Pirate Camp: My 500 Word Evaluation

This is the fourth project I have undertaken this year for the module, ‘Design Practise 3’. The brief given to me described that I must use my creative skills to produce a dynamic pirate camp that has at least 3 procedurally animated components or environmental effects in it. When designing and animating I had to think about articulation, presentation, timing, camera shots, texturing and lighting. I had to produce the animation using new software to me known as ‘Autodesk Maya’, although we were allowed to model in ‘Autodesk 3Ds Max’. By the end of this project I had to produce a 30 second long animation demonstrating these skills as well as the ability to pick up knew software efficiently.

At the beginning of this project I found it quite daunting as I found Maya confusing compared to 3Ds Max but after spending some time on the software I soon picked it up and even found myself being able to model a few of the object’s in my scene within Maya. The many seminar session’s and tutorial video’s helped with the development of my skills, which gave me more confidence with the software to produce a simple, good and strong animation.

I started this project by producing a number of initial sketches of my ideas and layout’s to get a visual understanding of how I want my camp to look. Once this was done I was able to develop these sketches into more detailed drawings. I also drew all the components separately adding extra details to so when it came to modelling them I knew exactly how I wanted everything to look and where it should be placed in the scene. The next step I took in my process was to start modelling, some of which was done in Maya and the rest in 3Ds Max and then I added textures.

The 3 dynamics I chose to do were ncloths for the washing line and flag, and dynamic particles for the fire and rain. I found these quite simple to do after a slow process picking up how to do it; I found the best thing to do was to just change the settings until I had the effect I wanted.

Overall, I enjoyed this project and learning new skills, I found it particularly useful learning the new software within a short period of time, as this is something that I will have to do when I am actually working in the industry. I am very pleased with my final outcome, what I like about my own work is the camera movement and essential shot’s. There are some dislikes I have however which are that I feel I could of improved the fire as it is a little to tame considering the ‘storm’ that it supposed to be happening and I also believe that the rain could still be more visible. The entire outcome is something I am proud of and I can see myself going down the compositing and CGI route as a career so it was nice to get a good incite into what can be done in this side of the industry and could be something I like to continue to focus on. I look forward to producing more animation within Maya and developing my skills.

Pirate Camp: Final Render (With Sound)

I have added sound to my final render which I feel really set's the scene. Overall I am happy with my final outcome with more time there are improvement's I would of liked to of made which I will talk about in my 500 word evaulation, which will follow in my next post. Below the video are the 3 High Resolution Render's I took from my scene that I believe show this particular project at it's best. I enjoyed this project very much and look forward to producing more work within Autodesk Maya in the new future.

Final Video

Render 1

Render 2

Render 3

Pirate Camp: Third Render (No Sound)

Below is another render where I have made some changes. I changed the size of the rain drops again because I thought they were too large. I made them 'Streak;' and simply enlarged the size of the. I am happy as this to be my final render, all I have to do now is add some ambient sounds.

Pirate Camp: Second Render (No Sound)

Below is my second render I have made a few changes such as the expression to slow the flickering fire down to every 3 frames instead of every frame. I have also increased the number of rain drops, and changed them to multistreak as I felt it gave more of a thunder storm effect.

Pirate Camp : First Render (No Sound)

Below is the first render I did, it was surprisingly faster than 3Ds Max and roughly took 30 minutes from start to finish. I am pleased with this render however I feel that the rain isn't very visible so I need to change this. Also the 'Point Light' is flickering too fast to give the fire flicker effect so I want to add an expression to slow this down. Below is the first render:

Pirate Camp Screenshots

I took some screenshots that I have taken whilst modelling my camp, they show the layout I wish to use in a 3D model as well as my progress so far. Below are the screenshots:

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

Pirate Camp Sketches & Development

The first step I took in this project was to sit down and sketch some designs of my initial ideas and then to develop them, I also sketched the different object's I want to be seen within my scene as well as the layout (including the camera pathway). I did a storyboard to help me animate my camera too. Other sketches also include essential shot's I want to include within my 30 second clip. Below are the sketches I have drawn:

Layout

Initial Sketch

Whole Scene

Component's 1

Component's 2

Essential Shot

Storyboard

Pirate Camp Brief

The brief that I have been set as one of my project's this term is to produce a Pirate Camp using a new software to me know as Autodesk Maya. I have never touched this software before but I am eager to learn how to use it. The aim of this project is to build a Pirate Camp that contain's 3 Dynamic effects, e.g wind, fire, rain, snow, hail etc.


My first thought's on this project are to keep it simple as Maya is new to me, but to use the skills I have learnt from 3DS Max to build, light and render my scene. I want my camp to contain flags flapping in the wind, a burning fire and either rain or hail.

Visualisation, Location location: Moodboard

I put together moodboard of the many different item's that are described to be within Crooks' room. When choosing the images I was very precise in what style and look I was going for as I wanted them to be similar to the ones I imagined when reading this passage. I have also included a few images of the textures I feel that would be found within his room as well as an idea of the colour scheme. Below is the moodboard I put together:

Visualisation, Location location: The Story and Room I Have Chosen.

The book that has inspired me to model a particular room is John Steinbeck's, 'Of Mice and Men'. The book was published in 1937 and is based within an American Ranch. The particular section I have chosen is a detailed description about a character known as 'Crooks' and his bunk. Here is the paragraph I will be using to help me model a detailed image of the room: 

Crooks, the Negro stable buck, had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn. On one side of the little room there was a square four-paned window, and on the other, a narrow plank door leading into the barn. Crooks’ bunk was a long box filled with straw, on which his blankets were flung. On the wall by the window there were pegs on which hung broken harness in process of being mended; strips of new leather; and under the window itself a little bench for leather-working tools, curved knives and needles and balls of linen thread, and a small hand riveter. On pegs were also pieces of harness, a split collar with the horsehair stuffing sticking out, a broken hame, and a trace chain with its leather covering split. Crooks had his apple box over his bunk, and in it a range of medicine bottles, both for himself and for the horses. There were cans of saddle soap and a drippy can of tar with its paint brush sticking over the edge. And scattered about the floor were a number of personal possessions; for, being alone, Crooks could leave his things about, and being a stable buck and a cripple, he was more permanent than the other men, and he had accumulated more possessions than he could carry on his back. Crooks possessed several pairs of shoes, a pair of rubber boots, a big alarm clock and a single-barreled shotgun. And he had books, too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905. There were battered magazines and a few dirty books on a special shelf over his bunk. A pair of large gold- rimmed spectacles hung from a nail on the wall above his bed.

Visualisation, Location location: The Brief

For this project I have to design, model, texture, light and render a 60 second walk through of a location of my choice. The location must be chosen from a published story or script fro a different time period. The interior location should be set either in a room in a residence or monumental space i.e. church, factory or historical building. I will need to include all the visual elements such as the furniture and objects that are described in the story.