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Unit 67 and 68 Animation Review Script

PlanFor this project, I have had to manage my time on the different aspects of the
project in order to ensure I finish the project for the deadline. This means I []
have scheduled my workflow into sections, each with an individual schedule.
Upon finishing each section, I have classed it as a production milestone, and
after each milestone I review what I have done to ensure it is of correct quality in
order to stick to the projects brief much like my previous project. So how have I
done this?
Well I split up the different milestones into The different forms of animation,
doing the [] most complex forms first, and then doing the easier types later ,
These forms of animations I will cover later on. For each of these sections I
planned a realistic schedule to keep to, which means that I set myself specific
times to complete each section of the project. I think that this is an effective way
to manage workflow, in order to finish the project on time, with the maximum
amount of quality.
I planned each section would take a varied amount of time, and based on the
complexity of animations, I was able to work out how much time I would need on
each part, compared to how much time remained. So for this project, I made a
schedule of completing all the animation between a [] 3 day time period. This
includes both the animation, but not the rendering, which I was unsure on how
long it would take. By following this schedule, it meant that I was not as rushed,
which may have decreased the quality of work, and by setting specific parts to a
large amount of time, it ensured that I had plenty of time to complete the task
even if other variables occurred such as not being able to do the work at one
point. But because I calculated how long I would need to how long I had, it
allowed more flexibility.
Overall this plan worked, as I kept to the schedule and divided up the workflow,
resulting in a less rushed, more organized process which allowed me to do a lot
of work while also reducing the speed of being worn out or becoming less
focused due to the separation of the project. And this further resulted in the
quality of work not decreasing throughout, as I had time to rest, as apposed to
doing it all in an all out burst on the last day, which would result in me losing
quality in the work as the hours went on, as I became more tired and sick of
doing work. This is why I find it is important to plan the workflow efficiently, and
to stick to schedules in place.
As for[] asset management, this was a less complex form of management. This
simply required me to ensure that throughout the time I was working on the
project, I had the resources available to carryout the work continuously, without
need for breaks where I would need to retrieve things. This management aids in
reducing the time it takes to complete the project.

Assets included in this management include various things, the first is file []
storage. Before beginning the project, or continuing it, made sure there was
enough space on wherever I was going to save it, as I do not want to do all the
work, and then find there is no where to safely save it. The second asset is []
retrieval. I do not want to save my work somewhere, only to have it later
become inaccessible when I come to continue later in a different place. This is
why I ensured I had multiple copies available anywhere, by uploading the work to
the web where I can access it anywhere, and even putting it onto a memory
stick.
Software interfaceThrough the animation portion of this project, []I only made use of the 3D
software Maya, as this is my preferred platform for animation.
Throughout the creation of this animation, I have had the need to replace files
and delete files. This is mainly due to saving files on different computers as I
switch between home and college This meant I had some new files and older out
of date files saved in different places at the same time. In order to maintain
organization, I found myself deleting all the out of date files and replacing them
by either deleing them all together, or by saving over them using the same
name.[] By the end of the animation process, I found myself with 1 finished file
remaining, containing the fully textured and lit model with all the animations
added in a .mb format, as to be opened in Maya. I ensured to back up this file to
multiple things, such as One Drive and a memory stick, as well as a separate
computer, to ensure the file will not be lost, and can be easily replaced if one
becomes corrupted.
I found no need to alter the placement of tools or tabs In Mayas interface, [] as I
had become accustom to its default layout. The only part of the interface I chose
to change though, were the grids present in the scene. As this project required
me to animate the parts of the environment I had already created, it mean that I
had no need for size reference, as the models were already made, and so there
was no need for the grid, and by removing the grid from the scene, it made the
scene as a whole less cluttered. This also applies to the use of other drawing
aids, such as layers, which I found I did not need, as I had no reason to create
the animations on a different layer.
[] There were many keyboard shortcuts available to use when creating these
models, however I used little of them, as I found it easier remembering where
the options were, as opposed to what the shortcut commands were. However, I
did find regular use in the keyboard shortcut [] space bar in Maya, which made
the layout change to what it was last. This means that if I opened the 4 point
perspective, showing both perspective and orthographic views, I could press the
spacebar to select one view, and then press it again to open the four views up
again. It also made it easier and quicker when I had to switch between having a
main view and attributer editor boxes open, as I could minimize and open in just
one key. I also found regular use in the [] key S, which added a keyframe to the
timeline. This was the main aspect to animation, as by moving objects on

