YMCA Project - External Building (continued)

I have now added the sky. I created the sky in Photoshop. I stated withe A black backgorud and then added small white dots for the stars. I used the noise filter to change the effect of the dots to make them look like small stars in the distance.



I also added the YMCA logo on the side of the main building, so people can see the name of the building from the side.



I added 2 bins one either side. People are always carrying rubbish, and they may want to sit on the bench and eat.

YMCA Project - External Building (continued)

I have have changed the external building, instead of have trees in front of the wall, I have put 2 benches in front. I thought if people want to get some air or need to come out, then they have got somewhere to sit.

The outside lights have also changed, to give a more spot light effect.

YMCA Project - Storyboard

Below is the storyboard, of what we are aiming to do.

The group presented this to the tutor and the class. I wasn't in that day as I was ill.

YMCA Project - External Building

I have now designed the external building.

I designed this by using basic objects like, box, prisim, planes.
I used boolean to create the see through affect, so you can see into the building. I created the windows from lines and created a plane and gave this a glass material (glass window pane). I used the same material for the door. I first created the door from a box and then added a plane for the glass pane. I created the handles by using the tube object.

As a group we decided to make the objects, characters cartoony and so I decided to keep the materials on the building very plain.

The environment for the animation will be set at night (disco) and so it is important to get the lighting right. I have put in the lighting effects, however we my need to change it, when it comes to animating the characters outside the building. This is one reason why the YMCA logo is bright, we decided to create the look of the logo glowing.

YMCA - Separate task

Just a quick update. The group have come to a decision to split the project and give everyone a small part of the project.
The tasks:

• Design the band
• Design the internal YMCA building
• Design the Characters
• Design the external YMCA building. (Me)

Face Modelling - Eye

Creating the Eyes

This caused a lot of problems as when I first created the eyes in the model I found that the front view was fine but as I rotated the model, the eyes were not visible.

The eye mesh was not right, so I had to fix this. I created a sphere for the eye ball (white) and positioned it in the correct place. I then pulled out the eye socket vertices around the eye ball. This solved the problem with the eye. I created the pupils by using the same sphere and changing thee hemisphere.

I have created a small animation to show the whole model.

Face Modelling - Ear

Ear Creation

Creating the ear was a challenge. I was difficult to position it in the correct place

Face Modelling - Back of the head

Primitive extension for the back of the head


Putting the back of the head onto the model was ok.
I had to go back to the reference topology images (Photoshop) and draw on the topology lines for the back of the head.

Once the lines had been drawn on, I then used the lines to create the head in 3D Studio Max. I created a sphere and rotated it. I also removed the extra polygons, using the ‘paint marquee’ tool.

Face Modelling - The Nose

Refining Model (the nose)

In this step a modelled the nose.
This was difficult as the nose wasn’t modelled right in the beginning and so I had to redo the nose. I redid the nose by creating new faces to replace the old ones, this took a long time. Once the nose was right, I then had to shape the outside nostril; again this was difficult as it was very difficult to see which vertex to pull in/out. Once I got the outside shape, I created the actual nostril and extruding it up.

I used the same method above to create the lips.

Face Modelling - Symmetry

Using Symmetry and Sub – division

This step wasn’t a huge problem.

I had to apply a symmetry modifier. I selected the original face. (the face model I have been working with) and then in the modify panel selected Symmetry, this created the symmetry, but the face was squashed into the centre.

I had several options, I used the ‘Flip’ option and selected ‘x’, to flatten it out.


Within the Symmetry modifier, I selected ‘Mirror’; this allowed me to move the mirrored object, so that it was sitting in the middle of the face.

There are many different modifiers I could have used for this method, but using the symmetry method meant that whatever changes I made to the original side, also changed on the other side.

I also used the ‘turbosmooth’ modifier, this gives the model more of a 3D look and the model also looks very smooth.

This is the first time I have seen the whole of my face modelled in 3D.

Face Modelling - The Head

Using Splines to model a head

Once the reference plates were set I then had to create a mesh.I did this by drawing all the topology lines. When I selected the line tool I set the Creation method ‘Initial & Drag’ options to ‘Corner’ this will create hard corners. Draw on the lines, Click ‘Yes’ to close the Spline.

