Thursday, 7 May 2009
Final Conclusions
Overall, I feel that my idents have worked well and portray the image of the Discovery Channel well. A few improvements could be made, sound could have been added if there was time and more modelling techniques could have been used. I found the whole module very challenging and struggled to complete the three idents in the time given, along with work from all the other modules. However, I have felt I have learned quite a few techniques with a piece of software I had limited knowledge with. Hopefully, it has all turned out well and 3 successful idents have been created!
Ident 3: Electrons
The idea for the electrons ident was to first view a room of machinery and equipment and a large pipe, then the camera would cut to an inside look at the pipe and finally, a side cutaway with two sets of electrons crashing into each other.
The first part of the scene was made with basic boxes for the floor and two walls, cupboards, machines and boxes on the floor. A set of shelves were also made with boxes for the wall. The pipe running through the room was created with a cylinder and a bend modifier. Two other straight cylinders were joined to the bent cylinder to fill the room with the pipe. A smaller pipe was created by cloning and uniform scaling the larger cylinder pipe. Two boxes were put together at right angles to create the brackets to hold the pipe in place.
The second scene for the inside of the pipe was created with a long tube and another bend modifier to mimick the bend from the original scene. This was cloned and added on to double the length. Small spheres were created to act as electrons that raced through the pipe.
The final scene was created by drawing another very long tube and placing a box through half of it along it's entire length. A pro boolean was then used to remove half of the tube giving a cutaway effect. More electrons were created at either end of the tube that would race together before crashing into each other.
For the first scene, the materials are rather basic. A silver grey metal shader was used for the pipe running through the scene. A black blinn shader with high specular and glossiness level were used for the brackets holding the pipe. Two different shades of wood map were used for the boxes and shelves on the wall. Bitmaps of different pieces of machinery were applied to the boxes around the walls to make them look like real machinery in the scene. A Tiles map was used for the floor with tiling of 1.3 in both axis. This created a good floor tile effect. The walls were a basic colour. Finally, the Discovery logo was placed onto a box on the wall in the right hand corner.
For the inside pipe scene, the same metal shader grey was used for the pipe. A glossy yellow Anisotropic shader was used for the electrons.
The final scene was slightly more complex. The same grey metal and yellow anisotropic shaders were used for the pipe and electrons. For the explosion, a Particle Array was used with a Wind Force bound to the array. This linked to a cylinder in the middle of the tube. The pArray was set to run from frame 200 to 400. This allowed the electrons to race in for the first 200 frames and the pArray to run for the next. The material used on the particle array was a blinn shader with several maps attached. A particle age map was added first and in the parameters, two noise maps were also created. The colours for these were yellow and red and a grey without a noise map. The first colour had an age of 10% whilst the second colour had an age of 60%. All together this created a realistic fire effect. This was added to the particle array.
In the first scene, a Target Spot light lights up the main scene whilst an omni light high above gives more ambient light. The camera tracks in from a distance to close to the pipe bend in the centre of the scene. This happens over a space of 200 frames. When rendered this was too quick so in Premiere Pro, it was slowed down 50% to give a slow zoom into the scene.
The next scene shows the camera following electrons round the tube. This was done with splines. Two spline arcs were added to the inside of the tube running through the centre. Using path constraints, the camera was linked to one and the electrons group was linked to another. When the timeline was played, the camera followed the electrons around the inside of the pipe. This was rendered and formed the next section of the ident.
Two quick shots were created by tracking a camera along next to the pipe cutaway whilst the electrons travelled through it. A shot was created in either direction and added to form an extra part to the ident.
The final scene was the two sets of electrons coming together. The first 200 frames show the camera zooming into the centre and the two sets of electrons travelling in from either end. At 200 frames, the particle array starts which starts of the explosion. The two sets of electrons move through the back wall of the tube to give the impression of disappearing in the explosion. The particle array runs for 200 frames. This is the final section to the ident.
