SWOT Analysis

This post is going to be regarding my own SWOT analysis within this module.

Strengths

• I put as much effort in as I could to try and create an animation that I thought was good as well as the group.
• I enjoyed this module and thought I did really well.
• I have patience which you need for this module as it can be quite nerve raking at times.

Weaknesses

•   I was not very confident with 3D's Max even though I had used it before.
•   I do get worried about the final outcome.
•   I do not feel comfortable about learning something new that seems complex however once I had learn new techniques I was glad that I had spent the time to learn about them.

Opportunities

• I have taken a lot from this module that I hope to use later in life, as I hope to try and get a job out this tyoe of work.

Threats

• I did not think I was going to have an animation that was worthy and something that the group was not going to be proud of.
• I was worried about finishing this module at all because hand in dates always seem to come round so fast.

Everything Comes To An End

This is going to be my last post on this blog, apart from the short SWOT analysis I am going to post after to conclude this module. 

I have really enjoyed this module and am really pleased with the input I have had into this module however all things must come to and end and it is time for hand in day. I have been able to brush up on my 3D's Max skills and have learnt many new techniques that I was not able to learn about last year and was able to learn about this time and even incorperate into the animation. This time last year I would have never thought I would have been able to create realistic smoke or make a still flag image blow like it would in the wind.

Overall I have really enjoyed this module and have taken a lot from this module, this module has even made me look forward to next years 3D character animation which if it is anything like this module then I am sure that I will enjoy that one all the same.

There Can Always Be Improvements

This post is going to be commenting on any improvements that I feel should have been added if I had another chance to complete this module or what I would have done differently if possible.

Firstly I think that I had made a decent attempt at trying to create models and try and replicate Pearl Harbour in my own way as well as working with my group and what their ideas were.

Within the group I was tasked with creating the ships that we needed for our scenes and I was also tasked with creating the scenes that involved my ships, as we all thought this made sense as we would not need to keep swapping files over if we were animating other peoples models.

Anyway back to the ships I am really pleased with how the ships have turned out, and to be honest I don't think there would be much that I would change if I was starting again, I could maybe use a 2D plane and extrude a shape ship from the plane, which would properly give more detail, however I prefer making models from scratch as you can then say they are your own design.

Next is the smoke particle system, this was the biggest task of the whole module, because I wanted to achieve a smoke that was realistic, and the audience could turn round and say that really looks like smoke. I think I have achieved this however I do think that it does need more detail, however if I was to add more detail it would mean that there would be more render time added and could have taken a lot longer to render my scenes if I had made the smoke more detailed. However that is not an excuse for me to not add more detail I would have liked to add more detail, just unfortunately due to time constraints and helping other members with their models and animation I could not add the detail that I wanted.

Next to comment on is the water that I created for my models and the animation scenes. This another new method to me as I had never tried to make water in my previous 3D modelling module but I am glad I had a chance to create it this time, because I think I had done a good job. It wasn't straight forward but once I had set-up what I needed to with regards to the water all that was left was to change the properties of the water to make it more realistic. To be honest I don't think I would change anything with the water, the only thing I might change is the ripples in the water, as I tried adding a bump map to the texture I was using but even though I was only changing the property by one, it made a huge difference either side. So I tried working around this bump map and eventually found a way of creating ripples but not to the extreme that the map was creating them.

Another part of the animation that I would like to have changed was the explosion that I created to happen under the ship, which would make the ship sink. I would have liked to create an explosion that made the water erupt and maybe part of the ship falling of and exploding too, however I attempt these and did not work, as when I tried to make part of the ship explode it made the whole ship explode and glad that I saved another version for me to work on because I had blew the module up and it was no good, but was very fun to do. But if I had another chance this would be the first thing I would have to change in the animation as I think this somewhat lets it down.

Finally I think the other models (American/Japanese flag, wind element, daylight system etc) I have created and the animation I have put together do not need any improvements, as I think I have made some great models and a great animation to share with the audience and hopefully the group will be pleased with also.

Final New Technique Post

This post will be commenting on the new technique I set out to learn throughout this module which was particle systems, and this will be the last post on this subject.

Firstly I am very pleased with how I have learnt this new technique and am glad that I decided to learn about the particle systems, as I had never used them before, but they do make such a difference within an animation, they are a very small part of an animation however they make all the difference to make your animation that bit more professional.

The first particle system that I had to learn about was the 'SuperSpray' which is the main particle system used in any animation, I used this particle system to create the smoke for the ships, which was difficult to start with but was easier once I got the hand of it.

This screenshot shows the smoke that I have created using the 'SuperSpray' particle system.

The next particle system to create was the cannons firing, which was the same particle system technique (SuperSpray) however it was using the preset 'fireworks', instead of 'hose' which I used to create the smoke for the ships. This particle system was easy to create as I had already created the other particle system, it was just a case of changing some of the properties so that the cannon firing looked realistic which eventually it did and I was very pleased with how it turned out.

This screenshot shows the particle system I created to make smoke around the cannons when they fire.

Finally there was another element that I learnt about in this module which was the wind, which I had also never used before however it is not part of the particle systems. On the other hand with this new wind technique I was learning how to make a flag blow in the wind, and I also used the wind to make the smoke that I had created with the particle systems blow across the sea and out of proportion, as smoke never flies in a perfect line or at the same height. Below is a screenshot of the wind being used to move the smoke and the flag.

