Author: shawlewis

Evaulation

Posted on by shawlewis

Evaluation

Project Proposal

What was the 3D & time-based problem?

The first Problem was the 3D problem that we had to fulfil in our Project Brief by creating 3D props for a fighting game that was set in a continent that were given to us which was Australasia. Whilst using different forms of research like the internet and books I came up with three different pieces of props to create. Our Second problem was the time based problem that had keeping track of our progress through a blog on word press which we updated as we created more work.

What were the goals you laid out in your project proposal?

The first goal that I set myself was to be able to gain a better understanding of Maya and the interface so that I will be able to create 3D props good enough so that I would be able to put them in my video and I believe that I have because I have made three good props that in my opinion are good enough for the video, the way I achieved this was by simply messing around on Maya and also help from the tutors.

The Second goal was to make sure that I was constantly updating my blog at all times to ensure that all of my work was up there and up to standards as well. I personally think that my ability to continually update my blog was good as all of my work is up there and to a good standard.

 

Did the final outcome resemble the vision outlined in your project proposal?

 

In my project proposal I didn’t really talk about how I wanted my video to look as much but I was constantly thinking about how I wanted it to look and shaping my decisions around that.

 

How could you have improved your project proposal?

 

One way I could have improved it would have been by talking more about how I wanted the outcome to look so I could have referenced back to it but apart from that I don’t think the project brief needs that much improvement because I have talked in depth about the problems, research and solution.

 

What could you have done to better achieve the goals laid out in your project proposal?

 

Again I think that I’ve achieved my goals effectively without any problems because the first goal was to gain a better understanding of Maya and I think that I’ve done that and my props are evidence of that because I used tools that I didn’t know before this project like the Extrude tool and the append polygon tool as well as others, I also learnt how to UV and texture as well.

 

The second goal was to keep track of my work by using a blog on word press which I have so I don’t think that any improvements are necessary.

 

Research & Ideas Generation

 

How did you develop your ideas?

The way I came up with ideas was down to the concept art that we did in the previous project because I based my props of the concept art.

How/Why did your project change throughout the project?

Nothing really changed throughout the project because I made my project plan clear and achievable and I just followed it as I went along there were some small hitches but that was down technical issues that was soon resolved and didn’t really affect the project

How much reference material/research did you find?

For the ideas of the props I didn’t really research anything for them because we already had the ideas there for us because of our concept art but for the video as a class and individually we looked at other peoples show reels on YouTube and discussing the good and the bad aspects of them so when it came to making my video I would know what to do and not what to do.

Do you think you could have done more/less? Why?

I would have like to have spent more time on texturing my props and adding greater detail to them because some of the props aren’t properly textured and look bit odd in the video.

 

What particular research inspired you? Why?

 

No particular pieces of work really inspired me because the research part of this project wasn’t that big if I had to say what the main research was I would say that the concept art was a really help to design the props in Maya or even looking at the videos on YouTube were a big help to come up with ideas for our videos.

 

 

Project Management

 

How effective was your Project Management (Gantt charts, asset list, check lists, proposal, etc.)

I found that my project management was quite effective as I have completed all of my tasks whilst referring to the asset list and check list but I haven’t really looked at my Gantt chat because I don’t find it that much help I prefer getting on with the tasks at the time instead of allocated different tasks at different times.

How could you have improved your project management?

I can’t really think of anything to improve on because I feel like my project management was up to standard and the thing that I’ve made for my project Management helped greatly apart from the Gantt chart.

 

What made you decide on which materials, tools, and techniques to use for the project?

I didn’t really have a wide choice of tools and materials because we need to make 3D models in Maya so we dint have any choice there the only place that I could think of that we were able to choose was the software for creating a video, we had the choice between using Adobe Premier and Adobe After Effects the reason why I chose Premier was because we were already taught how to use it and at the time felt most comfortable with it.

Are there any aspects of the project that you wish you had explored further? Why?

No not really I felt like I spent a good time exploring all of the aspects within the project in depth.

Is there anything you would change about the project? Why?

I don’t feel like anything needed changing in the project I feel like having a blog instead of having to put everything on a PowerPoint was a good change but apart from that I wouldn’t change anything.

 

3D Models

Are you happy with your final 3D models? Why/Why not?

I am very happy with my 3D model because to say that I have never used this software before I feel like I have created some really good pieces of work. There are some areas in which I would have like to have improved on in my model like that some of my textures aren’t edited properly and I would have liked to added finishing touches to them up to make them look more professional in my video but these are only small things.

What elements of your models do you like/dislike in particular?

The main element of my props that I liked most was that fact that I was able to recreate a 2D image into a 3D model I found that very satisfying I also like how realistic some of my props looked as well, thing the that didn’t like on my 3D models was the texture on one of my props that wasn’t edited properly and I would have like to changed that.

What materials, tools and techniques did you use and were they successful or unsuccessful?

