Post - Advanced Prototype Presentation.

My advanced prototype presentation went well and the examiners seemed to like the 10 seconds of footage I showed during the presentation. The feedback I received was more advice than anything. The advice was to reuse my fluid effects because once you cache them the output fluid stays the same and can be reused. It was also advised to reduce the brightness and contrast of the animation in Adobe After Effects as the gamma level in Maya produced bright rendered out images so I will take this into account when putting the final trailer together.

Final Animation - Render Quality Changes.

Following on from my test shots and the first 10 seconds of my 3D animation I have had to make some adjustments related to the render quality of the final animation frames. When I rendered out in HD1080 with mental ray set to 1.00 my render time per frame was around the 10 minute mark. However when I rendered out in HD720 with mental ray set to 2.00 my render time per frame was around the 5 minute mark so around half the original render time per frame. As a result of this I have decided to go with HD720 as my render quality just to save time with rendering as I have a lot of frames to render with many of them including nfluid animations. Comprising is worthwhile because I would rather render at HD720 with a completed animation over rendering at HD1080 and have a half completed animation.

Advanced Prototype Show-reel.

The link below is for my advanced prototype show-reel which shows the first 10 seconds of my game trailer for 'Era's Of Conflict' in the form of a 3D animation. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1cZMs0Sj2E

Advanced Prototype Presentation Planning.

Today I put together the PowerPoint presentation for the advanced prototype. At this point I have the first part of the game trailer complete with 12 seconds of footage rendered. I am yet to include sound in this part but I thought it would be more convenient to add in all the sound effects once I have the entire animation rendered.

To sum up my idea is a game trailer in the form of a 3D animation show-reel, I will also include a breakdown of the trailer in the final video. The title of the game in which the trailer is representing is called 'Era's Of Conflict', a first person shooter game. 

Within the presentation I will be talking about if my idea has changed direction, what the prototype footage is showing, how I produced it, my gantt chart and my project completion plan. My idea has not changed direction so it will still be a game trailer representing 'Era's Of Conflict' but the duration of the trailer will be cut to around the 1 minute mark simply because most game trailers are around 1 minute in length. All that needs to be done now is to check over my PowerPoint and the footage I will be showing and then I will be all set for the advanced prototype presentation.

Final Animation Scene - Test Shot - (nfluid fire).

The screenshot below shows a rendered test shot of my animation with one of my nfluid simulations. The simulation is the burning fire for the destroyed tank on the street. It took me a lot of time to get the desired look for the fire and to make sure it was detailed enough in terms of quality to reflect the detail in the overall scene. To start with the simulation kept causing Maya to crash, I then found that I did not cache the simulation using ncache but this was not the problem. The problem was that my base resolution for the nfluid simulation was too high which was causing Maya to crash when I tried to batch render. The highest I could get the resolution was 70, any higher and Maya would crash when I tried to render. For the most part the simulation looks very good and I am happy with the level of detail it has, it also has good shadow casting and is reflecting well in the windows in the building at the end of the street.

The next stage is to add more nfluid simulations including the tank firing, turret explosions and helicopter rockets firing, all will occur throughout the rest of the animation.

Final Animation Scene - Test Shot - (Textured, Lighting, Shadows).

The screenshot below shows my final animation scene with the desired lighting and shadows I wanted with the help of physical sun and sky. I wanted to give a desert ambience and feel to the scene to make it feel more like a war-zone. The lighting effect also gives a sunset feel to the scene which I also like. 

Final Animation Scene - Test Shot - Textured.

So the image below is a test render of the entire scene together completely textured. As you can see everything has come together quite well. The windows on the buildings are reflecting quite nicely. The bump maps on the smaller houses and the tanks have come out very well and show a good level of detail. The next stage is to sort out the physical sun and sky lighting so that the gamma and lighting reflects the scene better to make it more realistic. I will also lower the horizon line in accordance to the camera height because for the sake of the animation I only want the sky visible in the background. I am also going to add some haze to the sky and change the colour contrast to give more of a desert war setting as that is the look that I am after for the final animation.

Tank (3D Model) - Texturing Complete.

