Marking Period 1

Marking Period 1

This marking period after learning about hybridity, layering and other post modern principles I got to work more on my main project.

Planning: When beginning this project I knew I wanted to create an environment with some sort of main focus like a character in the middle. I took this drawing that I made a couple months ago and I started thinking about the techniques I could use to model it. I envisioned the environment as a dark cave with some outside lighting and long shadows cast along the cave. I looked at some reference pictures of caves and figured the simple effect I was going for wouldn't be too hard to achieve with the skill set I have. I also decided that the color scheme would use a main color of a blueish gray and some accent colors of purple and gold. Since I already had the character design that I wanted to create, this planning process wasn't particularly difficult to execute.

Producing: The very first thing I decided to create were the mushrooms that would not only become the head of the character but adorn the cave floors and walls. This was a relatively simple process that I used very simple modelling techniques for. Using the same simple approach I created the crystals that would be scattered around the cave floor and produce some of the light and color in the scene. After those were created I started work the coat using the box modelling technique that we used for our character models in digital modelling 1. this presented some challenges giving a cloth like effect but I think with the low lighting of the scene and the right materials I can make it still look like a draped fabric. The most difficult part of the coat was definitely the fur collar. I may have worked on just the collar for a solid week and although I think it looks alright, it still isn't what I had in mind since it isn't nearly as fluffy and full as the concept drawing I made, but considering my inability to work with particle systems I think it is okay. Most of my time spent working on the project thus far has been on the coat and body of this character since it will be the main focus of any shots I take of my scene. Other than that, the actual cave was made using a very long cylinder with a light source at one end. I used the proportional modelling tool with the random effect on to create stalactites and stalagmites.

Evaluating: I think the way I chose to model things was not very adventurous and I could've tried to use other techniques to get a better or at least different effect. Although I think my box modelling idea wasn't necessarily a bad one, I think it will benefit me to look at other ways to do this in the future. I think I need to spend less time on perfecting specific objects since that is a flaw of mine, causing me to create much less than other people. Keeping this in mind, if I choose to learn new techniques to incorporate into my modelling I will have to understand that they won't be perfect and I can't spend all my time on perfecting a new idea. Although I used some things that I'm not perfectly comfortable with such as hair emitters and color ramp in materials, I want to expand my techniques that I am able to use in my work.

Integrating: I am glad that I was able to use color as a main way to express atmosphere in this because I think if I took my normal route of coloring things whatever I want without much reason, the model would be less cohesive and more like a cacophony of random colors. The use of colors as well as my use of a dust-like material in the cave create a cool and mysterious effect. I am glad I got to use some of these things as well as the character box modelling technique I learned a long time ago. I hope to use more of my texturing knowledge next since I am done with modelling for the most part.