Week 8 - Setting the Scene

For Week 8, I began work on my animation. The first step was importing my three models into Maya and attaching them to handles, allowing me to manipulate them easier. Here I ran into two problems. The first was that the chassis of the TIE Phantom, which I had shaped using the Boolean - Difference tool, would not move in tandem with the rest of the model; to fix this I deleted the history of all objects in the scene, meaning the chassis was now treated as a simple object rather than the product of a Boolean operation. This also reduced the file size of the scene.

The second problem was that the Y-Wing model had been built to a different scale to the TIE fighters and was thus much smaller than it should have been. This was fixed simply by scaling the Y-Wing to double the size.

Next, I created the skydome and the terrain. The skydome has "double-sided" turned off, allowing me to see inside it, and is textured on the interior rather than the exterior; this was accomplished by inverting the normals. The terrain is also textured, and significantly larger than the skydome, allowing me to scroll it to create the illusion of movement. The texture used for the terrain is freely available from www.yoyogames.com; the skydome texture was provided by the university.

Fig.1: The scene as it looks so far.

Presently the skydome is very small, and so the horizon curves very visibly, which will not do at all for long shots. I can not eliminate the curve, as of course the interior of the skydome is circular, but I can minimize it by simply expanding it (and then the terrain to match). When making the actual animation, I will have to be careful to keep the ships near the centre of the skydome, or the join between it and the terrain will become obvious.

Fig.2: The skydome and terrain have been expanded, and the textures scaled to match.

The next step in preparing the scene is to add lighting. This will take the form of a directional light, placed somewhat near the edge of the skydome to simulate an afternoon sun; as can be seen in Fig.4, this creates a stark effect where one half of the ships are strongly lit and the other half are strongly in shadow, adding to the drama of the scene and enhancing the sinister look of the TIE fighters. The skydome will not cast or receive shadows, so I do not need to worry about it interfering with the lighting.

Fig.3: The scene with the added directional light.

The ships do not appear to cast shadows at the moment; this may be because the directional light is too far away. I will investigate this further. For now, however, there is one last thing to do: add the camera. Having done that, the scene is now ready to begin animating.

Fig.4: The camera, shown in green, positioned above the Y-Wing, ready to film the first scene of my animation as described in the storyboard.

Week 7 - Improving My Storyboard

This week I have been taught about the twelve principles of animation, as well as the theory behind camera angles. Using this, I will look at how I could have improved my storyboard.

The fourth part of the storyboard is a 6-second static long shot as the Y-Wing performs a banked U-turn and the TIE fighters follow it. This shot is not very dramatic, and perhaps could be replaced with a closer shot that pans from the Y-Wing completing the manoeuvre to the TIE fighters beginning it.

Week 6 Pt.2 - Storyboard and Moodboard

As the final part of this first assignment, I had to produce a 30-second storyboard for the animation that I will have to produce in my next assignment, as well as a moodboard (essentially, a collage of all my reference images). 

To preserve their size and quality, the moodboard and storyboard have been posted elsewhere and linked to below, rather than being inserted directly into this blog post.

Storyboard: http://i.imgur.com/OJpQVLk.png
Moodboard: http://www.gomoodboard.com/boards/3DnjgWnN/share

Week 6 - Texturing the Models

It is time for the final step: texturing the models. I will start with the TIE Phantom. As seen in Fig.1, I have added several new details to the Phantom, as well as some basic Blinn shaders to set its colour scheme. in some cases (such as the cylinders in the wing mounts) I deleted some unnecessary polygons to save geometry.

Fig.1: The TIE Phantom with additional details and basic shaders

More advanced textures are added by applying individual shaders to each object to which I want to apply a texture. To make sure the texture is mapped properly to the object, I use the UV Texture Editor to edit the object's UVs (the vertices that the texture is wrapped around). Fig.2 shows the UV texture map for the main cockpit body (the front of the cockpit has already been mapped).

