Minutes Meeting 9

Members:

Joseph

Michael

Troy

This week we had a brief discussion about everything that we have done this past week and looked at all the things that are left to do. Michael is just running through all of the animation files making sure that all the cameras and lights match up to each other.

The curtains that were imported into the animation last week don’t work so Troy decided to create a set of curtains that will be used for the last part of the animation.

Once the curtains are done Joe and Michael can then put the curtains into the final section of the animation and then render it.

Once Michael has matched the cameras and lights up the scenes will then be ready to render.

Joe is going to gather a few background tracks that we may be able to use for our animation video.

Week 6 Summary

This week I did a lot of little things to add finer detail to the animation files created last week. I added a number of items that needed putting in, including the toilet signs, projector, whiteboard and various pictures and also some wall textures such as plaster. I then sorted out the camera making the lens smaller and more zoomed out to allow the camera to take in more detail and not look so zoomed in. I decided not to add any bipeds, instead concentrating on the textures and lighting. With Michaels help we also got some lights into the animation, these just needs to be tweaked a little to make sure the shadows are cast properly. I also had to re-animate some of the files to make sure that all of the lights remained in the same place and also helped when putting the objects in.

Minutes Meeting 8

Members:

Joseph

Michael

Troy

This week we each showed our animation paths with the use of the camera and made suggestions where we can each make changes. Joe changed some of the camera movements, speeding up the animation slightly in each animation file knocking off a few seconds. Troy started adding appropriate materials to the walls such as wall plaster. Michael added a daylight effect to the animation to make it seem like daytime in the animation and then showed the rest of the group how to do. Using the same parameters we applied the daylight effect to each animation file. We also compared our animation camera co-ordinates, where one person starts their animation to where one person finishes. This is to match up the animation as close as possible in all of the separate animation files.

We then started working on all of the little bits that need tweaking and adding to our animation. Michael created a new save file and starting adding all of the things that is missing from the animation, including the door signs for the toilets. Troy took the picture frame and added a few of the pictures taken from the website. These will then be placed around the guildhall in the various rooms.

For next week Joe is going to have the entire camera movements completed for his part of the animation, along with the textures, pictures and any other objects placed in the guildhall. Also Joe is going to add one or two bipeds around his part of the animation for example one in the library, one in the kitchen and attempt to place a few lights around the guildhall lighting up the animation.

Troy is going to attempt to add a character mesh to the biped to create a person moving around the guildhall. Troy is also going to finish off any changes to the camera, add the rest of the materials and objects and create a small fire animation to put into the fireplace.

Michael is working on the finer details of the guildhall such as the road and lamps found on the outside of the guildhall. Also Michael is going to finish all of the camera movements around the outside.

Week 5 Summary

This week I have done some editing and animating for the group work first by editing the library and the kitchen making them bigger and also deleting a few things in the library freeing up some space. I then moved on to the camera movements, first mapping out a path each of the group members can take. My path is from the door leading into the library then up through the guildhall to the kitchen. I also did the camera path for the kitchen back into the guildhall which is where the animation will end. This can be edited when we know where the final objects are going to be placed as at the moment the beams, whiteboard and projector are missing. I will also create one or two bipeds and place them around the animation, for example one in the library, one walking around the guildhall. It will give the illusion of life around the guildhall even if they are not realistic models.

Minutes Meeting 7

Members:

Joseph

Michael

Troy

This week we discussed how we are going to split up the animation process between the group members. A plan has been drawn up to show the start and cut-off points for each member of the group. This shows where they are responsible for the camera movements. Michael will be animating from the start of the animation where the camera is rotating around the guildhall to the point of the door leading into the shop. From here Troy will take over and move from the shop to both parts of the museum, leading through the glazed walkway up to the entrance of the library. From this point Joe will take over the camera, moving around the library, then up the stairs into the guildhall, then into the kitchen for a look round. The final part of the animation will involve moving back to the guildhall and looking towards the whiteboard where a projector will be playing. Curtains will then appear either side of the camera to close off the animation. The plans for the animation can be seen below:

Joe also had to resize the objects in the kitchen and the library as they were far too small once placed inside the guildhall. Michael has also been preparing the outside of the guildhall showing the church, road and pub that was created by Troy last week.

