outcome. However as mentioned before there could have been some improvements but I think everything works well within the animation.

Overall I haven't really wanted this module to end but I am glad for the long break, and am pleased with the final animation, I have created an will be handing in, this is a great module and can't wait for next years 3D module's.

There Could Be Improvements

For this post I am going to comment on the improvements that I feel I could put in my animation.

Firstly the I feel that I have created a good attempt at my first animation in 3D's Max, as I have never used this software before, however I do feel there could be inprovements.

One improvement could be the lights, I think they need to be better placed as some parts of the animation are too bright.

Another could be the length of the animation, I think it might be a bit too short and some parts of the animation rushed, which means better planning should have been taken.

Next improvement could be the smoothness of the animation, where I have rendered the animation and attempted to join together using Adobe Premier it is slightly jumpy.  

Finally the biggest improvement that could have been made is the 'Pro Boolean' I have used in the animation, this is because I think that without it my animation could have been better, but unfortunately I needed it for my animation to work.


Overall though I still think that my first ever attempt at creating an animation in 3D's Max is till better than I thought it was going to be when I started this module.

Don't Stop The Music

This small post is going to be commenting on the sound track that I have added to my animation.

My first plan was not to add any music into my animation, however whilst I was creating my animation I thought that it was missing something, that something to make it better, which I eventually realised was sound.

I decided to add a sound track that have a war/battlefield feel to it, and was forever searching for that right sound, and I believe I have got there with a rock song.

I added it through Adobe Premier which was very simple just needed to drag and drop, then shorten the sound to the right length that I needed and hey presto we have a finished animation with sound.

The sound that I have used is a personal sound track however I will reference it

Soundgarden. (2012) Live To Rise, Soundgarden. [Digital audio file], iTunes. Available from: <apple/iTunes> [Accessed 2 May 2012].

Why Is It So Dark?

For this post I am going to comment on the lights that I have inserted into my animation.

I originally planned to not have any lights in the animation, however I felt that having them within the animation made it clearer to see for the audience.

The lights that I used where the 'omni' lights, these are not the best lights but felt that is all that was needed, but I did have to put in two or three lights for each render, because the light didn't stretch over the whole stage.

The lights also don't move they are static as I didn't think they needed to be animated in anyway.

However I do feel that the lights could have been placed better as some parts of the animation I feel are too bright, but this will be explained in more detail in another post.

I will screenshot an example of how the light is working in the animation.

This screenshot is of the lights that I have used in my animation as you can see the shadow on the top of the tower.

1000 Words Paints A Picture

This small post is going to be commenting on the text that I have used with my animation.

I decided to add to my original idea and make the animation more humorous by adding in a couple words of text, for example the crossbow and the catauplt are having a battle and I inserted the text 'Champion' for the crossbow and the words 'Contender' for the catapult.

The text was simple to create, just typed what I wanted into 3D's Max, placed the text where I wanted it to show by rotating and moving the text into position. I also had to extrude the text to make it 3D, but I do think that by using the text it fits within the animation and seems to be funny. Below is a screenshot of an example of the text that I have used within my animation.

This screenshot is of the text that I have used in my animation you have to watch the whole animation to understand

And Were Rolling!

This post is going to comment on the camera that was used within the animation.

For the animation I was going to use multiple camera's however I realised I would need to do multiple camera's and didn't feel I had the time to fit them in the animation. However once I had come to the end of animating I realised I could have done my original plan as I needed to do multiple renders anyway, but this will be explained in the render post which is to follow.

However back to camera's for my animation, I used a target camera, as I felt using a free one wouldn't capture what I really wanted, with a target camera I could position exactly what I wanted the audience to see, and I think I have achieved this quite well. I will screenshot a camera view from the animation.

This screenshot is of a camera view from my animation, I zoomed out at this point so that you could see the catpult fall apart

It's Model Time

This post is going to be commenting on the three models that I created and what they are doing within the animation that I have created.

Firstly I will comment on the Giant Crossbow Model. For this model I followed the storyboard that I had created and wanted to show off the destructive power of the crossbow. This was achieved by having the crossbow take a shot and destroy the catapult model, there was not a lot of animation that needed to be done to the crossbow however the animation that needed to be done was still very fiddly. However I am still pleased with how the crossbow animation has turned out.

