Denim Dan's Blog

Pro Project2 & Self Directed

denimdan — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:21:06 +0000

Well things have been super busy but the work got done. I got the chance to dable with a node in the hypershade, gamma correction, I had never used before to help correct the lighting of some of my objects in my final scene. Though it does help correct the way the lighting effects an object, the downside is that in your regular work view the textures are the object looks oddly distorted. Though if you do a render it shows that it is perfectly fine. Guess it’s just Maya’s way of telling you that a gamma correction node is in use. I used Mental ray phsyical sun and sky to light my scene which does a pretty good job, expecially for the type of scene I was doing. Simple and didn’t have to much with too many things.

The cars are finished, the level is done. Just have to sit and wait for rendering to finish and then stick it all together. Horay me.

Self Study 5

denimdan — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:40:34 +0000

Well the El Camino is modeled and has tires. It needs to be run through the UV mapping ringer and get textured. I borrowed a book from a classmate that has a section about making the tires of a vehicle moving in relation to the ground it is moving across. So hopefully that is not a really complicated process. I think I will try to get that going before the texturing process just to be safe. I already see some spots that I should have approached a little differently when modeling this. At least I see them acknowledge them so I have an idea with other models.

Pro Project2-5

denimdan — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:34:57 +0000

Well, everything has been modeled and now it’s a matter of going through and texturing the UV maps for everything, which I am about 1/3 of the way, done. I don’t think it should take me too much longer working on that. After that then I will need to try and drop some decent lighting in there. I’m hopping I won’t have to do a lot of messing around with that. I have really been really trying to keep an eye on my textures for any sign of anything that might look too repeated but so far it seems to not be an issue. I have really been taking advantage of these two texture sites that I have found: Mayung’s Free Texture Library (http://mayang.com/textures/index.htm) and CG Textures (http://www.cgtextures.com). They have both been a godsend for texturing and both have really good libraries.

I also discovered that when I was quickly opening up Maya to reconfirm various things while I was texturing in Photoshop. If I do not tweak the grid settings, then I can’t see anything in my front orthographic view, as well as in my top and side view on some occasions. Before I found this out I was getting worried that something had happened to my files. This also goes into the pile of things I don’t understand why Maya is doing it.

Maya was doing that slightly jagged look from a distance when I took these screenshots. I don’t really understand why that is.

Self Study4

denimdan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:15:31 +0000

The El Camino is underway and coming together. I had some issues figuring out how I should place the rear bumper, but after looking at some more pictures found that the bumper for most El Camino’s is actually really basic. I did try get a little too fancy on the rear brake light but found that it got too complex and messy so I think I will just have to simplify it. I couldn’t really find exact dimensions for the car, so I looked at dimensions of other vehicles that would be close in size to make my El Camino look more accurate.

Pro Project2-4

denimdan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:07:00 +0000

Got some detail into a couple of the buildings and now have all the buildings in place. Got them all layered and colour coded and (I normally don’t do this or forget) named everything in the hypergraph. I also spent a fair bit of time collecting textures now, so that if I see something interesting that I wish to use I can let that influse any model details to help it better fit.

Self Study 3

denimdan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:35:54 +0000

I discovered drawing cars is difficult, probably because I have never really drawn one before. Thus, mine kinda sucks. Just a quick design of how I want my El Camino to look. Though I think I might make some tweaks to the model later on. Just some little things maybe, not completley sure yet.

ProProject2-3

denimdan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:27:24 +0000

Well I’m certainly glad I started placing cubes just to double check distances, since I accidentally had come up short and had to figure out where I went short. Lots of double checking with the calculator. There’s a screen shot, most of the placeholders are on one side of the street. I hid the layer for the actual street so that it would stand out a bit better. Also made a basketball hoop for the basketball court. I used the CV curve tool to make the post for the hoop. Learned a bit about using that from that car tutorial.

Pro Project2-2

denimdan — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:39:43 +0000

the overhead layout of the street. I just have things coded different colours so I can tell things apart. The measurements are not to scale in the image. The ground plane is in and the street has been pulled down and I have the lines to tell where the sidewalk are and one building place holder is in. I will probably concentrate on the homes with the stoops first.

Self Study-2

denimdan — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:33:36 +0000

Here’s a late screenshot I meant to put up earlier. I’ve been busy trying to get work done on a model for 3D&Mocap class so it has sort of been derailing my efforts on these other two projects. Just have to put some power days in to put it back in line.

Self Study

denimdan — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:09:30 +0000

I have been enjoying my self study so far. The Digital Tutor video tutorial I am using is pretty well done. It goes at a good pace and the instructor explains out little pieces of reasoning behind what is happening. I have made it about 7 chapters in. I took some screens (I didn’t think of this until after the first one or two lessons) when I finished each chapter.

I’ll order them from begining to most recent. Unfortuantly I didn’t take them all from the same angle to my stupidity, I shall have to make sure I do a better job for the next ones.