Begining Modeling with 3D Studio Max-Pirate Room

For our final project we had to build a pirate lair using everything we had learned in the semester. I chose to put mine in a cave. I started out by referencing treasure and ship items from the 18th century and from there just went crazy creating as much pirate "stuff" that I could come up with. I am very proud of my treasure chest. It has gold, goblets, crowns, scepter etc in it. I had trouble getting the torches to look right because I have not learned about particle systems yet. The whole thing was a little tedious but enjoyed it a lot. Created in 3D Studio Max.

Begining Modeling with 3D Studio Max-hand

Palm

top

I had a really hard time with working with organic objects like my hand. I think it will come with practice.we didn't have very long to do this one and I think by far it was the hardest to do. Created in 3D Studio Max.

Begining Modeling with 3D Studio Max-3 point lighting

The model was provided for us to learn how to use 3 point lighting. There is the key light, the fill light and the back light. The first being the main light, the second shot from a lower angle and to the side -softens the light and the last is shot from behind and separates the object from the background. Created in 3D Studio Max.

Begining Modeling with 3D Studio Max-Chair

We were supposed to create a chair using lofting. I kind of got carried away and created a whole environment. The project was my second favorite. Once again I love finding textures to match what I wanted it to look like. I created the lighting as well. The rug and background painting were images I found on the web. Created in 3D Studio Max.

Begining Modeling with 3D Studio Max-Logo

We created a logo of our choosing in 3D using bevel. I personally didn't understand the concept of the project at the time so although it is 3D, I now would definitely approach this one differently. This is my logo for my Graphics company that does my Christmas cards. I definitely would like to revisit this and model it in 3D. Created in 3D Studio Max.

Begining Modeling with 3D Studio Max-Ammo Room

The ammo room was our first chance to ad color, texture and lighting. I really enjoyed picking out different textures. We were given an ammo room with all the items in it. I decided my ammo room was in space. The lighting was the hardest part because there are so many light sources that you don't even think of in everyday life- like bounced light(light which reflects the surface color it touches onto another surface. If you haven't guessed I am a fan of Firefly and the map on the table is a map of "the Verse." My favorite texture is the seat of the stool. Created in 3D Studio Max.

Begining Modeling with 3D Studio Max-Robot

Next we used the preset primitives(cubes, cones, spheres, etc) to create a robot. This was to get us used to the idea that most things you create start out as basic shapes.
My robot is a spaceship engineer like Kaylee on Firefly.
I really had no idea how to go about creating a robot but I got started it just kind of took on a life of its own. It looks very basic but as of right now we were not using any textures or shapes that were connected in any other way besides grouping. Created in 3D Studio Max.

From the front ( her chest pieces are fire extinguishers)

Back view (yes that is a jet pack on a robot)

Begining Modeling with 3D Studio Max-pots

I am getting a chance to catch up on some of this stuff finally. I am going to start getting Fall of 2011 put up on the web.
Here are my pot assignments. We were using the revolve function (I believe) to create symmetrical objects in a 3D space and then were were using Lathe to make them asymmetrical with handles and spouts. Because I took this class and intro to Maya at the same time (where we also created pots) I was sick of the pot project. But they were both very good lessons and the repetition made it stick in my brain better. Created in 3D Studio Max.

Revolve only

Added handles and spouts

Digital Painting - Martian Vehicle

For this project we were to take what we learned from the gun project and using one of the four descriptions provided create a vehicle. The choices were: a steampunk submarine, a martian preying mantis recreation vehicle, a heavily armored gaming vehicle, one legged racing, flying vehicle. I chose the martian "preying mantis" type vehicle which was taken from a description in "The Martian Chronicles." We were to do it in the same DaVinci type style on parchment like we did the gun.

It was created in Photoshop using a Wacom stylus.

Digital Painting - Final Project - Cityscape

For our final project we were to use perspective (1-point, 2-point or 3-point)  to create a futuristic/fantasy type city. We were to mainly use mixer brushes. I had a lot of difficulty with perspective. I spent a whole 6 hour class trying different ways to make what I wanted to do work. Finally, because another student was using Maya to create his, I asked if it was ok if I did too. He said that he had no problem with how we got it to work as long as 1- it did work and 2- we brought it into Photoshop and "painted" it there. It took me 5 minutes to set it up in the 3D program.

For my Cityscape I took an excerpt from a favorite book series of mine- Star Doc by S. L. Viehl and recreated (from how I interpreted it for a class assignment only) the scene where Cherijo steps off the spaceship "Bestshot" onto her new home planet Kevarzangia Two. The planet is described as being lush and green with two suns, green mist, towering trees, buildings made from cargo spare parts.
 The perspective was created in Maya, the rest in Photoshop using a Wacom stylus.

Digital Painting-Mixer brushes

Another exercise leading up to the final project was to take any picture and recreate it using mixer brushes. I chose this frog because he had a lot of bright colors to work with. This was done by using mixer brushes to pull in the color from the original photo in Photoshop using a Wacom mixer stylus.

Digital Painting - Blending Exercises

In order to get ready for our final project we did some blending and light exercises. The idea is to realize where the different shades of light and dark were located. This was done in Photoshop using a Wacom stylus.

Digital Painting - Gun Project

In our first major project we kind of did a paint by numbers style. We all had the same gun sketch to work from and the same directions on how to set up our brushes, same colors for swatches, same directions for blending but it is amazing how different everyone's guns turned out. Here is my steam punk type gun in a DaVinci style on parchment using Photoshop and a wacom stylus.

Digital Painting-Cross Hatching

In order to get ready for the gun project, we did an exercise in cross hatching. The idea was to take a picture of anything and recreate it in Photoshop using cross hatching. Here is my picture of Kyleigh.

This was created in Photoshop using a Wacon stylus.

Basic Animation- Flour Sack

This was our final project. We stopped working on paper and brought it into Animate Pro on the computer. I found this a lot harder at first because I had gotten used to working on paper. Once I got the hang of the program I was doing better. As far as using the program, we were just instructed to use the basics to accomplish the end product. In Animate Pro I actually drew every frame using a Wacom tablet. It was over 800 frames which would have been a lot of paper! In this animation we were to create a flour sack with personality. It had to go through several emotion changes and had to move around showing weight (you needed to feel it was heavy). We had a limited amount of time so it is pretty rough but I am just glad I was able to finish the whole scene. The rope swing was my idea. It seems I was ready for summer to get here. This was created in Animate Pro using a Wacon stylus.

Basic Animation - Paper Float

Dropping a piece of paper is a little harder than it looks. In this I worked with timing and spacing and weight. Different objects dropped in animation have to show different speeds in order for the viewer to sense the weight of it. A piece of paper would drift on the wind a bit because it is so light. This took 69 pieces of paper.

Basic Animation - Baseball Throw

The baseball throw took the shortest amount of time and in it we were working on breaking joints. In animation breaking joints basically is bending a joint even if it wouldn't normally bend like that in real life to create flexibility. I used the example in the book for this one in order to get a better understanding. This one took 18 pieces of paper.

Basic Animation- Ball Bounce

This was our first assignment in Basic Animation- a ball bounce. We were working on timing and spacing and squash and stretch. I didn't realize it til the end that I had started and ended with the ball in a squashed position instead of a normal one. This one took 59 sheets of paper.