LAUN603, EXTENDED PRACTISE, STUDY TASK 1, SETS, ENVIRONMENTS

ENVIRONMENTS MODELLING

my scenes have been meticulously planned out to the placement of all major assets and layout of the shots based on my storyboards. This been said I have hundreds of small assets that I am not going to sit down and draw as they are such easy 3D models to make, or more to the point they are models that I will make in a within maya fashion using reference pictures for shape and then making all my textures in photoshop there just is not value in me sitting and drawing a tomato or a sack when I can make a poly primitive cylinder in seconds grab some corner verts pull them out then unfold the uvs and throw a sack texture on in photoshop making a convincing sack for a background asset in a short space of time. as seen in this example below which was a 10 min model.

(all my small bg assets will have some fun elements or easter eggs whichever you want to call them as this is my animation and I have the freedom to do this now that I wouldn't have when working for a studio.

In reflection I could have spent 6 months just making sets and bg assets I enjoy it that much but in reality I have about 2 days for each set for each scene and so speed modelling and fast turn arounds mean I cannot be too precise or get bogged down with making them perfect they are just average builds.

*disclaimer all lighting is either basic dome lighting or spots just thrown in to see reaction of light on material it is not final lighting in any way shape or form so please don't judge on lighting at all as it is not part of this blog, this is merely showing progression of my set build in general, lighting will be approached on subsequent blogs.

SACKS

CLOCK

PICTURE WALL (MY PERSONAL FAVOURITE AS I MADE VINTAGE PHOTOS FROM RENDER TESTS FROM MY CHARACTERS AND WORK, ITS SUBTLE AS IN BG BUT THINGS LIKE THIS MAKE ME SMILE AND KEEP ME FOCUSED)

SHELVING UNIT WITH POTS

TABLE WITH FOOD (ALL BASIC LOW POLY PRIMITIVES WITH PS UV MAPS ON THEM)

WALLS AND FLOORS ARE FLAT POLY SURFACES THAT HAVE DISPLACEMENT MAPS ON THEM TO ENSURE SPEED IN THE SCENE IS NOT SLOWED DOWN

CAULDRON

HANGING RAGS MADE USING PS ALPHA MAPS

ALL THROUGH THE BG ASSETS CREATION AND LAYING THEM OUT IN THE SCENE I HAVE USED DUMMY MODELS OF MY CHARACTER MESHES TO ENABLE ME TO SIZE AND SCALE EVERYTHING CORRECTLY. THEY ARE USEFUL FOR RENDER TESTS TOO ALMOST LIKE A LAYOUT PRE PROCESS TO ENSURE WHEN IT COMES TO LAYOUT I CAN JUST DROP IN MY RIGGED CHARACTERS AND I KNOW THEY WILL FIT IN THE SCENE AND THE INTENDED PLANNED SHOT.

DUMMY MESHES USED FOR SIZING OF SETS

OUTDOOR COTTAGE SET

SO MANY ORGANIC ASSETS HERE GRASS TREES WOOD ETC ETC I AM NOT GOING TO SHOW INDIVIDUAL MODELS AS IT WILL GO ON FOREVER, LET'S JUST SAY IT WAS A GOOD FEW DAYS WORK PUTTING THIS ONE TOGETHER BUT AN ENJOYABLE AND EDUCATIONAL SCENE TO WORK ON. AND IN REALITY THE CREATION PROCESS WAS THE HARD WORK THE ACTUAL LAYOUT WAS UNDER A DAY DUE TO THE PROCESSES EXPLAINED BELOW.

Again the lighting I have used just simple thrown in lights to test textures it is not final pass diffuse lighting my any means so ignore the quality as it is low. As for the final lighting I have created an Aisky but then plugged it into a Aitransform node so I can control the height of the sunrise sunset etc and use physical sky attributes like mist and fog etc to create act real light bounces through the foliage. I am using turbidity and albedo settings as well as azimuth and elevation to allow for easy transfer from day to night in my scene just from adjusting these node settings.

