Animation Link

Here is the Vimeo link to my final animation:

https://vimeo.com/101979720

Update: Exporting Issues

Update: Exporting Issues

After rendering the animation, I attempted multiple times to export it through Adobe Premiere and Media Encoder, with it failing.
It was an unknown error with compiling the movie, and it took me days to figure out what was wrong. Thankfully, Elle helped me figure out that it was due to a corrupt image in my image sequence, located the image, re-rendered it, put it back into the sequence, and exported it without any troubles.
I'll definitely know what to do when I next encounter this problem, if I do.

MDU105.2 Overall Assessment and Issues Encountered:

MDU105.2 Overall Assessment and Issues Encountered:

The process of going through an entire production pipeline in this assignment was definitely an eye-opening experience. I've learned many things during this time, such as how you can never take time for granted, how sometimes things just won't go how you planned, and that you need to take these things into consideration during the planning stages or you'll be late with your deadlines, and most of all, just how much it pays to keep practising with the software to sharpen your skills and create better and better things. 
I'll definitely look back on this assignment as the best way for me to have an idea of what 3D animators must go through everyday to create films, tv shows, games, etc., and I can now break every part of the process down in my mind to give myself a better idea of how they create them. 

During the whole production, I encountered quite a few problems. While most were minor and easily fixable, there were some that resulted in complete do-overs to solve. 

These were:

1. Not enough polys on the chest front (I had 4 on the extruded surface instead of 6)
2. When extruding the top of the chest down to make the inside of the chest, the extruded part protruded in front of the front chest face. This was quickly fixed by adding in a step I missed, which was to inset the top of the chest base polys. 
3. Snapping UV vertices to each other occasionally resulted in incredible amounts of lag, and this would not stop after loading the previous saves, restarting 3DS Max, restarting the computer, or even changing computers, as I had to completely re-do the chest multiple times both at university and home. I could not find out what was causing this problem, and waiting through the lagging moments did not result in it eventually going back to a normal speed. The only solution I had was to make the chest again from scratch and hope I didn't mess up the settings again.
4. While texturing, there were times when the textures weren't quite sitting right, or were at weird angles to other parts, as was visible thanks to the recommended checker pattern material. This problem was fixed by simply going back a few steps and correctly breaking the right edges which I missed.
5. Again while texturing, I had many fears that my texture image was going to be too pixelated, because in 3DS Max it was showing up with few pixels, and the texture was very blurry. I believe I fixed this by resizing the UV jpeg image to 2048 x 2048, as I had initially had it sized to 1024 x 1024. However, I can't actually be sure that this was the solution to the problem or not, as I realised that rendering the image smoothed everything out to a high quality, clean finish. 
6. While animating, there were many times where I wouldn't have Auto Key selected, and so of course my animations weren't working. Clearly this mistake was fixed by realising what the problem was, and turning Auto Key on to add key frames.
7. The coin cluster inside the chest issue which I spoke about during the Animating blog was one big issue I came across also, not creating and rigging the coins to the chest before I began the animation process was definitely not a smart move. 
8. With texturing again, I realised near the end of my production process that the UV lines on my chest were still visible, so this was easily fixed by going back into photoshop and hiding the UV layer.
9. During the rendering stage, I somehow managed to irreversibly make the render show just a plain black image, even after going back through the tutorial video and setting everything to the correct settings. I later realised it was because I was setting the quality of the render too early, or perhaps without an actual camera selected. This issue pushed back my submission time by a whole day, because I simply could not figure it out, but later realised that simply loading back to a previous save fixed the issue, and I made sure to leave rendering until the very last step.
10. The final issue I had with this production was going over the final, completed render image sequence, and realising that I still hadn't learned my mistake of not selecting a camera whilst rendering. Instead of panning around the board, then zooming in like the scene was supposed to, I had the whole thing rendered in perspective view, right in front of the board. The render time was about 6 hours, and of course this pushed my submission back even further. However, I doubt I'll be making that mistake ever again. I have definitely learned from that one. 

These were the big issues that I encountered with my brief production, and I can only imagine what it would be like for a company worker on something of a much larger scale! It's insane to think about all the aspects that make up complex productions, and how much time and effort would have gone into making them.

I definitely have a new-found respect for 3D animators after this assignment, and I'm much happier for it. 

