Pirate Camp - The Evaluation

Done! Here it is complete, so thus begins its evaluation;

When I first begain Maya, I expected to build everything in 3ds Max but soon realised how important it was learn Maya from the very beginning, no shortcuts. So everything has been created in Maya, it took a little while becoming accustomed to the interface and the loaction of all the tools, but i quickly was able to build my custom shelf and the Loft tool became my best friend. Below is a screen shot of my scene set up with the layers (also very very useful) along with the custom shelf I made for myself:

Anyway enough of modelling and Maya itself, I soon began my endeavour to understand dynamics and how it is used in Maya, and what a tool, some really very very interesting effects and they were so quick to master once you'd spent the time understanding it. I did spend a lot of time understanding it, I knew how really important it was to not just follow a step by step tutorial, but to understand why certain features affected the dynamics and what each element was. I did this with the help of Stuart Christensen and Pat Imier they didnt create tutorials for people just to follow and not learn, but more tutorials on helping you understand and learn why. This was so much more beneficial, and it shows, when I built the full scene, I built the fire right at the beginning with a step by step guide, I then came back to it and re created the fire again and added it later to my animation just to show my learning progress, you can really see the difference. The thing I am most proud of though is my shoreline, I know its not perfect but I made that from my own knowledge of particle dynamics, something I could not have done with the initial understanding. There are no tutorials, so guides, nothing, I could have chickened out and left it, but where is the fun in that. If I had more time I might have been able to play around a little more with it, but I'm happy with how it turned out, it isjust particles being emitted from a curve around the island, with a gravity and radial field applied.

The most fun to make was the opening sign at the beginning of the animation, making the cloth rip apart and flutter in the wind. This was the last thing to be made, and it really shows how much I had picked up by then, like the modelling of the rope around the outside, how the stretchiness affects a very poly filled ncloth.

Out of all of this, I now understand why the industry used Maya instead of 3ds Max, what it can achieve is fantastic. It is most definitely the thing to learn and i'm quite excited to do so, my crash course this week as been invaluable to me and to others that I've helped. I hope this short animation even with its unique twist, shows at least some of what I've learnt, unfortunately I couldnt fit it all in, I've learnt too much. For a first time go at the programe I can happily say I am quite happy with what I have achieved and I was still able to put a creative spin on it too, not just a boring scene walkthrough that just hits the criterias. But something a little quirky and interesting that brings it all together.

 

A Coconut Falls

First ever Animation on Maya, using Mental Ray and the Batch Rendering setting:

OK enough is enough

Right I think I have learnt as much as I can, my head hurts from all the learning. Basically gave myself a crash course of Maya, and I've accomplished quite a bit in a week, ALL modelled in Maya, everything in Maya. Its taken longer only because Maya kept crashing, I mean I'm seeing at least one crash an hour, which is extremely annoying if you dont save in time. Anyway here is a still of the scene. I've noticed a lot of others have done it at night, so I took on the challenge of light which turned out really easy with Mental Ray. Anyway back to the still:

So the particle breakdown goes like this, the clouds are a 3d container which I created three of just to give it a more dimensional feel. The flag obvioulsy a nCloth, really simple very easy, I like how I got the tattered effects to flap in the wind too though really happy with that. The fire could be better but I've run out of time and it does flicker. The ocean is basically a steady ocean with slight foam, didn't want to much. Which leads me to my waves on the shore, very simple design but that is a particle system being emitted from a curve with a gravity and radial field applied. There is also an Ik chain in the Palm tree so I can get the wind to blow it too. The models are made mostly from a NURBS Circle and then lofted, the awkward one was the fishing line, had to figure out how to make rope, used a paint brush effect and coverted it to a poly. I can't even begin to describe how much I've learnt.

I started this Tuesday, and I've mostly just spent the time understanding the dynamics and learning it, that to me is soooo much more important, and its obvious too, the fire was the first thing to be created (followed a step by step tutorial) and its not great but the clouds sea and waves were to follow, and the waves maybe simple but I dont think anyone realises how hard it was, especially as I could only create it once I had the knowlegde of Maya, as there is NO TUTORIAL TO COPY. This is why I'm so happy with what I've created, I did it without copying a tutorial, I did it myself, figured it out for myself, no cheating.

Playing With Clouds

So yesterday I uploaded a quick render of my scene, it was just basics, layout not sorted etc. But I've been playing with clouds this morning, just keeping them simple and gentle in the background and I'm also in the process of making a coconut fall from the tree onto the ground and have it emit some dust as it lands. I'll be using particle dynamics for that one, as I feel I've used a lot of fluid dynamics for the fire, clouds and water, its only fair to show what I know about particles. Anyway here is a draft render of my Palm Tree and some clouds in the background, I've used the Sky and Sun node to give it that bright feel.

I'm quite happy with where its heading so far.

The start of a Cloud

Just to show you where my idea is heading with this.