Fig.2: The UV texture map for the main cockpit, to which its texture will be applied. Note that only the sides are included in the UV map: the front and back (which are not visible) are not part of the map.

The textures themselves, due to my limited skills in Photoshop, are simply created using PowerPoint, with the reference images as a rough guide. Fig.3 shows the texture for the main cockpit (may be subject to change in the final model).

Fig.3

When I apply this texture to the model, what I get is this:

Fig.4: The model immediately after having the cockpit texture applied.

To fix this, I had to open the place2dTexture panel and manually edit the attributes of the shape until I had the desired appearance (as can be seen in Fig.5). I was also forced to rotate the shape itself to align the cockpit texture properly. I could have used the UV Texture Editor to accomplish this, but in all honesty, I forgot it even existed.

Fig.5: The cockpit once the texture has been repositioned.

The TIE Phantom model is now complete. The next model to be textured is the Y-Wing. This is a slightly more tricky model as there are several complex details that need to be added, but eventually, through use of planar mapping, I managed to get that done as well.

Fig.6: The fully-textured Y-Wing.

The TIE Defender is all that is left. However, this only requires two textures. One is the windscreen, for which I can simply use an altered version of the windscreen texture from the TIE Phantom.

Fig.7: The windscreen of the TIE Defender, an altered form of the TIE Phantom's windscreen.

Fig.8: The TIE Defender with the windscreen textured on

The second texture is applied to the base plate of the wing, to match the wings themselves. This texture was taken from the TIE Defender blueprints that I used as reference images, and can be found here: http://unusualsuspex.deviantart.com/art/TIE-D-Defender-ortho-415211443

Fig.9: The finished TIE Defender with textures added to the base plates

All three models are now more or less finished and textured. The final step will be to prepare my moodboard and storyboard, before making my final submission.

Week 5 Pt.2 - TIE Defender

For my third and final model, I decided to create a TIE Defender. While I have already created a TIE model - the Phantom - the Defender is different enough visually that it is suitable as my third model. It also provides a handy narrative idea for the 30-second animation I must produce later on, as the Y-Wing I finished earlier in the week could be being pursued by the two TIE fighters.

As with the other two models I have made so far, the Defender's basic chassis is fairly easy to model. The cockpit consists of a single sphere, with a large triangular section at the rear to which its three wings are attached.

Fig.1: The basic chassis of the TIE Defender. The sphere is angled at 90 degrees to make texturing the windscreen easier.

On the end of each tip of the triangle is a wing mount. This consists of a cylinder that gets dramatically wider at the end, where it attaches to the wings. To save polygons, this will be made from a single cylinder, divided into two sections.

Fig.2: The chassis with the wing mounts added.

The next step is to assemble the Defender's three wings. These are rather more complex than the Phantom's. The first step is the base plate, which attaches to the wing mounts. On top of this is a small domed structure; this is drawn directly on by making the base plate a live surface.

Fig.3: The base plate with added hatch

As with the TIE Phantom, the main part of the wing can be produced from a single thin cuboid, however unlike the Phantom, each wing has two, attached to either side of the baseplate at an angle. After working out the angle with trigonometry (I won't go into that here), I crafted the wing, added additional details, then duplicated it onto the other side of the base plate.

Fig.4: The completed wing with extra details. You will notice that unlike my other untextured models, here I have textured the wing interior for clarity purposes.

Fig,5: The finished wing assembly, with a wing either side of the wing mount

Having finished the wing, I can now duplicate it and mount it onto each of the wing mounts.

Fig.6: The ship, complete with mounted wings

The ship is not quite finished yet. Attached to the rear is a hollow cylindrical object that houses the engine. This will be constructed from a single pipe object, split vertically into two sections.

Fig.7: The engine element

Fig.8: The ship from the rear, with the engine element added

All three of my ships are now essentially complete. I will spend the last week of the assignment texturing them and adding various miscellaneous details, because storyboarding the 30-second animation that will feature them.

