a sneak peak :)

here's the first bit of my project. it took me about two days to get everything together, which isn't as bad as i thought and the only reason i stayed long on one scene is because i have being "nit-picky" abiout my robots movements.

originally though, i wanted to use the set driven key tool tutorial  http://lesterbanks.com/2012/01/introduction-to-set-driven-keys-in-maya/ but it wasn't working and i some parts of the scene required my robot to stop. so i scrapped that plan and just keyframed my wheels :)

in regards to wheels though, let me just say that i am glad that i had help with the wheel revolution from an actual physics student (and no, his name isn't wikipedia). the original wheel spins were a bit too slow so he calculated the actual rotations the wheels should have. here's the notes we shared in the afternoon :)

i learned that the rotation of wheels will depend on the radius and the circumference of the wheel. you have to use pi in the equation because wheels tend to be infinite and pi is an infinite number. you also have to remember to measure the distance the wheel will travel on to calculate the revolutions. :) that's a crash course in physics for you guys who are doing 3d and needs to manually find out how your wheel revolves :) hopefully, i've explained this correctly or sheldon will want my blood. LOL (thanks jackson!)

now, without further ado, here is the preview for "plumber"

i need to re-render some parts of the scene because i can see some unecessary rotations, shadows and movment that affect the whole thing. none the less, im quite happy with my progress. :)

now off to finish more stuff. stay tuned for more progress!

cheers!
trish x

creating scenes.

while creating this assignment, I found out a couple of things.

first off, i realized that most of my scenes were similar to still images and only a couple are actual moving videos (like the dripping tap and when the robot is moving along the surface). this is a good thing because it cuts down alot of work for me when it comes to motion tracking, the semi-good news however, is I have to be ridiculously patient when it comes to key framing with my characters movements. the first video below is my first attempt at doing/creating my assignment. i have to say I do have the patience for key framing and it brings out the extreme OCD side of me that many people like to point out. :)

it wasn't the best though. it was dull, lacks shadows and the perfect lighting and so on. so i went back into maya and did the whole thing again.

i was lucky to have some of the people in my class to help me out with this assignment. they gave me really good feedback and tips on how not to hate maya and make my workflow better (THANKS ANDREW AND ROBBIE :]). they taught me how to create shadows in maya and how i can recreate a few elements in my scene to make the shadows flow alot more smoother. below is the final result of what i did for the whole day.

im planning to have a go and try to finish all of the scenes since im heading to adelaide in 3 weeks time and probably wont have access to any comupter with 16gb of ram in them for a week. that way all i have to do is tweak it by bits and pieces, but for now i'll see how this all goes.

off to do more work!
cheers!

trish x

stabilizing scenes

just testing out motion stabilization for one of my scenes. the first being the shaky image (even though it was on a tripod). its a good piece of footage but i need it to be more stable so i can track my robot better. :)

the second one that i have was with stabilization. it is a bit better than the old one.

in all honesty, i haven't done image stabilization in such a long time, so this is kinda a second or 3rd time of trying this out. i have to say i had to find my old notes on it and experiment with the different controls in order to achieve this. im currently working on how to use boujou for my scenes. it is a good motion tracking software for 3d especially when you want your scenes to be perfect for your models.

now off to finish scenes off!
blog more soon!
trish x