1. Fall 2014: 3D Animation Project requirements 1

2. Overview  Attendance required – people who do not come to class tend to create not-very-good projects!  One assignment: an architectural scene  Indoor or outdoor  Complete  Elegant  I strongly suggest something architectural, since it will be angular and easier to build/apply materials to  Due date: the final exam slot for the class  Video – 1 to 3 minutes 2

3. you will need Autodesk Maya: students.autodesk.com A video clip maker: MPEG Streamclip, Compressor, or Quicktime Legacy (Pro) a video editor: for adding sound to video and for editing multiple clips a sound editor (maybe) an image editor for manipulating materials/textures 3

4. The Video  Make a one to three minute video rendered as avi, wmv, mov, or mpeg4. Your video must be playable on one of:  Quicktime  VLC http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html on a Mac or Windowshttp://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html  Make your video tell a story. Something begins, continues for a while, and then has an ending. There needs to be a point to why we are watching your video, something (however simple) must unfold.  There must be a complete environment, with animation and sound  Use at least 1240 by 960 pixels; anything smaller will not look good.  Use a high level of anti-aliasing. 4

5. Hand in  A data (not a playable) DVD or flash key containing…  Your entire project folder, minus only the individual images you rendered for your video. (These images should be the only thing that makes your project folder big.  Your video – no larger than a gigabyte.  During the first 10 seconds of your video, display: Intro to Animation, Fall 2014, Joe Cool (except plug in your own name…)  Test your DVD to make sure it is readable!  You can also put your zipped up project with your video on the web for me to download - please make it all one zipped folder. 5

6. Importing content you can import textures and bumpmap textures You can use outside sound data for your soundtrack You can use content from the Maya “Visor” But only for minor content The visor material cannot be what our eyes are drawn to – it can only be for secondary modeling and can take up only a very small part of your rendered frames You cannot import modeling content from any other source than the visor No importing of modeling done by any other individual; ALL modeling in the primary part of your scene must be your own 6

7. Advice  Make sure all the parts of your environment fit together stylistically. This can be a problem if you use canned stuff from the Visor.  Don’t take on a project that is too large for you to finish completely  Don’t start with a concept that is too simplistic, as it will not allow you to apply your skills.  Leave lots of time for rendering, and do test renderings along the way, to judge your render time needs.  We will work on the projects in class – so come 7

8. Primary goal: build an entire environment  The two most important criteria are  Careful, deliberate modeling  Careful, clean application of materials and textures – and bumpmaps  Please do not mimic any proprietary content, such as a character or model from a movie or a video game.  Your modeling must be clean and elegant, and must contain a realistic level of detail.  For example, a living room with noting on tables or shelves looks unrealistic.  Use geometry for larger grained surface features.  Avoid random modeling…!  Remember: detailed modeling and carefully applied textures and materials bumpmaps are what make your scene realistic! 8

9. Primary goal: build an entire environment, continued…  All your modeling must be done in Maya  But you can use mudbox, if you want, but don’t use a canned starting model from mudbox.  Carefully balance materials, lights, shadows, and reflective and transparent materials - to give your scene a deep 3D look. 9

10. Important For your storyline You need a modeling and story inspiration Consider storyboards 10

11. resources the ATLAS lab machines have maya premiere final cut pro Photoshop Audition 11

12. The biggest stumbling block Time for rendering your project! Please keep in mind that a full, crisp rendering is required 12

13. Ideas for giving a scene feeling Lighting, shadows, materials Fog, transparency, length and sharpness of shadows A moving camera can reveal a scene incrementally or make us dizzy Skyline (perhaps with an environment material and light) 13

14. Pay particular attention to.. Building a model with materials and animation in mind Use the Outliner! Name all your model components, materials, textures, cameras, lights, etc. A model and movement that is the focus of the viewer ’ s attention and is engaging 14

15. Textures & materials & bumpmaps This makes or breaks a model Budget time to do this right No ugly tiling No wrap-around seams No uneven projections Remember bump maps and layered materials 15

