DDA II was mainly focused in 3D Modeling, this made it much harder to adjust from last year, but wasn't just being thrown into the deep end. It was felt a lot in the beginning, and especially the second quarter, but has been overall pretty cool. Certain projects have put a damper on some of the activities, and have made this year a particular black mark, but most of them are on our faults, so this year has been what a class has been intended to be, a learning experience. The topics we discussed were important and were related to making certain shapes much more realistically shaped, rendering those shapes as best as they can, and making animations out of those shapes, all making pieces worth actually sharing, especially making the train station look as pretty as possible. Seeing growth artistically as pretty fun too, which is discussed more in another blog post, but since it's the year in review it counts to be mentioned. What also grew in this year is mainly how assignments are set up. This may seem small, but it saves a lot of time and effort for students and teachers. This starts with the Digital Asset Management Folder, the ultimate in digital management. Keeping everything in a folder, which is stored in a clearly organized folder makes it much easier to find and work on projects. This also helps in knowing where projects we will use again will be, like the train station or robot project. Grades have also been graded based on three categories, making mental organization of objectives in a project much more easy to remember, which would naturally make grades easier to understand as well. So, in all, the year was pretty cool, but had much more bumpy roads compared to last year. The Renders On The Train Station Was One Of My Favorites Of The Year
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Last Year, I mainly focused on pixel art images, which I thought are pretty cool, since it was one of the first pieces of real art I felt like showing off. But, towards the beginning of this year, I was more inclined to making different pieces of art, since it's mainly based off other characters. Making stubby-ish characters are what inspired current characters. This was one of the first real changes to the art style I had, since the ink pen tool made it possible. Now, that I can draw clear concise lines, it mean a major adjustment. Making a body was much more specific, but less time consuming when a single pixel or two made an arm look weird. But, the major change after this was making less smol, stubby characters. People had longer limbs, and less body mass. This is what eventually lead to the current type of drawing, which even comes with learning to draw hands and stuff. Which are just as hard to draw as the entire body, in my opinion. But, making each piece was faster, to an extant, and I can make them all at once, or pick back up after a while. But, in the end, it means i'm growing as an art person. Stubs Compared To Arms
Animation and cameras go hand in hand, since both are needed to make any render of a moving subject be convincing. Since we already used cameras, we have been learning more about animation, not just the auto key from last year. We play around with the curves that an object makes when it moves, this is most applicable to a ball bouncing, the first object we really animated. We then had to apply our bounces to multiple objects. Animating a bounce requires the Curve Editor, a useful graph that shows the XYZ movements for an object. Cutting out certain frames can make a bounce less rail-like, and more natural, this is the base for our bounce.
Another technique we used is the rotation, a small change, but one that makes the ball look less like it's bouncing on a pathway, and more of a ball bouncing. Changing the rotation is only changing the axis of the ball at key frames, self explanatory, but it's the little touch that makes the animation much more convincing. The last piece is the Squash and Stretch, which is not as simple as either of the last two. It requires the use of the Stretch modifier, but can change at key frames in specific ways, with specific modifiers. If you want a ball to start and stop, then do it again differently, it will keep stretching in that way. But, in a perfect world, it helps in making the ball's bounces much more real. It may make the ball seem more cartoon-ish, but in a way that is feasible and appealing. So, in the end, what did we take from doing a bunch of activities based around a topic then doing a quiz afterwards?
Sources: “Animation.” Autodesk Support & Learning, knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/3DSMax/files/GUID-FC0BE460-9BA8-4221-AEA6-ACB6ECA4AE9B-htm.html. Lax, Melissa. “3ds Max Animation Techniques | Tutorial Series | AREA by Autodesk.” Area by Autodesk, 20 Sept. 2016, area.autodesk.com/tutorials/series/3ds-max-animation-techniques-series/. |
JamesHe aspires to be a game designer, let's just hope he gets there. He also happens to goes to DSA. Categories
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