different keyframes, it told the program to fill in the blanks in-between, and this
made the animation. For example, if I wanted something to move in my scene, I
would press S to create a reframe on frame 0 for the objects starting position, I
would then go to a different frame such as number 40, and move the object
forward, I then pressed S again and this made the second key frame, now with
the two key frames, Maya would then fill in the movement in-between the two
frames, so it looked like the object moved from the starting position to the
ending position, as apposed to it just teleporting. This was the main principle
applied to the majority of the animation techniques.
As I mentioned above, making sure the file is saved properly is important, which
is why its important to consider all contingencies on what could go wrong and
how to solve it. This is why backups are needed. However, there is an option in
Maya that can allow you to set auto saving to the scene. This can be done by
going to [] Window > Settings/Preferences > Settings > Files/Projects >
AutoSaved. Then its just a matter of ticking enable, and setting it to how often
you want it to save. I however, did not use this autosave feature. This is because
when I activated it, every time it AutoSaved a pop up message appeared
informing me that the file was saved on a student version of Maya, and after a
while, this message became quite annoying and distracting, popping up each
time it saved, so I disabled the autosave, and simply kept saving it manually
every time I had done something significant, to ensure I would not lose anything
in case of a power cut, or the program not responding and having to close down.
AnimationAs mentioned before, I animated my environment using different methods, and
all of which came together to from my final product. Animation in Maya relies on
multiple different aspects. Each method can add a different type of result, and its
up to the animator to decide which method would work the best for the project,
and for the model needing to be animated. But there are a few different things
that make the whole animation process a lot easer.
To begin with, object naming conventions. Through the completion of the
environment and animation, I ended up with a lot of objects, some of which were
models, others were things such as camera. [] These objects could all be seen in
the outliner, which is accessible via window>Outliner. Through a few of my
animations, it required me to parent certain objects with animations and
movements, and this became difficult as more and more objects were made. This
is because I failed to name each object after creating it. This resulted in a long
list of titles such as [] Object001, Object002 and so on. This obviously made
it very difficult to distinguish which object was what. This is why when doing
animation, its important to consider the naming conventions of objects, and by
re naming each object to an appropriate name, such as Car as apposed to
Object014, it makes it an overall easier experience to find what objects are
needed to be selected.
During the animation, I found constant use in the tools available. [] And more
frequently the Rotate and move tools. As previously mentioned, one of the

forms of animation was to make a key frame, move the object, and then make
the next key frame in the sequence. So because of this, you may be able to see
how useful these two tools were, as the move tool allowed me to change the
coordinates of an object by simply dragging the object around the environment,
and the rotate tool allowed me to rotate objects on the spot, positioning the
models into where I wanted within the scene. This key frame and move method
was done on one of the [] cars within the scene, where I had moved the car to
the edge of the bridge, and [] I then key framed it, rotated the and moved the
car forward slightly, key framed it again, and then moved it back into the original
position. Then by putting it on a loop, it simulated a rocking motion of the car, as
if it is about to fall off. This is but one of the ways I found these tools useful for,
as I also found it useful for when I came to animating the camera as it moved
through the scene also. I did this using the same animation method.
FramesKey frames have a special way of working. The more keyframes that are in an
animation, the longer it will be, so if an animation is to last[] 30 seconds long, I
need to add 720 frames while the animation plays at 24 frames per second. The
higher the frames per second, the more fluid the movements within the
animation, but it also means there are more frames required when compared to
a 12 frame per second animation. In addition to this, if I set a keyframe at 0, and
move an object, and then set a keyframe at 40, the object will travel from point A
to point B within those 40 frames, so if I set two objects to move within the same
frames, but one moves further within that that time, it means that the objects
speed will be faster than the other one, as it must travel a longer distance within
the same time. With this principle in mind, it means that I had to alter the
intervals of keyframes to make objects move the correct speed which I wish.
Also, when setting a key frame, it will only select a keyframe for the object
selected, and so if the object is unselected, the keyframe, indicated by a red line
on the timeline, ill disappear. It would then reappear if the object is selected
aging. This means that each calculation of movement for each object is done
separately, on their own timeline.
In order to adjust the amount of frames are in the scene, I simply alter the
number at the [] bottom right of the timeline in the default layout. By typing in
900, the timeline then changes to accommodate 900 frames. And to adjust the
frames per second, I click the small image of a box with a red man inside it
located at the bottom right of the screen also. [] This brings up a menu box,
where under the Time Slider section, there is a drop down option for Playback
speed, which is where frame rate per second options are available.
So in addition to doing key frame animation, I also implemented multiple more.
Firstly, I used the skeleton and bone method. This is where a bone rigging
skeleton is created and attached to an object. Through this, the object can then
be moved by simply rotation and moving the bones within the object. This makes
it a lot easier to animate more realistic movements, as I no longer have to rely
on moving each face and vertices that the model is made of. This makes it a