The animation that I used on the crossbow was to make the arrow fire from the crossbow. I could have just made the arrow fire, but I thought that was too easy and very boring, so I decided to animate the turning wheel and the rope that are attached to the crossbow (this was the fiddly part). I kept moving the turning wheel in a rotation motion so that it looked realistic, also I timed it so that the rope moved forward, with finally the arrow shooting off from the crossbow once the roped had moved forward enough. I will screenshot what I have animated on the crossbow so that it makes more sense.

This screenshot shows the crossbow, you can see the turning wheel and the rope which I have animated to move

Next is the catapult, this model was the most tricky to animate as it has a few moving parts and if I had just left them without any movement, the animation would have been very boring and not very entertaining. Even though the catapult was the most difficult to animate I am still very pleased with how it turned out.


The animation that was needed for the catapult was, the catapult needed to fire at the crossbow and cause some damage. So I needed to animate the handle, the turning wheel, the arm and the ball all in one single movement. With the ball then causing damage on the tower.


The handle, arm, turning wheel and ball all needed to be rotated at the same time on the timeline so that it seemed realistic, and I think it does. Again I will screenshot the catapult so that it is clearer to understand.

This screenshot is of the catapult which you can see the arm has moved from top to bottom, the turning wheel, the handle have been animated to move also

The last model to comment on is the tower, this model was not really animated in anyway. I only had to 'Pro Boolean' out the catapult's ball so that it looked like the ball caused some damage to the tower.


This however did start to become an annoying problem as I found out that when something is 'Pro Booleaned' in an animation, the geometry starts to go wrong further down the animation, which became very annoying. Once I 'Pro Booleaned' out the ball I found it disappeared from the rest of the animation so I needed to clone the ball and time it within the animation with the 'Pro Boolean' which took a very long time.


Furthermore when I started to move the cloned ball into a better position it ended going in the wrong position when the animation was played, however I eventually fixed it and am happy with how it has turned out. Again I will screenshot the tower for better understanding.

This screenshot is of the tower as you can see there is a hole in the tower which is the 'Pro Boolean'

All Coming Together

For this post I am going to comment on the rendering that I have had to do within the animation.

Firstly I had finished my first attempt at an animation and was ready to render, I selected all the options that were needed apart from the compression, as the video needed to be uncompressed which I didn't do and found out once I had rendered the animation.

So I had to re-render and remebered to slect uncompressed this time. Luckily my animation didn't take long to render, unlike my colleges where there's took five hours to render!!!

Eventually the second render attempt finished but once I played it through the geometry went all wrong, and I assumed this was because of the 'Pro Boolean' so I went for a third attempt but did the render in chunks which eventually worked after the third attempt.

Next I had to import the files that I had render into Adobe Premier so that I could join them together which wasn't too difficult seeing as I hadn't used it before.

Furthermore whilst in Premier I added a static title at the end and the beginning of the animation just to tell the audience who's animation it was.

But I think I have eventually got there and am almost ready to hand in getting a little nervous now!

Taking In The Scenery

This post is regarding the scenario that the animation I am creating is going to be in. I was given a brief to work from, which was firstly to create three models based around 15th Century Italy and Leonardo Da Vinci and to create an animation to fit this brief too.

The three models where of Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions the only problem was to think of a scenario that matched the brief, and I decided to go with an animation that showed of the power of these inventions, which gave me the idea of a scenario being away from any city's of Italy, instead being part of a 15th century battlefield.

However I must admit that the scenario is not greatly detailed and I feel that this lets the animation down, furthermore this might have been due to me paying more attention to the animation of the models and not the surrounding area of the models.

I decided to create a cylinder for the environment floor, this was because when you look at the horizon the world is round, and if I had just used a pre-fixed plane within 3D's Max then the horizon would have been flat not round hence the use of a cylinder, then I just added a sandy texture with a bit of bump added. The reference for this texture is:

Sand Terrain Texture - n.d. Sand Texture, [electronic image] Available at: <http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=sand+texture&hl=en&sa=X&gbv=2&biw=1184&bih=666&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=018t48LRViNrTM:&imgrefurl=http://www.imageafter.com/image.php%3Fimage%3Db1dirt005.jpg%26size%3Dfull%26download%3Dno&docid=ZWFZYoad6VJSzM&imgurl=http://www.imageafter.com/dbase/textures/grounds/b1dirt005.jpg&w=1600&h=1200&ei=3UeRT-SCLeKV0QXsr9nVAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=882&vpy=252&dur=2571&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=63&ty=101&sig=117830732039765713861&page=1&tbnh=118&tbnw=155&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0,i:131> [Accessed 12 April 2012].

