I'm working on my previous ball bounce by adding onto it and putting in a scene and actually rendering it. Started making my room and adjusted key frames/the path of the ball using the graph editor.
I continued today and added lighting/some textures, but turned it off for now so I can keep going without it being distracting. I started making the ball hit the wall and change direction as well as squashing and stretch it to make it look more realistic.
I finished video 3, where I learned how to adjust preferences in Maya, went through video 4, where I learned how to use the Attribute Spread Sheet which allowed me to quickly edit multiple things and their attributes at once. In video 5, I created a custom shelf in Maya that allows me to access certain parts of Maya that I feel I need faster than going through menus and without using keyboard shortcuts.
I realized a whole bunch of my camera animation posts were still drafts so I'll start posting them but this was from videos 4 & 5, where I learned how to follow an animation with a camera
Started the new course to Increase Productivity in Maya, and got through the first two videos (in the middle of the third), and learned how to use camera bookmarks to cut down time and work.
I attempted to start the Studio Lighting tutorial in Maya but got stopped in the beginning of the second video because there was no option to turn on color management since the tutorial is in a different version of Maya.
Completed lesson 14 where I learned how to use gobos in Maya and create shapes/shadows in light to look like objects blocking light. In lesson 15 I learned how to create volumetric light fog in Maya adjusting various attribute settings to create god rays and fog to heighten the mood of a scene. In lesson 16, I created light glows and lens flares in Maya while in render view. Finished lesson 17, where I learned how to control reflection and refraction depth in Maya by adjusting render settings, hypershading, and raytrace shadow attributes.
I finished video 11 where I learned how to make sure certain things don't show up in the render like a model or it's shadow or reflection. In video 12, I learned how to simulate illuminated light in Maya by putting a point light inside the light bulb and making it illuminate to give it the appearance of giving off light. In video 13, I learned about light and shadow linking in Maya, and how in light linking there are different settings (object/light centric) and how in order for shadow linking to work correctly you have to use the render settings and adjust them based on whether you're using mental ray or Maya software.
Currently on video 11, just finished going into render stats to turn off shadows for the orange shape/model and the sphere inside. In video 7 I adjusted the barn door feature for the spotlight, in video 8 I worked with the ambient lights in Maya and learned how they affects models and textures. Video 9 & 10 were over the two different kinds of shading/shadow attributes- depth map & ray trace, and I learned the pros and cons of both and how they generally work.
Finished video 3 where I used point lights and adjusted their intensities, and how they emitted diffusion/specular. In video 4 the spot light was introduced, and I learned essential attributes of Maya spot lights such as the cone angle, penumbra angle, and dropoff. Video 5 was over methods for easily aiming the spot light in Maya, using things like looking through the selected light through the panels to more easily adjust the position of the light. I just finished video 6 which was over using the show manipulator tool in Maya to further adjust the spotlight.
Started the intro to lighting in Maya today and got to video 3 but I had to reload all of the textures and then Maya crashed so the above is not textured but with a point light
Yesterday I started working on the materials and shading on the ship to make the model appear more realistic. I just finished video/lesson 35, where I used ramps to drive material channels, specifically using incandescence to make parts of the pipe glow from exhaust, and crater/fractal materials to certain faces of the model . Before this, on video 34, I was introduced to the hypershade window where I began applying and manipulating simple materials. The property and attribute editors have been important to adjust and create the materials/effects.
These screenshots are from videos/lessons 20 & 22. After creating the canopy and extruding the thruster compartment (which involved a lot of the multi-cut tool, editing mesh, and extruding) I started and finished the front guard which required many of the tools I had used previously, especially multi-cut, editing mesh, and the extrude, move, and scale tools. Currently I am on video 22, where I am in the process of modeling pieces between the wings by duplicating faces, extruding them, and adjusting vertices/edges to form the pieces in between the wings.