whole lot quicker and ultimately more efficient too, as it means the whole object
can be moved and bent by just a few clicks and moves of the bone.
Skeleton Rigging AnimationSo how did I do this and why? Well, I used the bone rigging tool to animate the
swinging of the wires protruding the [] dammaged highway bridge to simulate
realism and a more visually pleasing environment. And I chose to use the bone
rigging method as the wires are loose in nature, and so by just moving the stiff
object from side to side like I did with the solid car would not look right, I wanted
them to be swinging naturally. This meant that the easiest way to simulate this
was to add bone rigging, as it would allow me to move each individual section of
the object, making it looser as the different portions can move in different ways
at the same time. So to begin with, I had to create the bones. This is where I
began mainly using the four perspective view, orthographic Top, front and
side, as well lass the perspective view as well. This allowed me to gather a
good vantage point of where to add the bone.[] I started by selecting the object
which I want to animate, in this case the first wire, and [] I then went to the
animation dropdown menu. This changed the tabs at the top of the program to
have the appropriate potions for when animation is being done, as apposed top
the Polygon tab it was initially on. With this done, I then went to the []
Skeleton tab, and then selected the joint option. This then allowed me to add
a bone structure to the environment. So to begin adding a skeleton to the wire,[]
I simply clicked the top of the pipe to add the first joint. Joints are the points of
the bones which can be moved and rotated, much like a real skeleton. In order
for this to work , I had to add the first joint at the top, and then work downwards.
This is because after adding the rest of joints, once again by clicking to add the
joint,[] if I select the top joint, all the joints are selected, whereas if I select the []
middle joint, all the joints to the bottom half of the skeleton is selected, this is
like a hierarchy of bones. I added the joints to where roughly the wires vertices
were, as this will aid the bending process. Once the joint were added, I pressed
enter. This finalized the joint adding. As you can see, bones there added inbetween the joints. As I stayed clicking to one perspective in orthographic view,
it meant the skeleton was only positioned on one axis, so I then used the other
views to move the skeleton within the wires model. This is why having split
views are useful. But at the moment, if I move the bones position by rotation the
joints, the model will not move. This is because although the skeleton is not
within the model, it is still not connected to it. By selecting the skeleton and then
the wire by holding down shift, it selects both the objects, [] I then go to the
Skin dropdown, then to Bind Skin and finally Smooth Bind. Now the object
is linked with the bones. This means that if the joint is rotated,[] the selected
bones move in the rotation direction, and so does the model with it. Now it is as
simple as making a key frame, moving the bone, adding a new key frame, and
continuing until I have simulated the movement of a swinging wire from right to
left. I did this by rotating 3 different joints at a time, rotating each one so that at
[] one position, it was arced right, the second position it was straight down, and
the last position it was arced left. When Maya added the in-between frames, it
then made the wire swing form right to left.

