Unit 62

P1 - Modelling Process

MODELLING PROCESS
1. Polygon		Polygons are basic shapes (like cubes and sphere) that are provided in MAYA. Users can spawn one o these shapes and then morph it into what ever they want. For example, Polygons were used to make a 3D model of Michael’s house in GTA 5.
2. Extruding		Extruding is the process or stretching, extruding and screwing a shape. It can used to turn a cube into a cuboid or a box into a hand. This is done by selecting an area on the shape and extending it outwards to transform it to your will.
3. Faces & Edges		You can edit the face and/or edge of a shape in MAYA by holding right-click and hovering over the word “Face” or “Edge”. This will allow you to only select the type of edge that you’ve selected. This is an extremely useful tool in MAYA as it gives you a lot more freedom when it comes to changing polygons. For example, you could select an edge on a cube and extend it outwards without moving any other part of the polygon.
ANIMATION /MOTION GENERATION
1. Keyframes	These are used in MAYA to animate movement in shapes. It is used by pressing S to create a keyframe, then moving the object to the desired location and then pressing S again. MAYA will then animate the movement between the two locations. This could be used to animate a person running or a light moving across the horizon.
2. Lighting	They lighting in MAYA is crucial. There are different types of lighting in MAYA like Spot Lights, Directional Lights, Area Lights, Volume Lights and Ambient Lights. Each of these lights works in different ways and has their own advantages. You have to use lighting in order to see your creation and bring to life; especially if you’re making a game of film.
3. Camera	The camera in MAYA is used to record animation. You do this by creating a virtual camera and deciding where it’s going to face and where it’s going to move. You can set the camera to follow a path. For example, you want to record a person running then you could have the camera move alongside them as they run. This could also be used to record a point of view (POV) shot of someone.

INTENDED APPLICATION
1. Film - Avatar	In the 2009 film Avatar, motion capture was used to create the avatars. They did this by using a motion capture suit that was worn by all the actors. This suit would register all their movements and they could then use that movement to create the avatars. There is also a special helmet that they have to wear. This helmet has a camera that extends outwards and faces them. On their face, they have dots that have been painted on. These things help the animators create all the facial expression and movements of the characters.
2. Games – For Honor	The game For Honor used MAYA to animate the destruction of the landscape as well as how the characters react to it. They did this by using a combination of motion capture and polygons. The motion capture was used to animate the soldiers falling over as they ground shook and polygons were used to create the landscape and how they moved.
3. TV Show – Star Wars The Clones Wars (Darth Maul)	The Star Wars series called The Clone Wars used MAYA to create all the character and landscapes. One of the characters named Darth Maul was a key moment in the series. Darth Maul was first draw out in concept art with references to the move Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. After this, they created him in MAYA using polygons and the extruding tool. The movement was captured using the aforementioned keyframes and cameras.

P2 - Presentation 

P3 – Evidence

Floor Plan

This is my floor plan for my bar. I drew out my initial ideas on paper before modelling and used the measurements I made to create a box. Within the box I began making doors, steps windows and more by extruding a cutting the box in various ways. Some of the things within the floor plan that looks attached was actually created separately and then placed in my project. I need this so that I had full freedom with my creations. Once I was happy with the shape of my design, I textured them by selecting individual faces and applying a texture with the colour scheme on Maya or by importing a picture from Google.

Prop 1

These are the chairs I placed around the table in my champagne bar. I made it buy using a cube to work as the base and chair. I then used the extrude tool to bring the back and arms of the chair and then the cushion and legs. Using the multi-cut tool, scale tool and move tool, I was able to smooth our edges as well as create a slight imprint on the back of the chair to show that it has been well used.

Prop 2

 

This is a bottle that I have placed in multiple areas around the champagne bar. Making this was actually quite simple. I created a cylinder and using the multi-cut tool and the scale tool, I was able to shape the bottle. I wanted to add detail to the shape to I decided to create a curve around the base instead of leaving it as a right-angle. I used similar methods to create the cork that’s in the bottle. When I was happy with it, I textured it used the same method as my windows (see How-To Guild).

Prop 3

 

My third prop is my gun. The gun is held by the player who is walking around the champagne bar. I actually made this out of a cube and I didn’t have to add any extra polygons. Using the move tool, rotate tool, scale tool, multi-cut tool, and extrude tool I was able to stretch and elongate curtain part of the shape to create a gun. Once I was happy with the shape, I used google to get a texture of steal and the grip of the gun. To apply them I used the same method as my floor plan. I selected curtain faces of the gun and applied the texture to them.