The other texture that I have added for the scenario is the sky. I decided to add this because if I had just left it blank the animation would have been boring and not realistic however by adding in the sky texture I believe it has made the animation more realistic. The reference for this texture is:


Blue Sky Texture - 14 August 2008, BLUE SKY, [electronic image] Available at: <http://thedangerousofficial.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/blue-sky.html> [Accessed 20 April 2012].

Animation So Far

The animation has started and is coming together quite nicely,


So far I have imported all the models and I was told from other peers that there might be a problem with the textures but everything was fine for me. 


I created the terrain for the animation where the crossbow and catapult will do battle, this was done by creating a simple cylinder and increasing the scale of the model so that it stretched out to cover a wide area. I choose to do the terrain this way because the world is round and hence what thee cylinder will do, I could have used a plane but the world is not flat and that it was you would have seen on the horizon.


The terrain texture reference is as follows,


Sand Terrain Texture - n.d. Sand Texture, [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=sand+texture&hl=en&sa=X&gbv=2&biw=1184&bih=666&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=018t48LRViNrTM:&imgrefurl=http://www.imageafter.com/image.php%3Fimage%3Db1dirt005.jpg%26size%3Dfull%26download%3Dno&docid=ZWFZYoad6VJSzM&imgurl=http://www.imageafter.com/dbase/textures/grounds/b1dirt005.jpg&w=1600&h=1200&ei=3UeRT-SCLeKV0QXsr9nVAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=882&vpy=252&dur=2571&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=63&ty=101&sig=117830732039765713861&page=1&tbnh=118&tbnw=155&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0,i:131 [Accessed 12 April 2012].


I have placed all the models in place for the animation so that I can just add the cameras and not need to move any of the models from their original position.


I also had to enlarge the models because the terrain was so large the models needed to compensate also otherwise they would have been tiny specs and would not have looked very good.


I just now need to add some more camera's and the text that is going to flying across the animation


Now lets keep going.

The Walking Model

For this tutorial I looked at a real-world preset action which is making a model walk!!!


For this I needed the simple character model that I had previously created and a preset model with 3D's Max called a Biped.


Firstly I needed to have the character open and I needed to bind the Biped model to the character model. This meant I had to line up the Biped model to the character model I created, for example I needed to add extra neck links and spine links. This was to make the character model move and seem more lifelike. I could have just used the preset Biped model but that is boring.


To begin the first step was very tricky, however it started to slowly come together but I had to basically 'snap' parts of the character model onto the Biped model, this was for the character model to have an exo-skeleton so that it could complete the next process.


Once That process was complete I was able to add footsteps and make my model really come to life by making it walk! This was done by using the 'Create Multiple Footsteps' action and all I needed to do from there was to choose how many footsteps I wanted and they were placed for me. I could have added extra actions such as how far part each step was but this was just practice.


From there on it was a case of pressing play and watching the character that I had created come to life and walk


Have I created a MONSTER???

This is the screenshot of the character I have created. As you can see I have added footsteps however some parts of the character are not quite 'snapped' correctly on the Biped and was a problem I could not fix and finish

Storyboard

The storyboard is to show off the models that I have created and detail what is going to happen in the animation that I am going to be creating.


The idea that I have decided to work on is Leonardo Da Vinci's weapons and the power that those weapons would have had in the 15th Century, with hopefully a little twist.


Furthermore I have decided to use paper that is similar to tracing paper to show the model's, camera's and lights on different bits of the paper, but when they are joined on top of one another, they should show a detailed storyboard of where everything will be placed in the animation.


Right onto the details of the animation.


The first scene will be the camera panning out to reveal the crossbow that is ready to fire at its target.
Then there will be the words CHAMPION go across the screen (hopefully bringing a bit of humor to the animation).
Next will be the camera panning out to revel the catapult that is ready to fire also, with the words CONTENDER coming across the animation.
After will be a bird's eye view of the battlefield (maybe with the words FIGHT across the screen)
Next the catapult will take the first shot and will destroy part of the tower, making the camera follow the shot and shaking on impact hitting the tower.
After the crossbow will retaliate and fire back however the arrow will miss the catapult.
Next the catapult will fire a second shot with this shot also hitting the tower causing more damage.
Finally the crossbow fires back again and this shot becomes a direct hit causing the catapult badly damaged and beaten. 


Lets get Animating!!!!

This is the full storyboard, hopefully you can see the models on top then the camera behind then the light behind that

This is the models on their own

This is the camera's

This is the lights

Animation Idea

Right here we are half way through now and time to start animating the three models I have created.

