Final Major Project 13-06-12

This is only going to be a short post because I did not do much in the way of work. However I did realise that when I played my project video file on the Macs at college it was very dark. This is not a problem for the animated text parts but for the Maya scene it made it hard to see what was going on. So when I got home I opened the After Effects file and simply made the video brighter where it needed to be, then rendered the altered version. So tomorrow I can open the new version and see if it helps. I also found today that the high quality PNG renders work smoothly on the Macs which is good news because it means I can submit the high quality render instead of the low quality one.

Final Major Project 11-06-12

Today I managed to finish my project. I put a few finishing touches in After Effects. This included adding a clock to the HUD and creating the end title page. Which contains the movie title and copyright information etc. I also added some more sounds to go with the animating text. Overall I am pleased with how the project has gone. If it was a perfect world I would of had a better PC so that I could of rendered the Maya work in full high definition. This would of included bump maps and higher quality textures which would of made the scene look a lot better. 

It took me a couple tries to find a good render setting. In the end I had to look it up online and settled on rendering as a Quicktime Movie with PNG encoding. It kept the image quality and kept the file size low. Unfortunately the first render has a couple areas where the video freezes for a couple seconds but the sound continues, then the video catches up. So this ends up skipping bits of the video. Now I need to redo the render to hopefully get a clean play through. 

Final Major Project 08-06-12

Today was very productive without anything going wrong, which makes up for the previous disappointments. I focused on two different areas of After Effects work today. The first can be seen above. I used a tutorial found at www.videocopilot.net for a text effect. When I saw the one above I thought it fit well with theme of the trailer. It was slightly complex but the tutorial showed the steps clearly so I was able to make it without any trouble. What happens in this particular effect is the smoke seen on the right hand side of the above picture, goes across the screen, revealing the text as it moves.  

When I was happy with the text effect and after applying it to the composition I moved on to the HUD. The second image shows the progress I have made so far. It is not yet 100% complete, there are still some details missing, such as a clock. But overall I am happy with how it looks so far. There is a lot of movement on the HUD to help bring it to life. The target in the center rotates, the map/radar on the bottom right moves in correspondence with the footage and text types on in the status report box on the bottom left. I went with the green look because I think it gives it a militaristic feel, which fits with the story of the movie that this trailer is for.

Final Major Project 07-06-12

Today I got the sound finished and added to the video playblast. I found and edited sounds for footsteps, heavy breathing, a man screaming and a bottle rolling on a hard surface. Overall I am pretty happy with the sound. The footsteps and breathing don't completely match, but for this project I think they will do just fine. I didn't want to spend too much time on the sound because I really need to get started on the HUD.

I have a couple of tutorials to help me create the HUD and I have created one before, so it shouldn't take me more than a few hours spread over a couple of days. Depending on how smooth it goes and how complex I want the HUD to be.

Final Major Project 06-06-12

As I forgot to post something on my blog yesterday I will be doing two today. But to avoid too much confusion I have dated the title of this blog with yesterdays date.

There was a lot of ups and downs yesterday. I came across a major problem with my project and that is the resources I have available (PC's and Macs) are not powerful enough to handle my Maya project file in high quality. So I had a lot of trial and error yesterday trying to get a decent looking playblast that I could use, as rendering was completely out of the question. But it turned out that I couldn't even get a high quality playblast. I first tried on the Macs at college, however the textures and various things in the scene kept breaking. So I eventually gave up and went home to try on my home computer. There I ran into different issues. First of all, the computer was running incredibly slow, due to the high demand of the project file. Second was the playblasts themselves. For some unknown reason, when I playblasted in the .avi format, the playblasts came out black and white and the camera angle was broken. I think, after a bit of online research, that this is due to the encoding. So I decided to switch from playblasting in a video format, to playblasting JPEGs instead. This worked better in terms of they came out in colour and the camera was correctly positioned. I then put all the images into Windows Movie Maker, to convert them into a video file which I could then open in After Effects. I originally tried opening the JPEGs in After Effects, which worked but the images were loaded in the wrong order and it would of been a lot more work to reorganise them as oppose to putting them in Movie Maker.

So on the plus side, I now have a working video that I can hand in and put some After Effects work on. But on the down side, it's low quality and looks no where near as good as it should.

Final Major Project 04-06-12

Today I added bump maps to the brick textures on all of the buildings, the path and the road. It helps the bring some realism into the scene. The downside is that my computer could not handle the extra data. So this means I am going to have to go into college on Wednesday to see if the Macs there can cope. If they can't then I will have a serious problem, which will involve me either not finishing the project or have to finish it in low quality, which is something I really do not want to do.

If everything goes to plan on Wednesday, I will finish the 3D work, import everything into one scene, create and animate the camera and then playblast the entire scene in high quality. That would mean that all that's left to do is the After Effects work. Adding the HUD and the text and generally making the video look like a trailer.

Final Major Project 01-06-12

Today I finished off the last building for the scene. I added and textured the glass for the windows and doors. I also added some details to help make it look a bit more believable. These included things like blinds for the windows and a sign for the reception.

