Final Animation - Personal learning Profile
I am very pleased with my animation, and i have surprised myself with what i have managed to achieve. My knowledge of 3ds Max over the last 12 weeks has greatly increased, and I'm looking forward to using the techniques and learning new ones in my final year.
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Week 12
Editing in Premier Pro
By far editing in Premier Pro was the easiest part of the animation process, i imported my video files onto the timeline, and put the scenes in order. I then used fade on the beginning and end of the first scene. The second scene was slightly more complicated as i needed to have the wire frame showing through, so i put both video files on different layers but in the same time frames. I then added key frames and reduced the opacity of one and increased the other so that the wire frame shows through for a few seconds, i then repeated the process twice and faded out. then next couple of scenes needed to be cut using the razor tool, but the final scene extended because there was only 34 frames in the video file which only lasted a second, so i slowed it down so that the wall can be seen falling down. I then added music to the timeline, but had to extend the time of scene one for the rest of the animation to sync with the music.
Editing in Premier Pro
By far editing in Premier Pro was the easiest part of the animation process, i imported my video files onto the timeline, and put the scenes in order. I then used fade on the beginning and end of the first scene. The second scene was slightly more complicated as i needed to have the wire frame showing through, so i put both video files on different layers but in the same time frames. I then added key frames and reduced the opacity of one and increased the other so that the wire frame shows through for a few seconds, i then repeated the process twice and faded out. then next couple of scenes needed to be cut using the razor tool, but the final scene extended because there was only 34 frames in the video file which only lasted a second, so i slowed it down so that the wall can be seen falling down. I then added music to the timeline, but had to extend the time of scene one for the rest of the animation to sync with the music.
Animation scenes
Now that my environment is made, i know need to animation each scene, adding cameras, lightning, and animating any polygons.
Scene 1
In this scene i used a line tool to create a line going from the start all the way around the castle, up the bridge to the gate, i then used the vertex to bring each line above the plane so that the castle is visible . I then animated the gate opening at the last few frames so the gate opens to reveal the machine gun in the video. i then added a mr omni area light to create shadows and added a target camera to the scene, making the target the entrance to the castle so that the camera will move around that point.
I then used a path constraint and attached the camera to the line, and rendering a single frame to make sure the scene looks good before the final render.
Camera 01
Scene 2
To produce this scene i created an arc around the machine gun and brought the z axis up from the plane, i then tilted one end so that the camera moves up when doing a 360 degree spin of the machine gun.
I then added a path constraint to the camera and attached it to the arc, and rendering one frame before final rendering.
Camera 01
Scene 3
For scene three of my animation i created a line from the edge of the machine gun to the middle target.
I then attached a target camera to the line using path constraint, and allowed the camera to moved closer to the target, this will be sped up in Premier Pro to add to build tension.
Camera 01
Scene 4
This scene was more complicated to do than the rest as i needed to animate the machine gun firing, i firstly created a line and moved the line into the middle of one of the cannons. I then created a sphere and attached using position constraint.
I then copied the lines and sphere 12 times to moved them to fit each cannon.
Now that my lines are in place i can start animating. The machine gun doesn't fire all at once, it staggers so i needed to change the autokey so that each sphere moved after each other. I did this by separating the frame by 50 to give time for one to move, then the next one and so on.
Once the machine gun was animated i put a free cam at the back of the machine gun and rendered one frame before final rendering.
Camera 01
Scene 5
For this scene i used all the existing animation from scene four but i changed the camera angle to the side.
I used a target camera and attached the target to one of the spheres using position constraint, so that the sphere stays in the middle of the shot.
Camera 01
Scene 6
When making this scene i only needed the back wall so to speed up rendering time i deleted half of the environment as the camera wouldn't see it. I want to make one of the cannons miss the targets and knock down part of the wall to show the power of the machine.
I applied the same reactor tool technique i'd learnt in the tutorials, but adjusted the reactor options accordingly to suit the scene. Then adding a free camera and rendering a single frame before final render.
Camera 01
Wire frame
The wire frame effect that i will be using as part of scene two was very easy to achieve, i deleted all of the environment, but kept the camera and arc, as i want the positions to match that of scene two so i can blend them together in Premier Pro.
Once all the environment was deleted i selected all parts of the machine gun, selected materials and selected the wireframe option, this creates a wire frame material that you can drag onto the model, the colours can also be changed in the material editor.
I then rendered out a single frame before final render.
Camera 01
All scenes were rendered at 720x640 at every third frame.
Now that my environment is made, i know need to animation each scene, adding cameras, lightning, and animating any polygons.
