Month: October 2021

It’s finally done! In my opinion, the end result was very good, considering my lack of experience working with this software or doing any of these tasks. I am proud of everything but there are definitely a lot of things that can/have to improve, such as modeling elements, working with UV mapping, perfecting textures, etc. And I would’ve liked it more if I could have invoked that game feeling a little more.

Also, I want to understand why Maya had so many bugs and pray that they will be solved soon.

And finally, I want to mention that my final projects tend to look very dark/scary in the end, and I think it’s a very curious pattern. Why do I go that way? It’s normally not intentional, I think… But it’s funny because it’s usually pointed out by someone else. The final result was way darker compared to the first drafts, but I’m actually happy that it is that way because it means I’m a weird person that wants to go on holiday to a faraway dark and mysterious planet. And being weird means I’m original so I’ll take it.

The animation has been by far the smoothest task up until now. I only had to animate the camera moving from the house and around the scene. Firstly, I had to create a motion path and then attach the camera to it. finally, I just had to fix the camera aim to the Japanese temple and define the number of frames I wanted my animation to have.

However, the rendering process comes with many issues. If I want to render using Arnold, The image takes about 3 minutes to render, and since I have 960 images, that is not the best option, when Maya Hardware 2.0 is only a second. Of course, there was a problem with the lights (mentioned on the previous page) but since I have enough lights for what is relevant, I will have to stick with Maya 2.0. Also, Arnold can’t process the ocean shader and it deforms the Japanese temple, for some reason.

Update: Maya 2.0 took about 15 minutes to render the whole sequence. After retouching some stuff and re-rendering the animation. I finally have a sequence to put together.

I found a free app that is apparently very easy to use and the process to import the sequence is very intuitive. It’s called Shotcut.

Update 2: The video is complete and I also added some sound to it. I got a soundtrack from YouTube with jungle/alien-like voices. I think it gives the scene more realistic and mysterious.

Textures

Most of the texturing process was smooth but it didn’t come without its difficulties. For the most part, I only had to choose textures I liked from the internet, but others required a little more fine-tunning.

First of all the trees. For some reason Maya wasn’t recognising the leaf texture, making the branches look like flat images. But this problem was quickly solved when Kelvin told me that I needed a transparency shader. I just had to use photoshop and it finally worked!

Secondly, had to find a way to create a type of soil that would look as if it were from another planet. Once again, YouTube tutorials were vital sources of information to solve this. I found out that I could blend two images and multiply the number of times they are repeated. This was extremely useful and it gave the terrain a unique and exotic look.

Also, I had to switch from a skydome to a sphere due to some complications with lighting (I will mention it below). But this did not compromise anything.

Finally, the biggest problem I had with the textures was with the base for the temple. I originally wanted it to be made out of stone but since I did not understand how to do UV mapping, I had to find a quicker solution and opt for wood, since it looks good even if it’s stripy. I really tried to understand UV mapping but there was a lot to unravel and I only have a couple of days left, so I think it was a pretty successful alternative.

Lights

As for the lights, there is not much to say. I wanted to have a few panels illuminating the path where there were no trees, in order to shift the focus towards the temple and the cave, as well as the paths that led to them. I chose light pink for the lighting to make it more unnatural and somewhat cosmic. I also added some pink ambient lights near the planets to create a similar effect. And finally, I added one directional light to brighten up the space.

I only had one issue throughout this process. When I rendered it with Maya Hardware 2.0, the panels would literally show up uninvited. But I found out how to solve this after being here for almost one hour. I had enabled the lights to show on the Maya 2.0 engine because I wanted the skydome to show the image. I just had to replace it with a sphere, disable the lights on the render settings, and done.

Japanese Temple

Today in class, I started to model the Japanese temple and it’s turning out pretty great! My idea is to have the house sitting on a rock base. For the roof, I want to create two levels covered with tiles.

Update: Sadly, I was working on this model at 3 am, when Maya crashed and when I opened the project again, it was corrupted. I tried looking for solutions on YouTube but there is nothing I can do… I will have to redo most of it.

Fortunately, the second try turned out even better than the first one. I realised that modularity was crucial to prevent this type of accident and I started using Increment and save a well, just to be safe.

It’s finally complete! I think it turned out great for one of my first models! Also, I added some lamps and created a quick plane to make it more natural.

Horse

The next step is modelling the horse. My main inspiration is the horses from the world of warcraft since they give off that game look to the scene and because they are much more robust and bigger than a regular horse.

I started doing it today, during class, but it’s proving to be quite the challenge due to its organic shape and all the details. I watched some YouTube tutorials to understand how I should go about modelling this creature and I’ve found multiple problems. First of all, I can’t get the first Maya model right. Something about the topology (and my lack of knowledge) is preventing me from getting a viable model. Secondly, I find it quite hard to get the curves and organic parts right. Everything about it bothers me.

Although now it looks fine, I have multiple problems with the topology and the back legs are incorrect. I have been trying to correct some of it and I even tried exporting it to blender to sculpt the muscles and the small details. However, I encountered many issues that I don’t know how to solve yet. Also, I found it very awkward trying to model characters in Maya. I think next time I will take a more “hands-on” approach by using only blender. Unfortunately, I think it’s best to leave this for another project. I don’t think I have enough knowledge to complete this yet.

Rocks

The rocks will serve as a cave for the final scene. They create this mysterious entrance into the unknown and add the feeling of adventure. They were very easy to model since they are essentially “random” shapes.

Japanese Gate

I thought it would be a good idea to also include a typical Japanese gate or 鳥居 (torii), normally found at the entrance of a Shinto Shrine. I thought it would complement the previously designed temple and reinforce the feelings of mysticality and spirituality.

Update: I’ve been following a YouTube tutorial to build this element, and it was very helpful! I learned a lot from only one video. It went into the details on how to make the edges round or create smooth curves for the top, etc. Overall, very helpful, and the result was very pleasing, as well.

Terrain, Sky and Planets

These were the easiest to model of all the elements in my scene. It literally took me only a few minutes to get all of these done. Firstly, I don’t think it’s worth talking about the planets because, for now, they are literally just spheres, and will only become “worthy” once I add the textures. Secondly, the sky is just a light dome with 0 brightness and with a 360 image attached to it. And finally, the terrain was a simple plane that altered a little bit using Maya’s sculpting tools. The end result was exactly what I had planned in the beginning. A mountainous region with a big lake.

Trees

This element is the only one I didn’t model. I have been reflecting about it and I have had enough with organic elements, for now at least. Besides, I was a bit confused with adding leaves to the trees in 3D. From what I saw, most use planes and then images that fit into those, plus a transparency filter. But one of my major problems right now is understanding UV, cut and sew in particular. So anything that complicates this process right now is a big NO. I’ll leave that for another time. The link for the model will be attached below.

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/trees-set-f2f119a4442a4464bd0bd373c17ff284

Trees Update : Mash Problem

Of course, I couldn’t finish this process without having issues (facepalm)… When I try to create a Standin object and then a Mash, for some reason, it doesn’t show when I render it. Today I asked Kelvin about it and we were both clueless. To solve this, I had to opt for the heaviest (render-wise) option, that is creating a mash with the actual object. This slowed down the rendering time considerably, but it was the only solution.

Also, thanks to Kelvin, I found a way to prevent trees from existing on the paths I wanted to be empty. It turned out pretty great in the end.