I have decided to create an animation that will show each of the models that I have made, so I hope to have some close ups of the models and some effective scene's. I am going to design a storyboard which will be shown in the next blog post, with more specific details of how the animation is going to plan out, and where I am going to have lights and cameras. Furthermore the storyboard will also go into more detail about where the models are going to be in the animation etc.

To add to this I am going to have different lighting effects to show off the models at their best, otherwise if I don't add in lights the animation is going to look very dull and basic. Some of the lights that I am looking at of including are, Omni, Target Spot, Target Direct, Skylight (all standard lights). I hope that using these lights is going to make my animation more interesting to watch.

Furthermore there are different cameras that I can use, however there is only really two to select from which are, Target Camera and Free Camera. I believe they are self explanatary, so for the Target camera you select an area that you wish to target, and the free camera is where you are free to move the camera around.

Right first of all, the first scene is going to be of the tower, with a zooming out camera action onto the crossbow, which I hope to have a close up of going around Leonardo Da Vinci's crossbow invention.

Next I plan to move from the crossbow to Leonardo's invention of the catapult, using the same effect on the crossbow going around the catapult zooming in and out and looking at how the model was created.

From there I will then go into the main story of the animation which is going to be a battle between the catapult and the crossbow. I plan to have the catapult destorying parts of the tower model and the crossbow firing back and maybe some camera zoom ins of the crossbow's arrow and the catapults ball, being fired and hitting their target.

Throught out the animation I am going to have close ups of the battle, furthermore I hope to have some background music in the animation to go with the scenes in my animation.

So that is the basic layout of the animation that I am going to create, I understand it might so a little dull at the moment, but Once I have uploaded the storyboard the animation will become more clear and understanding.

Lights, Camera & Action!

This post is going to be commenting on the use of cameras in 3D's Max. To help me with this topic I used the introduction to camera's tutorial which was a big help and I also used the further animation techniques tutorial too. The example I am going to show you is using a target camera that has a 'path constraint' on the camera to follow a shape which in the example is a circle. Basically the camera is stuck on the circle (like a train to a track) and the camera must follow that track in a loop. From there just to practise with the camera I put in a preset teapot, just to see if the camera and the path constraint worked and hey it did.

This is just to show the camera with the path constraint attached

As you can see from the screenshot there is a circle with a camera on top this is the path constraint and basically the camera follows that circle round and round while focusing on the teapot.

Texture Reference for Tower

This post is just simply going to give the reference for the material I have used on my Tower model.

Tower Brick Material - 9th May 2010. 6 Seamless Tileable Brick Textures, [electronic image] Available at: http://wdc3d.com/2d-textures/6-seamless-tileable-brick-textures/ [Accessed 29th February 2012].

Tower Final Design

This post is going to be commenting on the final model design which is my interpretation of a castle with watch towers. I feel that this model is not as good as my other's however I have not done this model from another image or another idea, it is my own idea.

I did look at other towers and felt that they were a tad too complicated for my liking so I decided to go for an easier approach. I took a simple bow outline and made the box with quite a few edged faces. I then decided to convert the box to an 'editable poly' and chose the top face vertices and put the face in on itself. From there I decided to delete some faces around the edge to make holes (for people to look through for example). However once I did this there were gaps in the model so I used the 'create' tool to create more faces and complete the tower.

From there I decided that one tower was not enough so I copy the first tower I created and shrunk the scale of the image and attached it to the side of the first tower. I then put the same small tower the other side so it complete the set.

I then decided to create watch towers because the model still seemed a bit plain. So I created simple cylinders and made edged faces again, and like the box tower I choose the top face verticies and put them in on themselves, also I deleted the side faces like the box tower. Furthermore I used the 'create' tool again and filled in the gaps as before. I placed the watch tower on one of the small tower boxes and copied another watch tower over to the other box tower.

Once I was happy with the way my tower looked I decided to add in some material. I decided to keep the material the same for the whole model, as the tower would have been made out of the same material in the 15th centuary. The material I decided to use was just a simple brick work texture with an added 'bump' effect with UVW Mapping modifier used also.

This screenshot is of the Tower model with Materials added, as you can see there are quite a few edged faces.

This screenshot is of the material I have used for the Tower model, you can see the bump effect I have used for the material also.

This screenshot is of the final render of my Tower model.

Texture References for Catapult

This post is going to have references on the texture images I have used for the materials on my Catapult.

