3D Workshop: Visual Narrative

3D Workshops: Visual Narrative

Introduction

These workshops are part of the visual narrative module and made to further our skills and understand of 3D animation. We used Maya 2016 within these sessions.

Friday 29th January 2016

I was unable to attend this first session therefore, I completed the tasks the next week. Within the session, the group were shown to create a sack and a throne that are two props found within the script ‘Red Baron’s New Toys’.

Friday 5th February

Within this session, we were shown how to create a model of a mannequin based from a reference image of an art figure.

We were shown how to create a reference image by placing an image onto a plane within Maya which would act as a reference during modelling. We created this reference with images of an artist mannequin from both the front and side. We then imported these images on the X and Y axis which showed the front and side of the mannequin.

From there we used the Bezier curve to follow the shapes of the leg of the mannequin because the primitive shapes did not reflect the natural curves of the mannequin. After that, we adjusted the vertices to ensure they were correct ad aligned to allow us to revolve the shape based on the Bezier curve we created. This meant that Maya would follow the Bezier curve as an edge of a shape and revolve on an axis we assigned which would then create the 3D shape. Using this same technique, we also created the thigh of the mannequin.

Utilising the benefits of Maya, we copied the leg, which would then become an arm with some minor alterations. This allows us to be effective with time and allow us to work on details rather than waste time creating the same shapes. After adding the shoulders, elbows, wrists and hand this became the second arm of the mannequin because I simply copies the left arm; it became the right arm. Using this same technique, I added the hip, knee, ankle and foot of the left leg; then copied the left leg to become the right leg. This saved a lot of time and effort with unnecessary work.

After I had completed the mannequin, I began the tasks assigned for last week. This included the creation of the throne and a sack for the toy soldiers.

Based off the layout designs of the throne room, I created the throne within Maya. The throne is a very simple and angular shape, which made it much easier to model. In addition, I utilised the symmetry tool within the modeling toolkit which allowed me to maintain and accurate symmetry of the throne which I wanted. This meant that I could create one side of the throne and the exact same would happen on the other side which saved a lot of time.

After I had created the throne I created the sack for which the toy soldiers would come out of. With help I created the sack using curves which would then be repeated and scaled into the ‘shell’ of the bag. Then using the tool in Maya which allowed me to connect these curves together into one shape which gave a natural curved shape of the bag.

[UV Editor]

From all of this I have learnt that I need much more time on Maya to further my skills and understanding of the tools. However I am finding this difficult because of the wide range of tools and directories of the tools. This will just take time and practice to master. I continue to take notes in these lessons as i find it difficult to remember where tools are and what they do. Therefore this section is based off these notes and they explain what i did and for me to remember certain tools and techniques. 

[Notes taken during session]

[Notes taken during session]

Friday 12th February 2016

Within this session were introduced to rigging. This is the process where a structure is created for a mesh which is then applied as a 'skeleton'. This can be seen as the rig being the skeleton and the mesh of i.e. a character being the skin which will be around this skeleton. 

We started by using a pre-made mannequin created by our tutor to reduce the risk of Maya crashing with our mannequins. We followed the process as shown in the notes (above) which allowed us to prepare the mesh for the rig and to remember an important lesson: 

NEVER DENY FUDGE

Name it

Delete History

Freeze Transformations 

These are tools and actions we should take while we use Maya as this reduces the risk of Maya crashing and saves our work if there was a problem. 

Another rule to never have the rig on the same layer as the mesh. 

At this point in the notes we were creating the arms and legs and copying what we had created to the other side much like last weeks modelling. 

We learnt that we must group joins and parts in a parenting order and that we must have an understanding of a rig's structure. 

This means that we had to join the hip joint to the knee joint, then to the ankle joint etc. rather than the other way around. This is because this is an introduction to rigging and there is an option to create the rig in reverse. This was the for the purpose of keeping the lesson simple. 

We grouped the rig joints together meaning that if we moved the shoulder of the rig, the arm and hand joints would follow. However if moved the elbow joint, the shoulder didn't move, but everything below the elbow joint did. 

After creating the arms and legs we had to create a spine for the rig which would act as the spine of the mesh and connect the limbs together. We had to understand the principle of parenting and the hierarchy of joints. 

Therefore we had to assign the legs to the hip joint, which was part of the spine. And then the arm joints were connected to the collar joint. 

From what I learnt in lesson I started creating a mesh of my Red Baron character and added a unique rig just for the Baron. I took the rig and model further by creating hands and finger joints. Therefore i had to assign individual fingers joints o the hand joint, to the elbow etc. Moreover the Baron's exaggerated body shape created a both interesting and difficult challenge. 

I continue to find Maya difficult to understand at times and that it is a very challenging piece of software. However I feel that I have greatly improved from last term in both skill and understanding. I will continue my work in the 3D to further develop this as I intend to greatly improve my knowledge and skill in Maya and other 3D software. 