Skeleton Rigging AnimationTo achieve the wire swinging speed I wanted, my first wire animation of swinging
right to left lasted 440 frames. Now my animation is running at 900 frames, with
a 34 frame per second speed to make a 30 second animation. As such, at the
440th frame, although the animation is still going, the wire animation has
stopped. This is because I need to set the swinging animation on loop, so as
apposed to it swinging from right to left and stopping, it will swing right to left,
and then loop, filling in the frames in-between, so it will then swing from left to
right and continue. To create a loop, I have to alter a specific setting.[] First, I
select all the joints that have key frames. I then go to window, Animation
Editors, and then Graph editor. [] This opens up a pop up box of a graph,
which shows the movements of the animations selected and their pathways. I
select each line, and press A, this just re formats the appearance for more
clarity. [] Now I go to Curves, and Post Infinity. I then click Oscillate and
finally close it. By adding oscillate, it makes the pathways loop continuously until
the animation is over. This method of adding a loop works on other forms of
animation, such as the simple key frame method done for the wobbly car. This
graph editor can also be used for other settings, settings such as adjusting the
way Maya moves the objects in-between key frames. The default setting is that
Maya will move the object slower at the start, speed up as if its a car gaining
speed from accelerating, and then it will slow down as it reaches the second key
frame. This is to simulate a realistic movement of acceleration physics for the
animated objects, something which was useful for my animations. However
setting can be adjusted so it will move at a constraint speed throughout,
something I did not need for this project.
Now that the first wire is animated and looped, it will remain a swinging motion
throughout the animation. I then proceeded to do the same method of adding a
skeleton and moving it with key frames for two more wires also hanging out of
the bridge. Each wire was a different length, and as such, they would not be
swinging at the same time and for the same duration and speed. Also, the would
be less variation to the animation, so I ensured I made each wire have different
swing arks, as well as different key frames to make them swing at different times
and speeds.
FireMy environment also has fire present within it. This fire is animated as to look
more realistic. However, this was not done using any of the previous methods. In
Maya, there is a very simple way of creating good looking fire animations quickly
and efficiently. This is because Maya has a good particle system
First,[] I created a small cone primitive. This cone will act as the emitter, as the
fire needs an object for it to come out of. I chose to use a cone as I think it hides
in the centre of the fire well, however using different primitives has little effect
on the fires appearance. I want the cone to be small so that I cannot be seen
during the renders, as I want the illusion that the bridge is on fire, not a cone, so
it must hide within the fire it is emitting. [] With the cone selected, I go to the

Dynamics tab, from there, there are varied pictures, depicting default effects
that can be applied to an object. I then select the Fire image. This is the image
of a sphere on fire. The fire is now applied to the cone, and by pressing the play
button, the fire will begin to emit from the cone. [] Without it rendered, the fire is
represented by many green circle planes, appearing and disappearing in the
shape of fire. This helps me see what shape the fire will take in the render. For
the fire I wanted, I wanted it to have a tall radius. As such, the default fire shape
was not sufficient. This is where I need to alter the settings. By double clicking
the fire image I used to spawn the fire, it opens up a [] settings box. In this box
there are various attributes to the fire that can be altered. I am looking for the
slider which says Fire scale, adjusting this makes the fire bigger or smaller, and
the slider Fire Direction Y adjusts the high. By clicking apply with the cone
selected, it will then apply this fire to these settings. With both the fire scale and
Y direction increased, [] it has formed the shape of the fire I want. Also, it makes
the fire animate consistently all throughout the animation as a default, so that
does not need changing. However, [] if rendered , the fire will have a very bright
glow, and in this case, it looks odd and out of place. I need to make the glow
intensity reduced for it to look natural, so I select the fire using the pointer tool,
and press Ctrl A which opens the attribute editor. [] Here there are also various
settings that can be changed. And one of them under the Particle Cloud tab is
called Glow Intensity, which I changed to 0.100. [] This made the glow less
bright and more realistic.
Although this type of fire present is fast, it does increase the rendering time quite
a lot, as the processing power required to render the fire is a large strain on the
computer.
WaterMy environment also contains water in the form of two things. The first is
puddles, and the second is Rain.
Both of which are animated. So I added the puddle water effect using a specific
method. First I added dips in the ground by [] []moving the vertices down on the
canyon. [] Next I created a plane, by clicking the plane image on the top left, and
dragging to make a plane. I then selected the plane, and then went to the tab []
[] Fluids and then selected the Ocean material. This added a water effect
when the scene is rendered. In the attribute editor different settings can be
changed such as the size and amounts of waves. This part is what is animated in
the environment. As they are puddles, and the fact that there is wind, indicated
by the swinging wires, I wanted the puddles to ripple. For the default waves were
already attached to the water effect, and was already animated when played.
However the default waves were too large, as they mimicked waves seen in large
bodies of water. So to make the puddles more believable and realistic, I went into
the attribute editor and under the OceanShader tab, I altered the Wave
Speed slider, reducing the speed. I also enlarged the scale using the Scale
slider. As this reduced the amount of waves at a time, as well as giving the
waves a larger radius. This made it look more like a puddle than a tiny ocean. I

