Leanne
Stone
Modelling my alien tech
This is the process of modelling my alien tech for my short film, it is made up of both progress screengrabs and a couple of screen recordings from my time working with my model. I modelled my 3D tech in Maya, we did this to use as our rigged asset for this unit, to learn how to put an animated 3D asset into a filmed world.
The final product;
How did I do it?
I started modelling the head of my robot, greatly in mind the reference photos I had taken of the camera. I subdivided a cube and used the extrude tool to pull in the centre faces of the cube. I then used the bevel tool to control the smoothness of the edge of the alien tech. After this I then used the vertices to curve the back of the head of the tech. This gave me the general shape of the tech's head.
The next thing I did was put my image planes into the different viewports as I wasn't quite certain on the shape of the face. To do this I made sure the image planes were lined up properly. I then adjusted the head to the proportions on the image planes and this looked a lot better. I then went on to use the x-ray view to model the lens of my tech using cylinders that had been cut into using the boolean difference tool. I didn't follow the image planes exactly as a second view looking at the actual model proved for the lens to be too big. Having the image planes here was very useful to creating a general shape for my tech
After doing this I had the connection between the head and the rest of my tech. I used the image plane to get the shape of the tech's legs. I used the extrude tool and manipulated vertices to do this. I then used cylinders and cubes to create detailing in the legs, I would duplicate the leg once it was finished and use the rotation and move tool to get the leg into the right position. I realised here that the image planes were not exactly correct as to what each perspective would show, so I did have to trail off a little from what my image planes were saying as opposed to what the overall look of my tech was saying.
After getting the legs modelled I looked into my model and felt something was missing. I felt the head felt too flat. I messed around with the shape a little more and then began to add extra detail to the back of the head. I enjoyed doing this as I hadn't given myself something to work by. I decided an antenna would look good as a form to connect the robot's together. I created a primitive cube and a small connector and created the actual antenna using a cylinder and soft selection to gradually pull the points to the top of the antenna. I then created a battery like detailing but using extrusion in a cylinder. I parented all of my detailing's and main body parts to the head of my robot. I decided my robot had the look I wanted so I would then go on to think about textures.
screen recording of some of the modelling process
Whilst modelling my alien tech I changed a lot of things that I had planned in my original idea. One of these being the image planes I had created, not only did I find they were of the wrong perspective view but I also didn't stick strict to the shape that I had drawn up on my plans. Although this did look good on the image planes, after following my image planes I had to edit it from eye view as some things didn't look as good as I would have hoped. This was to keep the futuristic look of my alien tech as much as possible. I also decided to change the angle at which I put the legs in as this looked better and I feel would be easier to rig as each leg is more separated from one another on an angle and stands out. I changed the size of things such as the legs and the lens of the camera to more match the aesthetic more. The majority of my changes were for visual appeal rather than practical help.
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When modelling I didn't come up with many problems other than the visual appeal. My biggest issue was vertices, I spent a far amount of time, especially on the head of my robot changing and adapting the vertices to created the curved shape to the back of the head. I had a problem with vertices intersecting and the negative side of the model appearing on the outside of the model. However after spending time looking at other potential ways to give a curve to the back, this problem was solved by using proper topology, therefore when I texture there will be no problems. Most of my problems centred around the head, for example when bevelling I had a few redo's before getting it the right size. I also spent time moving vertices to get the right curve.
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My decisions were based on my research as I was attempting to make an intelligent piece of tech, I therefore in doing so also wanted to make the design bigger and powerful to show the vast intelligence of the tech. It needed to have qualities that portray a threat to the human race, this is where the weaponized part of the design had come in.
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Overall I am happy with how the model of this has turned out as I think it presents a futuristic model well and has nice detailing but not too much so that it is over whelming to the eye, the detail doesn't take away from the main idea of the tech. However I do feel this may be somewhat difficult to texture if I am wrapping it and UV mapping this asset, that may be a challenge I have to overcome for this design. This model will work well with my overall film and I feel will fit nicely into my out of this world feel with the portals etc.