Turning Wheel Material - n.d. Walnut Dark (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=dark+oak+texture&hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=bUk3YD2sZdEDVM:&imgrefurl=http://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/lumber/wood-grain-textures/&docid=nE4JxFpBJYrrQM&imgurl=http://images.meredith.com/wood/images/woodgrains/walnut_dark.jpg&w=1090&h=1500&ei=pvVMT4nFGYeg8gOX36ThAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=749&vpy=146&dur=3714&hovh=263&hovw=191&tx=66&ty=130&sig=101451376801698897487&page=1&tbnh=124&tbnw=86&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0[Accessed 20th February 2012].

Metal Material - n.d. Metal, pained rusty metal, old wall (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=old+metal+texture&um=1&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=GUcQm4k0pXYknM:&imgrefurl=http://www.texturepalace.com/metal-free-stock-texture/&docid=1-ASN_dWfGtP6M&imgurl=http://www.texturepalace.com/gallery/metal/0405/9metal_texture_big_100405.jpg&w=3456&h=2304&ei=tvRMT8vCOunO0QWQw4SeBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=174&vpy=313&dur=1393&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=146&ty=92&sig=101451376801698897487&page=2&tbnh=137&tbnw=183&start=19&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:19 [Accessed 20th February 2012].

Base Material - n.d. Old Bark Wood Texture (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=old+oak+texture&um=1&hl=en&sa=X&biw=667&bih=615&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=nSDp34WH9vUGjM:&imgrefurl=http://texture-city.com/categories/wood/&docid=1sKp-oIAt1RLbM&imgurl=http://texture-city.com/images/wood/Old%252520Bark%252520Wooden%252520texture.jpg&w=1944&h=1296&ei=jPhMT57cI4nb0QXY-IQ4&zoom=1 [Accessed 20th February 2012].

Rope Material - n.d. Close-up of excellent thin rope, [electronic image] Available at: http://www.123rf.com/photo_6732353_close-up-of-excellent-thin-rope-texture-good-for-background.html [Accessed 20th February 2012].

Supports Material - n.d. Black Cherry Estate (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=light+oak+texture&um=1&hl=en&biw=944&bih=1072&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=wSK_Lzi-BuNBUM:&imgrefurl=http://www.buffalohardwood.com/species.aspx&docid=G9zEQZLLk5ffwM&imgurl=http://www.buffalohardwood.com/images/Black%252520Cherry%252520Estate.jpg&w=900&h=900&ei=8gtOT5vfCovC8QOwha3KAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=286&vpy=334&dur=3419&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=190&ty=92&sig=105311944267157068145&page=1&tbnh=160&tbnw=167&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0
[Accessed 20th February 2012].

Arch Material - n.d. Grain and Texture (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=soft+wood+texture&um=1&hl=en&biw=944&bih=1072&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=0brgv3SHFkpSyM:&imgrefurl=http://www.topwoodflooring.com/product.htm&docid=sN-xqtbx2fQPcM&imgurl=http://www.topwoodflooring.com/picture/2008321105326.jpg&w=1960&h=1316&ei=iAtOT5mBO4f08QOnhoT7Ag&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=478&vpy=357&dur=3213&hovh=184&hovw=274&tx=110&ty=145&sig=105311944267157068145&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=177&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0
[Accessed 20th February 2012].

Connecting Supports - n.d. (google images) [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=light+oak+texture&um=1&hl=en&biw=944&bih=1072&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=HFMu0MMnz7I_FM:&imgrefurl=http://www.fordaq.com/fordaq/news/EGGER_19068.html&docid=e6MnxTmImwL_7M&imgurl=http://www.fordaq.com/www/news/2008/H3090_ST222.jpg&w=3622&h=2362&ei=8gtOT5vfCovC8QOwha3KAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=93&vpy=192&dur=4923&hovh=181&hovw=278&tx=208&ty=88&sig=105311944267157068145&page=1&tbnh=143&tbnw=188&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0[Accessed 20th February 2012].

Arm Material - n.d. Red Oak (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=dark+strong+oak+texture&um=1&hl=en&sa=X&biw=944&bih=1072&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=LnyISicvuUs5UM:&imgrefurl=http://www.buffalohardwood.com/species.aspx&docid=G9zEQZLLk5ffwM&imgurl=http://www.buffalohardwood.com/images/Cabreuva%252520(SS).jpg&w=900&h=900&ei=IQtOT8f0FZOn8gPDtZjyAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=676&vpy=171&dur=2583&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=124&ty=131&sig=105311944267157068145&page=1&tbnh=144&tbnw=144&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0
[Accessed 20th February 2012].