16. Overriding goals Create a scene you can finish completely and elegantly Give your scene a unique look and feel Don ’ t compromise on materials/textures, modeling details, fleshing out the surrounding scene, or rendering your scenes they way they look best Shadows and raytracing are critical 16

17. Items required  In black - required  In orange – suggestions/alternatives 17

18. Required components  Materials and textures  Using textures as the color of materials  Using textures as a bump map of materials  Use at least one instance of glass or some other transparent object  Use the mental ray Sun and Sky or homemade sun and sky if it is an outdoor scene – no backdrops  Seamlessly tile-able textures with bumpmaps  At least one layered texture created outside of Maya 18

19. Required components, cont.  Put the components of your models into hierarchies, using the Outliner  Rename objects logically, including lights and materials and cameras  Modeling make at least one object using:  NURBS bottom up geometry – using lines to create surfaces (extrusion, lofting, revolving), stitching, sculpting  Polygon modeling – using extrusion, push and pull, and component-based modeling, extrusion, sculpting 19

20. Required components, cont  Smoothing, using one or more of:  The Smooth tool  Manipulating normals  Soft translation (move)  Beveling  Animation, use one of  Motion path  Keyframing  Blendshape  Use at least one of  A dynamics effect  A hard (or soft) body collision – the probably required a field of some sort  Cloth – this requires a field of some sort 20

21. Required components, cont  Carefully engineered lighting/shadows/materials - and keep in mind they are inter-dependent  Your own cameras and lights – not the defaults!  Raytraced renderings  Shadows that root objects in the scene and with respect to each other 21

22. Feedback based on initial scene drawings that were handed in.  Sci-fi and fantasy scenes can be difficult to make photorealistic.  You are in a defensive mode, since it is obviously not a real scene.  A good approach is to root it in today’s world, like a spaceship on a believable launching pad  Another idea is to make it look used  Also, don’t use sci fi or fantasy as a reason to not use realistic materials/textures/bumpmaps 22

23. Feedback, continued  Remember that organic modeling, like terrain, rocks, trees, rivers, bushes, grass, animals, are all difficult to make look realistic  Human made things like houses and furniture are a lot easier to make look realistic  Glass and carefully applied materials/textures/bumpmaps are much easier to create for human made objects  When human made things are duplicated – such as pillars, bowls, shoes, etc., they have to be made a little bit unique, but trees and other organic things must be far more different from each other. 23

24. Feedback, continued  Give your scene some spark, something unique  Avoid commonplace furniture, hallways, etc.  Things that are outside must be weathered or look used, at least to a small extent, and this is a way to add spark  Avoid scenes where there is only a single dominant material, like the stones of a castle  One idea is to reveal the full nature of the scene only very gradually 24

25. Feedback, continued  Things that are difficult to do realistically  Blowing things up or burning them  Large scenes that will call for too much modeling to completely create and apply materials to  Making a cartoonish scene seem real – it is often an excuse for not making models detailed and properly scaled, and for not making materials realistic  Remember reuse of objects is a good way to help scale a complex scene – but keep in mind that 2 marble columns are not totally identical in their materials 25

26. Working from reference images  Use photos of the objects you are going to model  To help you get proportions right  To help you give your models realistic details  To help you put realistic materials on your models  But don’t mimic someone else’s models – mimic things in the real world only  Using reference images is a good way to be sure your scene isn’t so complex that you cannot flesh it out – you’ll spot the complexity a lot more quickly if you study real life scenes 26

27. Critical goals  Requirements on slides 17 to 21  Completely fleshed out models  Carefully engineered materials  Carefully engineered lights and shadows and reflections  Something that gives your scene a unique spark  Some reason for the movement in the scene  Come to class to work on your project 27

28. Keeping your render times down  Avoid mental ray sun and sky  Minimize the number of lights  Don’t use a hugely polygon-created effect like grass  Limit the amount of ray tracing  Avoid large scale dynamics effects, including water 28