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During this process I have learnt quite a few shortcuts in Maya that will massively help speed along my modelling process. After making my own asset from scratch, I need feel more creatively able to build an interesting asset and more confident in playing around with the detailing of it until I see fit. One of the biggest things for me in tis project was learning about image planes. I managed to create a few sketches of my own image planes after understanding their uses and how helpful they are. However my image planes did not go to plan, but this has only taught me more about the best way to make and use them. I need to practice looking at my model from different perspectives, and making an image plane that I will not have to edit around.
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texturing and lighting
texturing;
The next step was to texture and light my model. This would be the thing that makes my model fit most with my environment I had recorded in. First of all I found the textures I would first try to use. I had many different ideas on how to texture. In the first photo you can see me with a texture in photoshop. My plan was to use the faces to texture and make the textures the right shape and size in photoshop, however due to my abstract shapes this proved difficult. I also tried using the shaders in Maya to create the textures I wanted but this also proved difficult. Therefore I learnt how to UV unwrap my model. I wanted a couple of videos with regards to this as it took me a minute to get used to, these are linked below. I went through the process of cutting, unfolding and scaling the faces of each shape to fit. I repeated this for each object, using metals for the legs and a camera lens for the lens part of my model. I used a blinn texture for the black on the model and a lambert texture for the white on my texture.
When adding in the white on the detail on the back of my model I felt it was out of place as there was no other white on my model, therefore I tried a different design with some cylinders on either side and picked which one I preferred. In this case it was the one around the edge of the camera. I added in some image planes to create a green screen effect so this would be easier in After effects. This meant all my texturing was finished.
Lighting:
The last step before animating and rendering is to light my scene. To begin with I added spotlights to create the effect that the portal from behind would give. I create one big spotlight and tinted it purple, however this didn't massively create the shadows on the sides of the alien that feel realistic. Therefore I duplicated this spotlight 3 more times and put one above and to each side to give a big glow to the portal. I perfected this by changing intensity and the position of the lights. I then added in a directional light to the side of the alien on the lower leg. This is because in the environment I recorded in, there is a passageway to the right where light would be being let through. I made this a darker colour to portray the fact it is ocming from inside the woods. Then, to constitute for the overall sunlight in the scene I added an area light, that would be dimmed a little so the portal light has a bigger effect but that it highlights areas my lighting doesn't yet hit. I can edit this lighting if need be when animating.
This part of creating my alien tech proved to be mode difficult then I had first thought it would be. I had change a lot about the way I thought I would be texturing. From my first try being to edit the textures in photoshop but finding my faces too complex to do this properly, and ending up learning how to UV unwrap my model. Once I got the hang of it, it was easy to texture using the free stock images I found online. Another thing I changed in this process was also the actual model. This is because I felt the model didn't look good with just the small piece of white on the back of my model.
My decisions have been somewhat informed by my research as the smooth, curves is a result of looking at the most up to date cameras and pieces of tech.
 I don't think this part of the project has gone as well as I hoped, although I am comfortable with the overall outcome such as the scratches on the leg of my model and head. I am also happy with the look I got from my camera lens with the writing round the edge of the lens. The other thing I am happy with is the lighting. Although it feels a little off in places, I am happy with the effect the purple has on the scene as it fits the environment well. I think my textures could have been more realistic though, the lens feels quite flat and the blinn and lambert coloured textures feel somewhat out of place next to the actual textures.
This has created another piece of the aesthetic for my overall project, I now have the textures and lighting I need to start rendering into my scene. Doing this part has been quite challenging, meaning I have learnt a lot in the process. For one I have learnt how to UV map in Maya, which I feel will be extremely beneficial in the future. Because of this I have also learnt more about the different settings and effects you can do within the texture settings. Next I will look more into how to make my textures feel more realistic and less flat, I now need to rig my model and start animating in the Maya space.