then duplicated this plane of water and placed it in different places around the
environment. Adding these smaller animations makes the environment a lot
more even and well balanced. [] [] As like the fire, it looks different rendered than
it does in normal view.
RainAs for the rain I have added to the environment, like the fire, rain is an already
available present, ad as such, the time it took to add the rain was also efficient in
both time and ease. So to begin with, I spawned in the rain animation by going to
the [] Paint Effects tab, I then clicked the image third from the left, named Get
Brush, which resembles a small silver cup with two brushes sticking out of it. This
opens a pop up which contains various folders with textures in. [] I went to the
Weather file, and picked a rain texture from within it. Upon clicking it, []I can
then click and drag on my environment like a paint brush and this begins to add
sections of rain, indicated by small lines. Simply by drawing on a block of rain, it
creates a fully animated section of rain, as though falling from the sky
continuously. By pressing play, it shows that it is already animated. By going into
the attribute editor, there I can alter the settings such as speed of the rain, or
the amount, but I found that this was unnecessary, as the default rain worked
well. But this is not all that was needed. Just like the fire present, rain is quite
taxing on processing, so when I come to render the animation, the render times
will be very slow, and processing may take so long that the frame rate could
decrease and lose quality. This is why used a method to reduce processing
power. I did this by instead of covering the whole environment in rain, I simply
made a small patch of rain and made it follow the camera, to give the illusion of
rain being everywhere. This saves a lot of processing, as now there is only a
small part of rain to spawn and animate. The camera moves, and so it was
nesacery to actually attach the rain so it would follow the camera, instead of just
placing the camera within the rain.
I Managed to get the rain section to follow the camera by doing as follows; [] I
moved the rain section over the camera, so the camera was actually inside the
block of rain, I then went into the Outliner, via window and Outliner as
mentioned previously. This gave me the list of objects within the scene, I then
had to locate both the camera and the rain block, this is where naming the
objects come in handy, and I then selected them both at the same time using
shift and then by pressing P, it parented the two objects together. Now
wherever one goes, the other follows.
ConsiderationsThere are a few considerations I needed to take while animating the scene. The
first is the [] textures. When I was doing the bone rigging animation, It was
important not to give the wires an overly complex texture, [] as the way bone
animation works is that it bends and distorts the original model. This means that
while the textures are on, they will also bend and distort with the model. This will
look unrealistic and silly, which is why it is something I needed to avoid. I
avoided this issue by giving the wires a more basic and plain texture, that way,

its harder to distinguish where the distortions occur. However I could also have
reduced stretching of textures by ensuring the bones are set in a very specific
plain and angle within the model corresponding with the textures themselves, or
by limiting the movement in the animation.
I also needed to consider [] real world physics. In order for the animation to look
as realistic and plausible as possible, I needed to stick to physics. This means
that my animations have to look natural, I couldnt have the car for example,
three quarters off of the bridge yet still balancing, as that would be impossible in
reality, or to have the wires swing at a constant speed, as gravity would naturally
cause the wires to speed up when swinging down, and slow down when swinging
up.
Virtual CameraFor this project, it was necessary for me to add virtual cameras to the scene, for
when I come to rendering the animation , I need to tell Maya what point of view
it needs to render from.. However, before this, I have added a camera to the
scene in order to show off some of the different point of views of the
environment. I have done this by adding a virtual camera, and animating it to
move throughout the environment, simulating the players point of view. But how
do you create a virtual camera and add it to the scene? [] First you go to Create>
Cameras> Then select the camera of choice. There are three camera options to
choose from, these are camera, a basic camera that can be placed into the
scene, Camera and Aim", a camera that comes with a separate sphere that you
can move independently, allowing more freedom to rotate and move the camera
at the same time, allowing it to be focused on one specific point, often used for
animation, and the third is Camera, Aim and Up a more complicated version of
Camera and aim, adding the ability to rotate the camera in more complex ways,
such as tilting it. I used the camera and aim, as it allowed a free movement so I
could focus it on specific points in the scene with ease as the two components,
the camera and the aim, can be moved independently, this is the best way to
simulate actual movement from a point of view, as there is no need for tilting. So
to add it to the scene, I Simply selected the camera and used the move tool to
place it where I wanted it. Too animate it, I just used the basic method like I had
done for the car, by just moving it, inserting a key frame, and then moving it
again and adding another key frame. I continued to do this throughout, so the
camera would be always animated throughout the 30 seconds. I added key
frames at the points where I wanted the camera to remain still, or change
direction. [] As the camera and the aim are both individual, it meant that each
could be moved at different places at the same time, so both needed different
key frames. This allowed me to make the camera move in one direction, and the
aim to move in another which added for freedom and variation to the movement.
To view the scene through the camera,[] I go to the panels dropdown menu,
then perspective, and then the respected camera. Its important to remember
when I am in camera perspective and when I'm not though, as when moving
around in the camera perspective, it also moves the camera with it, this means

