Semester 2 Week 4 3D

Floating City Progress (Friday the 23rd Meeting)

We've had a shuffle up this week. Our group numbers have increased, and Kae is now a part of our team. I'm not totally convinced this is the best idea, but we can use the extra work for getting the more monotonous stuff out of the way. We originally planned to have a bunch of models done for today, but the work wasn't really done. I had a clock model mostly done (Which was my task), aside from a few textures and details, but otherwise Sinead had a few details for Prague's castle, and Matthias had a basic Golem model mostly done.

We decided to plan out what we wanted to make better. We needed a clearer idea of what was necessary for each region of the city, and also the overall design of the project, so we decided that for Monday next week we would have blueprints of the regions of the city. They'll be simplified from reality, but will represent each region as well as possible. This will give us an idea of what is required for each region, and will let us make a to-do list of 3D models to make. 

We also gave ourselves deadlines for the project. Basically, every week we'll have a major task for the project to complete. Next week we have to finish the 3D models, the week after we'll need the Animation and maybe the lighting done, and for the last week we'll have to render, edit, and add factoids to the video.

I think this is a good schedule, but it's a different question of whether or not the schedeule will be followed. I hope people keep up, but I don't know if that will happen.

We decided to go with the idea of the gears breaking out of the Prague Astronomical Clock, and each gear having a region of the city on it.

In terms of research and development this week, I'll be looking at the design of a clock and the gears inside. I'll be mapping out how each region will appear, and just generally how the gears and the clock will look. I'll see if I can find a diagram of the clock to reference. I'll also look at whether or not stylising the gears/clock is feasible.

I'll be doing an extra blog next week on monday.

Feb 23rd Class

We talked about different renders and lighting effects this week. Arnold, Maya Hardware, Maya Software, Arnold, Renderman, and Redshift.  Maya Hardware is the faster one, but it doesn't look as nice and it's a bit basic.

Arnold is the one used in a lot of modern films, and it works slower but gets a better image at the end.

We went over a bunch of the Maya Render Settings as well.

Maya software doesn't allow the smooth display of a cube to be rendered, so it has to be properly smoothed with the tool.