Piston

When the work was delegated it was agreed that any modelling should use minimal polygons. Rob had made us aware that once animation was added as well as textures to any models, the render times would increase substantially.

My task was to create the Piston. I started with a cylinder and set the dimensions based upon the scale agreed during the groups previous meeting.

I then split the cylinder into multiple sections, this was to enable me to match up all indentations from the head of the piston.

By setting the cylinder to an editable poly it allowed me to manipluate specfic points of the model.

My first thought was to extrude the indentations on the piston. The problem with this is the surface becomes ridged and would mean I would lose the initial smooth texture.



My next idea was to move the points manually, this would allow for detail to be kept but the problem would be the time taken to keep the symmetry all the way round the piston.

The third option was to select an edge and use the Loop function to make sure the same set of edges round the cylinder were selected and use the scale tool to draw areas in and keep the smoothness of the object.



To keep the squareness of the indentations of the piston head I used the movement tool on the selected edges to model them into place.



The next stage was to bore the centre of the piston head. My initial idea was to delete the vertices individually. A problem I found with doing this was it offered no depth within the piston.



I realised that the best way to produce the depth within the base of the Piston as well as save time was to use the boolean modifier which allows a model to be subtracted from another.

This technique was also used on the face of the piston where the bolts mount to.

Work Delegation

The group have decided to split up each task into smaller chunks where possible. The advantage of managing the work like this is that it allows each member to prove the quality of the modelling standards and animation standards which will could be a good way for each of us to learn new techniques through feedback off group members.

A rough storyboard has been created (see Group Meeting 3) but at a later stage a higher standard copy will be produced.

After group meeting 3 I was given the task of producing a voice over to give the group an outline of what should be done with the models during animation.

The modelling tasks have also been delegated.

Elaine - Carburetor

Kiel - Master cylinder

Robert - Magnetic flywheel & bottom end of cylinder

I have been given the task of producing the Piston and Crank Shaft.

Group Meeting 3

Following on from previous group discussions, we decided to concentrate on producing ideas on what we believe is most important to create for this video.

We decided that the video should be short, this is because we do not want the viewers becoming bored of what they are watching. For this reason, we have decided that the video should be to the point and run for no longer than 2 minutes.

From research that we have gathered, many videos based on the 2 stroke engine are covered within a similar time scale.



Within this time, it will also enable the group to explain and get the knowledge across to the viewer in reasonable depth.

The group have also discussed how to enhance the viewers experience. This included:

Use of visual effects - to produce a more appealing element to the video, if the video is dull then this will come across in the viewers attitude towards the video.

Use of speech - Having a video with sound effects would be simple, but then the viewer would find it very hard to follow what is taking place and going away feeling they have gained information. For this the group believe it is important to use audio commentary as well as visual elements to make the experience as understandable as possible.

The group have decided to concentrate on the side of the engine, this is because it will represent in greater detail the information being explained within the audio. It will also limit the chances of mistakes being made with the visual elements of the video.

Another visual element discussed by the group was the use of tags and arrows so that the viewer knows what area of the engine to concentrate on as the audio goes through its cycle.

Group Meeting 1 & 2

The first 2 meetings didn't go particularly well. We didn't manage to get the entire group in one place. This was due to travel problems for a couple of the group members.



In the first meeting me and Kiel decided to take initiative and decide that the group should work on recreating a 2 stroke engine.

We have discussed what styles of shots could be used and what kind of information could be displayed.


In the 2nd meeting we got to know Shuo and discuss the previous weeks ideas with her.

Evaluation

Even though this is my first time at creating a human head. I am slightly disapointed with what I have created. There are a number of errors in the modelling as well as the texturing.

I struggled at understanding how the nose should be created and in the end it was a mess, it was far too angular and was too big in scale compared to the reference plates.



From this picture it is also possible to see that the head isn't completely in line with the reference plates either.

I believe that given more time I could produce a more satisfying piece of work. But as time was always going to be a factor with this project it makes me think that in the future I should possibly use my time more wisely to allow for more alterations on each stage.

Another problem is how I connected the ears, I stated earlier in my blog that I had problems with the welding tool and only certain vertices would attach. In the future I will try to keep such a difficult object simple. Even though I managed to get the initial detail of the ear quite high, it lead to problems. Due to these problems it lead to lost time and an end product that was of poor quality. The back of the ear is overly stretched and lets down the final piece.



In the future I will also look into becoming more familiar with the UVW mapping. With a mixture of the poor unwrapping as well as poor formations for the quads this lead to textures being stretched.



This made me realise jsut how important each stage is, and the initial "simple" stage of the topology is probably the most important if you want an incident free and easy route to completing such a piece of work.

Completed head

I was just about to write up my evaluation when I was thinking, "I'm not happy with what I've produced, somethings not right". So I decided to edit the texture slightly after I realised that the texture around the chin was too far up the face. I have since edited the eyes that I put into place so I don't look like an alien.







The eye was produced using a piece of Photoshop work that I had produced for a previous piece of uni work but couldn't use.

Bump Map & Specular Map

It will appear that I have not added a bump map to my character. This is not through lack of trying. I produced a bump map within Photoshop to add to the materials but when I went to add it as a map nothing happend. I am not sure whether its incorrect settings on my 3DS or whether I have inputted the map into the wrong area. But this was the map that I setup within Photoshop.



The purpose of this is for 3DS to use the darker areas as indents (paws of the skin) on the face and the lighter areas are used as petrusions (spots and moles).




The specular Map was meant to be setup up to bring out the greasy areas of the skin. Again I couldn't seem to get this working, but tbh I think the initial texture produced in Photoshop has a little bit of difference on.

I am disapointed that I could not get either of these effects completed as it would mean that I managed to complete all of the tutorials.