that if I animated a plotted course for camera in normal perspective, and then
went into the camera perspective and moved around the scene as normal, the
camera would move from its course and the animation would become incorrect
to what I wanted.
The camera can also be adjusted in multiple ways, and how I could have done
this was by going to the view drop down menu located near the Perspective
drop down, and then selecting Camera Attribute editor. This brings up the
attribute editor to the right side, where I can then select the camera I want to
change and alter all kinds of settings, such as editing the focal strength, or the
camera scale. And even more complex mechanics like the Depth of Field
option, where the view is blurred the further away something is, which adds to a
more realistic camera view as It mimics the way our eyes see, as well as how
game engines often work, loading things in the closer they are to the player..
This can be further altered by changing the Focus Distance, F Stop, and
Focus Region Scale.
LightingIn order to give my objects some visual depth, I added to the scene ray tracing.
This means that shadows will be present in the renders, which will make the
models look better as a whole. Ive added lighting by simply adding an []
Ambient Light to the scene. Ambient lights share similar properties to the
actual sun, as it projects light everywhere within the scene, its because of this
that it is a commonly used type of light for projects like these. Other lights
include spotlights, which are useful when adding unnatural lights to a scene
such as a lamp, or directional lights which as the name suggests, projects a
light in just one direction. [] By adjusting the lights preferences, I turned on ray
tracing, A box which could be ticked under the Shadows section which adds
more realism to the shadows. I needed to turn on retracing in the rendering
preferences also, but I will talk more about that later. I also edited the
transparency and strength of the light, which altered the overall atmosphere of
the scenes. This was done by selecting the light and going to the attribute editor
via the shortcut Ctrl A and using the sliders to the respected settings I thought I
did not need to add anymore lighting effects, as once rendered, you can see the
objects clearly, and the shadows are well rendered and realistic.
TexturingIn order to create my textures, [] I stuck with 3DS Max, as that is the most
familiar programme for texturing for me. This the only point at which I used 3DS
MAX during the process. In order to begin the texturing process, I first[] had to
un-wrap the model I was texturing. This was so I had a 2D template of the object
for me to draw over. I did this by simply [] selecting the object, going to the
Modifier List in the tool box to the right, select Unwrap UVW in the drop down
menu, and then selecting the button Open UV Editor A pop up box appears,
where it shows all the different parts of the object, but in 2D outlines. I then just
had to position and size these 2D nets to fit onto a document, at which I sized
at 1024 by 1024 pixels. This will become the size of the canvas. By using the