Scene 1
In this scene i used a line tool to create a line going from the start all the way around the castle, up the bridge to the gate, i then used the vertex to bring each line above the plane so that the castle is visible . I then animated the gate opening at the last few frames so the gate opens to reveal the machine gun in the video. i then added a mr omni area light to create shadows and added a target camera to the scene, making the target the entrance to the castle so that the camera will move around that point.
I then used a path constraint and attached the camera to the line, and rendering a single frame to make sure the scene looks good before the final render.
Camera 01
Scene 2
To produce this scene i created an arc around the machine gun and brought the z axis up from the plane, i then tilted one end so that the camera moves up when doing a 360 degree spin of the machine gun.
I then added a path constraint to the camera and attached it to the arc, and rendering one frame before final rendering.
Camera 01
Scene 3
For scene three of my animation i created a line from the edge of the machine gun to the middle target.
I then attached a target camera to the line using path constraint, and allowed the camera to moved closer to the target, this will be sped up in Premier Pro to add to build tension.
Camera 01
Scene 4
This scene was more complicated to do than the rest as i needed to animate the machine gun firing, i firstly created a line and moved the line into the middle of one of the cannons. I then created a sphere and attached using position constraint.
I then copied the lines and sphere 12 times to moved them to fit each cannon.
Now that my lines are in place i can start animating. The machine gun doesn't fire all at once, it staggers so i needed to change the autokey so that each sphere moved after each other. I did this by separating the frame by 50 to give time for one to move, then the next one and so on.
Once the machine gun was animated i put a free cam at the back of the machine gun and rendered one frame before final rendering.
Camera 01
Scene 5
For this scene i used all the existing animation from scene four but i changed the camera angle to the side.
I used a target camera and attached the target to one of the spheres using position constraint, so that the sphere stays in the middle of the shot.
Camera 01
Scene 6
When making this scene i only needed the back wall so to speed up rendering time i deleted half of the environment as the camera wouldn't see it. I want to make one of the cannons miss the targets and knock down part of the wall to show the power of the machine.
I applied the same reactor tool technique i'd learnt in the tutorials, but adjusted the reactor options accordingly to suit the scene. Then adding a free camera and rendering a single frame before final render.
Camera 01
Wire frame
The wire frame effect that i will be using as part of scene two was very easy to achieve, i deleted all of the environment, but kept the camera and arc, as i want the positions to match that of scene two so i can blend them together in Premier Pro.
Once all the environment was deleted i selected all parts of the machine gun, selected materials and selected the wireframe option, this creates a wire frame material that you can drag onto the model, the colours can also be changed in the material editor.
I then rendered out a single frame before final render.
Camera 01
All scenes were rendered at 720x640 at every third frame.
Environment
Now that we're in week 10 I need to model an environment that will be used as the backdrop for my animation, i need to include a detailed castle made from individual polygons so that the material looks realistic, and i can knock part of the wall down using the reactor tool for the final scene. All of my scenes will be rendered from this one environment to make it easier, i will just need to include cameras and animation to certain scenes.
I will be using this image of a castle to base my environment on, i really like the way the bridge and the castle are shown, and i want to use this shot in my animation.
I firstly created an single polygon and made to the size of a stone block. i then held shift to copy the block making sure none of the sides touched each other, otherwise the reactor tool won't work. i then copied the line and moved the block along the z axis then across the x axis to make the bottom of the wall. once this was made i could copy these two lines several times to make the castle wall, i applied the same technique to make the castle entrance that will house the gate. The corner turrets were made by copying a wall and using the bend tool to bend the x axis almost 360 degrees, i used a flat cylinder as a top and made a flag pole and a flag using the cloth modifier which i have previously done a tutorial for.
Once the wall and turret were made i could copy them to make a complete castle wall, then next stage is to make the gate for the front of the castle.
The gate is made up of rows of polygons which i have copied and are equally spread across the x and y axis which will have a wooden material added to them. On top of that i added a thin polygons which sit just on top of the wood and have a cast iron texture to them, i then converted the polygons to editable poly and extended the center of one end to form a spike. For extra detail i added small spheres at each join that look like pins, and added the cast iron material to them. Lastly rotating the gate 180 degrees and moving it and adjusting the size to fit in the arch. I will eventually animate the gate to open in the first scene, and close in the second.
