Evaluation

Critical Evaluation

As the name of the module is 'Virtual Environments' the group and I wanted to emphasis our efforts on this aspect. Although this module is comprised of the combination of modelling and animation we wanted to have the main focus on our environment, ford island.

I believe that our animation skills aren't as developed as our modelling skills and therefore our animation aspects suffered making the end result not as impacting as the still shots of the environments and models. Our animation does tell the story of Pearl Harbour but doesn't deliver the shock effect when watching it, however I think the models and the environment make up for the animation.

As a group we wanted to include human activity to make the animation more realistic, so having them walk around the harbour and then start running when the explosions started really enhances the animation effect.

As mentioned in a previous post it is important to set the scene for the entire animation at the start, we decided that panning shots of the harbour allowed the audience to appreciate the modelling techniques used as it shows the environment and the individual models.

Including the LEGO theme allows the animation to be watched and appreciated by both children and adults whilst remaining educational. Although are sound is comprised of sound FX that we downloaded from freesound.org and apple loops in LOGIC PRO it still informs the audience of the events of Pearl Harbour. In our animation we tried to stay accurate to the events in 1941 by using the sun to illustrate the time of day.

Upon completion of this process I believe our group as created a effective animation that informs the audience of the events of Pearl Harbour. If we had more time we would have developed the animation aspect further and included more scenes. We did have issues with our explosions changing colour when panning across the environment because of the sun effect we had included - this is something we would have explored in more detail if we had a longer time-frame. The combination of sounds, models and animation we have created an animation that shows our skills as modellers and animators.

If I were to do this module I would concentrate on the animation aspect a little longer, rendering issues and explosion issues meant that we had less time to animate.

Time spent animating: 6 hours
Time spent rendering: 30+ hours (Computers left overnight)
Time spent compiling animation scenes: 4 hours
Time spent adding sound: 2 Hours

From completing this module I have learnt not only more skills with animating, like using splines and water effects, but organisational, timing and adaption skills. I have learnt that if you come across a problem you can use it as a positive with your animation.

Animating - LEGO people

Animating the LEGO people

As a group we wanted to create the LEGO people to make the animation look more realistic however that only improves the animation so far, to really enhance the animation I needed to animate them walking around the harbour. 

 To animate the LEGO people was simple, on one key frame I would animate the left leg positioned upwards and the right arm, then I would swap the legs and arms over.

Animating

Animating - The Establishing shot

With any animation or film, and particularly in this animation, it is important to set the scene to allow the audience to understand where they are giving them a hint as to what is happening. Undoubtedly the audience may not understand that this is an animation of Pearl Harbour just from the shot of the harbour but you are able to see that it is a small island surrounded by land and holds a harbour and airstrip.

To start animating I firstly opened the environment and then saved it as 'SCENE 3 V1' - doing this enables me to make changes to the scene, start animating, and know that if I make a mistake I still have the unedited environment to start over with. 

The only movement in this scene is the camera panning over the island, so I placed a target camera in the scene and positioned it where appropriate, constantly rendering out the scene from the camera to be sure I had placed it correctly. 

I used key frame to create this scene and did so by placing the camera, and placing a key frame along the timeline when I had moved the camera to the next position. 

These are a few still shots of the animation scene. 

Recap - Creating an Explosion

Recap of Creating an Explosion

Before any animating I wanted to take a quick look at explosions - although my scenes may not require this it is important to know to help others.

Creating an Explosion

Now for something that is a little more trickier. I don't think that I will be making the use of an explosion for my animation however it is something useful to learn, and could possibly be implemented elsewhere or for future.
First of all, get the basics done. Open up 3DS max and create a standard primitive. For this exercise I have chosen a box, with segments 5x5x5. I coloured the box pink because I like the colour pink. Under geometry, on the drop down box, you will find 'particle systems', click this. Seven options should appear, I won't bore you by naming them all but select 'PArray. When you draw a PArray it will show a little box, I drew mine small and to the right of my pink box. Attaching the PArray is really simple, just select 'Pick Object' under 'Basic parameters' then click on your box, or object. Now if you move along the timeline you will see little particles coming from the box.

'Particle Generation' is where you can make adjustments to the particles. I didn't make too many changes to my explosion, all I did was to increase the 'Emit stop' to 30, 'Display Until' to 100 and 'Life' to 100.

Under 'Particle Type' is where I made most of my changes to the explosion. Instead of using 'standard particles' I chose to use 'Object fragments'. I also ammended the 'amount of chunks' used from 100 to 60. Shamefully, I spent a fair few minutes deciding how many chunks to use.

With any good explosion you will see that the debry spins and rotates. After a little digging around on the internet I found that you can adjust the spinning of exploded segments under 'Rotation and collison'. I set the speed to 1 and the variation 4.0.
I haven't explored explosion throughly as it isn't an aspect that I will be including in my animation.

