Animation

For this week, i will start creating the landscape i will need for my animation. i have decided to make the scene in an environment similar to a deserted planet. the key features i will require for this are mountains, hill and valleys so that i can make an interesting animation using different camera's as the fighter model flies through the scene.

I used some tutorials on you tube to learn how to create the landscape i need.  The main tool I used for this was the paint tool. The whole idea is that you create a plane and and the paint it using the paint tool. the different colors of the paint are then used when you used the push/pull tool to then created the mountains. red  is the highest and blue is the lowest on the scale. the screenshot below shows the tools.

After using the soft selection tool to paint the plane, i then used the paint deformation tool to make the the plane shape into the mountains an valleys. I then used the relax tool to make the shapes smooth and even. the screen shot below shows the object i created

The next part was for me to try and add some materiel's to the plane to give It a desert color. I used a bitmap with the right detail to get the landscape to look like a desert.I applied the bitmap using the materiel's tool. I then adjusted the layout to get the perfect look for my design. the screen shot below shows the landscape.

The next part was to add some lighting to the scene. I started of by importing and re-sizing my models that I would use for the animation. for this part of the storyboard, I would only need my tank and fighter models. I imported them and then scaled them to size then I used their shadows to create the right lighting for the scene for this particular animation, I decided to use the sky-dome light. I followed the tutorial in the VLE to create the light. I decided o use the sky dome lighting because for the scene i was creating, i would need to add clouds to the environment and creating a 360 degree view of the plane.

Week 7

Model evaluation

I have had a chance to review my models and compare them to my original ideas. I think my fighter model came out relatively well compared to the original design. I managed to shape the wings so that they were aerodynamic and smooth on the edges, I set out to achieve an alien craft look rather than producing a typical jet fighter. I would say I achieved this by using some unusual features in the design of the fuselage. Instead of using the typical wind screen I chose to make a gap in the cockpit.

For the tank, I had some trouble making the housing for the three rockets as they were of an odd shape. in overall, I think i made a strange but good looking vehicle. I intend to try and include the missiles in the animation.

Week 8

For the animation of my project, I intend to use various camera techniques to capture a good animation. I will be using a mixture of still target and motion cameras for the different scenes. Before I created the camera's I started off by animating the object. My plan is to have all the fighter navigating through the maze of hill and mountains. and then it will come across the tank and a gun battle will commence.

The first thing i did was create a navigation path to animate the fighter. I used the line tool to draw a line on the landscape for the plane to follow. I then modified the fighter model to follow the line. i added some banking motion as it was an aircraft in flight to create a realistic flight pattern. the screen shot below shows the line I created.

I repeated the process of create a animation path for the tank. I adjusted the speeds of both objects so that they were in sync. The scene starts off with the plane navigating it way around the hills. It then comes across the tank and the battle begins with the fighter attacking as its flies over the tank. the tank then launches an anti aircraft missile which hits the air craft and its crashes.

I created a new line for when the plane fires some lasers. The screen shot below shows the lasers I created as the planes ammunition.

I created the lasers using the guns in the fighter, added some color and grouped a light within them for them to glow. I them made a new navigation path for them to move towards the tank. I made sure the appear just as the plane flies past them. I repeated the process for the missile to fly towards the plane and on impact, the plane would turn and crash into the hills.

Week 9
I decided to use the standard camera to start the animation. I would Have the camera positioned in a long shot position so that the plane would fly into view moving closer to the camera until its at a medium view, and then it would fly off the screen. I then used a target camera to capture the next scene. I had the camera follow the fighter as it when through is maneuvers.

For the next scene I decided to create a camera for the tank. I made a path for the camera and I animated it to follow the tank from a birds eye view. I created a few more camera's, for different views each for each individual part of the animation. I used target cameras and still camera's to make enough scenes for the animation.

I started rendering the film for each scene by using each individual camera to render a few seconds. I set the frmae rate at 24 frames per second.

Week 10
This week i took all the scenes i had rendered and i loaded them into adobe premiere. I started placing them in the work space in order. I edited some clips that needed editing. I also decided to add some music to the animation to create a realist feel as a pose to just having the sounds effects.

After i had finished editing the clips i saved the project as a wmv movie. I started viewing the complete clip.

Week 11
I overall , I am impressed with what I achieved in the short time i had to learn. I started off with no experience  with 3ds max or any animation. In overall my looks great and has some degree of sophistication.
The animation and camera work is great and In my opinion i think i captured the action well

I personally was disappointed as i was rendering the project in 3ds max. For some reason the lighting changed from what it looked like when i was animating. It has made the overall visual quality less appealing. I went back to the original file and made some alterations, I created a new light but it didn't make any difference in the rendering.

I also went a step further to animate the impact of the missile to the fighter. I used the particle tool to explode the wing, but i failed to set it to the right time and it kept exploding at the wrong time. If I had more time, I would have to find out a solution for the lighting and the particle explosion effect. This would improve the overall look of the project. I would also add a few more buildings and features to the animation.