The software that I used to make my 3D props was Maya I found that this was good software to use because it was easier enough to use and get a hold of but at the same time advance enough to create good pieces of 3D models. I used Adobe Premier to create the show reel and like Maya I found it easy to use mainly the interface what made it easy to find things and edit my video.

I wouldn’t say that there were any issues with the materials that I used.

Do you feel you successfully stuck to the theme?

Overall myself and the group feel like we stuck to theme successfully when it came to our continent which was Australasia but the art style however I felt like it was hard to make our props look cartoony apart from the texture that I used but the models themselves I felt didn’t really resemble a cartoony style.

Video Show Reel

 

Was the research into existing video show reels successful? Did it help your project?

I found that the examination of other peoples video show reels helped me massively because it show me what they would look like and what thinks I show put in it to make it look good like the development of the model from wireframe to it becoming fully textured and what not to put in like over the top transition that will distract the viewers.

How effective was your story boarding?

I found that my storyboard didn’t really provide that much helped because I already had the idea for my video before I did the storyboard the only thing that I did do was make sure that I wouldn’t steer of track and forget my ideas when it came to making the video.

How successful was your final video show reel?

I think that final video was really successfully because I managed to put in all of my props and display them professionally by showing them from the wireframe to them being fully textured I also managed to put in my concept art as well as some music, intro and outro so overall I think that my video was a success. The only thing I would have like to have change would be the intro and out animation to make them look more professional but that is manly for the aesthetics more that the quality of stuff I have in my video.

 

Development Blog

 

Was the research into existing development blogs successful? Did it help your project?

I didn’t find looking at other blogs that much help because I already knew what would make a good blog like having relevant updates on the blog that didn’t go on too much and also images and videos which help break it down and easier for the viewers I did make it clearer on what they should look like but apart from that they weren’t that helpful.

Did you conduct any planning for your development blog?

The only planning that we did was to look at other people’s blogs and analyse them and come up with what makes a good blog and things that doesn’t make a good blog like the things above.

How successful is your final development blog?

Overall I think that our team’s development blog was really successful because we all uploaded all of our work with the right amount of detail and placed them in the right categories as well I think we have nearly 100 posts on our blog which shows how much we did.

 

Offer a summary of the 3D project

Overall I feel like the whole of the 3D project went really well for me I managed to create 3 props that matched the theme that we was doing and also texture them as well creating the props went relatively smoothly with hardly any problems and also all completed within the time that was given to us.

 

 Offer a summary of the Time-based project

The Time Based project also went smoothly; I have uploaded all of my work to the blog and to the correct standard. I found that using the blog to upload all of our work felt better than having to upload it to a PowerPoint document as it felt more professional overall I feel like I’ve achieved and completed the time based problem.

Give a final conclusion of the overall project

In conclusion I feel like I have completed this project to the best of my ability, I have upload everything to my blog created the right amount of 3D props and textured them and created a good video show reel I feel like apart from some small areas that there is nothing I can improve on.

 

 

Project Brief 3D and Time based problems

Posted on by shawlewis

Project Brief

Introduction

In a team we must produce a series of environmental prop pieces based on a specified location. Our Prop pieces will be then put into a video show-reel to show off our work.

3D and Time Based Problems

3D Props 2

 

3D Props

Requirements

The first requirement we will be to create the environmental props in Maya, The goals that I will set myself in order to achieve this will be that I’ll have to gain a better understanding of Maya so to do this will have to practice on Maya either by messing around on it to get a grip on it or I could look at tutorials about Maya that will also help me gain a good understanding of Maya.

The Second requirement we will be to create and update a word press blog about our progress within our project, we are expected to put things into our blog ranging from finished work to problems that we faced during a certain task, this is so that people following our progression through this project can read this and either take inspiration from our work or learn from any mistakes that we make. The other reason why we have to maintain the blogs is so that we can be marked and assessed on our work which at the end will give us a grade depending on the quality of our work so making sure that our work is at its best is very important.

The Final requirement that I will have to complete will be to make sure that as a team we work together effectively. The way I will do this will be to make sure that we will communicate efficiently to that everybody knows where we are in the task and what the team members should be doing to help contribute to the project. I also need to make sure that everybody is here so that as a team we can work to maximum capability and that if everybody is here we can work faster and finish the task within the time frame. Lastly as the team leader I will have to make sure that everybody is getting along and that team morale is high so that we again are working efficiently and that we are all on task.The Third requirement will be to create a show reel that will show our work we have done in a professional manner. The way I am going to achieve this is by firstly looking at existing show reels and taking inspiration from them to create my own in a software called ‘’premier ‘’ which will allow us to upload and display our work.

Show reel

Parameters

The first parameter that will have to take into consideration will be the time limit we have in order to finish this task. We have now until the Easter holiday to finish the task completely and make all of correct props, so to make sure that we stick to the time frame and don’t go off track it would be good to make a Gantt chart that will help us gain a better idea of how long we’ve got to make the level and what days we should be doing things so we don’t get behind schedule.