 

Continued Personal Work

Throne Room

After redesigning the castle interior and exterior, I had to create a 3D version of the baron’s throne room. This will later be used as part of the pre-vis where the characters will inhabit this room and act out their parts. Following the designs and using a range of tools in Maya, I created the throne room.

The textures of the throne room are very basic, however this is an initial stage and later detail may be added. This is being created for a pre-vis therefore detail should be avoided as the focus is on the main actions and there is not enough time to effectively detail every texture within the scene.

Baron and Mannequin

Taking the 3D work further, I continued work on the Baron’s and mannequin’s rigs. Beforehand I had no altered the rig’s ‘skin weight’ which is the area of effect for a given joint. An example of this could be that when a rig is created, the two feet are close together and because they are close together Maya believes that the ankle joint of the LEFT foot would affect the RIGHT foot. Therefore when the LEFT foot moves, parts of the RIGHT foot would follow when they shouldn’t. This meant that I had to use the ‘paint skin weight’ tool in Maya and remove the areas of influence of the joints. I did this for both the Baron’s Rig and the Mannequin rig; now I can move both rigs freely without altering other areas of the mesh.

After I had done that, I added a cape to the Baron’s rig. This is because during the character design I explained that the Baron would have an extremely long cape. This then became the idea that the Baron’s cape would be the red carpet in the throne room, because it is so long. I feel that this is an important part of the baron’s character; I wanted to add this to the Baron’s mesh/rig as I feel that the cape is a part of the Baron.

I created the cape using IK handles, which connects two ends of joints which influence each other and gain the properties of a spine or tail. Essentially the cape is the tail of the Baron which is why it is connected to the Baron’s original rig and connected to the collar joint. The cape was made using a cube polygon which was spread and flattened which was then given multiple sub divisions. This allowed the cape to fold and bend freely naturally like fabric or cloth. Joints were then added all the way down the cape to give the cape structure. Then two IK handles were added, one from the start to the middle then one from the middle to the end; this allows the cape to move freely. Finally I attached the cape to the Baron’s original rig.

I had also created a model and rig for Dr Bones, this is because I thought I would have to create a model and rig for all of the characters within the script. However, I had recently discovered that this is not required, within the project we are allowed to use the mannequins created in the previous lesson for the characters. This is great news as this means a lot less work is needed to be done; however I still wish to create a model for another character or two because  I want to express my interpretation of the character’s performance effectively and I feel that a model and rig of those characters will further help me with this. In addition it gives me more practice with Maya which I feel I need.

I feel that I am advancing with Maya and gaining a better understanding of the tools. I am finding ways that I am comfortable with and combing tools I know and tools I am learning to create a work method which I can produce work effectively. I feel that I may have created the Baron’s rig quite complex because I have also added separate finger joints in the hand (three separate fingers and a thumb per hand) and I feel this is an unnecessary complexity to the pre-vis. On the other hand I see this as an opportunity to further challenge myself in Maya and allow greater freedom in the pre-vis which will allow me to move the Baron in many more ways.

Friday 19th February 2016

 Today we learnt about: Rigging Locators and Inverse Kinematics. 

Rigging locators are used to align an object to a point and to move that point which would move the mesh rather than move the mesh itself. We did this by using eyes which illustrated this point effectively. The eye would be the mesh and the locator would be what the eye is looking at and the eye would follow that object. 

we started by creating a primitive sphere and texturing an eye skin on top. Then going to the rigging tab we would select locator,  move the locator to a point in front of the eye which was also level. We would then attach the locator to the mesh by containing and aiming the locator. Then by moving the locator, the eye would follow. 

We would then simply duplicate the mesh and attach the second eye to another locator and group the locators together. This is extremely useful during animation as this makes the animation of eyes and character much simpler by the positions being maintained and the locator manipulates the position. 

We then added a constraint to the eye we created by creating a NURB circle around the eye. This meant that we could align the NURB circle around the eye and constrain its position in space. This allows better control of models and greatly reduces the risk of an animator accidentally manipulate or alter the mesh. 

After we had created the eye we went on to discuss Inverse Kinematics. Inverse kinematics was explained by the idea of an object moving its position in space rather than rotation. One way to visualize this is: someone swinging their arm around by the shoulder is= forward kinematics and if that same person moved their hand from a stretched position to their shoulder, that would be inverse kinematics. 

We applied this in Maya by applying an IK handle between a hip joint and an ankle joint. This way we could move the foot of the rig and the knee would follow as well as the hip despite the hierarchy of the rig. 

With what i have learnt about locators, I will use these in my pre-vis for eye and head movements. This will make the animation of the pre-vis a better quality than before and make effective animation simpler whereas this would take too long to animate the same eyes and heads without the locator tool. 

I have researched IK handles before with the cape of the Baron. After what I have learnt I intend to continue my work with the Baron's cape with IK handles and even different Maya tools such as ncloth or wave emulators.