Final Major Project 31-5-12

I have spent most of today trying to get a texture that I like for the window and door frames. It has been quite difficult because I am aiming for the white plastic look. I am fairly happy with where they are right now and will leave them for now so that I can start on the glass tomorrow. I also added a bit more to the brick texture, examples of what I have added can be seen around the bottom edge of the building. The darker shades are to represent water damage. I have also made and textured the door handle and a lock. However as these are not going to be seen close up, I did not spend a lot of time on them.

Final Major Project 30-5-12

Today I did not have as much time to do work as I would have liked. However I was able to at least start the window frames and door frame of this final building. I basically got them set up to texture them tomorrow, although they do look similar to their final design as they are, because the window and door frames are going to be white.

Final Major Project 29-5-12

The first thing I did today was finish texturing the corner building. This involved adding glass to the windows and door. I also added a few other details, such as the street sign on the side of the building and the company name "Frost & Reed". I am pretty happy with the outcome. My biggest problem in this project so far is the glass. I am struggling to make it look believable.

Next I began to texture the fourth and final building in the scene. The big holes in the building indicate where the windows and a door will go, the hole on the bottom left is an archway that extends over the road, which is also in the scene. My next job is to finish texturing the walls then start on the windows and the door.

Final Major Project 28-5-12

Today I continued to texture the corner building and made some good progress. All that is left for this building is to texture the glass windows and doors. This building will be finished tomorrow. That will leave one more building to texture and a few finishes made to the hotel building.

Final Major Project 25-5-12

Today I have begun to texture the third building in the scene. I have found texturing this building a lot easier so far because the hotel texture was difficult to get working. I still have quite a way to go though. I still need to make and texture the window frames and windows. Then I need to texture the bottom half, which will be a painted white texture, similar to the very top of the building. I also need to add pillars, large windows and a door to the bottom part of the building. The brick texture I used for this building is the same as the one I used for the Estate Agents building however there is less weathering on this one because I am trying to make it look newer and cleaner.

Final Major Project 24-5-12

Today I began to texture the hotel building. I am attempting to give it a modern design, with a marble finish on the walls. The windows are going to be tinted. It's hard to see from the image above but the sign for the hotel has a brushed steel finish.

Final Major Project 23-5-12

Today I managed to get the lamp posts textured. They are lacking a bit of detail so I might add more later. I also changed all the texture files from Photoshop files (.psd) to JPEG files. This was to make the files sizes a lot smaller, to help prevent Autodesk Maya from running slowly. Hopefully this will help with my home PC, making it possible to do work at home.

Final Major Project 22-5-12

Today I completely finished texturing the paths and road to a standard I am happy with. So I then began texturing the lampposts. Unfortunately I had some major computer problems and was struggling to run Maya and Photoshop so I could not get as much done as I would like. I was hoping to completely finish the lampposts but I did not even manage to apply one texture due to the computer problems.

Final Major Project 21-5-12

Today I created the Gantt chart for the project. It breaks down the two remaining tasks for this project. The first task it breaks down is the creation of the product itself. The product is broken down into 6 different stages; modelling, texturing, camera, rendering, After Effects HUD and the final composition. These stages should take the production up to the 13th of June, two days before the deadline. That leaves the last two days to write the evaluation essay, which is the second task. I plan to use information I write in these blog posts to form the backbone of the evaluation essay. 

Final Major Project 18-5-12

Today i continued to texture the paths and curbs in the scene. I am slightly happier with the results of texturing today than yesterday. However there is still a bit of work to do to make them perfect. The image above shows the difference between todays and yesterdays.

Final Major Project 17-5-12

Today I continued to texture the paths, attempting to add curbs that look realistic. I had a lot of problems with finding a good texture. Then I had a slight problem putting a gap between the brick path and the curb. It has been quite challenging but I am now moving in the right direction. Next I will try to improve the curb texture, using the burn tool and brush tool in photoshop to add different shades to make the curb look worn in places. Following that I will continue to texture the brick paths on the other side of the road, adding more litter to make the scene look like there hasn't been any visitors for a while. I will also at some point take another look at the road itself because it is lacking detail.

Final Major Project 16-5-12

Today I started texturing the paths and the road. I found a brick texture I like and started to add details, such as a piece of old newspaper and a drain cover. I also did some work in photoshop to make the path look well trodden.

Final Major Project progress

So far in this project I have completed three out of the four essays, the only one missing being the project evaluation.

I have also completed all the necessary research and the gantt chart.

The most recent work I have started is the 3D scene for the trailer I am creating. So far I have created a basic layout with the basic design for the four different buildings involved in the scene. My next step is to add a lot of detail and get the scene ready for texturing and lighting, so for this I am going to use a software program called zBrush to sculpt those details on the already created low poly scene. This will turn that low poly scene into a high poly scene, I can then use that as the normal map for the final product.

At the same time as this I am going to prepare the powerpoint presentation that I am going to use as the pitch for the product.

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