3D Communications Mast Model

Again I think too much detail was included in this 3D model of a communications mast. However I had a lot of fun building this model. I wanted it to be as realistic as possible. I used this model as a means to improve my modeling skills. To build this model I used various reference material. Although in most scenes this is in the background, I am still very happy the way this model turned out.

The texture below was very simple to create in Photoshop. Again I didn't want to get too worried with the texture detail as the texture will hardly be seen due to lighting and distance.

3D Pipeline Model

I think I went to town a bit too much with this model. However I did have fun modeling it. I went into a lot of detail using photo reference from numerous sources. I was focusing on improving my modeling skills.

Below is a simple rust texture I created in Photoshop. This texture is what I used to apply to the pipeline model above. Although it is a very simple texture, the whole idea is that the viewer will not see the pipeline close up so therefore the texture does not need to include much detail.

Textured 3D Mining Vehicle Model

Below is a test render with a directional light. I wanted to make sure that there would be no problems when light interacted with the mesh of the 3D model.

Below are a few images of the mining vehicle near its final stages of texturing. I have to admit that the process of texturing took a lot longer than I had anticipated and was much harder to grasp and understand. I had a lot of difficulty with planar and UV mapping. I was shown how to texture efficiently by both Alex and Andy. The best section of texturing was the vehicle's side texture. The textures to the sides of the mining vehicle came out really well and matched the geometry of the vehicle, however to the rear and top of the vehicle the texturing was a lot to be desired as there were texture stretch marks. However, that said, I do believe that this issue will not matter too much as the shots of this vehicle will mostly be from a low angle or from a distance so the texturing will not be easily seen. Plus half of the vehicle will be shrouded in shadow due to high contrast between light and shadow during the "golden hour"/ sunset.

Texturing this vehicle was a massive learning experience and I leant a lot whilst modeling and texturing this vehicle. For instance I leant the importance of naming different sections of geometry and naming different textures, I also discovered how to use the planar mapping function, I am also beginning to understand the way UV's work.

To make the vehicle seem used and interesting I added a few textures/ decals. Jared suggested that we attempt to indicate that our environment seemed busy and felt "lived in" and inhabited by miners. He suggested that we add character to the environment which would in turn create a more human and industrial atmosphere. The group agreed that we wanted to avoid our environment from becoming dead. We needed to give the environment some life or at least an indication of life. I decided to follow Jared's suggestion by adding these textures/ decals such as pin-up nose art, graffiti and hazard strips. As a group we also decided to dot other examples of posters, signs and graffiti around the environment to have that "lived in" feel.

3D Mining Vehicle Model (Occlusion Render)

These are a few occlusion renders of the 3D Mining Vehicle. I am very pleased with how these renders came out. Indeed the contrast between the light and the shadows emphasise the vehicles form and where surfaces meet. This render option was entirely new to me and this was certainly something new I learnt today, and I am grateful for my brother and Andy for showing me how to execute an occlusion render.

3D Mining Vehicle Model

It was decided that Alex's concept was the best vehicle design that would fit in with the mining environment, and I volunteered to construct Alex's concept in 3D using Maya.

Using Alex's Concept Illustration of the mining vehicle at the very bottom of this post, I have managed to create a 3D model of his design, despite the fact that I had no front view reference.

Wireframe.

The images above are screen captures of the complete 3D model of the Ground Transport Vehicle with wheels. The reason why it was agreed there would be no tank tracks is because none of us had a clue how to animate tracks effectively. However tracks would be far more use than wheels in the desert as tracks would increase surface area thus preventing the vehicle from sinking into the sand. But this is a student project and is completely science fiction so we shall get away with it. Plus in the final stages of animation using after effects we shall create dust trails and sand clouds to hide the wheels of the mining transport vehicle. So putting all that effort into building tank tracks would be somewhat pointless as the wheels will be hidden from the viewer. The dust clouds must be included anyway as this would demonstrate that the landscape consists of sand and would indicate the realistic motion of disturbed loose sand.

