Bucket Model

At first when I tried to make this bucket I used curves and tried the revolve function, which worked perfectly well in creating a soft, vase-type shape, but no matter how much I tweaked it I couldn't get the hard edge that I needed for my metal bucket. So in the end I remade it completely using polygons which I think created at more solid look. The bucket is basically a polygon pipe which I scaled up at the top to make it wider than the bottom. I then made a flat-ish cylinder for the base and two torus' for the rings and the top and bottom on the bucket. The handle is an extruded curve and the hook-holes were make using booleans-difference. Lastly I added the Blinn texture to make it look metallic. I'm quite pleased with how this model turned out.

Here's the image I used as a reference:

Door Model

Here's the door to the garage that will start off my animation. (Its supposed to be the back/side door rather than the big slider doors that you usually get at the front of garages for the cars to drive through.) I modelled it using both my door in my bedroom (for the handle and door frame), and the my actually garage door back home (for the door panels) as references. I originally intended for there to be a glass window in the top panel, but even after searching online and trying out a tutorial, I still couldn't make a decent pane of glass. In the end I decided to just stick with a plain door since glass will probably take a long time to render and I fear my laptop wouldn't be able to cope with it if I'm forced to render my animation from home.

The door its self was made simply by adding sub-divisions to a cuboid and then selecting the faces I wanted to extrude inwards to create the panels. The frame was made using two separate cuboids and the booleans-difference effect to cut out the door shape so the door can be animated swinging open. I added bevels to the door and frame to make them appear smoother, as well as some textures since I haven't tried playing around with them much before. I wasn't really sure which textures to use so I went with Lambert for the door and frame. The door handle is Blinn since that looks more metallic, and was made by extruding a circle around a curve. I took a photo of the handle on my bedroom door to use as a reference:

Camera Test

We were taught how to set up and animate cameras in Maya in class, so I decided to do a test for practise since I'll need to used cameras a lot for my final piece. I was trying to get the camera to follow the ball down the spiral and then move underneath, but I found it difficult to keep the ball in sight of the camera, so I'm not sure how well it works... the camera may sweep too much at the end. I'll practise more with cameras after I've completed modelling.

Animatic

This is my storyboard/animatic for my domino effect idea. In the end I decided to go for the garage/garden shed theme where opening the door triggers off a chain reaction to switch on the light. Unfortunately there aren't any sound effects in the animatic because I'm having trouble downloading them from the Internet, so for now I've just left them out so I can can get a feel for the timing. The timing will probably change as I start animating as right now this is just a rough estimation.

Pendulum Swing

In class we were taught how to use and animate joints to swing like a pendulum, so here's my quick animation test. After key framing each joint I used the graph editor to make the joints fall faster in between the high points of the swing to give it more weight.

Spiral Motion Path

Since I want to have a ball roll down spiral rails in my animation, I did a short test using a motion path to see how it would work. First I made two spirals using the same method as before, then scaled the second one down so it fit inside the first to create the tracks for the ball to roll down. The ball is a simple nurbs sphere that I attached to the motion path and assigned the blinn material to make it appear metal. I made the path itself by selecting one of the spirals, changing it to Isoparm, then duplicating a surface curve. I scaled the curve so it fit between the two 'tracks' correctly and positioned it and the ball slightly above the spirals so the ball appears to roll along them.

Despite how simple the process sounds, I actually found it quite difficult to get everything looking right, especially since the ball always rolled down far too fast and at a constant speed, which didn't look very realistic. I added more frames to the timeline to slow the ball down, then used the graph editor to level out the speed of the ball at the top of the spirals. This made the ball start off rolling slower, then appear to gather speed on its way down. Its still not perfect, but so far I'm quite pleased with the result. I think perhaps the ball still needs to roll a little slower...

Spiral Bounce

I made the spiral by creating a straight vertical path with a circle curve at the base. I then selected them both and extruded the circle the create a cylinder, then rotated it 3600 degrees and scaled the circle down to make the spiral. For the animation test I used the same method as the ball; key framing then scaling to add squash and stretch, then adjusting the timing using the graph editor. But despite my adjustments, I still think it looks rather weightless... I think it needs to fall quicker. I'll try to amend this later.

Bouncing Ball 2

This is my second test. This time I scaled the ball as it hit the grid to create the "squash and stretch" effect as it bounces. I think it look a lot better now, and more like a rubber ball.

Bouncing Ball

Here's my first animation test of a ball dropping and bouncing. I key framed it first, then used the graph editor to tweak the timing so the ball slowed in the air at the top of a bounce, then fell and struck the ground faster. I think it looks okay, but the ball looks too stiff, as though it's made of a material that wouldn't bounce.

Chair Model 2

Here's my original chair model again, but I added a bevel to it to make its edges look more finished. I tried to make the cushion look softer, but it still needs a lot of work before it looks like an actual cushion... but still, I think its an improvement, and it shows I'm slowly getting the hang of how to use Maya for modelling. I also learned how to group and parent objects in class yesterday, as well as camera tracking which will be useful for when I come to animate by domino effect.

Mind Map

I started looking around my room and flat for household objects that could possibly be used in my domino effect. I also studied my dad's garage when I went home over the weekend to help me get a better range of ideas. I then had a brainstorming session and created a mind map of the possible themes, situations, and outcomes I could think of for my domino effect. So far I think I like the idea of opening curtains, pulling back bed covers, or watering a plant as outcomes of the domino effect, as they're not too complicated...

Domino Effect Research

Here are some video references of different types of Domino effects. I find them really useful for generating ideas because they use simple household objects (which is what I intend to use for my own domino effect) in a variety of creative ways to achieve a simple goal. I also looked at the way domino effects are used in animation, such as Wallace and Gromit; since Wallace is renowned for his mad inventions which do the simplest things (and often go wrong at the end for humorous effect). The Wallace and Gromit trailer also demonstrates interesting camera angles and slow-motion scenes to make the action seem far more dramatic than it actually is. Because of this I think it looks more interesting than just watching the domino effect play out from above.

Chair Model

Here's my first ever attempt at modelling in Maya. As expected for my first try, its not very good... but I feel like I've learnt a lot from it. We were given the challenge of creating this chair in two hours in class, but because I've had no experience with Maya before and it always takes me a while to get the hang of new programs, I didn't finish it in time. I worked on it more at home after class, and in total it took me about four hours to finish... First I created the back of the chair (back legs included) as one solid cuboid and used booleans to cut out the middle sections from the top and bottom. I then created the seat of the chair and the front legs separately, as well as all the curved bars on the back of the chair. I then used scaling to get the correct shapes. The cushion was made by extruding another cuboid on top of the seat. Here is the reference we had to work from:

Even though I found it difficult and had some problems with the faces/vertex and made plenty of mistakes; I've learnt how to extrude, mirror, scale, insert edge loops to shapes to make them curve, and how to cut out shapes using booleans while modelling this chair. The cushion doesn't look much like a cushion because of the sharp edges and hard surfaces, which is something I intend to correct once I have learnt more techniques in Maya. But for now, I'm quite pleased with the result.