Today I finished the texturing for the tank model. Like with the street scene I used the lambert material and then applied image texturing and bump maps to the majority of the tanks armour. The bump map also gives the tank more of a metal feel and I also feel that it makes the model stand out more. I used the blinn material for all the bolts on the tank like the armour plating and hatch bolts. I then used a standard lambert material with a colour for some details of the tank such as the engine grate, hatches and tank track treads.

Street (3D Model) - Texturing Complete.

Today I finished the texturing for the street model. For use I mainly used the lambert material as I applied image texturing and bump maps to the buildings in the scene. For the large building at the back I just used the standard lambert with a colour as my camera will be too far away in the actual scene to see the detail of the building. I also used the standard lambert with a colour for both the pavement and the road as I thought this would suit the scene better rather then the scene be completely image based texturing and bump maps. I also used the standard blinn material with reflection for the windows of all the buildings to add more realism to the scene as well as detail.

Turret (3D Model) - Texturing Complete.

Today I finished the texturing for the turret model. Like with the helicopter model I used mia_material_x. I applied the metal preset for the main body of the turret including the turret barrel. I also used the copper preset for the cables and joints to give more of a rusty metal feel. Again I did not use any UV's or bump-maps as this model will be positioned down the other end of the street scene adjacent to the where my camera will be so you would need be able to see the detail if I applied it to the turret. Taking render time into account again I decided to keep the textures simple using the mia_material_x presets to give a metal look to the turret model.

Helicopter (3D Model) - Texturing Complete.

Today I finished the texturing for the helicopter model. I used mia_material_x for the model, I also applied different presets such as chrome for the rotor blade connectors and the barrel of the under-mounted machine gun. I used the metal preset for the helicopter body and other features such as the weaponry. I used the rubber preset for the wheels and the outside structure of the machine gun. I then applied a blinn to the cockpit and made it transparent to give a see through glass effect to the cockpit windows adding realism. I did not use any UV's or bump-maps for this model as the model will fly over the camera and will not be close enough to see any texture detail if I added any. I took this into account so that it would help keep my render time down considering I will have lots going on in my animation scene.  

Post - Early Prototype Presentation.

Overall my early prototype presentation went according to plan scoring high on the evidence of research section. The examiners seemed happy with the progress I have made so far and I believe I am on course to completing the final project successfully. The feedback I received was good. The success of the final project will strongly depend on the quality of the final animation meaning that I will have to render at a high quality in order to fulfil success of the final project. The other piece of feedback I received was to use bump-maps on my models. Having done this already for the street models and the tank models I believe I have fulfilled this feedback. The only reason I have not used bump-maps for the turret model and the helicopter model is because they will not be close to where the camera is positioned meaning you would not be able to see the bump-map detail anyway. Again with regards to render time this will keep that down because I would have used fewer bump-maps. 

Final Scene - Rendered - Test Shots.

The screenshots below were some test shots of all my models together in one scene to see what they would look like. I also have physical sun and sky in the background to light the scene just to show a more realistic example shot. As you can see the scene looks much more realistic and you can see exactly what I am aiming for in terms of my animation. My next task is to animate the models and then add appropriate nfluid and nparticle effects for explosions and gunfire.

Early Prototype Presentation Planning.

Today I planned and laid out my PowerPoint for my early prototype presentation of my final year project. The areas I planned included the conceptual idea for my 3D animation and what inspired me to conduct this idea e.g. other games and products. I planned the unique selling point of my animation idea so what makes it stand out from other products or animations. I also laid out the skills I will need to complete the project so Maya 2016 for modelling and animation setup as well as After Effects 2016 for compositing and show-reel editing. I covered problems I ran into and the solutions I come up with to address these problems specifically the complexity of my 3D models. I then covered the prototype models I have so far to show where I am at in terms of the project. I then planned my chart and milestones to show what I want to achieve in the timescale I have left to meet the project deadline. 

Early Prototype Show-reel.

The link below is for my early prototype show-reel which shows my models in turntable still shots as well as my street scene which will set the scene for my animation. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUqsuCQFWcg

Street (3D Model) Rendered - No Texture - Test Shots.

