For this blog post, I am supposed to write about the hardest skill that I have had to learn in this unit so far. For me, the hardest skill was how to use different camera movements effectively throughout my animations. During our camera unit we learned about a ton of camera movements such as pan and dolly that can be used to create a different feeling for the viewer watching the animation. I found this to be difficult because firstly, it was hard to remember all of the camera movements and when to use them and secondly, working in 3ds max can sometimes be very tricky. This is because even when you move the camera, you can still get unwanted movements from frame to frame that you don't want. This was very hard for me to get used to and I still haven't mastered it completely. One way that I figured out how to remember all of the camera movements was to sort them into categories in my brain. For example, when the camera moves up I always think of a tilt of pedestal shot after studying for a bit. At the end of the unit, we had to make a demo reel like animation showing off our skill and what we had learned in the unit. I think that this showed how I improved throughout the unit and slowly got used to the different movements and how to make them work in 3ds max. Summary
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For the past week we have been working with lighting in 3ds Max. Overall lighting is not very hard to understand in terms of shadows and how they react with each other. While this is somewhat easy to understand there are still important things that you can learn from just trying new types of lighting. Throughout this week I have learned a lot about lighting in 3ds Max and how the different lights work in the scene. While it is easy to add lighting to the scene it is hard to master it. Because there are so many different options you can create shadows from all different angles that overlap each other and create various designs. One of our activities called Working With Shadows, made us see how shadows from objects react with each other when light is coming from different angles. I found that when you have light from two different angles and multiple objects you can have separate shadows and also intersecting shadows that make it hard to tell what the object is. Unfortunately I do not have any images of this in 3ds Max on my Laptop but if you do a quick google search you will probably be able to find it. Overall lighting in essence is really easy but you can still make cool shadows with different types and styles of lighting.
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For about the past week we have been working with a new style of materials called UVW Mapping. UVW mapping in 3ds Max is very different from most of the other styles of materials because you have to be very specific. This is because UVW mapping is used to create a lot of video game assets and because of that it needs to flow and look clean all the way around. If any of the pictures you decide to use are even a little bit off, you can get white or black marks on your asset that makes it look a lot worse. Personally I really like UVW mapping, I find it very useful and even though you have to be very precise, it all pays off in the end because the finished product looks better than if you just put a regular material on it. So far I have only used UVW maps to create a shipping box and a board game box but they are still some of my favorite works already because they look so clean. I really look forward to what is in store for the rest of UVW mapping because even though we are not very advanced yet it is still enjoyable and interesting. Overall I think that while UVW mapping takes a long time and is very precise, the finished product could be used in games even at my level of understanding.
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So far this year we are about half way through the school year and in DDA II I have learned a lot more than I did in DDA I. This year has been so much more fast paced and we have had so much more advanced work to do and I like it. I like the fact that we are learning more advanced skills like Boolean objects and modifiers like lathe and loft. I like this class a lot more because I can now do so much more of what I want because I know so much more than I did last year. For example last year it was hard for me to even make simple objects without putting a lot of time and effort into it, but now I feel like I can make so many things with ease. This class has really helped me a lot, even though some of the activities can be a little more challenging because it allows me to explore what I want to do and lets me create what I want to create with simplicity and also high detail. There are certain projects that take a long time but before I started this class I had no clue that I would ever get close to what I am doing now. I am so glad that I chose to stick with Game Art Design as my pathway because I am learning so much more than I thought I would be and the tools are very useful in creating many different things. A good example of this is MassFx which is basically just animations with collisions and moving components which I would have never thought I would be doing this early in this year and it would be so simple. Overall I am still really enjoying this class even if it can get hard at some points because it is still very enjoyable.
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This week we have started to use simulations in 3DS max and so far, for me it has been pretty confusing. We have been using the cloth modifier which makes one object cover another like a cloth over a box. This has been pretty interesting because I have found that the cloth, when it is being folded over a box, likes to break at the corners which makes the whole thing look weird. I have also found that while using the cloth modifier, it tends to make my 3DS max a decent amount, stopping my progress and making it hard for me to work. I always forget to chamfer my edges of my primitive when I use the cloth modifier, which causes it to break a lot. While it can be annoying to use, it can also be very helpful. Right now we are working on a project of making a flag that flows in the wind, which would otherwise be very hard to create without simulations. Unfortunately I am still working on my flag and I do not have any other examples of the cloth modifier so I can not show you what it looks like. Overall I find the cloth modifier and simulations to be very interesting while kind of difficult.
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This week we were tasked with finding a professional modeler working in 3DS max and seeing how we can improve and grow more towards their style and level of design. I was looking around on different websites to find professionals. I was looking on ArtStation and I found a professional with the name Yekaterina Bourykina. She primarily focuses on character modeling and skin designing for different characters in games like League of Legends. She also works at Riot Games as a 3D Character Artist. This is a re skin for a character in League of Legends named Thresh. She titled this piece high noon thresh copying the name of a different skin for a different character. She primarily focuses on character modeling which we haven't done much of in class and I don't know much about. Modeling people is not really my strong suit but I still attempted to make a character. My Character isn't the best but that's something that I definitely need to improve on as we keep 3D modeling. I am going to try to get to be able to 3D model as well as she can and hopefully be good enough to work in the industry one day. Overall character modeling is what I want to strive towards and hopefully as I keep improving in this class I hope to get better at character modeling and one day be able to get to this level.
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References “High Noon Thresh, Yekaterina Bourykina.” ArtStation, www.artstation.com/artwork/Ka6XmR. “Yekaterina Bourykina.” ArtStation, www.artstation.com/ybourykina. During the 1st quarter of class this year we have learned a lot about compound objects. One of the first compound objects we learned about was Boolean. Boolean can be very helpful in a lot of ways when you are trying to merge two objects together or subtract one object from another. The way you do this is add a parameter to two or more operands (basically just any primitives). Some of these include union(which merges both objects together), subtract (which removes the second object and its overlap with the first object), and intersect(which leaves only the intersecting parts). This can be very helpful because it allows all the primitives to be moved as one and all be connected, allowing them to all have the same modifiers. To use Boolean, you must first go to the compound objects drop-down and select Boolean. Then after that select which parameters you want and then chose add operands after you have one object selected. After this just choose the second option and the parameter you chose should be applied to both. Overall Boolean is very simple to use and it makes everything a lot easier to use.
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AuthorHi, my name is Nick Bayer and I will be posting blogs about every 1-2 weeks in the 2020-21 school year. I am doing this for my Advanced Game Design class at Durham School of the Arts(DSA). The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools. Categories
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