I came up against quite a few problems on this stage of my project. The biggest problem for me personally being that it took me a while to understand how to texture my model. At first when I tried wrapping my model with the textures I had found they drastically stretched and it did not resemble metal, the difference before and after being UV wrapped is to the right. This is when I turned to photoshop to edit each texture but when applying these, I was still unable to wrap without an odd looking placement from the textures. This is when I decided to try UV wrapping as it felt like a more accurate form of texturing, it made my model look a lot better. Another problem I found was the aesthetic of the white not being consistent enough in the design as I had felt grey looked better on the head of the model. I changed my model slightly so that it looked better.
Rigging, ANIMATING and rendering
rigging;
The next step was to rig my model, I messed around with creating joints and then came across the video on the left which talked about quick rigging. I decided to try this out on my model and it worked surprisingly very well. After a few adjustments and playing around with it for a while I was satisfied with the rig I had and was able to start animating. This process was surprisingly easy.
animating;
Going into this, I was already familiar with animating in Maya as I had done this already with the zombie rig. I decided to animate all the sequences I needed from my robot in each scene before putting any into after effects so that I wasn't switching between programmes a lot. The workflow of each animation would be me reusing any movements in the last shot I did, this was mostly for the movement of the legs, and then deleting the other keyframes I had set in the timeline. I then made sure the timeline was the right length for the click, adjusting the fps and amount of frames to give enough time. I used the move and rotate tools on each joint to create the movements I wanted from my robot. This process became fairly straight forward once I got to grips with how to rigging tool in Maya operates and works. Below are screengrabs from animating and keyframing my robot. The biggest struggle I did have when animating was getting used to how to how my rig worked and how each limb moved. I had quite a few occurrences when the model would become squished or start to look deformed in one way or another. A big problem I had was my textures messing up a lot. Although this wasn't necessarily to do with actually animating it made the animation process a lot longer and deformed my model a fair bit to where a lot of my animations are jolty or out of place. The two biggest things I feel are the small deformities you can see in my film where the textures have gone or the legs are bent and the jagged walk of the robot.
Rendering;
I then had to render out all my animations. Rendering in Maya had proved tricky for me in the past but after figuring out some issues of where my images were going I managed to create all my animations. I had to adjust render settings so that I was rendering in Maya hardware 2.0 and make sure it was a PNG and that all files were of the right size. My first text image came out a little blurry so I put on aliasing which gave it a smoother and clearer picture the second time round. After getting all my images rendered I took them into Premiere to make my image sequence, adjusting the speed if I needed to at all. This was another process that became easier the more I did it. My animations can be found below.
One decision I had made was to try quick rigging my character. I had played around with the joints system in Maya however after learning about this and loosing a fair amount of work felt I would try this out. I had made this decision as my rigging did feel a little sketchy and wanted to save time. This ended up working very well after a few adjustments. Last time I used Maya for animating I gave myself not enough frames and ended up running out of space, this is why this time I decided to give myself more than enough and I only have to render the amount of frames needed for my animation. I can also always edit the length and speed in Premiere pro.
 The biggest problem I came up against was rendering in Maya. I spent a long time getting the right render settings, making sure the camera is in place and correcting the lighting. I had a problem with the Arnold renderer not working on my student version of my Maya. When rendering I also had a problem with my file crashing, at one point I lost a lot of my work which although is not a problem to be solved with the software it did mean I had to spare a lot of time going back and re-doing what I had done before. This meant I needed to spare a lot of time.
Overall I think this part of creating my Maya model went quite well. I am happy with my ability to rig the model although I could have added some more joints in the front legs to make it easier to move. I am also happy with my process when rendering my model as it is productive and means I don't have to render a lot of time as I can edit it in Premiere. with regards to animation I think it went okay but that some of the animated sequences ran too smoothly for the giant robot like asset I am trying to edit into my film.
In conclusion, I have learnt a couple of different ways of rigging my asset when doing this, and am a little more comfortable with animating within Maya. I am also a lot more confident with the render settings in Maya as well as how to create an animation by rendering the image sequence within Maya. Overall, I feel this was successful.