Week 12. Editing, reflection and final additions

I am getting close to being happy with the animation now, but i still feel i could do with a bit more action and urgency towards the end of the scene when all the ships meet. I am going to add some lasers to one of the X-Wings for the scene when it is chasing the Tie-fighter.

NOTE: In hindsight now i wish i had made all the X-Wings in the scene instances and not copies, as then these laser gun modifications i made would exist on all X-Wings. As now i am running low on time and cant modify each X-Wing individually. But still the X-Wing will only be shooting at the Tie-Fighter anyway. as they are capturing the shuttle. 

Firstly i had to create the lasers themselves. This felt fairly straight forward now, i simply used a capsule and added a glow effect in the render effects. I played with the different settings until i found a reasonable representation that i was happy with.  

Laser with glow render effects 

I then needed a method of firing the lasers. I could just animate them using key frames but i found a better way might be to use splines and path constraint like how the ships move. I can then line up and link the splines perfectly at the gun barrels which is much more accurate representation. I then used the splines from the gun barrels as the path for the laser capsules, they will then always shoot forward relative to the ship orientation.  

Lining up and linking the lasers

I made the animation faster by moving the key frames closer together so they will shoot a lot quicker than the ship will be travelling. By utilizing the same techniques i used on the flame output, i looped the animation in the curve editor so the lasers will constantly fire. This also eliminates the need for me to destroy the lasers as they will just stop moving and repeat when the path ends.  

I also took this time to add a glow render effect to the X-Wing flames output. I just used a different material ID to the lasers, this will now effect all the flames on all the X-Wings in the scene as they all use the same material.  

Practice animation with one working laser

Lasers on all guns and added glow to engine flames 

Now when i shoot the scene with the X-Wing chasing the Tie-Fighter it will shoots lasers toward it. This will bring the scene to more of a climax and give the scene more of a hostile nature and just generally more action. 

New Scene with lasers shooting at Tie-Fighter 

I had to re-shoot the X-Wings scenes so they include the glow on the new engine flames.

I wanted to add a quick shot of when all the ships come together too as they all seem to be really far apart then suddenly all together. This will link the first few scenes and the chase sequence together more organically. And i don't have many shots that incorporate all the ships.

All the ships heading into the chase

also i changed the camera angle and position during the shuttle escape scene so you can more of the shuttle but also by moving the X-Wing path slightly we see more of what is going on in the background.

New shuttle escape scene

Final animation edit

I am much happier with the final animation now. There is more action, more build up, and all the scenes link together and flow a lot better. I still think it could be improved though. I shot a lot of scenes separately, ie in different scene files, because i was happy with some but not others, and didn't want (nor have the time ) to re shoot the first ones i was happy with. This lead to the lines i used for movement not being one continuous line, but several broken and smaller ones. Having lots of small scenes and then having to match them up in the editing software proved quite tricky, and i felt a continuous scene would also have a better flow to it. My animation can look slightly broken up at times. Just because this was my first animation and my organisation and ability to plan ahead can improve. I would have liked to have time to add lasers to all the X-Wings too. I did feel quite restricted by the 30 second time limit too.

I am going to continue working with these models and im eager to improve upon my work this far. I want to make a new longer scene and incorporate the improvements i have discussed. It might be nice to introduce a planet surface too so not all of the scene is in space, the chase could maybe accumulate on the surface of the planet. I would also like to inculde some more effcets like sparks flying when the ships get hit and maybe some explosions.

Keep posted for further improvements and updates......................

Week 9, texturing Tie-Fighter

Taking note from when i textured the shuttle the first thing i wanted to add to the Tie-Fighter was an engine glow. I wanted to keep it simple so i experimented with omni lights. Omni lights spread light equally in all directions, and you can specify and modify the attenuation, which is essentially how far the light will spread. By reducing the start and finish points of the attenuation of the light i made it so the glow would only protrude slightly form the rear of the engine. By adding a volume effect and adding noise to the light i can make the attenuation visible to create a dome like glowing effect. I also made sure that this particular light did not effect any other objects in the scene as i will rig up other lights for that i want this light to just interact with the Tie-Fighter itself.      

Positioning engine onmi light inside fuselage 

Engine glow 

I approached the Tie-Fighter slightly differently to previous models. I have been using the UVW Unwrap modifier up to now, but i can see problems arising with this model. The main sphere that is the fuselage has been heavily modified and sliced and cut, and i know i am not going to be able to get a workable template as the polygons are irregular and numerous. So the Tie-Fighter is going to use mainly procedural maps created in 3ds Max. 

I still detached parts of the ship that were going to have different materials or variations of materials. I also added some more geometry to the wings to better fit the source images. I did try to achieve this wing detail with materials and maps but to no success. I did however get an idea for the main wing panels though while experimenting with bump maps.   