For next week we are all going to have the basic frames of the animation complete so that we can sew each of the separate animations together more closely. This will involve the entire camera movements each of us have been assigned. Using the animation images as a guide we are going to create the animation in separate files. These files can then be imported into another file with all of our animations. Michael will be starting the animation from frame 1 – 500, circling the guildhall as it changes from old to new, then into the entrance in front of the shop door. From here Troy will take over from frames 500 – 1000, moving through the shop, and glazed walkway to the door of the library. Next Joe will take over from frames 1000 – 1500, moving round the library then back out and up the stairs, through the guildhall to the kitchen then back to door before the guildhall. The last part of the animation will involve a little camera movement to the centre of the guildhall facing the whiteboard with the projector playing. This part is undecided at the moment in case changes need to be made. Also by having the cut off points at the door hopefully the animation will be easier to put together into one large file, or easier to render as separate files.

Below is a list of objects that have not yet been placed into the guildhall:

·         Pictures

·         Canon

·         Lift button

·         Toilet pics

·         Projector

·         Whiteboard

·         Glazed door

·         Guildhall beams

Week 4 Summary

This week I modelled a few more objects including a door to be used on the inside of the guildhall and a glazed door for the glazed walkway. After completing the layout to the library I realized that I missed off the fireplace, so I went back and modelled it. I also created a few logs by using cylinders and a tree texture. Once completed I then placed it in the library with all of the other objects. Some materials have also been added to the comfy chairs inside the library to look more like leather and a material has been added to the fireplace to look like marble. The table in the kitchen has been moved to fill the gap in the corner between the sink and the fridge.

I have also written up a document regarding some of the tools and modifiers that have been used amongst the group members with examples of where they were used. For example the connect tool has been used in the bookcase, computer chair, etc.

I also created a quick banister pole that Michael will edit and copy to put inside the guildhall.

Modelling and Animating Techniques

Modelling Techniques

Throughout the modelling process amongst the group members we have used a variety of modelling techniques to create not only the objects but also the guildhall. The connect tool has been incredibly useful for creating objects as it allows you to separate a polygon up into multiple polygons. You can also choose the parameters in which you break them up and how many you want to add. This has been particularly useful when creating objects as you can use the connect tool to create a border around the object before editing the main face. For example the bookcase was creating by using the connect tool by first creating the outer edge, then separating up a number of other polygons for the actual shelves. Using this tool ensured that all of the shelves were the same size and same width apart.

The cut tool has also been of some use as well as it allows you to cut from vertices to vertices or line to line. Though not as accurate as the connect tool it has still been of some use mainly on the guildhall itself.

The inset tool has also been a great asset as it can do the same as the connect tool by creating a border around an object. It has also been useful for patterns, such as the pattern on the inside doors.

Apart from using a variety of tools we have also been using a variety of modifiers such as the bend modifier. The bend modifier has been applied to the glazed door and inside door handle. It is simply a cylinder with the bend modifier. It has also been applied to the grate in front of the fireplace, again simply a cylinder with the bend modifier.

The symmetry modifier has also come in handy, particularly for the doors as whatever you do on one side is mirrored on the other. This has helped a lot as we didn’t have to make changes to both sides of the door.

We have also used the unwrap uvw modifier on the actual guildhall to help with material layouts. Materials for the chimney and the steps leading into the guildhall didn’t place well but with the unwrap uvw modifier it unwrapped the structure of the shape so that we could add the map.

We have used a variety of materials either created by us in 3DS max such as the tile mapping for the roof of the guildhall or found by us on the internet to help illustrate the guildhall more. Finding our own wood texture for the different objects for example the bookcase in the library, gives a much more realistic view than the pre-set wood texture provided in 3DS Max.

Animating Techniques

 During our group meeting we discussed a number of animation techniques that we can use in our animation.

The obvious one to start with would be the camera movement, as it slowly moves around the guildhall then into each of the main rooms that have been created.

Another technique that we can use is the lighting and shadows to make the room look more real. As the camera moves around the shadows will change giving the illusion that they are real objects.

We can also use the slice tool that allows us to almost melt from the old version of the guildhall to the new without having to cut between them. These will make the animation flow much more smoothly.

The slice tool could also be used to cut the guildhall so that it can be lifted up and moved as the camera enters the building. This will also make animation much easier as the camera will be very small and fiddly within the guildhall.

When we reach the animating part for the main guildhall room we could make some use of the projector. We could create a small slideshow of pictures of the guildhall. This animating technique could be done through the material editor so that the pictures move from one to another.

We are also toying with the idea to use the reactor tool to create curtains for example. These curtains could be placed on the windows, but we could also use them to finish the animation, so that the curtains close in front of the camera and the animation ends.