This is my first summary over the Introduction to Maya project, and the screenshots are from videos/lessons 17 & 18, where after beginning to create the base shape of the ship, I extruded up the top section and created the canopy. This mainly involved the use of symmetry, the extrude tool, the multi-cut tool, scale tool, and move tool. Previously, I had created the basic body shape for the ship using the scale tool to match the model to the reference photo and extruded out the wings as well as cutting out specific parts to match the reference, using the target weld and bridge tools to make the model more accurate. Currently I am finishing part 18 and creating the canopy for the ship by moving vertices and extruding out specific parts of the model to reflect the reference photo.
The video explains and defines each principle of animation, and then shows a short example of what it looks like and how it works with numbers, letters, and shapes.
The 12 principles of animation are squash & stretch, anticipation, arcs, ease in & ease out, appeal, timing, solid drawing, exaggeration, pose to pose, staging, secondary action, and follow through
Squash & Stretch: gives illusion of weight and volume to a subject, often used for comical effect
Anticipation: prepares audience for action, increases realism of action- sometimes used to heighten suspense
Arcs: humans and animals always move in arcs, this increases realism of subject's action(s)
Ease In & Ease Out: subjects need time to slow down/speed up- drawings between extreme poses provide subject with greater realistic movement
Appeal: characters need to captivate audiences, complicated faces and lack of symmetry make it difficult for audience to connect or find them appealing
Timing: more frames create slower action, while fewer frames create faster action
Solid Drawing: adds weight, volume, and 3D illusion to subject
Exaggeration: presents physical features/elements of a character in exaggerated form, shows emotions and movements more
Pose to Pose: for highly emotional/dramatised scenes- drawing a few key frames for each action then filling in the intervals
Staging: communicates primary mood, action, or idea of a scene
Secondary Action: emphasises and supports primary action of subject, while providing scenes with greater life
Follow Through: refers to parts of subject that continue to move after a completed action
This is my kinetic typography project, over the song Centuries by Fall Out Boy. It was done in Adobe After Effects and it's mostly transitions since I didn't know whether or not we were supposed to use camera until I was most of the way through. It ends at around 51 seconds, which is as far as I got. The majority of the time was spent on making sure everything lined up and adjusting keyframes so my transitions for words to come in and out were accurate and matched up to the music. Honestly it just looks like a lyric video with really nice and well timed transitions since I didn't use the camera, but I still learned and figured out how to time and adjust keyframes better than I had known before.
In the medical industry, animation is often used to create educational videos, focusing on physiological or surgical topics. Medical animations are often used as instructional tools, since 3D animation opens up a wider scale and variety of the human body that is not sometimes unable to be captured through 2D, photos, or live-action tutorials. Medical animations can be used in various areas: to educate patients, simulate medical procedures,explain how pharmaceuticals work/affect ones body, as emergency care instructions, forensic reconstruction, surgical training and planning, etc. The medical animation industry is constantly evolving due to growing advancements in both 3D technology and the medical field. STEPS INVOLVED
Before starting with the video, the 3D team is clearly briefed by the client (Medical firm) who gives a clear idea of the subject(disease), the process( how it affects the body),the treatment (how the body reacts to the same) and reference images.
The 3D team then works on a story board of the video which involves basic drawing and description as to how the animation would proceed. There is also a voice over sound added explaining the process.
Once the story board is approved by the client (Medical firm) then the 3D animation process is initiated.
The 3D animation modeling team would first create the various components involved in the video like cells, blood vessels etc, using a 3D modeling software.
Then it is passed on to the look and feel department to work on the textures and lighting environment to give it a realistic look and feel. If the production house executing the video is of a smaller set up, then 3D modeling, texturing and lighting is executed by the same team.
Finally, the 3D animator would synchronizes the narrative audio.
Once the entire process is done and approved by the client (Medical firm) then the raw 3D output is set to render involving various render engines like Mental ray, Vray etc..
Some final touchup like color corrections and effects is done in the post production department for a realistic output using software like AFX, Fusion etc.