The four sections are linked together in Premiere Pro with cross dissolve transitions. The final ident shows the start of inside a room, moving inside the pipe travelling with the electrons, seeing electrons travel in either directions and finally see the two collide and explode. As they explode, the Discovery Channel logo appears and then the ident fades to black.
The first part of the scene was made with basic boxes for the floor and two walls, cupboards, machines and boxes on the floor. A set of shelves were also made with boxes for the wall. The pipe running through the room was created with a cylinder and a bend modifier. Two other straight cylinders were joined to the bent cylinder to fill the room with the pipe. A smaller pipe was created by cloning and uniform scaling the larger cylinder pipe. Two boxes were put together at right angles to create the brackets to hold the pipe in place.
The second scene for the inside of the pipe was created with a long tube and another bend modifier to mimick the bend from the original scene. This was cloned and added on to double the length. Small spheres were created to act as electrons that raced through the pipe.
The final scene was created by drawing another very long tube and placing a box through half of it along it's entire length. A pro boolean was then used to remove half of the tube giving a cutaway effect. More electrons were created at either end of the tube that would race together before crashing into each other.
For the first scene, the materials are rather basic. A silver grey metal shader was used for the pipe running through the scene. A black blinn shader with high specular and glossiness level were used for the brackets holding the pipe. Two different shades of wood map were used for the boxes and shelves on the wall. Bitmaps of different pieces of machinery were applied to the boxes around the walls to make them look like real machinery in the scene. A Tiles map was used for the floor with tiling of 1.3 in both axis. This created a good floor tile effect. The walls were a basic colour. Finally, the Discovery logo was placed onto a box on the wall in the right hand corner.
For the inside pipe scene, the same metal shader grey was used for the pipe. A glossy yellow Anisotropic shader was used for the electrons.
The final scene was slightly more complex. The same grey metal and yellow anisotropic shaders were used for the pipe and electrons. For the explosion, a Particle Array was used with a Wind Force bound to the array. This linked to a cylinder in the middle of the tube. The pArray was set to run from frame 200 to 400. This allowed the electrons to race in for the first 200 frames and the pArray to run for the next. The material used on the particle array was a blinn shader with several maps attached. A particle age map was added first and in the parameters, two noise maps were also created. The colours for these were yellow and red and a grey without a noise map. The first colour had an age of 10% whilst the second colour had an age of 60%. All together this created a realistic fire effect. This was added to the particle array.
In the first scene, a Target Spot light lights up the main scene whilst an omni light high above gives more ambient light. The camera tracks in from a distance to close to the pipe bend in the centre of the scene. This happens over a space of 200 frames. When rendered this was too quick so in Premiere Pro, it was slowed down 50% to give a slow zoom into the scene.
The next scene shows the camera following electrons round the tube. This was done with splines. Two spline arcs were added to the inside of the tube running through the centre. Using path constraints, the camera was linked to one and the electrons group was linked to another. When the timeline was played, the camera followed the electrons around the inside of the pipe. This was rendered and formed the next section of the ident.
Two quick shots were created by tracking a camera along next to the pipe cutaway whilst the electrons travelled through it. A shot was created in either direction and added to form an extra part to the ident.
The final scene was the two sets of electrons coming together. The first 200 frames show the camera zooming into the centre and the two sets of electrons travelling in from either end. At 200 frames, the particle array starts which starts of the explosion. The two sets of electrons move through the back wall of the tube to give the impression of disappearing in the explosion. The particle array runs for 200 frames. This is the final section to the ident.
The four sections are linked together in Premiere Pro with cross dissolve transitions. The final ident shows the start of inside a room, moving inside the pipe travelling with the electrons, seeing electrons travel in either directions and finally see the two collide and explode. As they explode, the Discovery Channel logo appears and then the ident fades to black.
Ident 2: Science Table
The idea for the second ident for the discovery channel was a table showing different science equipment and apparatus. The ident would start with zooming in on the table, then travelling around the table and finally landing on the Discovery Channel logo.