Recap

Recapping on Animation

As I am not a professional animator it was important to run through the basics to refresh my memory.

Camera's and Path Constraints
Taking a quick look into the use of camera's in 3DS MAX, I placed a 'target' camera into the scene after creating a simple teapot. I then dragged the line from the camera onto the teapot.
After this I went into 'create' then 'shapes' and create a circle around the sphere. At the top of 3DS max, along the grey toolbar with white writing is a drop down option called animation. From there I selected 'constraints' then 'path constraint'; this will allow for you to connect the dashed line to the circle previously created. If successful, it will move the teapot or object you have created to the circle line.
Pressing play will then move the teapot around the circle line on repeat.

Auto Key
Autokey is an animation technique, I have briefly looked into this. Creating a green cone under standard primitives and placing in the scene. At the bottom of 3DS max should be a grey toolbar which displays three buttons, a key, Auto key and Set key. For the time being I am just looking at Auto Key. Selecting the cone then clicking on auto key, the screen and toolbar should highlight red. I think this is very beneficial as it indicates that your in animating mode so you can't forget. Abov the autokey is the timeline, it should already be at 0 if you click along the timeline and move the cone then unclick autokey and press play it creates a sequence. To view the sequence simply press play.

Set Key
Set key is similar to autokey to a degree that it is a form of animation however the differences are that autokey is automatic and set key requires more input from the user however allows you to control the animation further.
Using setkey doesn't differ from autokey and great deal; it just requires a little more clicking. For no purpose what so ever I decided to create a different shape I used previously in autokey, a pyramid.

After creating the pyramid I selected it, clicked on setkey (found directly under autokey and to the right of the key symbol) Again, the bar and screen will go red. Once it's red, press 'K' on your keyboard then move along the timeline, spin, rotate and move your object and press 'K' again. This will, like earlier, create a short sequence which will display when the play button is pressed.




Something else I think is worth mentioning is how to save and render a quick animation. After you have completed the animation and saved it. To be able to watch the video without the use of 3ds max, click render setup. Under the tab 'common' scroll down and click 'acttive time segment' found under 'Common parameters'. Then lower down under 'Render output' select where you want to save the file. I always save onto my desktop and then move the file later on. Once that is complete click 'Render', render the video and your video is saved.

SWOT

SWOT Analysis

Below is a basic swot analysis of my work. It doesn't fully explore each section, but briefly highlights the aspects of my good that are advantageous and the sections that I need to improve. It also highlights things that could hinder my work as the animation progresses, doing this has enabled me to establish each problem that I could face and bare these in mind whilst continuing on with the project, it is also important to consider ways to overcome any problems.

Animation Research

Understanding the movement of Planes

Before I started to animate I wanted to conduct some research on the movement of planes so when I was creating the scenes it would be as realistic as possible.

When looking online I came across these photos that gave indication on how pilots move the planes to steer them in different directions - it was important to understand this process before I started animating.

 

This picture shows the basic specifications of a plane's movement.

 

 

This photo goes into more detail into the subject and will be kept in mind when animating.

 

It is important when animating to remember research completed earlier to help the process.

 

I have also looked into some previous animations shown below:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SioHE5U2dfk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAX1ryHdoHg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh8XrQa9yhU

 





Animating

Animation

Like with the models, as a group we decided to section of the animation storyboard to individual members which divided the workload. 

The scenes I am going to be animating are quite simple but need time and effort with the camera angles and positioning. 

My aim is to create short, effective scenes that allow the audience to appreciate and understand the message of the story - the scenes I am creating are not the defining scenes but the insert scenes that punctuate the story. For example, the establishing shot of the harbour before it's attacked with the camera panning through the harbour to illustrate its peacefulness before the destruction. 

Undoubtedly I will be assisting in other, more intense, scenes as well as completing these scenes individually. 

Due to the high volume and complexity of the Island and all other models rendering a single frame of the environment took a few minutes so the groups aim when it comes to animating it to keep the scenes short to cause less pressure on rendering. 

Completing the Airstrip

How I completed the Airstrip

Like the harbour I needed to places all the objects I had created together to finish the environment. I compiled elements I had modelled along with some the other group members had. 

To create the airstrip I used a box to create the concrete effect and then using my sandbags I created a wall around the the hangars and warehouses. 

The air strip is placed on the same island that the harbour is attached to.

Having the sun in the virtual environment gives it that extra touch of realism. 

Completing the harbour

How I completed the harbour

To complete the harbour I needed to put it in the rest of the virtual environment. 

I merged the harbour in the same file as the water and the surrounding land. It still needed further development, such as more trees and buildings which I added my using the buildings I had made earlier. 

I also included elements created by other members of the group.

As you can see I placed in the LEGO people and the USS Arizona (created by another member of the group) along with Ford island which was created by downloading a birds eye view of the island and using Adobe Photoshop to cut around it - then placing it in 3DS max and extruding it upwards. A texture was then applied and a 'bump' element to give a more realistic land effect.