Now that the main castle has been made i need to make a bridge for the castle to be connected to the mainland, and also for the camera to run along in the first scene. I began by making a long box polygon and small box polygons one side that act as a rail. i selected all the smaller polygons and copied to the other side to complete the bridge. I also added a larger polygon at the front of the castle that the bridge rests on and added extra poles, a grass material will be added either side of the path to make the castle look more realistic.
I can now bring in my models that i made which include the renaissance building, machine gun, barrels and target. To import a 3ds max file, go to file, import, and merge and add, making sure you import all the material with the file. i copied the building 4 times and placed two either side of the castle. the target has also been copied and each one placed along the back wall. I then placed the machine gun near the entrance and barrels scattered around it. I had to resize each model that i made to fit inside the castle walls.
The interior of the castle is now complete, i just need to add water, hills, grass and trees. For the water I firstly created a plane and placed it underneath the castle, to create the water effect i selected the materials and mapping, I chose reflection and added raytrace to it, i then added noise to bump and adjusted the options to create a water effect. I tried many tutorials for making water on youtube, but they were very complicated to follow, so i decided to experiment and create my own which i think looks very convincing.
To create the hills, i made a large plane, and converted to editable poly and used the soft selection tool i then selected random parts of the plane to make the hills.
Once the hills were made i could get to work with adding grass, i originally added a grass material to the plane but it made the grass too neat, and didn't look real. So i decided to add the hair an fur modifier to the plane, the render time will be greatly increased but i think it will make the environment more realistic. I added hair and fur by selecting the plane, then choosing the hair and fur modifier, i changed the hair count to 800,000 but reduced the scale and root and tip thickness until i was happy with the look, i also changed the colour of the grass, in the material parameters box. I added a few trees around the hills, which can be found under the geometry and AEC Extended box. Lastly before rendering i added an environment background, ( Rendering, Environment, Environment map) which is a clear blue sky jpeg, i choose this because if i had clouds on the environment, when the scene is rendered as an avi the environment would stay completely still, and make the environment look like it's moving on it's on, rather than the camera moving around the environment.
Final Renders of Environment
Now that we're in week 10 I need to model an environment that will be used as the backdrop for my animation, i need to include a detailed castle made from individual polygons so that the material looks realistic, and i can knock part of the wall down using the reactor tool for the final scene. All of my scenes will be rendered from this one environment to make it easier, i will just need to include cameras and animation to certain scenes.
I will be using this image of a castle to base my environment on, i really like the way the bridge and the castle are shown, and i want to use this shot in my animation.
I firstly created an single polygon and made to the size of a stone block. i then held shift to copy the block making sure none of the sides touched each other, otherwise the reactor tool won't work. i then copied the line and moved the block along the z axis then across the x axis to make the bottom of the wall. once this was made i could copy these two lines several times to make the castle wall, i applied the same technique to make the castle entrance that will house the gate. The corner turrets were made by copying a wall and using the bend tool to bend the x axis almost 360 degrees, i used a flat cylinder as a top and made a flag pole and a flag using the cloth modifier which i have previously done a tutorial for.
Once the wall and turret were made i could copy them to make a complete castle wall, then next stage is to make the gate for the front of the castle.
The gate is made up of rows of polygons which i have copied and are equally spread across the x and y axis which will have a wooden material added to them. On top of that i added a thin polygons which sit just on top of the wood and have a cast iron texture to them, i then converted the polygons to editable poly and extended the center of one end to form a spike. For extra detail i added small spheres at each join that look like pins, and added the cast iron material to them. Lastly rotating the gate 180 degrees and moving it and adjusting the size to fit in the arch. I will eventually animate the gate to open in the first scene, and close in the second.
Now that the main castle has been made i need to make a bridge for the castle to be connected to the mainland, and also for the camera to run along in the first scene. I began by making a long box polygon and small box polygons one side that act as a rail. i selected all the smaller polygons and copied to the other side to complete the bridge. I also added a larger polygon at the front of the castle that the bridge rests on and added extra poles, a grass material will be added either side of the path to make the castle look more realistic.
Now that my castle is made i finally need to add a plane, to the base of the castle but making sure it doesn't touch the wall as it will effect the reactor tool later. I added a pebble material to the plane and tiled it 30x30 so that the material wasn't stretched across the plane and kept in size with the castle. I then added materials to all the polygons.
I can now bring in my models that i made which include the renaissance building, machine gun, barrels and target. To import a 3ds max file, go to file, import, and merge and add, making sure you import all the material with the file. i copied the building 4 times and placed two either side of the castle. the target has also been copied and each one placed along the back wall. I then placed the machine gun near the entrance and barrels scattered around it. I had to resize each model that i made to fit inside the castle walls.