I also widened the vehicle because I thought the initial model was a little too thin. I wanted the vehicle to seem heavy, bulky and heavily armoured with thick metal plating. I am very pleased with the finished result as it is very close to Alex's design. I certainly learnt a lot when modeling this vehicle in terms of understanding how to manipulate vertex's, using the insert edge loop and split polygon tool and extruding faces. I did discover however that I should have created my model by keeping polygons to a maximum edge limit of four. Alex Hulse explained that various polygons crucial to the vehicle's geometry had far more than four sides. He explained this may lead to "lag" or "delay" when navigating the model and may increase render time and cause lighting issues due to as he put it "illegal polygons" and "distorted normals". I took this on board and used his solution which was to either manually create new polygon edges or use the triangulate tool which adds edges automatically. This was a vital piece of information, I definitely learnt something from what Alex Hulse said. Despite the fact that this was my first decent model that I was happy with, in future I will make sure that I use Alex's tip and create models with reliable polygons.

I shall carry out some occlusion renders of this model to emphasise its form through light and shadow.

Alex's original vehicle concept.

Image Plane & Texture

The image above was the texture I decided to use and apply to the 3D model as I wanted the vehicle to look as close to the original design as possible. Also I wanted the design to match that of the IPMC transport ship. I simply used the UV planar map tool to apply the texture on to the side of the vehicle.

Storyboard Sequence

Below are all my own storyboards. These images show the progression of the initial idea for the animated mining environment sequence. Rather than having a fly through, I decided to have various different shots, either static shots or slight pans of the environment. Pretty much all these shots are wide shots so that vast scales are emphasised and all the components can be seen clearly and are not obscured. The wide shots will look very nice with widescreen format thus producing an aesthetic cinematic format.

Rough Line Storyboards

Rough Shaded Storyboards

Refined Digital Storyboards (Greyscale)

Refined Digital Storyboards (Colour)

I was not sure about the ending above. It seemed weak and lacked enough emphasis of a journey or narrative within the boards. Thus I spoke to the group and consulted with Jared to acquire their opinions and advice. As a group we decided that there should be a narrative depicting a journey of the mining vehicle towards its destination which would be the aperture mining entrance leading to a secondary excavation. Below is the revised board which show a shot of the mining vehicle interior looking out on to the vast expanse of a sandy desert. The next two shots depict the vehicle waiting for the aperture door in the rock face to open. The final shot is from the point of view of the vehicle moving down the dark tunnel interior rimmed with strip lights. The shot then fades to black.

Revised Board Page 2 Edit (Greyscale)

(Colour)

The board sheet below depicts a few ideas I had for additional shots that could be included for establishing shots. These are shots purely for showing off our modeling and lighting, depicting the scale of the environment and creating an aesthetic quality to the short film.

Additional Shots (Greyscale)

(Colour)

Establishing Shot Concept

Greyscale

The shot below basically was an idea to inform the viewer of the whole environment. I had doubts whether we were going to be able to render this scene with all the components. There was the option to render using layers of course but this would have taken time. We decided to render this scene with no 3D animation and decided to cut down on some elements. We decided to remove the oil wells and the pipeline from the shot. This was only a guideline for the desired shot, thus the final rendered shot looked radically different in terms of camera angle, distance and composition.

Colour

It was encouraging to hear from both students and tutors that my boards were very professional. I must be doing something right. I wanted the shots to be relatively simple and focus particularly on displaying our models in an artistic way by paying attention to balanced composition. The other component that will be key to our success is lighting. I have attempted to incorporate what the "Golden Hour" may look like within our environments in the boards. These shots were inspired by the cinematic experience and by photographers/ directors such as Stanley Kubrick.