chequered Pattern tool, I was able to position the 2D nets and stretch and size
them to fit best on my model while reducing texture deformities afterwards. After
doing this, I saved the 2D document as an .obj file and [] loaded it into
Photoshop. This is when I began to draw the textures over the respected part of
the object.
For this environment project, I did first began to attempt to unfold every aspect
of the environment onto a single document,[] this I soon realized was a bad idea,
as the size of the nets after fitting every object on would be very small, and
would result in a poorer quality of textures, so I began unfolding objects in
sections, having different documents with different parts. For example, after
unfolding every object, I had ended up with six separate documents, one for the
unfolded bridges, one for the unfolded bridge pillars, one for the canyon, another
for the rocks, one for the pipes, and finally, one for the crates and barricades.
While I did save the documents as 1024 for most of them, because the canyon
was such a large object, I created the document for the nets at a size of 2048 by
2048 instead, doubling the size of the canvas. While this makes the file size
larger, it also increases the quality of the textures, something that is important
for such a large and important part of the environment.
So after adding the textures to the nets, either by drawing them myself, or
adding images found on the internet, I then loaded them back onto 3DS Max,
saving the completed textures as a .BMP and loaded the 2D Textures onto my 3D
models by assigning the files to the objects through the [] shortcut M. This
loaded the 2D textures onto the models, giving it a better appearance. After
exporting these newly textured models into Maya, I then ensured the textures
had been transferred successfully, and I began adding variation to the type of
textures they were. This was by changing the textures from their default Phong
to the suitable type. Phong adds a reflectivity to the textures, so I left that on the
bridges as they are made out of metal, but for the rest of the objects, I altered
them to Lamberts, a matte type of texture.
[] To create a Lambert to do this, and then apply it, I went onto the window
drop down menu, and then went to saved layouts and Hypershade/Persp
Upon clicking this, a new pop up menu appeared to the left of the screen. This
pop up had a variety of texture types. All I needed to do was locate the correct
textures that were in the scene, and then by pressing CTR + A I could get the
attribute editor for the selected texture, where I adjust the settings to change the
textures to a lambert.
As the textures were saved in the same place, they loaded perfectly when
Exported into Maya via using File and Export from 3DS MAX. However when
I came to moving my files between computers, I had to re link the textures on
each time I did so, as they would be saved in different places on the different
computers. This is because I failed to save the images within the Maya project
folder, so I had to move the images separately. But by going into
hypershade/persp and selecting the textures, and re linking them to the image
files like I would be putting on a new texture.

While most of my environment was modelled personally, I did create the shape
of the canyon via bump mapping. This is where I drew the floor of the canyon on
Photoshop in black and white, the whiter the floor, the more raised it will be. So I
then exported the image onto plain in Maya and went into the bump mapping
options, within there it automatically added the bump map, making the plane
from being flat into a plain raised to the corresponding colours. This Made the
floor more uneven and natural.
RenderingIn order for my scene to render properly, I had to alter some of the settings to
suit this project. This is mainly due to the lighting. As the lighting was given Ray
tracing, I needed to activate the ray tracing in the rendering settings as well,
this means that once rendered, the shadows are more believable and smooth. I
did this by going to the [] Display Render Settings button located next to the
render button, and then a pop up menu appeared. In this pop up menu, I then
selected the [] Maya Software tab, and scrolled down to the bottom, where I
found the section name Raytracing Quality and I simply ticked the box next to
Raytracing. In addition to this, I had to alter the aspect ratio. This is basically
how much of the screen is rendered, and in what quality. [] I did this by going to
the Display Render Settings button located next to the render button, and then
a pop up menu appeared. In this pop up menu, I then selected the Maya
Software tab, and scrolled down to the bottom, where I found the section name
Raytracing Quality and I simply ticked the box next to Raytracing. In addition
to this, I had to alter the aspect ratio. This is basically how much of the screen is
rendered, and in what quality. To do this, I went to Common tab in the render
settings, scrolled down to the section Image Size and changed the Pre-sets
from what it was on to HD 720, this changed the render window size to a width of
1280 pixels to a height of 720 pixels. By changing the render frame to HD, it not
only increases the size of the image, but it also increases the quality of the frame
as the resolution is higher, making it a lot more professional, and easier to see. I
chose 720 not because it is the highest, as it is not, but because it is of high
quality, but does take as much strain to the computers when rendering, this
makes it quicker to render compared to HD 1080. And with lighting present, as
well as Raytracing, the rendering would already be slowed down due to all the
processing power required for the complicated calculations. It is also important
to consider these calculating times when it comes to animating the scenes, as
each frame will have to be rendered independently, and the better the quality,
the longer it will take. I also chose HD 720 because of its common use in most
things, which makes the rendered frames widely excepted to other formats and
platforms, it is the commonly used aspect ratio for most things at the moment,
which not only means that it will be seen the same on different platforms, it also
means that it can be seen and processed on a wide range of computers, making
it easily transferable. I then changed the image format from Maya IFF to Targa in
a small drop down list near the same place.

