CR- Lecture 8 Discussion Post

http://jobs.jobvite.com/careers/ageoflearning/job/oa1a4fw9?__jvst=Job%20Board&__jvsd=Indeed

    The job I found was for a 3D Animator that has to also has to be able to rig a character.
This job was looking for someone who knew how to use Maya, be able to set up an easy rig that an animator could use without any hassle, and be able to communicate with other teams on the pipeline.
In class, we talked a lot about how in the end it is all about if the animator can use the rig with ease, and that they understand it. This also goes along the lines with communicating with the people you are building the rig for and how they want it to function. We were taught in class how to make clean and organized rigs that are simple to use, but not so simple that it feels unfinished or like it is lacking in character mobility.

VD- Final

    This project was on how to create and use Mila materials in Maya. 

The Mila materials were used for the textures of the objects in the scene shown below.

Layers were created for the materials to give off certain effects for the objects. The bottle for example has a transmission layer since it is made out of glass making it see through, unlike the other objects that do not. All of the objects have a diffuse and reflective layer on them to have more realistic and accurate lighting and color.

    During this month, I learned more about the Hypershade in Maya, and how to navigate in it making it quicker and easier to use. I did not really explore anything new on my own; I was pretty overwhelmed with all the things that I had learned since I had never really known about them in the first place.

Key Light Layer

Warm Light Layer

IBL Layer

Character Design and Creation- Evaluation

    With my Character Design and Creation class this month, I learned a lot of new things in both ZBrush and Maya. I had to go about building the characters differently than I would with a hard surface model. I used ZBrush for the most part, finding that it was easier to get the results I was looking for better than Maya.

    With this character, I found it easier to build him with ZSpheres rather than with Dynamesh or in Maya. I did however build his shoes in Maya since they are more of a flat surface made up of 3 rectangles.
    I would probably do his hair differently if I had to model him again. It did not come out as spiky and as volumized as the reference drawing has it.
    His face was the most difficult part out of all of it. Since he is a more cartoony character, he has simple lines and little detail put into him forcing me to have to come up with a way for him to have a bone and muscle structure, but still look like the drawing.
    For the most part, I think the model turned out rather well. I had never modeled any kind of character/organic object before, so of course it is not the best, but it matches the reference for the most part. I liked modeling the hat and shirt, they came out nicely.

Project Portfolio - Modeled Scene

   For this month's assignment, we had to choose between 2 animations or modeling a scene, I decided on modeling. There were 4 milestones for this project: first being a basic block out, second adding secondary details and color, third adding texture, and the fourth was to finalize everything.

   While making the model, I went back and forth using ZBrush and Maya. I used ZBrush to add the scratches in the wood, and the dust and stains on the keys.

Ref

Milestone 1

Milestone 2

Milestone 3

Final

Project Portfolio 2- Final

     My class this month was my second portfolio class. We had to animate a walk and an action. The action could be anything from a weight shift, overshoot and settle, jump, or anything that you could come up with and make work really. The walk animation includes four steps, anticipation to get into the walk, and a settling to stop walking, for the most part. Like with last month's class, the same animation principles and Maya tools were used in this project. Animation principles like squash and stretch, timing, anticipation, slow-ins and slow-outs, were all used to make the character seem more alive and believable.

3D Animation- Walk Cycle Action

    During this month's class we learned how to animate models. This video is of an ant that we had to give a moving walk cycle, a standing pose, and an action. As opposed to the first walk cycle we did, this one actually moves in the scene. The walk cycle included poses that you would have done in 2D animation: up and downs, passing, and contacts. Along with those key poses, we also had to give it anticipation and settling poses. Each pose for all the animations created had to be positioned and then keyed. The basic move tool was used to position the models that were used.

3D Animation- Cup Action

    The start and end poses were given to us in this assignment, so we just had to animate everything in the middle.