Textured Prop

 

One of my many texture Items was my VIP table that was placed tin the centre of the VIP area. To texture it I went to google to find a high quality, large picture of a light wood and dark wood texture. I then selected the individual faces that I wanted to texture i.e. I selected the top when I applied the light wood and then I selected the bottom when I applied the dark wood. I then imported my desired texture but there was a problem. Because there were so many faces, the texture did fit very well. To fix this, I selected every face and went to UV>Automatic. This runs a program within MAYA that finds the best way to fit the textures on the object.

During the modelling and animation a realised some aspects of my plan that I had to change. for example, my initial plan was to have the player get attacked by a robot. However, while I was animating, I realised that this would take far too long. So resolve this, I change the attacker from a robot to a mysterious grenade thrower.This was the only part of my plan that I had to change, my main layout and the contents of the champagne bar.

P4 - Final Video

Click to view video

P5 - How to Guide

1)   Building my room

(Note to self: bullets points/lists NOT PARAGRAPHS and add pictures)

·      After Opening MAYA, look at the dropdown menu in the top-left corner and set it to “Modelling”/

·      Then, go to Maya>Preferences>Settings and set the Working Units to Meter.

 

·      Along the same tab as “MAYA” it will also say “Polygons”. Click that, then “Primitive Polygons” and find where it says “Cube”. Next to the word “Cube” there will be a small square for you to click.

 

·      Once you’ve clicked the square, you can input your measurements and click “Create” to make your room.

·      Before you start designing, you need to go to Mesh Display>Reverse.

·      Finally, go to Display>Polygons>Backface culling.

2)   Prop 1 - Bottle

·      To make a bottle, you need to make a cylinder by clicking the cylinder icon on the ‘Polygons’ tab or by going to Create>Polygon Primitives>Cube.

·      Next, you the scale tool by clicking ‘R’. You can use this too stretch the cylinder as long as you want.

 

·      Once is tall enough, use the Multi-cut tool, (the scalpel on the ‘Polygon’ tab), to cut around the cylinder.

·      Hold Alt and hover the multi-cut over the vertical lines and click. This will make a line all the way around the cylinder.

·      Finally, you need to select the line by holding right-click and selecting ‘Edge’ and then double clicking the horizontal lines. Once you’ve selected them, you can use the scale tool (R) to shape the bottle. Create as many lines as you need.

       

3)   Prop 2 - Table

·      To make a table you will need to create a cube by pressing the cube icon on the polygons tab or by going to Create> Polygon Primitives>Cube

·      Next, you need to scale it by clicking the scale tool or ‘R’ and scale the cube into the table-top

·      Now, to make the legs, you the Multi-cut tool by clicking the scalpel tool in the polygons tab

4)   Window

·      Making a basic window it pretty simple. First, create a cube by clicking the cube icon on the ’Polygons’ tab or by going to Create>Polygon Primitives>cube.

·      Then you need to shape the cube into the window. You can do this by using the scale tool on the tab on the left or by pressing ‘R’.

·      You now need to make the polygon see-through. To do this, select the polygon>hold right-click and go to ‘Assign New Material’.

·      This will bring up a menu setting for the new material. I recommend Blinn as this would add a small amount of reflection of the window if you add any lights.

·      After selecting you setting, the attribute editor should open. You can use the menu to select the colour of the glass and how see-though the window is. You can do this by change the colour on the ‘Color’ tab and moving the slider where it says ‘Transparency’.

     

5)   Lights

·      The first thing to do when you adding lights is to enable lights. You can do this by clicking the small bulb icon.

·      You can now start adding lights. To do this go to Create>Light and select which every light you would want use.

·      For this example, I am using the Spot Light. When you select which light you would like. You can use the basic tools on the left of your screen to move and rotate the light (Note, scale the light won’t change how much the light illuminates).

 

·      When you create a light, a menu will open up on the right side of your screen. You can use this menu you change the colour of your light, the intensity of the light and many more settings.

 

6)   Texturing

·      The first thing you need to do when adding texture to your project is to enable textures. You can do this by clicking the small chequered symbol

·      To texture an object, select the object, hold right-click and go to ‘Assign New Material’

·      This will bring up a menu of different material settings. The three you need to choose from are Blinn, Lambert and Anisotropic. The setting interacts with the light different so experiments to find which one you want.

·      For this example, I am choosing Lambert. Once you have selected a setting, the attribute editor will open. You can use this menu to change the colour of your texture and a lot of other settings.

·      If you want to use a picture you’ve got as a texture then you need click the chequered square next the slider for Colour.

·      This will bring up a new menu where you can click the folder icon to import your image.

·      You should be able to see your texture now but if the picture you’ve selected doesn’t fit the object very well then you can go to UV>Automatic.