The table was created with a large, flat box drawn into the viewport. Four narrow cylinders were drawn and attached to the box to create the table legs. The paper on the table was created by three very thin boxes drawn and placed on top of each other, rotated slightly to show three bits of paper. The petri dishes were created by drawing a thin cylinder for the base and then adding a tube on top, the same diameter and a small height dimension. The same method was adopted for the beaker but with a larger height diameter on the tube for the sides. The test tube rack was created with 4 boxes created and placed at ends to form a hollow box. The holes in the top were created by drawing four cylinders and placing them through the top. A Pro Boolean was then used on the top to remove the cylinders, leaving a top with four holes. On the base of the test tube rack, four spheres were placed and the same technique of using a Pro Boolean removed the spheres leaving a small indent. The test tubes were created with a tube for the main body and a sphere for the bottom rounded section. A pro boolean was used again to cut the sphere in half. These were grouped together and cloned to create 3 test tubes. These were then placed into the test tube rack previously created. The bunsen burner was created with lots of different sized cylinders and a cone for the base. These were placed together, whilst looking at real images of bunsen burners to get the desired effect. Another longer cylinder was then used with a bend modifier for the gas pipe coming out of the tube. The bunsen burner stand was created with a torus for the top and four cylinders for legs.
Finally, the flame for the Bunsen burner was created with a sphere gizmo and a fire effect added to it. The levels were tweaked until the desired effect was achieved. This was then placed over the top of the bunsen burner model.
A range of materials were used to bring the table to life. A wood map was used for the table top. A grey blinn shader was used for the table legs, bunsen burner and stand. The metal effect was created by adding a light grey ambient and diffuse colour, changing the white specular level to 77 and increasing the glossiness to 23. A bitmap map was used with a picture of an A4 document to add to the paper on the desk. This gives the effect of really being a document on the table. The bottoms of the petri dishes had bitmap maps added to them with images from real petri dishes. These images were tiled 10 times in both axis to give a good effect. The clear effect for the side of the petri dishes, beaker and test tubes was created with an off white blinn shader with the opacity set to 27. Another cylinder was placed inside the beaker with a light colour to give the effect of liquid inside. Finally, another bitmap was used on a map for the Discovery Channel logo in the bottom left hand corner of the table.
A target spot light was placed above the table, flooding the table scene with light. The hotspot/beam was set to 100 to cover the whole table. An omni light was also placed slightly off the scene to the front to add a little more ambient light.
A free camera was placed in the top right hand corner of the scene with a very wide angle lens. Over the period of 400 keyframes, the lens was set to very telephoto so by the end of the animation, the camera was highly zoomed into the table. This was the first section of the ident.
The second section consisted of a camera tracking right to left over the entire table. It then ended up on the sheets of paper placed on the table in the scene. Finally, the camera moved round and centred on the discovery logo on the table. This ended the ident.
The clips were imported into Premiere Pro and linked together, again with cross dissolve transitions. The zoom into the table was slowed down to 50% as it was too fast from the render from 3DS Max. Finally, the camera stops on the Discovery logo for a few seconds and then the video fades to black.
The table was created with a large, flat box drawn into the viewport. Four narrow cylinders were drawn and attached to the box to create the table legs. The paper on the table was created by three very thin boxes drawn and placed on top of each other, rotated slightly to show three bits of paper. The petri dishes were created by drawing a thin cylinder for the base and then adding a tube on top, the same diameter and a small height dimension. The same method was adopted for the beaker but with a larger height diameter on the tube for the sides. The test tube rack was created with 4 boxes created and placed at ends to form a hollow box. The holes in the top were created by drawing four cylinders and placing them through the top. A Pro Boolean was then used on the top to remove the cylinders, leaving a top with four holes. On the base of the test tube rack, four spheres were placed and the same technique of using a Pro Boolean removed the spheres leaving a small indent. The test tubes were created with a tube for the main body and a sphere for the bottom rounded section. A pro boolean was used again to cut the sphere in half. These were grouped together and cloned to create 3 test tubes. These were then placed into the test tube rack previously created. The bunsen burner was created with lots of different sized cylinders and a cone for the base. These were placed together, whilst looking at real images of bunsen burners to get the desired effect. Another longer cylinder was then used with a bend modifier for the gas pipe coming out of the tube. The bunsen burner stand was created with a torus for the top and four cylinders for legs.