The collection of buildings, people and trees combined with the water, sun and land really enhances the look of the harbour and the virtual environment in total.

As a group we really wanted to concentrate on the 'Virtual Environment' of this animation so we also included the sun which then in turn gave off shadows which I believe enhances the effectiveness of this environment.

Time take to assemble all elements together: 2 hours

Creating the Harbour

Creating the Harbour

I had created all the scenery elements I thought I needed as well as the water so it was time to create the harbour.

Start by opening 3DS max and creating a simple box with these particulars:

length segments:10

width segments:10

height segments:2

This will enable you to have control and flexibility when modelling the harbour later.

Right clicking the object and converting it to an editable poly I was then able to extrude sections by selecting 'elements' under the 'selection' heading and clicking the the black box next to extrude.

I continued this process until I got the desired effect. 

Texture

The effect I wanted to create is 'concrete' so I applied a few concrete textures but because I had extrude from the original object it then distorted the texture so instead I applied the default grey colour and it worked perfectly. 

Applying the scenery objects

To apply all the scenery objects from other files I clicked the blue/green button found on the top left hand side then 'import' and 'merge'. 

I then spent a little time resizing and placing all the objects to make the harbour look realistic.

As you can see I added palm tree's from the 'foliage' section and one tree on the right hand side to give variety. Placing the trees in soil surrounded by white fenced edging gives a more realistic effect - I also placed these white fences on the edges of the harbour which will be met by the water. 

In the middle I have created that  'park' effect by using the benches I created earlier and pre-made fences in 3DS max.

I really like the look of the harbour because I think it looks realistic and simply - the look will improve when the water is applied, the sun and the rest of the virtual environment. 

Time spent: 3 hours 

Scenery - Buildings

Creating all the buildings

Here are screen shots of all the buildings that I have created using the same method mentioned in an earlier post. I spent around 20 minutes per building.

Scenery - Hangar

Creating the plane hangar 

To make the airstrip look authentic the planes would have been kept in 'hangars'.

I like how you can still see the plane whilst its inside, so I knew that is what I wanted my hangars to look like. After spending a lot of time, skill and effort creating the planes it seemed good sense to not close off the hangars and let the audience see them at all times. 

To start off I used the tube tool and created a long tube object making sure that the rim had a small amount of thickness. 

I then flipped it over, converted it to an editable poly and cut the object in half. Using the material editor I applied a metal criss - cross texture and give the 'army' effect I desired. 

Time spent : 20 minutes

Scenery - Water

Creating water/ocean

An important part of the virtual environment is the ocean/water. I wasn't sure how I would tackle this at first so read and viewed a few tutorials before giving it a go myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccl1BFweHVQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed6jeOm-zNk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzzz48iYwUk

To start with I created a large box and then used the material editor with the following settings. 

Details:

Ambient: colour set as dark blue

Diffuse: colour set as dark blue

Bump: Map: Noise : 78

Reflection : Map: Raytrace: 70

Specular level: 88

Glossiness: 62

Opacity: 100

Which gave this effect,

Time spent: 1 hour 30 minutes

Scenery - oil drum

Creating an oil drum

It was now time to create an oil drum , or two , to accompany the other objects created for the airstrip environment. 

I wanted the oil drum to be rusty and authentic looking, like the ones shown below:

To create the oil drum I used the cylinder tool - to make sure that there was no gap in the middle.

I then used the tube tool again to create the ridges around the outside. I then placed them accordingly and applied a bitmap texture of rust by opening the material editor and clicked the grey box next to the diffuse option (making sure I was on the 'compact material editor' - as I find it's easier to use.

Time spent: 25 minutes

Scenery - Sand bags

Creating Sand Bags

As mentioned in an earlier post I wanted to create sand bangs along with oil drums to put in and around the airstrip.

Like most of the scenery objects before I wanted to keep the poly count minimal because it will be going into a large virtual environment after. 

When researching the sandbags I noticed that when piled on top of each other they create this effect:

 

I knew I would be creating the sand bags with the box tool but knew it would take a little reshaping to  create the look of the ends being pointed and flexible. 

I didn't want all the sandbags to look the same but knew I didn't have enough time to create 100+ sandbags - so I create two. I researched and downloaded two textures, one darker than the other to create a distinct difference. 

I start the modelling process by creating a simple box in a rectangular shape. Converting the sandbag to a convertible poly I selected the corner vertex's and used the 'select and uniform' tool to pull the vertex's together to create this effect:

I repeated this method on all corners and then applied the sandbag texture. To make the sandbags look different I made them different sizes and the corners pointing in different directions.

I could have spent a little more time making the sandbags look more realistic but with the help of the texture it creates shadow and depth to the bags to help with this problem. 

Time spent: 45 minutes