Catapult Final Design

This next post is going to be commenting on my next final design which is Leonardo Da Vinci's Catapult. For this model I went for the same approach I took for the giant crossbow, which was to create a basic outline for the model and then tweak it later on. Firstly I started with the base of the catapult, which where just simple boxes placed out in a square shape, however I was satisfied and wanted to go a step further and decided to make a sort of jigsaw shape for the 'connecting supports' to slip in like a jigsaw. That wasn't to difficult just had to change the verticies of the boxes and then copied the other three'connecting supports' as 'instances' to make it eaiser for later, and also had to rotate two of the 'connecting supports' so that they faced the right way. To add a finishing touch to the base I decided to add a 'connecting base' which was a box and changing the verticies at each end so that the ends matched the jigsaw shape created on the other objects. Next was to do the supports, which were fairly simple, just a box rotated at the right angle and aligned up with the other boxes so that it all fitted into place. Then I copied the other boxes as 'copies' as I needed to change each box individully for example rotate the boxes the other side 180 degress. Next was the support for the arch which was the simplest object to create just a simple box across. Then came the 'half moon arch' this I thought was going to be difficult however I took the same method I used for the giant crossbow and 'extruded' a box, then used the bend modifier (but made sure the pivot point was in the middle) and bent the object on the Z axis. The turning wheel was again a method I used for the giant crossbow, a cyclinder with some cap segments deleted, then using the 'create' tool filling in the gaps in the object. From there I 'beveled' out some of the objects sides to make them pointed, so that the object became more of a turning wheel than a standard wheel. Then handle was simply just a box 'extruded' then I used the 'turbo smooth' modifier so that the box was a rounded handle than a boxed handle. Next came the 'turning cylinder' which was just simply a cylinder made to fit inside the 'turning wheel', the supports for the 'turning cylinder' where the same cylinders just reducded in size. The arm for the catapult was also a cylinder, I had to change the verticies on the arm at the end where 'ball holder' would go which was quite simple. The ball holder was a simple sphere with soft selection used to turn the sphere in on itself to make a bowl shape. The ball was a very simple sphere. Lastly was the rope, which I believe was the most difficult object to manipulate. The rope coming from the arch was just a tube turned at an angle to attach to the 'turning cylinder'. The rope that goes around the 'turning cylinder' is the same tubes, but they have been bent using the 'bend' modifier and changing the rotation angle to make it look like the rope is tied around the object.

Once I was satisfied with the model that I had created, I needed to add materials to that model so it seemed more life like. I used different online resources to find images of textures and then used those images in the material editor built into 3D's Max. Once I added the textures that I wanted onto my model I felt like they needed extra detail. So I decided to add some bump texture to some of the materials, however some of the materials did not match up with some of the objects, so I had to use the UVW Mapping modifier and change for the example the catapult arm material to a cylinder mapping option.

This screenshot is of the Catapults final design with added materials.

This is a screenshot of some of the materials that I used for my model.

This is a screenshot of the final render of the Catapult that I have modeled.



Texture References for Giant Crossbow

This post is simply going to have references on the texture images I have used for my Giant Crossbow.


Plane Material - 9th May 2010. 6 Seamless Tileable Brick Textures, [electronic image] Available at: http://wdc3d.com/2d-textures/6-seamless-tileable-brick-textures/ [Accessed 17th February 2012].


Arrow Material - n.d. Metal, pained rusty metal, old wall (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=old+metal+texture&um=1&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=GUcQm4k0pXYknM:&imgrefurl=http://www.texturepalace.com/metal-free-stock-texture/&docid=1-ASN_dWfGtP6M&imgurl=http://www.texturepalace.com/gallery/metal/0405/9metal_texture_big_100405.jpg&w=3456&h=2304&ei=tvRMT8vCOunO0QWQw4SeBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=174&vpy=313&dur=1393&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=146&ty=92&sig=101451376801698897487&page=2&tbnh=137&tbnw=183&start=19&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:19 [Accessed 17th February 2012].


Rope Material - n.d. Close-up of excellent thin rope, [electronic image] Available at: http://www.123rf.com/photo_6732353_close-up-of-excellent-thin-rope-texture-good-for-background.html [Accessed 17th February 2012].