Finally, the flame for the Bunsen burner was created with a sphere gizmo and a fire effect added to it. The levels were tweaked until the desired effect was achieved. This was then placed over the top of the bunsen burner model.
A range of materials were used to bring the table to life. A wood map was used for the table top. A grey blinn shader was used for the table legs, bunsen burner and stand. The metal effect was created by adding a light grey ambient and diffuse colour, changing the white specular level to 77 and increasing the glossiness to 23. A bitmap map was used with a picture of an A4 document to add to the paper on the desk. This gives the effect of really being a document on the table. The bottoms of the petri dishes had bitmap maps added to them with images from real petri dishes. These images were tiled 10 times in both axis to give a good effect. The clear effect for the side of the petri dishes, beaker and test tubes was created with an off white blinn shader with the opacity set to 27. Another cylinder was placed inside the beaker with a light colour to give the effect of liquid inside. Finally, another bitmap was used on a map for the Discovery Channel logo in the bottom left hand corner of the table.
A target spot light was placed above the table, flooding the table scene with light. The hotspot/beam was set to 100 to cover the whole table. An omni light was also placed slightly off the scene to the front to add a little more ambient light.
A free camera was placed in the top right hand corner of the scene with a very wide angle lens. Over the period of 400 keyframes, the lens was set to very telephoto so by the end of the animation, the camera was highly zoomed into the table. This was the first section of the ident.
The second section consisted of a camera tracking right to left over the entire table. It then ended up on the sheets of paper placed on the table in the scene. Finally, the camera moved round and centred on the discovery logo on the table. This ended the ident.
The clips were imported into Premiere Pro and linked together, again with cross dissolve transitions. The zoom into the table was slowed down to 50% as it was too fast from the render from 3DS Max. Finally, the camera stops on the Discovery logo for a few seconds and then the video fades to black.
Ident 1: DNA
My first ident for the discovery channel is looking at DNA. The scene starts with a single strand of DNA turning, moves onto vertical strands of DNA and finally ending with travelling through a strand of DNA.
The DNA strand was created by drawing two thin, parallel cylinders into the viewport. Between these cylinders, smaller, thinner cylinders were drawn and placed along the entire length. The whole section of DNA strand was then selected and grouped together to form a single object. A twist modifier was then added to the group along the X axis with an angle of 180 degrees. This provided the shape required for the DNA. The group was then cloned four times and placed next to each other forming a long strand of DNA with many twists in it.
To make the DNA more authentic, materials were added to the strands. 5 main materials were created for the 5 different sections of the DNA strand. The main outer of the DNA strand was a Blinn shader with a Blue Ambient and Diffuse colour. The glossiness was set to 10. This was then applied to the two parallel cylinders of the DNA strand. Then, four other materials were created similarly with different ambient and diffuse colours of Yellow, Red, Green and Pink. These were alternately applied to the smaller cylinders to mimick a real DNA model.
For the first part of the animation, a camera was placed at the side of the strand in a similar position to the perspective viewport. Over a period of 400 keyframes, the DNA strand was rotated along it's X axis. When the timeline was played, the DNA strand was slowly rotating. This scene was rendered to form the first section to the ident.
The next section consisted of lots of vertical strands of DNA. The strand created earlier was moved to a vertical position and cloned 18 times. The heights and original positions of the strands was adjusted so they did not all look uniform. Over 400 keyframes, the strands were set to rotate as in the first scene but at different times to make them look different. A spline was drawn as a path through the strands of DNA. A free camera was placed in the viewport and a path constraint linked to the spline created. The camera was then set to follow the path over 400 keyframes. This view was then rendered to provide the second section of the ident.