After I drew all the lines, I had to attach them all. I selected the first quad and converted in to an editable poly, within that modifier I attached all the other lines, and this created a mesh.

Once creating the mesh I had to edit it, as there were gaps in the mesh. I did this by selecting the object then clicking the editable poly modifier. Within this clicked on vertex and the edit vertices, in this panel I used the option weld. This fixed all of the problems in the mesh.

Once the mesh was sorted I had to start the actual modelling process. Before starting this I had to make sure both images were lined up, I had frozen the images before this meant that I couldn’t select the images and move them.

This process included moving all of the lines across as the mesh/surface is flat. I first had to select the first row of lines starting from the right and make this a straight clean line. In the edit poly modifier I used the make planar option; I used the ‘x’ axis. Once I had the straight line, I selected it and using the left viewport I dragged it across to the end of the face.

Face Modelling - 3D Reference Plates

Building of 3D Reference Plates

Once I had set up everything in Photoshop, I had to transfer the images to 3D studio max.Before transferring the images, I had set up the reference planes. The planes were going to hold the front view image. This step wasn’t difficult, I was given certain measurements and guidelines to use such as making sure the plane had 1 segment and positioning the plane towards the back. Once the plane was set, the images could be transferred.

The images were basically a material, so I had to use the material editor. I had to make sure that the ‘Illumination color’ was set to 100; this allowed me to view the images in different angles without it going dark. When I put the image on, it viewed properly but all the guidelines were broken, this was easy to fix by configuring the driver to show the actual image.

Once the material was on, I had to modify it using the ‘UVW map’ modifier, within this I selected ‘Gizmo’ this gave me some options to make sure the image fit properly in the plane, and that I could only see the front view, as the image contained both front and profile view.

I had to repeat the same step, to create and view the same image. To make it easier, all I had to do was copy the same pane/image. This was done by rotating the plane/image, holding ‘Shift’ on the keyboard at the same time and use one of the axis to rotate the plane/image 90 degrees.

I had to modify this image to make it face the right way, I used the ‘UVW map’ modifier’, selected Gizmo and used the flip option. I also had to make some adjustments to which image was displayed, so again using the same modifier I drag the image across to view the profile. I had to change the plane measurements to make the whole image fit.



During the whole modelling process I found it was a good idea to freeze the images, this was because I had lined them up, and I didn’t want to accidently move them out of line.

Face Modelling - Topology Lines

Defining Topology lines on Reference Images

The next step was to break the face up into key areas. Still working in Photoshop, I used a small blue brush to make rough lines of any wrinkles, large creases or protrusion.The blue lines act as guidelines for when breaking the face into key areas, this is known as topology.

The next step was to break the face up into key areas. Still working in Photoshop, I used a small blue brush to make rough lines of any wrinkles, large creases or protrusion.The blue lines act as guidelines for when breaking the face into key areas, this is known as topology.

Face Modelling - Reference setup

Preparing photos to use as reference plates

Since we are modelling our own faces, I had to get two photos, one of the front and profile view.

I used Photoshop to remove distortions and to correct the camera lens distortion to create a flat representation, by adjusting the vertical and horizontal views. This step is very important.To make sure that I had lined up all the features from both images, the rulers were turned on as a guide.

Face Modelling - Introduction

Introduction

For this module we have been asked to create a 3D model of our face.

We first watched the first 2 videos on how to start the face modelling process.

Link to videos http://cg-india.com/tutorials/3dsmax_tutorials_organic_modeling.html

YMCA Project

When I first read the brief I thought wow this is going to be interesting. I will have to work in groups. I have worked in groups before within my course, and find that I work quite well. This project will give me chance to use some of the skills I have got and learn some new ones. I will also be able to improve skills that I have got.



We went to visit the YMCA in Chelmsford, and I found that it is a very interesting youth club. They cater for all ages, from babies to 18+. They have a variety of activities going on everyday.



Our group have decided to promote the 'Y Club', which is a disco session - DJ's, Hip-Hop nights. This session is open for all youngsters between the ages of 8 - 13 and is run on Friday nights from 7.30 - 10.30.

At the moment this project has come to a halt, as the group has decided to concentrate on the face work. Once we have handed that in, we will pick it up again.