TO REALLY EMPHASISE MY USE OF LOW POLY ASSETS AND WHAT I THINK IS A CLEVER USE OF SHADERS AND ALPHA MASKING HERE IS A SHADERLESS SHOT OF THE ABOVE SCENE NOTE THE LEAVES AND WALL PLANES ETC ALL LOW POLY AND JUST WELL I THINK WELL UV MAPPED AND AN EFFICIENT WAY OF WORKING ON A LARGE SCALE SCENE WITH MILLIONS OF ASSETS IN IT. AS YOU CAN TELL AM PRETTY PROUD OF THIS STUFF AND WELL IT FEELS LIKE I AM APPROACHING MAYA FROM A MORE PROFESSIONAL WORKFLOW AND VIEWPOINT THESE DAYS AND REALLY TRYING TO USE PROCESSES I KNOW STUDIOS WILL BE USING AND WILL WANT STAFF WHO KNOW HOW TO WORK IN THIS FASHION TO SAVE TIME AND MONEY. LESS BOTH FEET FIRST AND MORE PLANNING AND EDUCATED EFFICIENT WORKFLOWS IS MY MOTO THESE DAYS,

USING STAND IN MODELS AND THEN INSTANCING THEM USING MASH HAS ALLOWED ME TO CREATE THESE LARGE AREAS OF LOW POLY TREES AND GRASS, I HAVE ALSO USED LOTS OF ALPHA MASKS ON FLAT POLT PLANES TO CREATE LEAVES ETC ALL ALLOWING ME TO DENSELY POPULATE MY SCENE WITH MILLIONS OF ASSETS AND STILL HAVE IS USABLE AND ALSO RENDER AT DECENT SPEEDS. THIS PROCESS HAS BEEN HARD TO LEARN BUT AT THE SAME TIME ALLOWED ME TO CREATE SCENES I COULD NEVER HAVE DONE WITHOUT UTILISING THE STAND INS AND INSTANCING TECHNIQUES.
I HAVE LEARNT THAT WORKING IN MAYA VIEWPORT IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT WHAT YOU SEE IN FRONT OF YOU ITS ABOUT HAVING THE KNOWLEDGE TO BE ABLE TO POPULATE THINGS WITH BOUNDING BOXES AND WIREFRAMES HAVING TH CONFIDENCE THAT WHEN YOU HIT RENDER IT WILL BE WHAT YOU ARE AFTER. IT IS AN EXCITING PROCESS SEEING ALL OF YOUR GUIDE BOXES COME TO LIFE IN THE RENDER VIEW WINDOW.

HERE IS WHAT I AM WORKING WITH IN VIEWPORT PAY ATTENTION TO THE FACT I POPULATED THE NEAR GROUND TREES TO THE HOUSE WITH ACTUAL TREE MESHES SO I HAD FULL CONTROL OF THEM FOR CLOSE DETAIL AND THEN EVERYTHING AROUND WHERE STAND INS AND INSTANCED.

BELOW YOU CAN SEE ALL OF THE INDIVIDUAL BOUNDING BOXES FOR THE BG GRASS AND THE LARGER TREES.

FOR THE FOREGROUND GRASS I USED XGEN AND LEARNT HOW TO DRIVE A DESCRIPTION USING EXPRESSIONS AS OPPOSED TO GROOMING, THIS WAY I ONLY HAD TO MAKE A FEW PRIMITIVES AND THEN USED EXPRESSIONS TO SCATTER AND RANDOMISE THEM.  AGAIN THEY ARE IN FULL CLOSE UP CAMERA VIEW SO WANTED LOTS OF CONTROL OVER THEIR LOOK AND POSITION. THEY ARE AGAIN INSTANCED INTO THE SCENE AFTER CREATION TO SAVE RENDER SPEED.

WORKING THIS WAY IN WHERE I FOCUS HARD ON FOREGROUND COMPONENTS IN ACTUAL MESHES AND THEN USING INSTANCED OBJECTS FOR THE ELEMENTS IS A REVELATION FOR ME AND WILL BE INVALUABLE IN THE FUTURE FOR MY SET CREATIONS. IT IS TIME SAVING AND AlSO A GREAT WORKFLOW.

HERE IS A MORE FOCUSED RENDER OF MY INTERIOR SCENE