The screenshots below were render shots that I tested on the street model using mental ray at high quality as well as using physical sun and sky to light the model. It came out quite well considering I included different types of houses for the model just to give more variety and not make it a boring street model. As this will have no animation and will be a static model it makes for a great scene setter for my other models. I have also kept the model relatively small in scale because when I position my camera at the right angle for animation you will only be able to see down the street so for the purpose of render time I kept the scale quite small.

Turret (3D Model) Rendered - No Texture - Test Shots.

The screenshots below were render shots that I tested on the turret model using mental ray at high quality as well as using physical sun and sky to light the model. Again like with the other models the detail really stood out with the lighting and I am happy with the results. Once I have textured this model it will look much more detailed and realistic which will also be good for when I come to animating the model.

Tank (3D Model) Rendered - No Texture - Test Shots.

The screenshots below were render shots that I tested on the tank model using mental ray at high quality as well as using physical sun and sky to light the model. As you can see the detail on the tank really comes through especially with the model lighted slightly. Again as with the helicopter once the tank is textured it will look much more detailed and realistic but I am happy with the results so far.

Helicopter (3D Model) Rendered - No Texture - Test Shots.

The screenshots below were render shots that I tested on the helicopter model using mental ray at high quality as well as using physical sun and sky to light the model. The results were were very good, the detail on the helicopter stood out well. When I come to render the textured model in the animated scene it should look very detailed and realistic.

Street (3D Model) Final - No Texture.

The screenshots below show the finished street model both in wireframe and smooth mode. As you can see I have added the additional house models to the scene and positioned them to make it look like your typical street with different buildings. Although this model will be static in the animation and I have kept the detail to a minimum the street as a whole looks quite detailed. It will also add another level to the animation as a whole.

Street (3D Model) In Progress.

The screenshot below shows the progress I have made with the street model. As you can see I have the base layout of the street done with some houses. The two house models in the screenshot are a two story house and a bungalow with a garage. I have yet to model two more house models to complete the street but so far it looks good. You can start to see how the scene will be set with the camera positioned in the middle of the street at one end to capture all the animation action with regards to my other models.

Street (3D Model) Start.

Today I began modelling the street for my animation. This model will be static with no animation and will set the scene for my other models that will animate. For instance the turrets positioned at one end of the street, the tanks moving through it and the helicopter flying over the top. With this model I kept the detail quite low in terms of the poly count to take into account render time, the fact that it will not have animation and the render time it will take for my other models because of the detail they have. I will include a variety of house models for the street as the same house model throughout would like too boring and less appealing.

Tank (3D Model) Final - No Texture.

The screenshots below show the final tank model asset with no textures in wireframe and smooth mode. As you can see the model has progressed from my last post with little details added to the main body of the tank such as the coaxial machine gun and engine grate. I have also rigged the tank tracks using a Maya plugin called MASH so that they animate perfectly when I playblast test the model. The tank is now ready to animate, all that is left to do is texturing.

Tank (3D Model) In Progress.

The screenshot below shows the progress that I have made so far on the tank 3D model. I have already modelled the tank turret which only leaves the tank body and tracks to do. I have also positioned the rotate axis correctly so that the turret will rotate perfectly when it comes to animating the tank. I have also added detail to the turret such as the hatches and the spare tank tracks on the side.

Tank (3D Model) Start.

Today I started modelling a Tiger tank for my final project using Maya 2016. This will have the most parts to animate which includes the turret, turret barrel, machine gun and the tank tracks. This is a complex model so like with the helicopter will take some time to model with a high level of detail. I will incorporate a high level of detail like with the helicopter to bring it to life.

Helicopter (3D Model) Final - No Texture.

The screenshots below show the final helicopter model asset without textures in both wireframe and smooth mode. As you can see this model has a very high level of detail and a lot of features representing a close to real life helicopter. In terms of the next stage I will texture this model to bring it to life and then work on the animating features so that the model is ready to be implemented into my final scene.

Helicopter (3D Model) In Progress.

The screenshot below shows the progress that I have made so far on the helicopter 3D model. As you can see I have already achieved the main shape of the helicopter but detail like the rockets, rotors and wheels are still yet to be added. So far I am happy with the progress I have made and am on course to achieve a highly detailed model.