MDU105.2 Animation

MDU105.2 Animation

The first things I animated were the palm trees, because I figured that after the board opened up, the trees would be the first things to pop up.

Using the curve editor, I smoothly sped up and slowed down certain parts of their bouncing to make the scene seem jubilant.

Initially I was going to have the trees stop bouncing before the chest landed, but that looked strange to me, so I extended their animations beyond that. I altered each tree individually in the curve editor so they would all seem more separate, and not look so... copied. I wanted it to seem as realistic in cartoon movement as possible. 


The chest was the next asset I animated, and I simply did it the way Steve showed us in the tutorial video. I didn't change it much because it was the most effective and entertaining way to animate the chest, from start to finish. Adjusting the stretching and squashing was very enjoyable, and I had a lot of fun messing around with overly exaggerated animations for everything in the beginning. 
There were no problems that I encountered when making the chest move, so everything in this part went very smoothly.

The coins were the next animation challenge. Each coin was animated one by one, from the beginning position in the chest all the way through to the final landing. I'm not sure if there was a more time-effective way to animate the coins, but I quickly learned that it wasn't possible to simply copy one coin, move it's position from the original, and hope that it would play through the same animation sequence in a different spot. When I did try to do this, the copy just merged with the original halfway through the jump, and landed in the exact same position. 

It's because of the time it took to animate that I wasn't able to create as many animated coins as I would have liked. However, I'm still very happy with the final product and of my efforts. 


I actually had some trouble when I first started to animate the coins, because I wanted the treasure chest to remain looking full, even after coins had spilled out of it. Therefore, I decided to set a base layer of coins on the inside of the chest, and a layer hovering slightly above it. 

The problem here was that I had completely rigged the inner coins to the chest at the start when I animated the chest, and only thought to create the separate jumping coins later on. This resulted in my coins just hovering above the board, in the position they'd be in if the chest hadn't moved from the board at all. So when I played through the animation sequence, as the chest hovers above the board and then drops down, the jumping coins are sitting there in the middle of the board, not doing anything until the chest lid opens.
I know that there was probably an easier way to sort this out, which would have seemed more logical, but I instantly thought to just have the jumping coins placed directly under the board until the chest landed, then move them up and let them resume their jumping out of the chest. 
I used this same 'under the board' method for the palm trees, crabs, shells, starfish and the grass placed on the board, and it has proven effective for my production. I'm happy with it like this.
Each coin has it's own bouncing animation upon touching the board for the first time, before settling flat on the surface. I felt that this made the animation a little bit more realistic. 

An extra little fun detail I added was to make two of the coins jump out of the chest, and hit the crabs on their heads, knocking them upside down. 

The final assets that I animated were the crabs, which were a lot of fun to move around because of their multiple moving points. It was entertaining to move their arms and pincers around to give them more life.
The only difficulty I had was that I had animated the two coins that hit the crabs before I animated the crabs getting to those positions at the time of impact, so it was a bit of meddling around that was required, in order to let the crabs dance and have fun before getting hit on the head.

MDU105.2 Lighting

MDU105.2 Lighting

Lighting was something that I found to be very easy once I figured out the correct render settings. I'll admit, at first I was very worried with my render because it was very dark and shadowy, which is exactly the opposite to the desired effect when creating a fun, appealing advertisement for children. 
However, once I corrected all the settings to what the tutorial suggested, everything was perfectly fine, and the final render is lit exactly how I pictured it to be. 

MDU105.2 Scene Assembly

MDU105.2 Scene Assembly

Assembling the scene was actually very fun. To be able to determine exactly how you want the audience to view the scene during the production, and actually make that happen yourself, was a very rewarding experience. 



The only possible problem I could see with this step would be going overboard with your ideas, and straying from what the client wants and what you've both agreed to. I made sure to set the scenes as was agreed on in the storyboard. 
If I were to have deviated from the predetermined plan then the client would have every right to be upset, and I would have to go back and undo a lot of work that wasn't necessary in the first place. 

If you stick to what is agreed, both you and the client will be happy in the end. 

MDU105.2 Rigging

MDU105.2 Rigging

Rigging each object was very simple. For all the assets aside from the chest this was already done. I feel like if I had more time, I would have tried to create my own beach creature (like the crab), and attempt to rig and animate it convincingly. 