The interior of the castle is now complete, i just need to add water, hills, grass and trees. For the water I firstly created a plane and placed it underneath the castle, to create the water effect i selected the materials and mapping, I chose reflection and added raytrace to it, i then added noise to bump and adjusted the options to create a water effect. I tried many tutorials for making water on youtube, but they were very complicated to follow, so i decided to experiment and create my own which i think looks very convincing.
To create the hills, i made a large plane, and converted to editable poly and used the soft selection tool i then selected random parts of the plane to make the hills.
Once the hills were made i could get to work with adding grass, i originally added a grass material to the plane but it made the grass too neat, and didn't look real. So i decided to add the hair an fur modifier to the plane, the render time will be greatly increased but i think it will make the environment more realistic. I added hair and fur by selecting the plane, then choosing the hair and fur modifier, i changed the hair count to 800,000 but reduced the scale and root and tip thickness until i was happy with the look, i also changed the colour of the grass, in the material parameters box. I added a few trees around the hills, which can be found under the geometry and AEC Extended box. Lastly before rendering i added an environment background, ( Rendering, Environment, Environment map) which is a clear blue sky jpeg, i choose this because if i had clouds on the environment, when the scene is rendered as an avi the environment would stay completely still, and make the environment look like it's moving on it's on, rather than the camera moving around the environment.
Week 10
Animation development continued
Inside of my castle i will have a simple renaissance building, as i want to create a training ground where the machine gun is being tested.
Renaissance Building
I will first make some renaissance style arches to sit next to my building but run wall to wall in the castle. i found this image on flickr, by breaking up the pillars to different shapes of boxes and cylinders i quickly made one pillar, then holding the shift key and dragging a copy out to a reasonable distance i coped the pillar several times.
Once i had my pillars made the next step was the arches, i made a think rectangle and used the bend tool to create the arch and placed it between the two pillars, copying the arch onto the other pillars. I then made a rectangle and placed it from end to end on top of the pillars covering the arch ways, i then placed cylinders inbetween each arch way and used the pro boolean tool to quickly make my arch ways.
The next step was to make the building itself, this is made with one main box. The stacked boxes in each corner of the building are to add detail to the building and will later have a marble material added to them. The roof was made using a box and, converting to editable poly to change the vertex of the shape. I then assigned material to each plane, instead of the whole shape so that the material wasn't distorted. The windows were made using basic shapes, then copied to cover the front of the building. I then added a door, and wooden beam to attach the archways to the building. Finally finishing by adding materials to complete the building.
Final Building Render
Animation development continued
Inside of my castle i will have a simple renaissance building, as i want to create a training ground where the machine gun is being tested.
Renaissance Building
I will first make some renaissance style arches to sit next to my building but run wall to wall in the castle. i found this image on flickr, by breaking up the pillars to different shapes of boxes and cylinders i quickly made one pillar, then holding the shift key and dragging a copy out to a reasonable distance i coped the pillar several times.
Once i had my pillars made the next step was the arches, i made a think rectangle and used the bend tool to create the arch and placed it between the two pillars, copying the arch onto the other pillars. I then made a rectangle and placed it from end to end on top of the pillars covering the arch ways, i then placed cylinders inbetween each arch way and used the pro boolean tool to quickly make my arch ways.
The next step was to make the building itself, this is made with one main box. The stacked boxes in each corner of the building are to add detail to the building and will later have a marble material added to them. The roof was made using a box and, converting to editable poly to change the vertex of the shape. I then assigned material to each plane, instead of the whole shape so that the material wasn't distorted. The windows were made using basic shapes, then copied to cover the front of the building. I then added a door, and wooden beam to attach the archways to the building. Finally finishing by adding materials to complete the building.
Final Building Render
 |
| Final building Render |
Animation development
Storyboard
Now that my models are made and rendered i can start to build my animation, firstly i will be drawing up a basic storyboard to separate my animation into scenes, i will then build my environment that my models will appear in, and add cameras and lighting before rendering. Once the scenes are rendered i will edit my animation in Premier Pro.
Scene 1
The first scene is of castle surrounded by water and hills, the camera will follow a constraint path all the way around the castle, and then along the bridge with the gate opening so the camera can enter the castle.
Scene 2
My second scene will be a 360 degree view of my machine gun with ammunition barrels surrounding it. i will also render a wireframe machine gun so that i can change between materials and wireframe to show the complexity of the model.
Scene 3
My third scene is of the targets that are intended to be fired upon, a free camera will follow a constraint path right up to one of the targets, i will speed this up in Premier Pro to make it more dramatic.