Render to VideoThe rendering process is the final thing I needed to do, as rendering the
animation will render each frame of the animation timeline in a better quality,
which will have lighting and shading, as well as the paint effects such as the rain
and the fire present. This is what rendering is one of the most important things to
get right, as without that, the animation cannot be converted into a video
available for viewing.
So what is the process for rendering an animation, and not just one frame?
To begin with, I had to set the Maya project. This is so Maya will have one project
folder dedicated to this scene, which contains all the textures within it, as well as
the scene itself. I set the project by going to [] File, then Project Window, and
then []New on the project window that pops up. I then renamed the project to
Halo 3 ODST, as that is the most conventional name for it, and then I chose the
location for it. I chose to save it just in the Maya folder, so it was easy to find. I
then press Apply. Now that a project has been set, I had to transfer all of my
textures into the [] Source images folder within the Halo 3 ODST project files.
With that done, Maya will be able to find the textures present o the models while
it renders. [] I then need to transfer the actual environment document into the
Scene file within the set project. With that done, I open up Maya and then open
up the file within the Halo 3 ODST project, and I will know if the transfers worked
if the scene loads up with all the textures still present on the models.
With that done, I now need to alter the rendering settings:
Render Animation Set UpI went to the [] Maya software tab, in the render settings, and I found the
Quality section, where I changed it from custom to Production Quality. I then
changed the Anti-aliasing to low quality. These are ways to reduce render
times, but at the same time only slightly reducing the quality.
Now I went back to the [] Common tab, and found the option Frame/animation
ext.. Here I altered the settings in the drop down menu to say Name.#.Ext.
The next alteration is under the [] render able cameras heading, where I must
select the camera that is within my scene. This is so that when it renders, Maya
knows where to look, as it will now render through the cameras eye.
Now as a test, I alter the frame range [] to start at frame 1, and end at frame 10.
This is so I can test that the renders work properly, as I dont want to wait a long
time for 900 frames to render, only to find out it wasnt done correctly. So with
those first 10 frames ready to be rendered, I close the render settings.
Now to render the first 10 frames, I change the Maya layout from [] Animation
to Rendering via the drop down located at the top left corner of the layout. [] I
then go to the Render drop down now seen at the top, and select Batch
Render. This then begins the process of consecutively rendering each frame

from 1 to 10, one after another.[] These render images will then appear in the
images Folder in the Halo 3 ODST project files. Once the 10 frames had
rendered, I checked to see if they rendered correctly, upon checking, I confirmed
they had rendered right, and so I went to the render settings once again, and this
time changed it so the render would work from frame 11 to 900, thus selecting
the rest of the animation.
Once the rendering was complete, after a long time, it was time to compile all
the renders together to form an animation.
Industry PracticeDo I believe that this finished product is fit for purpose. Well yes and no.
Compared with my original intentions, I believe I have surpassed what I set out
to do. This is because I set out to make an environment with a few animated
components to make it more interactive for a player of the level. I planned to do
this by adding a few simple animations. I think that I have not only added a few
simple animations, such as water rippling and fire burning, but I have also had
chances to add to the animation list as I progressed through the project,
developing new skills in order to end up with an animation that includes bone
rigged swinging wires, a realistic rocking car, and even rain that follows a moving
camera through a scene. I think that by including all these, I have made a 3D
animated environment successfully, and at near professional standards. I did it
using complex methods that would be used commonly in the industry to end up
with a visually pleasing and alive environment. Its because of this that I do
believe it is nearly fit for purpose, to be included in Halo 3: ODST, with technical
qualities that would be welcome with the game engine by doing things
successfully such as reducing processing power by reducing particle effects,
making decisions such as making a small patch of rain follow the camera to
simulate constant rain as apposed to having the whole scene covered in rain. I
also think I have managed to replicate realistic physics within the animations,
further reflecting the overall quality of the animations. I have also managed the
workflow well, ensuring I have enough time to complete the project, and to
professional standard.
However, I still need improvements in some areas. The first being time
management. As I mentioned, I have learnt many new things in this project, and
that allowed me to implement certain new aspects into my animations, however
because of my limited knowledge and experience within this area, it has meant
this is why I have had to learn so much. And while learning new methods is good,
it also takes a lot of extra time to grasp, and can often go wrong. When I first
came to rigging the bones to the wires, I found myself getting continuously stuck
in parts, this meant I had to seek aid from either there internet or a guiding
hand. This meant there was a lot of time I wasnt working on the animation four
this project, but instead, I was working on smaller animations, learning the new
methods. This means that my time management for this project was rather poor,
and if it weren't for my workflow management, its possible the project may not

have been finished. This is unprofessional, and all of this is caused because of
my technical incompetence.
[] However overall, I believe the good outweighs the bad, and while it may not be
up to complete professional standards, I think I have achieved my goal of
creating an environment and adding a variation of animations to near
professional standards.

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