Finally, a free camera was placed at the end of one of the DNA strands and over 400 keyframes was moved through to the other side, along the entire length of the strand. The strand was also set to rotate as in all the other scenes. The final view was of the camera moving through the spinning strand.
The three rendered scenes were imported into Adobe Premiere Pro and linked together with a cross dissolve transition. At the end of the 3 rendered scenes, a static plate with the channel logo was placed on the timeline with a zoom transition. When the video was exported, the ident was complete.
The DNA strand was created by drawing two thin, parallel cylinders into the viewport. Between these cylinders, smaller, thinner cylinders were drawn and placed along the entire length. The whole section of DNA strand was then selected and grouped together to form a single object. A twist modifier was then added to the group along the X axis with an angle of 180 degrees. This provided the shape required for the DNA. The group was then cloned four times and placed next to each other forming a long strand of DNA with many twists in it.
To make the DNA more authentic, materials were added to the strands. 5 main materials were created for the 5 different sections of the DNA strand. The main outer of the DNA strand was a Blinn shader with a Blue Ambient and Diffuse colour. The glossiness was set to 10. This was then applied to the two parallel cylinders of the DNA strand. Then, four other materials were created similarly with different ambient and diffuse colours of Yellow, Red, Green and Pink. These were alternately applied to the smaller cylinders to mimick a real DNA model.
For the first part of the animation, a camera was placed at the side of the strand in a similar position to the perspective viewport. Over a period of 400 keyframes, the DNA strand was rotated along it's X axis. When the timeline was played, the DNA strand was slowly rotating. This scene was rendered to form the first section to the ident.
The next section consisted of lots of vertical strands of DNA. The strand created earlier was moved to a vertical position and cloned 18 times. The heights and original positions of the strands was adjusted so they did not all look uniform. Over 400 keyframes, the strands were set to rotate as in the first scene but at different times to make them look different. A spline was drawn as a path through the strands of DNA. A free camera was placed in the viewport and a path constraint linked to the spline created. The camera was then set to follow the path over 400 keyframes. This view was then rendered to provide the second section of the ident.
Finally, a free camera was placed at the end of one of the DNA strands and over 400 keyframes was moved through to the other side, along the entire length of the strand. The strand was also set to rotate as in all the other scenes. The final view was of the camera moving through the spinning strand.
The three rendered scenes were imported into Adobe Premiere Pro and linked together with a cross dissolve transition. At the end of the 3 rendered scenes, a static plate with the channel logo was placed on the timeline with a zoom transition. When the video was exported, the ident was complete.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
First Animation in 3DS Max
Well, back for the second semester and now starting animation!
For our first tutorial, we learned about the basics of animation and key framing. My first video below shows how I animated a torus knot.
First, I drew out the knot onto the viewport then switched on the auto key framing tool. Then, I moved the timeline slider along the bottom along by 20 frames and then moved and rotated the torus knot. I repeated this step about 10 times until finally ending up back where the torus knot had started. When playing this back, the torus knot moves and rotates its way around the viewport.
Secondly, I created a sphere in the viewport and then, using a similar approach to the previous animation, I used the scale and move tools to modify the sphere at different times on the timeline. After I had done this, I opened up the graph editor and played around with some of the lines, changing how certain movements occurred and their speed. When I had finished, I exported the animation as an avi file and the result is shown below!
For our first tutorial, we learned about the basics of animation and key framing. My first video below shows how I animated a torus knot.
First, I drew out the knot onto the viewport then switched on the auto key framing tool. Then, I moved the timeline slider along the bottom along by 20 frames and then moved and rotated the torus knot. I repeated this step about 10 times until finally ending up back where the torus knot had started. When playing this back, the torus knot moves and rotates its way around the viewport.
Secondly, I created a sphere in the viewport and then, using a similar approach to the previous animation, I used the scale and move tools to modify the sphere at different times on the timeline. After I had done this, I opened up the graph editor and played around with some of the lines, changing how certain movements occurred and their speed. When I had finished, I exported the animation as an avi file and the result is shown below!
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