Wheel Material - n.d. Walnut Dark (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=dark+oak+texture&hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=bUk3YD2sZdEDVM:&imgrefurl=http://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/lumber/wood-grain-textures/&docid=nE4JxFpBJYrrQM&imgurl=http://images.meredith.com/wood/images/woodgrains/walnut_dark.jpg&w=1090&h=1500&ei=pvVMT4nFGYeg8gOX36ThAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=749&vpy=146&dur=3714&hovh=263&hovw=191&tx=66&ty=130&sig=101451376801698897487&page=1&tbnh=124&tbnw=86&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0[Accessed 17th February 2012].


Wood Material - n.d. Old Wood Texture With Old Wood (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=old+wood+texture&hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1120&bih=615&tbm=isch&tbnid=kqXM_aD3wzI8nM:&imgrefurl=http://wood-guides.blogspot.com/2011/06/old-wood-texture-with_19.html&docid=5ULzoCy20hnpTM&imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizK62GlpUBa7h2XsFuvGdCv8Q3vN0xwLldpVdpZBx1JBN7LSZkI0pmwpBj68bIn9tNs2PDezI26YfHbpubLRTv8l4XsX7lZ_XDnMGS05VRrZfnuVZJ7KTjIEP8l3QmKBYoay7DQ2icTqA/s400/tileable_old_wood_texture.jpg&w=400&h=400&ei=-vZMT9afHIOn0QXl5YWeBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=107&vpy=253&dur=1612&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=119&ty=95&sig=101451376801698897487&page=2&tbnh=137&tbnw=142&start=18&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:18 [Accessed 17th February 2012]. I couldn't find original image looked like it was deleted so I tried to find as close as match as I could.


Oak Base Material - n.d. Old Bark Wood Texture (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=old+oak+texture&um=1&hl=en&sa=X&biw=667&bih=615&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=nSDp34WH9vUGjM:&imgrefurl=http://texture-city.com/categories/wood/&docid=1sKp-oIAt1RLbM&imgurl=http://texture-city.com/images/wood/Old%252520Bark%252520Wooden%252520texture.jpg&w=1944&h=1296&ei=jPhMT57cI4nb0QXY-IQ4&zoom=1 [Accessed 17th February 2012].


Light Wood Material - n.d. Wooden Wall With Nice Texture (google images), [electronic image] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=old+light+wood+texture&um=1&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=643&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=GhLpAiBJ6dE7iM:&imgrefurl=http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php%3Fpicture%3Dwood-texture%26image%3D1282%26large%3D1&docid=kddAvW-SKv-VBM&imgurl=http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/10000/velka/1-12232382946oAf.jpg&w=1280&h=853&ei=hflMT4vIEOml0QWG3JieBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=587&vpy=348&dur=2796&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=157&ty=130&sig=101451376801698897487&page=2&tbnh=140&tbnw=187&start=21&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:21 [Accessed 17th February 2012].

Giant Crossbow Final Design

For this post I am going to comment on my first final design which is Leonardo Da Vinci's Giant Crossbow. Now for this I firstly wanted to create the basic outline of the shape, which was achieved by using basic standard primative shapes (such as boxes, cylinders, planes and cones). So I started with the body which where all boxes, which needed to be thin then some needed to be rotated because the crossbow is at an angle, which didn't prove too difficult. Once the body was created (I had foundations to work on) I then decided to create the wheels that go around the edge, which I first thought was going to be simple, but I was so wrong. I created the first wheel using a cylinder and making sure that it had enough equal sides for me to delete the faces so it looked more like a wheel, however there where gaps inside the wheel so I needed to use the 'create' tool to create more faces. Once I done one wheel I copied the other wheel as 'instances' so that there were three on each side. Next I done the support for the wheels which was a simple box just 'extruded' outwards around the edge, the other side was just an instance of the first. Then came the arrow which wasn't too difficult, it was just a cylinder with the vertices at the back pulled inwards to make a sort of flight like on arrows, then it needed to be rotated to fit the body, then the cone was just simply put on the arrow. For the turning wheel I used a wheel I had already created to make a copy, I then 'beveled' out some of the sides to make sort of pointy bits to show a turning wheel. The rope was just a cylinder with a 'bend' modifier used, I had to make sure the pivot point was in the middle of the object and bent the object round to make rope for the arrow. Next was the crossbow tip which again was a box 'extruded' out and then bent with the 'bend' modifier which by this point the crossbow was coming together and looked very realistic, just one final touch was needed before materials where added. This was the hole that runs through the middle of the body, which was created using a very long but very thing box and changing the vertices slightly, from there I had to use the 'Pro Boolean' tool to cut the shape I created into the body, from there I made small mechanisms to fit in the hole to complete the crossbow.