What I believe I have done well in these boards is to portray the vast scale of our environment, but most importantly depicting our environment using effective camera angles and composition to present our work in an aesthetic and interesting way, which hopefully will be entertaining to the viewer as they are lost in a new world of imagination based on something quite familiar yet presented with a futuristic science fiction slant. I want our piece to be thought provoking regarding resource consumption today, but above all I want our piece to look slick and arty. Using shots such as these will undoubtedly enhance our designs and make them seem more professional. However I am a little concerned that I have been unadventurous with my camera placements. Perhaps I should have incorporated more close-ups, but I guess that close-ups could pose a new problem as bad texturing will be able to be seen.

An image from 2001: A Space Odyssey

The image above and others like it were used as inspiration in order to prepare well balanced shots for our short animated mining environment.

Although at first I thought it unnecessary to produce an animatic for our animated environment, Ben explained that it would be useful in helping to see what our final short film will look like and thus will give us an idea of how to assemble the short film. He explained that we could use the animatic as a guideline so that we will be able assemble the final short film quickly and efficiently. Ben explained that he would use each cell of my original storyboard to form a simple animatic. He stated that he would concentrate on demonstrating camera movements.

Lighting Suggestion: Sunset (Magic Hour/Golden Hour)

I believe our environment would benefit from being lit during the Golden Hour or Magic Hour. I feel that our 3D model of the mine and the surrounding landscape will look far more interesting using strong contrast in as far as lighting. Golden Hour is the first and last hour of sunlight during the day. This is when lighting is softer, more diffused and warmer in hue and where shadows are longer. Strong highlights and dark shadows will help to enhance our model and define its shape. I believe that attempting to light our model during the day such as noon will make our model look flat and dull as there are few shadows.

I have collected some lighting reference during sunrise and sunset which may help us to visualise our model lit in an interesting way.

I have looked at these images from the internet for reference in particular as they are incredibly beautiful. I love the colour of the sky and how the surroundings consist of reds, oranges, and yellows. This is precisely the sort of lighting I want to include in he final film.

Recommended Format & Aspect Ratio

I feel that we should present our short animated environment using an Anamorphic Format, which has the aspect ratio of 2.39:1. This format is used in cinematography for capturing a widescreen picture using a 35 mm camera. This is because I believe that using this format we can provide a cinematic experience which will make our short film more aesthetic and thus more professional.

IPMC Mining Facility Concepts

Here are a couple of Mine Facility concept designs I came up with using photo reference of oil rigs, power plants and the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai. However I did acquire some inspiration from structures depicted in the first person shooter Halo 3. Andy volunteered to build a 3D model of the mining facility using Alex's concepts for reference. However Alex's concepts did not depict enough detail nor did they show a side or front view which could be used as image plane guides to help build an accurate model. Andy requested some more detailed drawings to aid him in building he model so that he had a clearer understanding of the form and structure of the mining facility. So I decided to design the mining facility firstly by coming up with shapes/ silhouettes and from there adding detail. I wanted to make sure that these structures retained elements of an oil rig and a power plant yet adding a futuristic architectural feel whilst still possessing an industrial feel. I believe I did a pretty good job of ticking all the boxes. I presented these drawings to the group the following day and it was decided that the second design to the right was the better of the two.

Sketches

Silhouettes

Concepts

Below is an example of a simple mine facility model I created in Maya to help inform Andy of the shape of the structure. This model was quick to build and there is not nearly enough detail, however I am sure this will help Andy to build a more detailed and complex model. Seeing the desired shape of the facility in 3D will provide extra information for Andy to work with. After all we do want our models to look interesting and professional. This is only an example of the sort of shape we are looking for.

Wireframe

Polygon Mesh Mode.

Occlusion Render.

Simple Texture.

Andy's 3D Model

Andy's 3D model above is a slightly simplified version of my second design on the model sheet as it was agreed that secondary side fins were not necessary and the geometry must be reduced for rendering reasons. I was very surprised by how close the model was to that of my drawing and followed the shape suggestion of my simple 3D model.

Reference & Inspiration.

Oil Rig

Power Plant

Burj Al Arab Hotel

Halo 3 Structure