The coins were linked to the chest base, and the chest lid to the chest base also. Aside from linking the camera to the board, this was about all I needed to do in the rigging stage, and I found it quite enjoyable to play around with each object's movement range. 

MDU105.2 Texturing

MDU105.2 Texturing

After my initial treasure chest research, and my decision to change the default metal colour to more of a yellow-gold, I set to work trying to find the correct shades and tones that would work in the same way as the metal colour palette provided. 

I believe I found good colours, and I'm happy with how they turned out on the final product.

The tutorials were incredibly easy to follow, which I'm very grateful for. They explained the process of making the texture to match the UVs, how to add nice details, and Elle even taught me new techniques and hot keys that I wasn't previously aware of. I can't say that I had any trouble with this part of the production, aside from forgetting to hide the UV layer at some points during the process. 

I felt most comfortable texturing the chest than during any other part of the production so far, and I feel like it will remain my favourite to come. 
I also think that if I were to get a job in the industry of 3D animation, I'd like to focus my skills on texturing models, because I enjoyed it so much and I was genuinely excited to learn new things to better my knowledge.

MDU105.2 UV Mapping

MDU105.2 UV Mapping

The UVs were quite easy to do once I understood how to break polys properly, and how to envision them unwrapped.

Elle's videos were very easy to follow, with just some minor mishaps on my part, such as missing one snap when snapping two polys together, breaking edges on the model, etc. These were all small mistakes that were fairly easy to fix.

There was however, a major problem involving the poly snapping that I'll mention in the final blog, but it resulted in me starting my chest model all over again, at least twice.

I am now, however, very proficient at making the chest without the need for the tutorial video whatsoever, so that can only be a plus. 

MDU105.2 Modelling of Assets

MDU105.2 Modelling of Assets

The treasure chest was the only asset of the production that was left to be modelled. We were briefed to create a pirate board game advertisement, targeted for younger audiences, and so with this knowledge I knew that the chest would have to look inviting, bright, and fun.

With this in mind, and my decision to model my treasure chest after my last production blog's chest pictures, I set to work on creating a chest that I believed would be suitable for the task.

The video tutorials were easy enough to follow, with some minor problems that I'll compile into one single blog at the end of the production, but I did manage to fix them, and the result was a perfectly good treasure chest model.

3D Textures & Shaders: 

Firstly, I'll try to explain what the difference between the two is. 

A texture is an image that you put onto a 3D model's surface, to make it look like it has texture.

 It gives the model its colour and realistic quality. 

(Kumar, n.d.)

Like the picture above, a texture has been applied to a cube, in order to make it look like a wooden crate. Textures can be created in many different programs, and add realness to your 3D models. 

Now, a shader is a set of properties that you apply to an object, which determine things such as light reflection, light absorbency, translucency, glow, shine, etc. You can then apply textures to the shader, so that it has all the properties you just set for that shader.

Below are some examples shaders...

In some programs, there isn't actually a distinct difference between the two, but this is the difference I have learned about thus far. 

For working in the 3D Graphics industry, this knowledge is incredibly important. It's useful to know which is which, and exactly how both textures and shaders affect a 3D object.
To be able to use this to make incredibly realistic in games is awesome, and I appreciate the work that texture artists put in all the more.
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References:

3dbuzz.com,. (2004). what is the difference between shaders and textures?. Retrieved 1 July 2014, from http://www.3dbuzz.com/forum/threads/58012-what-is-the-difference-between-shaders-and-textures

Create 3D Games,. (2012). Shaders, Materials, and Textures. Retrieved 1 July 2014, from http://create3dgames.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/shaders-materials-and-textures/

Kumar, K. (n.d.). K.S.Satish Kumar Portfolio: Texturing A Mapped Model. Satish3dartist.blogspot.com.au. Retrieved 1 July 2014, from http://satish3dartist.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/texturing-mapped-model.html

Wiki.blender.org,. (n.d.). Retrieved 1 July 2014, from http://wiki.blender.org/uploads/thumb/3/30/Manual-2.5-Material-Shader-Lambert.png/320px-Manual-2.5-Material-Shader-Lambert.png

3D Graphics: Pioneers of History

Well, of course the main and most noteworthy 3D graphic pioneer would be commonly mentioned, and that's Ed Catmull. 