Week 5 - Continuing the Y-Wing

With the deadline approaching, I must continue work on my Y-Wing model and start the third model. The basic shape of the Y-Wing is done , but there are a number of details that need adding. The first is the turbine/exhaust at the back of each engine; these are made from a single cylinder, tapered at one end.

Fig.1: The turbines at the rear of the engines

Continuing with the engines, I add the four rods that connect the disc vectrals and steering plates to each turbine. First of all, I created two cuboids and positioned them within the engines so that small portions of them stuck out in an X-shape. These allowed me to accurately position the actual trailing rods, using the align tool; the X-shape guides were then deleted.

Fig.2: The X-shaped guides within the turbines

Fig.3: The actual connecting rods, having been positioned (the X-shaped guides have now been deleted)

The disc vectral is made of a thin polygon pipe. Both it and the steering plates inside it have been tapered to be narrower at the rear.

Fig.4: The assembly at the rear of the ship's engines (there is an identical one on the other engine but only one is shown here so that the details are visible).

Next is the cockpit. The upper canopy must be added, as well as an assembly at the bottom that helps connect the cockpit to the main body of the ship. As with the lower part of the cockpit, the upper canopy will be crafted from a single block, but split into four parts rather than six.

Fig.5: The top of the upper canopy, having been sculpted into shape; the top still needs to be made narrower than the bottom, however. The blue cuboid in the lower-left is a guide block, used to help re-size the subdivisions.

Fig.6: The side view of the upper canopy, having been sculpted into shape. The bottom contours should join up with the upper contours of the main cockpit.

Fig.7: The completed upper canopy of the cockpit, having been narrowed down at the top and moved into position.

Fig.8: The assembly under the cockpit, connecting it to the main body of the ship.

There are also some extra details to be added to the main body of the ship. Finally, there is a turret-mounted laser cannon on top of the cockpit canopy, and two separate laser cannons on the front.

Fig.9: The additional details added to the main chassis

Fig.10: The laser turret mounted to the top of the cockpit

Fig.11: The laser cannons mounted to the front of the cockpit

The Y-Wing, like the TIE Phantom, is now essentially finished. It still needs to be textured, and there are perhaps other small details that can be added to it, but it is good enough for now. I will now set about choosing and modelling my third and final ship, before producing my moodboard and storyboard.

Week 4 - Y-Wing

Initially, I intended for my second model to be an X-Wing, however I was unable to find suitable blueprints for it, so instead my second model will be a Y-Wing. This model is slightly more complex than the TIE Phantom, but should not be overly difficult to model.

The starting point for the Y-Wing is in fact easier: the basic chassis can be constructed from three cuboids. The first, central cuboid forms the main body, the second cuboid extends to the sides to connect the wings, and the third extends forwards to connect the cockpit.

Fig.1: The basic body of the Y-Wing. Additional detail will be added later.

The engines are a complex construct, but their basic shape is a cylinder with stretched hemispherical front. As with the TIE Phantom's wings, the engines are duplicated and moved into place; the model is centered on the X axis to make this easier.

Fig.2: The Y-Wing with the engines attached.

From this point onwards, modelling the Y-Wing becomes far more complex. The next stage is the cockpit, which has two separate parts; the main body and a raised upper canopy. I will attempt to model the main body using a single cube split into six sections, as shown in the annotated diagram in Fig.3 (I find using this modular topology much more useful than importing image planes into Maya).

Fig.3: The top view of the Y-Wing with various shapes drawn on it to help me scale each section. The cockpit is to the right, with six parallelograms drawn onto it.

Fig.4: The cube having been milled into the cockpit shape shown in Fig.3. The blue box in the bottom-right was used to help align the subdivisions and then to move the edges inwards.

Fig.5: The finished cockpit body, roughly positioned on the main body.

The basic shape of the Y-Wing is now complete. Next week I will add the finishing details and move on to my third and final model.