Week Three of MCR

This week I was left a little unsatisfied. I felt my models were pretty subpar and not up to my full potential. I struggled a lot with ZBrush and had to restart a few things all over. Due to running short on time I did not get a chance to post completed object to Concept Share to get feedback so I'm not sure what needed fixing or improvement prior to turn in. I haven't gotten my grade back yet but hopefully it is not a big disappointment. 

We dipped our toes into ZBrush this week and I had a good amount of trouble. The interface is way different than Maya and will take a lot of getting used to. I am starting to catch onto the basics but there is a ton more to learn. I have been watching tutorials and the bonus videos provided by the instructor. I will also research any troubles I am having to try to find a solution or better way to get things done. As of right now I am not a huge fan of the program just because of the difficulty but I know it is a vital program to the industry and it has some awesome capabilities. I will learn more and improve my skills over time so I can better utilize the program. 

The main thing I learned this week was spotlight projection. This is extremely helpful in adding details to the props in a much easier way than trying to model or sculpt all of them into the object. This will be helpful in the Portfolio class to create models with nice tertiary details without having an absurd amount of geometry or time spent modeling all the tiny details. After we were finished in ZBrush we would export both our high res and low res objects back to Maya. Here we made normal maps, which was super confusing at first but now I can do it through memory. You have to know how to bake normal maps in order for your textures to show up on the low res model. This will also obviously be needed for the portfolio class. 

All three objects laid out, I did not really think through doing a larger
shield with two smaller objects. This made creating a composition showing
of the small details on the book and comb very difficult.

This week was full of information and very helpful videos. I have them all saved so that I can refer back to them whenever I need to. I am hoping to have better results this week and have gotten a head start, already completing one object and waiting for feedback on that to improve it. I am hopefully going to have time to model a guitar which will push my abilities like the pocket watch did. I will be working hard to create better models than last week so I can be proud of my work!

Shield after I bent it slightly.

Showing a book I did with a Normal Map on the far right. 

End Of Week Two in Model Creation

This week was pretty rough. We had to choose three items for a still life composition, model them, and UV map them as well. I chose to do a pocket watch and it was a total nightmare!  I also did a magnifying glass and a pen with an ink well. After we modeled them we put them into our previous scene from week one. 

The pocket watch took me forever., I spent about 20 hours on it the first time around. I did not scale my UV's correctly so I had to redo those over. Working two jobs and finding this much time to do homework is challenging. Yesterday (Sunday) I worked for 13 hours straight to finish up my objects, redo my watch UV's and place them in the scene. The watch was such a disaster because of all the tiny little parts I put into it, luckily the second time around with the UV's wasn't absolutely terrible because most of them were already in the shells. That way I mostly just had to pick the shells and redo them to proper scale, but when you have around 120 little tick marks...all with four faces before the holding edges...that's a TON of shells. 

If I had to guess, I would say this was about 25 hours of work after the UV debacle. I'm proud of how it came out though, I think it's pretty good for only a couple months of experience with Maya.

Anyway, the other objects went much more smoothly. I really like how the magnifying glass came out. The pen came out pretty well, too, but I think there is still some proportion/scale issues I could touch up a bit. The pen nib gave me a little trouble, I had to do that twice. The first time I started from the large end and it just kind of came out a mess trying to extrude the faces. The second time I started out from the point and that worked a lot better for me. 

All the objects set up in my Medieval Scene from Week One.

Magnifying Glass

The little pen nib

I'm pretty worried about this coming week with using ZBrush because I haven't played with it very much and it looks intimidating. Hopefully I can make some nice models, I'm thinking about doing a book(s), a guitar, and maybe a goblet or something. We will see how it goes. So far I am loving this class, even though it is a lot of work I often just get lost in the modeling and lose track of time. Sometimes before I know it is bedtime again and I haven't even ate anything for the day!

Week One of Model Creation

I have been so busy I have not even had time to post the Week One blog yet! Week One we were to build four large props to fill the scene provided by the instructor. Only one reference image was provided to look at while we built our models. We had to do a table, chair, shelving unit and one other large prop, which I chose as a cabinet.

