Motion Path and Emitters

Below is a video showing a model car that when it passes through a 3d container smoke will emit and follow the trial of the car, and smash through a simple wall at the end:

I created this by simply importing a model car from Mudbox in Maya then I created a motion path with sharp curves and attached the car to the motion path, once i had done this I set a key frame at the start of my timeline when the car was at the beginning of the path and then at the end of the timeline I set another key frame where the car was moved to the end of the path. Now that the car moves along the motion path I created a 3D Container that I positioned along my motion path I then created two emitters inside this 3D container and I parented these to the back two wheels of the car, the reason for this is so when the car moves inside the container smoke will start to emit from the emitters, after changing some settings until I got the effect I as most happy with for the smoke I created another container, I then created two more emitters and parented them to the car and repeated the same settings as I had from the last container. There is an easier why to get the emitters to from the last container to also work in the new container, however I was happy doing it this way.

After the containers had been created and smoke emits from the emitters I created a simple plane and cut the faces and then detached the edges and then removed the gravity so when the animation plays it would not fall down, then after adding a ncloth to the plane and a passive collider to the car when the car hits the plane it will break apart.

I am very pleased with this task if I was to do this again though I would implement the other method of allowing the emitters to work in more than 1 container instead of having many different emitters for certain containers.

Dynamics

Below are completed screenshots of the three dynamic scenes that I have created.

I created these three scenes using the particles tool in Maya and manipulating the settings.

For the model of the boy peeing on the wall I was given the model of the boy and I created the spray by creating a particle emitter using the tool create emitter located in Dynamic>Particles>create emitter. I changed settings such as the lifespan of the particles generated as well the type of render the particle will be e.g. sphere or cloud, for the spray I used streak.

The scene involving the fireworks was the most complex task, this was because I had to change many of the settings and add ramps to many components for the colours e.g. glow, transparency. I also had to add emitters onto the particles themselves to create the effect of explosions, this was also the first time that I have had to make sure I name every component to make managing them easier.

the final screenshot shows particles band how they are effect when gravity and a rough landscape are combined together, while gravity is used in all of the scenes to make them fall down and give the effect of them being effect by gravity, a plane is also required to stop them from constantly falling with is achieved by making using the tool ‘make collide’. In regard to the final screenshot these two features (gravity and the plane) were the first task that I completed to get me used to the tools, I created the particles using the particle tool and after adding a gravity and creating a fall off for the plane to add bumps I could see how the particles were effect by the type of plane. I changed the settings just like I mentioned in the previous tasks to give the effect of water.

I enjoyed these exercises very much I will definitely be using these tools again for future tasks.

Rigging

After having a mess around with the character (Zombie Bellman) from the movie hotel Transylvania, to get used to using the rigging, I created a human rig using the mesh for the human rig was the human model already created in Mudbox. Once the mesh had been imported into Maya I used the joint tool to create one of legs I positioned the root of the first joint at the hip, the second on the knee and finally the third on the ankle.

I used 2D views to add the joints and switched between front and side view to ensure the joints were in the correct place, after I created the first leg I made sure that it moved correctly and then using mirror joint I created on the correct axis another leg. I then repeated these process for the arms and using locators and the joint tool I created the joints which would control the back, I parented all these joints a single joint which I called Hip01.

Next I used the bind skin tool to bind the mesh to the rig so when I moved a root on the rig the mesh would also be effected, when I tried this I noticed that areas of the mesh that I did not want to be effected were also being manipulated. To fix this I used the paint weight tool to reduce the area a root would effect, at first I did not have a clue how to use the paint weight tool however after watching some youtube videos I felt fairly stupid for not understanding as it is really easy to do. Now that I have used the paint weight tool when I move a joint e.g. arm on the correct vertices are being manipulated on the mesh. Below is a image showing the complete human rig. I used both Forward kinematics and Inverse kinematics on the rig I can move individual parts to get the desired effect through forward kinematics and can move the whole leg easily through inverse kinematics.

Here is my rig with the paint weight tool active to show which areas are effected by certain joints and the image below shows a list of all the available joints the black is were nothing is effected and the white is what is effected this image is for the left shoulder joint:

I really enjoyed doing this exercise and I will defiantly be using both the rig and paint weight tools again for future tasks/ assignments.