Gantt Chart

 

Another thing that will hinder I progress to complete our task would be a lack of skill we have when it comes to 3D modelling because most of our team would have use Maya before including me so in order to prepare for that we will need to improve our skill either by messing around on it or watching tutorials on it to help understand it better.

A very important thing that could negatively affect our would be the fact that we might lose our work on word press either down to forgetting passwords or not saving them properly and this will mean that we are unable to finish it and complete our criteria because we don’t have any work to show and to be marked which will give us and fail which is the worst possible thing that could happen to us during this project.

Another important thing that could give us a fail on our course would be that I am unable to create a show reel of my work at the end of this project this could be down to me losing track of time and not been able to complete it within the given time frame another possibility is that the software that we be using might fail due to technical issues this would be bad for my progress but wouldn’t affect me as negatively because it wouldn’t be my fault so I would be held responsible but it’s still something I need to take into consideration when I make a show reel.

Having conflict within our group could hinder our progress because people within our group might not want to do what they have been set with and might decide not to work as a group so In order to prevent this I will try and keep the team together which in no doubt I will.

Technical issues again could be a problem because if our equipment isn’t working or destroys our work then we will be behind on the task and then unable to finish so to make sure that this doesn’t happen backing up our work and making sure that we have other means of completing our work on different computers.

Solutions

The solution to prevent the team from running out of time we will create a Gantt chart that will tell us what we should be working on and at what point in our time line. Having a Gantt chart will ensure that the team are on time will the latest task and/or any task that we’ve missed or not finished this means that we won’t be rushing near the end of the project to finishing everything which will make our work rushed and to a low standard. It will also allow the members of our group to know and understand what task they are doing individually and as a group; this will prevent anybody from doing more work than they should do.

Having a lack of skill when it comes to understanding software could really cause problems when it comes to completing task that are computer based because the team won’t know what to do and how to do it causing us to lose time and possibly fail our course so getting better at software like Maya and Photoshop will mean that it will be easier to complete our task.

The way that we can prevent us from not coming up with ideas is to collaborate with each other this will mean that we can bounce Ideas of each other and eventually come up with a final decision.

The final solution that we have come up with to prevent any problems is to do with technological issues, the way that we can prevent this is to make sure that we have back-up equipment or other ways to add to the project that doesn’t require technology. Another problem that we might encounter might be that somebody in our group might lose their work which will seriously affect our progress and could mean that we might fail our course so to stop this we will all back-up our work so prevent this.

Update

Posted on by shawlewis

In the last project we managed to make and complete a series of concept art pieces of props for the continent that we was given to us, now that we’ve finished that this next project we are going to make the props themselves in Maya and then create a video show reel at the end to show off our work.

Evaluation-Lewis Shaw

Posted on by shawlewis

Evaluation

The first requirement that we had to fulfill in our Project Brief was to create concept art for a continent that were given to us which was Australasia in a cartoony style from different types of research like the internet and books.  Our project Brief required us as team had to create cartoony concept art props for a background for a fighting game that would be later used to make 3D props later on in a game.

Research

The thing that we did after finding out what continental we had we immediately started looking at different locations with countries like Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. We found many different place that we could base our props on from the internet but we couldn’t really find and actual props to make so for all the different locations in the countries so we decided to focus on one country which was Australia as soon as we started to look at Australia in more detail on the internet and we started to find a few more props but again we were struggling to find any more the five or six different things where as other people were finding many more props then us. We then decided to expand our research towards books in library but again this was a struggle because there wasn’t a single book about Australia which added to the stress to find something to base our props on. After accepting the fact that there wasn’t much information from the internet or the books we decided to get on with our idea generation.

Idea Generation

The ideas generation was probably the easiest point for us as a team because we found it easy to narrow down were we would have the game take place thanks to our mind maps and mood boards which we made  on PowerPoint and a website called Bubble.us which provided us with the tools to make the mind map. The ideas generation helped us decided that we would want to base the scene in the Outback.

Concept Art

The concept art was also an easy task for us but the only this that troubled us was the fact that we had little to draw because the lack of information we found during our research which did make it harder for everyone to decide who should draw what but after a talk we all settle on what everybody will be doing and we all got onto drawing different concept ideas and final I final one.

How Did We Tackle the Parameters?

The first parameter in our brief was the factor of time and how we could manage it, I think that as a team we handle time pretty well we made a Gantt chart at the start of the project to help us keep track of what we should be doing on each day, admittedly we didn’t always stick to the schedule but we managed to everything on time.

Another parameter in our brief was technical issues that we might face when writing things up and posting them up but thankfully we didn’t encounter any problems when it came to the computer or any software.

Final summary

All in all I think that our team managed to pull off the objective which was to create concept art for a fighting game and I think that we managed to do that without any major problems that could have seriously affected our chances of completing the task, I would say thought that our only issue was the fact the location that we got wasn’t the best when it came to finding props but we handled it effectively through communication and helping each other out which was one of solutions in our brief.