replacing an object in maya

I had finished a tutorial in which you do keyframes for an axe going into a target, then in this new tutorial you then replace the more simple looking axe for a more detailed one and transfer the keyframes over to the new model. This is really usefull as it means you can animate a scene and get the animation looking really nice, then transfer those keyframes over to a much more detailed model, which would have otherwise slowed down the scene with the size of the file. This is something which I could potentially incorpreate into my work if for example the character models are late in being made or to reduce the size of the file im working on untill i need to render the scene.

axe motion path tutorial

Here is the axe animation again except this time the forward motion was planned by creating a motion path with the cv curve tool. This lets you create a path for the animated object to follow and allows you another way in which to control the animation. You have to do a little more fine tuning with the graph editor but the results are just as good, and with practise using this method could be done a bit quicker.

Here are some images of me going through the process and then the final animation.

axe animation

final axe animation

animation tutorials

I have been working on several animation tutorials to help me learn the graph editor better in maya. This project involved creating an axe and a target ( or using a premade one to jump straight into the animation) and animating the axe being thrown at the target, with anticipation, follow through and secondary motion. All of these things being manipulated within the graph editor. its a fairly simple animaiton to do but as i want to familerise myself as much as possible with the graph editor so this is a godo tutorial in which to do that.

Once the base animation has been keyframed i then went into the editor and changed the tangents around and broke them where neccesary to achieve the desired effect of weight to the axe hitting target. here are some screenshots of the progress and i shall post a video of the finished animation

animation practise

In this quicktime I was following a tutorial in a maya book about getting to grips with the nodes system. This project involved creating a basic solar system scene and grouping the planets and moons together so they all revolved around the sun. This included learning more about parent and child nodes, and learning how to create hierarchy and pivot points within maya. So although it looks like a simple animation it is a good excersise to do to get used to basics of parenting objects to others and using the outliner to check on the hierarchy of the objects, and to also correct any problems using the outliner.

update on the set design

I have recieved some more renderd stills of the progress of the set. It is coming along just fine and the main area of the set is starting to look really great. The only problem I have at this stage is that some of the corridor shots are slightly confusing as I am unsure which section of the corridor is which. So I have asked Jay (The modeller) if he would kindly do some more stills and give a few notes as to which section of the corridor it is. The designs themselves are looking great and he has also been told that he has some creative freedom with how he interprets things such as the wall textures and light fixtures etc. Although the set is not at that stage just yet.

So above are the latest images of the set.

sketches for website logo

here are some of the first few sketches of what I originally wanted for my logo, I just sketched out some ideas of what i thought would look good. Once i had a decent idea of how i wanted the logo to look i then went on to do a more detailed version which i coloured in, then it slowly evolved into the finished version at the top of the page. I got to that version by following certain photoshop tutorials which helped me design and create the brick wall background for my logo, then i used certain effects on the wall and the logo to make it stand out and inhance the lines and colours untill I achieved the effect i wanted.

in between work

While I'm waiting for the models to be made im going to spend the in between time reading up on my dissertation subject and lay the ground work down for the website. I have been working on a logo for the website which i will upload shortly.

first look at the set

As its been nearly 3 weeks since I found people to model the set and characters, Ive asked for pics to see how its progressing. Jay is modelling the set for me and has asked for additional information to help him build it, such as exact lighting and details etc.

Here are the first images of the set, its starting to take its basic shape, I am pleased with the progress so far.

second year starts

For the second year of my masters, one of the things which I have to do in order to complete one of my credits is manage a team of specialists in my subject area.

Since I just want to specialise in animation I have chosen to look elsewhere to other artists who would be interested in modelling,rigging and texturing both my set and the characters.
After looking for several weeks I have found someone to take on the set, a friend of mine from the degree called jay who has agreed to model,light and texture the set.

As for the characters I have found someone else to cover that, another friend of mine from the degree called matt. He will be modelling,rigging and texturing the characters for me. When it comes to things like cloth simulation and hair dynamics I have asked him not to do it unless he has time, as both of these aspects will increase my rendering time expedentially.

I have given both of these artists 3 months to complete the work i have given them, as any type of modelling is very time consuming.
I have also asked that every three weeks for them to do screen shots of their progress so i can see how its going and to update my blog.
During this i will be doing test animations and working on putting a rough draft together of my dissatation.