Level Of Detail (LOD) & Reduce Polygon Count

Reduce Polygon Count I was tasked with reducing the polygon count for a model to help increase the render time, I used the tool reduce which located in Mesh>Reduce and select the option here as shown in the screenshot are different settings to help reduce the amount of polygons on a model, I had to move the slider to 100% and even then I had to repeat this process multiple times to get a amount of polygons that was greatly reduced from the original model, I also kept the original as shown in the screenshot it is the top field.

I reduced the model until I started to lose detail, the screenshot below shows the reduced model on the left and the original on the right, it is easy to see which is the reduce model and which is the original model.

I am very happy with the way this task and will definitely use this technique in the future for other tasks, if I was to do this task again I would take more time in reducing the polygon count.

Blending/Morphing

The Video below shows the morphing of a face from good to evil, it took me a bit of time to create this as I had trouble exporting the human head from Mudbox to Maya however once I managed this the process was fairly easy to do.

here is a still image of my face morph

I created this face morph by first creating the pre made model in mudbox and then adding two layers one for good the other for evil. Then I exported the base model to maya along with the two other states separately, I then selected the target source (evil) along with the normal state and followed the instructions to create the morph I then simply selected the other target face (good) and the normal face again and repeated the same process as before. I then changed some settings and created the following animation by entering key frames when the normal face was normal and then moving along the timeline and making the evil face morph onto the normal face and key framed there I repeated this for the good face as shown in the video below.

Minecraft Cubes -Maps

For this task I was asked to create a realistic Minecraft cube using a texture and different types of maps, below is the cube that I originally created however after starting this I could not get a realistic effect, so I decided to create another cube. The first cube I created was a water cube, I searched the internet for a water texture applied it to a phong texture, next I added a bit of transparency to the cube as well as a bump map and Incandescence map after adjusting a few other settings I achieved the following result.

The image below shows the next cube that I created I was very pleased with way this turned out:

I used a variety of maps to create the desired effect here is a list of the types of maps I used, the material texture that was used for this cube was again a phong texture.

Here is the network graph for the cube.

• color map
• Transparency
• Incandescence
• Bump
• Diffuse
• Translucence
• Translucence Bump
• Specular color
• Reflectivity

Shading Network and Maps

The first shading technique I used was the checked texture after changing the colour and coverage of the texture I achieved the final outcome, as shown in image below.

I then created using multiple types of maps 5 cubes each with different types of maps on them, the images below show the effect these maps have on the cubes:

I used these cubes as practise for main exercise which is to create a realistic minecraft cube using maps, the maps I used are:

•  Incandescence
• Specular
• Bump
• Ambient
• Transparent

I was then tasked with creating a lizard using the model from mudbox as well a normal map.

The task was to add detail within mudbox on the lizard on multiple sub divisions, then send the highest and lowest sub divided mesh to maya. Once in maya I had to create a normal map which would be applied to the lowest sub divided mesh to give the appearance of that of the highest. This is a useful tool when I need to have a model that needs to be in detail without actually having a detailed mesh with a high polygon count as this will slow the render time down.

Here is the normal map for my lizard :

Below is the final outcome the grey model is the low sub division model with normal map applied as shown by the model next to normal map model to two models are nearly identical.

I then did a task we got me used to using the paint visor in Maya the screenshot below shows what I achieved:

I liked using all these effects, and will definitely use these techniques in the future for other tasks.

Human -Layers Mudbox

In this task I created a human that was as realistic to the best of my ability, I used the model of a human already in mudbox, then I used sculpt and bulge brushes to create a  abase model with hardly no detail, next I created a new layer were I started to add some definition to the base model I created multiple layers each for certain sections of the body so I could hide or show each section and the changes I had made. After creating some definition I started to add more details to the model again creating layers I left the face until last as it had the most detail.

I used a mainly two tools to create the model which were the sculpt and the bulge

Below are screenshots showing that I have used multiple sculpting layers and multiple paint layers as well as the finished human and a close up on the head.

I very happy with the way this model turned out, if however I was to do this again I would most probably take more time in sculpting each section to make a more realistic model.