I used my silhouette skills a lot during this week. I started out by just blocking out the models to begin with so that I could try to get accurate scale and proportion. After that looked good to me I started to add the details. Once my model was completed I checked all my edge flow and made sure everything looked nice with the silhouette. I also made sure I had proper holding edges so the models held their shape when I put them into "3" mode.


 I believe these skills will help me in the portfolio class so that my work looks professional and finished. I try to pay close attention to the small details so that my silhouette is accurate and looks nice. So far this has been stressed in our classes as it is important for the 3D world. I really liked using holding edges instead of the bevel tool and will use that whenever I can. The bevel tool always seemed to mess up my geometry. The holding edges really make the models look nice and think it will really help build great models in the portfolio class. 

My Table

Struggled with the back plate

I seem to have done well on the assignment with a few things I need to fix for Week Two. I struggled most with the trim. Getting the right angle so that would meet up correctly was difficult for me. Not sure if there is a tool to creat angle like that so I need to research some more. Furniture does not seem to be my strong suite!

The Chair I chose

Fundamentals of Art I

My Week One competency focusing on using the Rule of Thirds to capture an interesting composition. We also learned about different image arrangements such as centralized image, crowding the image plane, and a few others. For Week Two we had to compose a still life image. We had to use organizational lines in order to get the correct proportions and spacing of our objects. Finally, in Week Three we took our Week Two sketch up and finished it. We shaded our images with pencil and blended the values to make it look as realistic as we could.

Week 1

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

End of Week Three!

Here we are at the end of week three already! This month has flown by and I am ready for the final week and to put together our scene. I have learned a lot during this class but have struggled as well. Luckily I am able to visit the Google Hangout sessions frequently and talk to classmates if I need to. 

Staple Remover, about 5 hours

This week I modeled another five objects. For the level three projects I had to set up my own image planes but I do not think I did it right because my scale was off when I put the objects next to the ones where the teacher had set up the image planes. I remember there being a class video about image planes so I will need to find that back or ask some of my classmates. 

I spent a lot of time beveling this week, which I thought was a pain in the butt! It would screw up all my vertices so I would have to go back and correct them all. It was not difficult once I got the hang of it but it was time consuming. The beveled edges did make models look a lot better though. I also learned how to properly save my work by freezing my transformations and deleting my history so that Maya does not get bogged down. These tasks help keep my work professional while sharing with others. 

This probably took me around 7 hours, I struggled a lot
 figuring out the metal piece and getting it extruded up.

Another thing I learned this week was how to create my own shelf which is very helpful. I was able to add my most used tasks for quicker access. I also added a couple hot keys so I do not have to go into the menus or shelf. It is very handy to have everything you need right there and not have to search through menus.

I am oddly proud of my little teeth for some reason

Needle nose pliers, about 6 hours

Camshaft, 6 hours

Week Two!

In just two weeks of class I have already learned a lot. I have learned how to utilize block outs to create accurate models. I think it is amazing to see the difference between my simple block outs compared to the models I have created this week. 

Week one block out, roughly 2.5 hours

In week one, I blocked out the teapot asset. I struggled quite a bit trying to get the handle and the spout to look right. Although it was just a block out, it looked very lumpy and all around just pretty awful to me. Since that one was pretty tough for me I chose to revisit it in week 2. I still had some trouble with all the extruding and getting it to look right but I think it turned out pretty well. Most of it is nice and smooth with the exception of a few areas on the spout and handle.

With the block out exercise it helped me to see roughly how many pieces a model may need. I could see where different materials were and where I needed to create edges or if I was able to model it smoothly with one piece. This technique will help me down the road as I continue to model increasingly difficult items so I can see how I need to model the object accurately. 

Week two model, about 5 hours

I also learned the importance of using references for your models. This ensures that you get all the attributes right, such as length, width, or angle. It is also important to use several images, such as a top view, side view, etc. Different viewpoints helps the model look right all the way around. Modeling from just one viewpoint may distort the object or only one side will look well done.  

So far I am happy with my progress and feel that I am catching on fairly quickly. I am pretty proud of the five models I created this week and look forward to creating more complex objects. There is still a lot to learn but I am on the right path!

My five models for Week two, estimated 22 hours of work