Once I was happy with what I had created I needed to add materials to the object to make it complete. For this I used different textures that I found on online resources and used these as images in my material editor. From there I used some textures as I found them, other's I used the 'bump' tool to add more detail, and for other's I needed to use the UVW Mapping modifier, because some textures were a bit fuzzy but they all came out clear in the end with some fine tuning. Lastly to fit the mood I created a plane for the crossbow to sit on which was a simple brick work texture.

This is a screenshot of the crossbow's final design with materials added.

This is a screenshot example of some of the materials used on the Giant Crossbow.

And here is the final render of the Giant Crossbow I Have created. (Leonardo Eat Your Heart Out!)

Material and Lighting

This post is going to comment on material and lighting techniques. For this post I have decided to create a simple plane for a base, then use a already made teapot and a sphere. Then with this objects I added some simple materials (colours) for this exercise to show how it works. Once I done this I then added a light, which is a spotlight, a spotlight is good to use because you can angle the light in any direction you want.

This shows the objects created and the direction of the spotlight that has been created

From here you can see that there is some very basic colours to the objects and the light is pointing towards the objects, but you wont see any light until you render your objects.

Which this is what it will look like

However I must say that to make realistic objects that work well with light, would need more fine tuning, which this exercise has not had.

Leaf's A Falling

This next post is going to comment on the material effect again but using an image and editing in Photoshop and making the image looking very much realistic.

This is the original Leaf Image

With this original leaf image we were asked to edit the image in Photoshop so that the background was black and the leaf was white.

This is the leaf image converted

Then with this image you need to create a plane from the standard primatives shapes, then use the material editor and use the image you have converted to create a leaf. I done this and went a bit further and decided to add more leafs and use soft selection to make the leaves more realistic.

This is the final render of the created leaves 

Materials

This post is going to be about materials. This topic I found interesting however it was a bit of trail and error, however after a few attempts I managed to have a piece of wood that looked sort of realistic. The first step was to create a box that would transform into a piece of wood. Then came the clever part, 3D's Max has a material editor built into the software and was tricky to use to begin with but became clear once I got my head around it.

This is the box with the wood material added

As you can see the material editor can look a bit confusing, but all that has happened is I have chosen the diffuse option to add a bitmaped image (which is the material), then I decided to add some bump which involved dragging the image to the bump option and adding as much bump as you desire. Furthermore I went a step further and in to modifier menu under UVW Mapping I changed some options for example the mapping to box as the object is a box.

Here is the finished render of the piece of wood with the bump effect

Final Assignment Idea

I have now decided what I am going to model for my assignment, which is going to be Leonardo Da Vinci's giant crossbow, a 15th centuary style tower and a catapult. Looking forward to modelling each object and can't wait to see it all come together later on.

Inventions Research

This blog post is going to be about Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions.

This is The Giant Crossbow

This is the Eight Barrelled Machine Gun

This is the Armoured Car / Tank Invention

This is the Parachute Invention

Storming Walls Invention

Flying Machine Invention

Catapult Invention

References:

n.d. Leonardo da Vinci Giant Crossbow, [electronic image] Available at: http://www.redstoneprojects.com/trebuchetstore/davincicrossbow.html [Accessed 2nd February 2012].


n.d. Machine Gun by Leonardo Da Vinci, [electronic image] Available at: http://www.davincibio.org/machinegun.jsp [Accessed 2nd February 2012].


Iddo, 5th February 2010. Leonardo Da Vinci's Resume, [electronic image] Available at: http://bytesizebio.net/index.php/page/13/ [Accessed 2nd February 2012].


n.d. Leonardo Da Vinci Parachute Drawing, [electronic image] Available at:
http://inventors.about.com/od/dstartinventors/ig/Inventions-of-Leonardo-DaVinci/Leornardo-Da-Vinci-Parachute.htm [Accessed 2nd February 2012].

n.d. Machine for Storming Walls, [electronic image] Available at:
http://inventors.about.com/od/dstartinventors/ig/Inventions-of-Leonardo-DaVinci/Machine-for-Storming-Walls.htm [Accessed 2nd February 2012].

n.d. History of Flight. A Look At The History of Flight, [electronic image] Available at:
http://www.learning-to-fly.com/history-of-flight.html [Accessed 2nd February 2012].

n.d. The Discovery Channel's "Doing Da Vinci", [electronic image] Available at:
http://www.sterlingmachinery.com/discovery-channel-doing-da-vinci.php [Accessed 7th February 2012].

I am thinking of either modelling the giant crossbow or the flying machine.