Scene 4
The fourth scene will be the machine gun firing upon the targets each ball will follow a line and be released at different intervals using auto key.
Scene 5
The fifth scene will be the same as the fourth but from the side of the machine gun following the cannon balls as they are fired.
Scene 6
My final scene will be the cannon ball missing the target and going through the wall knocking part of it down, i will achieve this by using the reactor tool.
Storyboard
Now that my models are made and rendered i can start to build my animation, firstly i will be drawing up a basic storyboard to separate my animation into scenes, i will then build my environment that my models will appear in, and add cameras and lighting before rendering. Once the scenes are rendered i will edit my animation in Premier Pro.
Scene 1
The first scene is of castle surrounded by water and hills, the camera will follow a constraint path all the way around the castle, and then along the bridge with the gate opening so the camera can enter the castle.
Scene 2
My second scene will be a 360 degree view of my machine gun with ammunition barrels surrounding it. i will also render a wireframe machine gun so that i can change between materials and wireframe to show the complexity of the model.
Scene 3
My third scene is of the targets that are intended to be fired upon, a free camera will follow a constraint path right up to one of the targets, i will speed this up in Premier Pro to make it more dramatic.
Scene 4
The fourth scene will be the machine gun firing upon the targets each ball will follow a line and be released at different intervals using auto key.
Scene 5
The fifth scene will be the same as the fourth but from the side of the machine gun following the cannon balls as they are fired.
Scene 6
My final scene will be the cannon ball missing the target and going through the wall knocking part of it down, i will achieve this by using the reactor tool.
Week 9
Reactor tool
This week in tutorial we learnt how to use the reactor tool, i've been practicing the reactor tool for a couple of weeks, as i want to use it in my animation, so i was able to complete the task quite quickly and help others who were stuck.
To use the reactor tool is complicated at first as there's more than one step but once you've done it a few times you don't forget it. I began by creating a wall from one polygon and copying along the x axis then copying on the z axis making sure none of the polygons are touching each other. Now create a plane but making sure it doesn't touch the other polygons otherwise the reactor tool won't work.
Once the wall is made, create a sphere and use the auto key to make the sphere pass through the wall.
select the bricks that you want to be knocked down, and select customize, show UI, floating tool bars. discard the tool bars except the reactor tool bar.
With the bricks still selected open the property editor which is on the reactor tool bar, and change the properties to mass 20, select inactive and bounding box, then close. Now select the plane and change the properties to inactive and concave mesh, then close. Lastly select the sphere and change the mass to 20, select unyielding and mesh convex hull. Now save, as once the reactor tool is animated i can't be undone.
Now selecting the bricks, sphere and plane we can add a rigid body selection which is on the reactor tool bar, This tells the reactor tool what is part of the animation.
Select utilities, reactor, havok world 1, and change the z axis to 150, and the world scale to 15 and the collision tolerance to 1, and select create animation on the reactor tool bar.
Once the animation has rendered, when played the sphere passes through the wall, but the wall is knocked down by the force of the sphere.
Reactor tool
This week in tutorial we learnt how to use the reactor tool, i've been practicing the reactor tool for a couple of weeks, as i want to use it in my animation, so i was able to complete the task quite quickly and help others who were stuck.
To use the reactor tool is complicated at first as there's more than one step but once you've done it a few times you don't forget it. I began by creating a wall from one polygon and copying along the x axis then copying on the z axis making sure none of the polygons are touching each other. Now create a plane but making sure it doesn't touch the other polygons otherwise the reactor tool won't work.
Once the wall is made, create a sphere and use the auto key to make the sphere pass through the wall.
select the bricks that you want to be knocked down, and select customize, show UI, floating tool bars. discard the tool bars except the reactor tool bar.
With the bricks still selected open the property editor which is on the reactor tool bar, and change the properties to mass 20, select inactive and bounding box, then close. Now select the plane and change the properties to inactive and concave mesh, then close. Lastly select the sphere and change the mass to 20, select unyielding and mesh convex hull. Now save, as once the reactor tool is animated i can't be undone.
Now selecting the bricks, sphere and plane we can add a rigid body selection which is on the reactor tool bar, This tells the reactor tool what is part of the animation.
NOW HERE'S THE FUN PART!
Select utilities, reactor, havok world 1, and change the z axis to 150, and the world scale to 15 and the collision tolerance to 1, and select create animation on the reactor tool bar.
Once the animation has rendered, when played the sphere passes through the wall, but the wall is knocked down by the force of the sphere.
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