Detaching roof

Detaching main wing

Detaching guns mounts

As the inside of the cockpit has no detail in it i made the glass texture for the view port completely opaque and reflective. If i decide to develop these models further past the assignment i would like to add some cockpit detail and make the glass see through slightly. This would add to the overall realism of thee models.

  

Making use of the numerous maps slots in the material editor you can start to build up realistic and reactive surface textures. Starting with a basic diffuse texture created in gimp and then adding a dent bump map the solar panels on the wings start to look quite realistic, as the map gives the illusion of depth without the geometry. The bump map channels when used effectively can give a high level of detail without adding excess and numerous polygons. The number of polygons i would need to modify to get a similar effect with geometry would severely impact my overall efficiency of the model. I still have a lot of control over the material in the editor i can specify the tiling the angle and the offset, all without having to wrestle with the UVW maps.

Another reason why i chose this method is that when i made the model, unbeknownst to me, the wings somehow became overlapped, and there was polygons occupying the same space. This was the first model i made so mistakes were inevitable. I think this happened when i applied the symmetry modifier, i wasn't particularity comfortable with it at the time, and although it looks OK at the time, when i looked at the wings from certain angles the geometry would strobe. I did try to export the map, paint it, then apply it back on, but the textures just did not display properly because of the geometry.

Creating wing panel material

Adding a reflective map on the wing panel material really brought the texture to life for me, and made it look realistic. It will react with the light and other objects in the scene which is how the material would react in real life. 

I chose to use a different darker metal material on the detached parts of the fuselage and cockpit. Originally i had all the materials the same through out the main part of the ship, but i found this approach did not bring out the detail in the separate parts of the model. By having a darker material on the roof hatch, the view-port rim, small panels on the fuselage you are forced into paying more attention to these parts of the ship. And the contrast means you can clearly see that these parts are in fact separate, where as with one main material the colours and geometry just seemed to blend in. Hence i lost some the detail i put so much time into. I also found that making another colour material for even smaller detail on the detached parts of the ship helps bring these details to the audiences attention. 

Using  glass effect texture on the rear lights and the guns again helps distinguish between these details and the main ship. Such small detail is in danger of being overlooked so enhancing its reflective qualities and using a bright colour makes these details stand out. Its true that this is how the original is textured also, but changing the other parameters and not just the colour i found makes a real difference and certainly improves the quality of finish on the models.      

Variation of metal material on Fuselage

Rear lights material being added

Gun material clearly distinguishable 

Overall i fell the materials i have used really does the model justice, no detail is lost and they look quite realistic when rendered. In fact i think that look more realistic than the textures i made i GIMP for the previous models. I was more restricted with the detail i could ad however. I will be interested to use a combination of the two methods in future projects.

Finished Tie-Fighter (Rendered Views)

Week 8, Texturing X-Wing

Once i was comfortable with the different techniques regarding creating and applying material to objects i started with my first model the X-Wing.

Learning form previous exercises i decided that to get the most control and the highest level of detail to do my models justice, that using the unwrap modifier would be the best way forward. I have also learned that as my model is highly complex and i made its mainly one large mesh apart form small details, I would break down the model into smaller easily distinguishable parts. Then when i apply the modifier the polygons will be fewer and much easier to paint on. This will also help me get nice clean lines on different parts of the ship.

The first step was to break the model down as if it has literally been assembled in a physical sense. Again this greatly improves the precision i will be able to get when applying the materials.

I identified the parts of the ship that would have different colors and textures and separated them individually.

For example the roll cage of the cockpit is a different color to the main fuselage and a different material (ie, metal and glass) to the screen, so i detached this from the main mesh.

Detaching cockpit roll cage 

Painting Rollcage map in GIMP

Detached back of Fuselage 

  

Sometimes even when the materials are the same like on the front of the fuselage or parts of the wings, as it has different colored panels, i decided to remove the panels individually in some cases this gave me cleaner lines and textures on the objects.

Main panels and red side panels being detached individually 

Red wing panels being textured separately

When i had rendered the templates i could take them in to Gimp and start building up paint layers and applying effects to the materials. I used a noise map effect to give the metal textures an authentic brushed metal look, and used different style and sized brushed to create a weathered effect on parts of the fuselage. When you paint these templates in Gimp it gives you a lot of freedom to create individual and realistic looking textures. And because they are all unwrapped using the UVW modifier when you apply them on them model they fit perfectly and look quite realistic. 

Fuselage map and material before application 

     

X-Wing with front of fuselage and cockpit materials applied 

I could also add more effects in the material editor in 3Ds Max to get a more accurate representation of the materials. For example changing the specular and gloss levels on the material to give the metal a shiny and reflective appearance. Also with the glass i changed reduced the opacity slightly and increased the reflection parameter to make the glass look more realistic. If i had time with the models i could of introduced some geometry inside the cockpit and then i could have it so you could see through the glass completely and into the pilots bay.   

Continuing the method of detaching and unwrapping individual parts of the ship, although very time consuming starts to give a realistic looking ship. 