He's a co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, and invented texture mapping - which is monumental for the 3D industry. 

Texture mapping is defined as "a graphic design process in which a two-dimensional (2-D) surface, called a texture map, is "wrapped around" a three-dimensional (3-D)object."(Rouse, 2010)

(Lorentzen, 2014)

"Texture maps are developed to directly correspond to the UV coordinates of an unwrapped 3D model, and are either devised from real-life photos, or hand painted in a graphics application like Photoshop or Corel Painter."(Slick, n.d.)

Other pioneers I'd like to mention are Krishnarthy and Levoy who created Normal Mapping, as well as Ofer Alon and Jack Rimokh, who created ZBrush. 

Normal Mapping is the process of making highly detailed mesh fit to low resolution polys is revolutionary for modern gaming graphics.

On the same note of gaming, the invention of ZBrush would have been amazingly helpful to all animators, to be able to easily sculpt 3D models like clay, until perfect. 

Democratisation of the 3D Graphics Industry: 

To democratise something means to make it accessible to everyone. In terms of the 3D Graphics Industry, this means to make the programs and technology available to top-of-the-line animators, graphic artists, etc., easily available to everyday artists of the same type.

The implications could be referring to the fact that with this easy accessibility of excellent software, the potential for even greater products is possible, as well as the ability to share knowledge of these programs across all fields.

Lately, NVIDIA-GRID technology is a key example of 3D graphic democratisation. The GRID includes everything needed to provide high-end graphics horsepower to almost any device, as well as the software required - and is easily transferable between industry groups. 

This is not to say it's better than having a powerful personal workstation to do your graphic art, but it opens up all new possibilities to artists everywhere with the Cloud system. 

All in all, this is a good thing I think, a great thing, to help artists tap into their full potential, regardless of their own software/device limitations. 

Emerging Technology:

"Ptex is a texture mapping system developed by Walt Disney Animation Studios for production-quality rendering:"(Ptex.us, 2014)

Ptex allows its users to complete eliminate UV Mapping, essentially removing an entire step in the 3D Asset Production Pipeline. By taking out the time needed for UV Mapping, 3D artists are able to spend more time on their textures, which Ptex has also made incredibly effortless, with the ability to make individual resolutions incredibly large and detailed. 

(Ptex.us, 2014)

It's been made easily usable, by supporting many other data types, and allowing arbitrary storage to a multitude of data. 

Ptex has been released as free open source, allowing anyone to use it and explore the software, how it works, and how useful it is in making your job easier. 

Asset creation as we know it will start becoming a lot more detailed, it will be easier for the artists, but also much more rewarding, to be able to get the desired image so easily and effectively. I believe that Ptex will be used by most, if not all animation studios soon enough, simply because it's the most logical and easy-to-use software in the industry to date. 

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References

graphics, T. (2013). The democratisation of computer graphics | Audiovisual | Creative Bloq.Creativebloq.com. Retrieved 30 June 2014, from http://www.creativebloq.com/audiovisual/democratisation-computer-graphics-10135033

Lorentzen, A. (2014). Lorentzen.se - Online portfolio of Anders Lorentzen. Lorentzen.se. Retrieved 30 June 2014, from http://lorentzen.se/anders/web/portfolio/p1202.html

Ptex.us,. (2014). Ptex. Retrieved 30 June 2014, from http://ptex.us/

Ptex.us,. (2014). Ptex Overview. Retrieved 30 June 2014, from http://ptex.us/overview.html

Rouse, M. (2010). What is texture mapping? - Definition from WhatIs.com. Whatis.techtarget.com. Retrieved 30 June 2014, from http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/texture-mapping

Slick, J. (n.d.). 10 Pioneers in 3D Computer Graphics - The Men Behind the Breakthroughs. About.com 3D. Retrieved 30 June 2014, from http://3d.about.com/od/3d-101-The-Basics/tp/10-Pioneers-In-3d-Computer-Graphics.htm

Slick, J. (n.d.). Surfacing 101: How Texture Maps Are Made. About.com 3D. Retrieved 30 June 2014, from http://3d.about.com/od/3d-101-The-Basics/a/Surfacing-101-Texture-Mapping.htm