This is a screenshot of the wind moving the flag and blowing the smoke. They are the pink boxes.

Overall I am really pleased that I have learnt this new technique, as I believe that this new technique will come in very handy in other modules and, if possible use this technique later in a work environment, as I think I would like to work with 3D modelling.  

Time To Get That Camera Rolling

This post is going to be commenting on how I rendered my scenes ready for the group to bring together.

Once I had finished animating my scenes they were finally ready to render which was the scarey part of the module because so many things can go wrong with rendering.

There was one idea that I had to render my scene's which was to make them straight into animation clips (avi files) so that they were all ready to roll and could be viewed instantly, however I was worried about this as from previous experience using this method can be quite costly because if anything goes wrong you have to start the rendering again right from the beginning.

So I went about trying a new idea, which was recommended by the lecturer which was to save the render's as 'Targa' images, if you use this method the render saves the animation as single frame images, which you can then put these into Adobe Premier for example and create your completed animation, furthemore if you use this method, and in the worst case scenario that the render crashes, you don't need to start the render from the beginning you just need to render from where the render crashed. This saves a lot of time and hassle, however while I was using this method I came across no problems so I could have used the avi file format and would have been better, however I am glad I have used this new method for rendering as I now know which method to use if avi should ever fail again.

Finishing The Other Scenes

For this post I am going to comment on the other scenes that I have now finished for the group animation. 

The next scene to complete was the cannons scene, this was very difficult as I have to make several weapons fire on the ship, so I had to use a few particle systems to make this work and change the properties of each particle system so that they didn't overlap at the wrong times. After much messing about I have finally finished the second scene for the animation and am very pleased with how it has turned out and hope the group like it too. It was basically a 'SuperSpray' particle system with the fireworks preset loaded, so that the smoke sprayed outwards. From there once I had made one I needed to make more but I decided to not make them all from scratch and just drag across copies, this did end up saving me a lot of time. I also needed to add metal balls for the weapons to use as ammunition, which if you look closely below you should see a small metal ball.

This screenshot shows the start of the cannons firing animation and I am very pleased with how it has turned out.

The last scene to work on was the ship sinking scene, as already predicted it was quite simple I just needed to change the position of the ship at different times so that it apperead to be sinking. furthermore I also added in an explosion so there was a reason for the ship sinking, and thought that this was very good, however there is a part of me that thinks that the explosion could have been better but am pleased with how it has turned out non the less. 

This screenshot shows the ship that I have created but it is sunk!!
I am pleased with how this has turned out.

Thats it, all my scenes are ready for rendering now which I am pleased about and I am also pleased with how the scenes have turned out sometimes they were very fiddly, however it was worth it.   

Animation So Far

This post is going to be a short post and is going to comment on how far I am doing in the animation.

It is finally here, all those rendering times and creating the final animation for the group. At this moment in time I have merged in the files that I have needed, which is the ship, the flag, the particles, the water and the daylight system.

This was very simple to do and no problems with the materials, which was my biggest worry and sometimes the materials don't always want merge with another file, however all went well and there were no problems.

Furthermore I have been tasked with creating three scenes, first one with three Japanese ships travelling together, another with the American ship firing back at the enemies, and lastly an American ship sinking.

So far I have created the first scene animation with the Japanese ships travelling together, which worked quite well and didn't really have any problems. All I really needed to do for this scene was to move the ships from one spot to another, this wasn't difficult however was time consuming, because of the materials I have in the animation made the computer's performance slow down while in 3D's Max, so when I dragged the ships over to a new spot I had lost them because the computer was trying to catch up with what I was doing.

This is the render of the Travelling Scene I have been tasked with which I am quite proud of and think that the whole animation is going very well.

I have also started creating the cannons scene and this is going very well, however it is getting complicated as I am using a few particle systems to create the cannons firing smoke, but this scene shouldn't be too difficult as it will just be a close up of the cannon's firing at the enemy.

Then finally is the Ship sinking scene which I don't think will be to hard or take me to long, just need to change the position of the ship to make it look like it is sinking. I have also decided to add dramatic effect to the sinking of the ship by making the flag blow in the wind and a close up of the American flag for added dramatic effect.

Lets get on with it... 

Let There Be Light

For this post I will be commenting on another new technique I have learnt about which is the daylight system within 3D's Max.

Before I started animating my scene's, there was something missing that was very important, which was scenary. My models just had a black background and didn't look very professional so this needed changing. Firstly I went about trying to change the environment, but I could't change the properties to what I wanted so I tried looking at the daylight system, which I had never used before but I wanted to try and expand my knowledge and try using the system.

There are many properties to change on the daylight system, for example you can set the exact time and date that you want for the setting, as 3D's Max has a large database with where the sun was on that day at that time which I found very clever. 

This shows some of the settings that you can change for the daylight system.

There are many other properties that you can change but in order for the daylight system to work in the render you need to choose mental ray renderer, this is so the software knows that it has to render the daylight system, and you start rendering and realise that the daylight system isnt working.

This is where you need to change the settings for the daylight system, within the render settings near the bottom.

Once you are happy with your settings and have chosen the right options the daylight system should hopefuly make a big difference to your work, even though it is only a small part within the model.

    

This shows the ship within the daylight system, it seems dark but this is because I have set the daylight system to early in the morning when the sun is at its lowest.