Engines Textured 

Fuselage fully textured 

There are times when the UVW Unwrap modifier has its downfalls though. For small and high poly objects the maps sometimes become highly complicated and impossible to distinguish and work with.

Unwrapped polygons 

  

In this example the polygons are for small wires and details on the ship and due to their size a UVW unwrap is not only overly complicated but unnecessary. I can just apply a basic material to these smaller less conspicuous objects and still get a realistic overall effect by using reflective maps and bump maps.

When the entire ship was textured to my satisfaction i could start to re-attach parts of the ship back together. In some cases i decided not to re-attach and just group objects, as the model was originally mainly one whole mesh, which i now know is not always best practice. Especially when it comes to the animation, when i might want to animate individual parts of the ship like the wings folding out for example.  

Rendered Views of fully textured X-Wing

I am pleased with the final model now its textured, the materials look realistic and reflect accurately the original source images and models i have been working with. The detail i was able to achieve by unwrapping each part of the ship and texturing individually is definitely something i will use again in my other models. Although i might experiment more with the different map channels that are available within the material editor. Overall though the first model was a success. 

  

Other small side projects

Modelling a head tutorial 

Helmet tutorial 

This tutorial introduced me some interesting techniques like extrude to spline. This allows polygons to follow a path created using a 2d spline. Enabling a much smoother, less problematic and time consuming way of getting the desired outcome.

  

Lambda Class Imperial Shuttle Model

This is my third and final model for this assessment and with each model things get a little easier. I find setting up the studio is no longer a chore and I'm now comfortable with this aspect of the software.  

Imperial Shuttle Studio

Even though i could only find one clear blueprint that shows only two views of the shuttle i felt confident with the experience i have gained so far that this would suffice. I will not always be able to find 3 or more detailed blueprint images of a model so some intuition and improvisation will inevitably be needed so why not start now.    

Start of Fuselage

When modelling the fuselage i had to add a significant amount of edges and polygons to create the rounded, curved outer part of the fuselage. I know keeping the poly count low and as efficient as possible is a fundamental idea in modelling, however sometimes to get the desired shape you have little choice. I could later remove unused edges to reduce this count slightly. Like at the back and front of the fuselage where the faces are flat and not curved like on the sides. The more edges i have though enabled for a more accurate and gradual curvature of the fuselage.

Fuselage detail

Removing unused and unnecessary polygons at rear of fuselage 

In previous projects i have, as much as i could modify one base shape as much as i could. This did bring its own set if problems though and this time i am using a higher number of separate parts of the model which i can then just group together. This will not only help when i come to texture the model but also makes it easier for me to modify and single out one particular part of the ship without having to adjust anything else. When i had one complex shape with thousands of vertices you can sometimes select more than you want (I am still on a steep learning curve) and that unwanted modifications. Sometimes i wont even be aware of them until later on and then its a real struggle to correct these kind of mistakes. 

Top Fuselage box and wing connector 

Top Wing Started

Top wing advanced

Top Wing Finished

Again when adding details to the wing and fuselage i created new shapes and used the auto grid option for greater accuracy on uneven surfaces.

Top wing detailed and more fuselage detail 

The cockpit is also be a separate object along with the neck of the cockpit that connects it to the main fuselage. This could be thought of as a more realistic approach because aircraft's and vehicles (Fictional as this one might be) are usually made up of individually constructed parts then put together at the end. So even if some parts don't seamlessly blend into one another is not unrealistic and still gives an accurate representation.
 

Early stage cockpit

Beveling and extruding cockpit view port 

Adding detail to cockpit

More cockpit detail

Complete detailed cockpit and cockpit neck

Adding the fuselage guns

Fuselage guns complete

Fuselage air intakes early stage

Air intakes complete

Once all the fuselage detail was complete and correct it could be grouped together for easy access and manipulation.

The lower wings were originally planned to be two separate entities. However as they are a mirror of each other and not the same object in two different places (Like on an X-Wing for example) this was not appropriate. So i decided that making one then attaching it to the main fuselage that has a symmetry modifier i would get two identical but mirrored wings. I can then detach the wings again later when i get to adding materials, keeping with the theme of having many smaller objects as opposed to one large complex one.

Lower wings attached and mirrored 

Detailed lower wings

Adding lower wing gun mounts

Lower wings detailed with guns finished 

When adding the detail to the back of the fuselage i have used less objects than in previous models to try and keep the poly count lower and improve the overall efficiency. I didn't want to go as far as to add no 3D details at all as this would impact the overall quality of the model.

The finished model almost exactly matches my blueprints and I'm very pleased with the accuracy of the shuttle. Its more efficient than previous models too as i was less worried about the actual modelling as i have a small amount of experience now. Which made me relax and think about this aspect of modelling more.

Shuttle in x-ray mode with blueprints visible

Four way view of finished shuttle

More angles of Imperial Shuttle