Above are some screen shots which the 3d modeller Matt sent me on the progress of the villain,I then went in and wrote some notes for him to follow and sent it back. Overall the villain is starting to take shape and looking very good, the only point I had to make was the knife which had already been modelled, and the shape of the pouch on the villains belt. This is all explained on the notes on each image.
Here is the alterd inbetweens for the keyframes and as you can see in the image above the knee is back facing the correct way, and the keyframes in the graph editor are on a much more even setting.
The next step I took in fixing this 'Rotating leg problem' was to select the keyframes before the steep incline and bring them up so that they were on an even level to the other keyframes as shown in the above image. This would stop the drastic change in movement in the knee rotation and keep the knee in the correct outward facing position through the animation.Problems like this can occur when during the keying of the major poses you accidentially rotate a limb passed its rotation point, and maya being based on mathmatics will always try to find the shortest route possible between one keyframe and the next, So when that happens the quickest way can sometimes be for the limb to rotate in odd ways. This is the reason why even though maya can calculate an animations inbetweens the animator still has to go in and apply the principles of animation (Rules in which animation is done by) to insure that no mistakes like this one occurs.
In this above image you can see a closer picture of the graph editor and the green line represents the movement of the left foot on the rotate Y axis.As you can see the direction of the curve is quite steep between the keyframes were the leg was rotating oddly indicating that this is the reason why.
In the scene im currently working on the heros left knee kept on rotating backwards when I played through the keyed animation. On the key poses themselves the leg was in the right location, but in the inbetweens the leg would swivel around like in the image above. I opened up the graph editor which can be seen in the above image, which allows you to see your keyframes in a graph and lets you manipulate the frames easier.It also allows you to locate any problems quicker because of the odd looking curves which would be present in most cases.
I asked for the boots to have tread marks. A minor detail within the character but one I felt neccesary if we had the time as there are several close up shots of the heros feet in the opening scenes.
Here are the new laces for the boots and the new colour for the knee pads. At first I felt that the laces were seperated to far apart from each other, but once I checked the design concepts I had sent to the modeller they were modelled exactly how I asked them to be. Which turned out to be fine once I had checked through everything. I do however want small lace loops to be added to the boots because at the moment the laces don't look as though they fit anywhere in the boots. 
Another angle of the new gloves, I wanted more detail on the gloves and liked one of the designs I drew up of the cuff of the glove coming over slightly onto the wrist.
I asked for a closer view of the elbow pads to see how far the new padding actually protruded. As it didn't need to protrude to far. This however is acceptable.
Closer shot of the new gloves and elbow pads, Also you can see the new belt loops in the back of the belt.
The back of the buller proof vest has 'Police' on the back now and the back of the elbow pads have more padding across the elbow joint. The gloves of the hero now also turn over slightly on the wrists.
Here is a shot of the new belts, more loops have been added on as per my request.
Here are the screen shots that my modeller sent me of the revised hero model. The cloth texture is looking good, although I only needed it to be on the vest of the hero, not the pants. This is something which the modeller is looking into though it may be to awkward to put on another clothes texture on just the pants so where looking into either finding a suitable replacement texture or possibly discarding the cloth texture for the trousers altogether.
These next few images are of the updated hero cop model which the 3d modeller has been working on. He asked me to give him my feedback on anything which I wanted altering before her goes ahead and rigs the final version. Above are the alterations I would like him to work on, which include adding loops to the laces and bringing the tounge of the boot slightly more forwards.
Here is a wall plaque I made for the outside of the doors. This one says 'Director', There are several plaques dotted around the corridor now.
The picture here is on the bottom shelf on the right of the screen, The extra shelves are also something which I added to the set today.
Here are some test renders of the photoframes in the set.
I then proceeded to pull extend the mesh down to the same length as the frame. Creating the stand for the back of the picture frame.
Drop down menu I clicked on to be able to 'extrude' the mesh.
Once I had angled the extra mesh downwards and at an angle, I then clicked on the 'face' of the mesh at the bottom of the new mesh and clicked 'extrude' again.
For the back of one of the frame I needed a stand, As the back of the picture frame would be exposed in one of the camera shots. For this I created some more mesh lines to work with, I did this by selecting the 'insert edge loop' tool in the drop down menu. I then proceeded to 'extrude' the extra mesh by clicking and dragging it downwards as the above picture shows.
I created four photos, all starting from the one base frame which I then duplicated and alterd in size and shape to suit my needs and applied the photo images as previously explained.
I follwed the same previous steps to apply the portraite to the middle of the picture frame.
For this frame I wanted a metal edge, So I chose a metal texture I created in photoshop and assigned it to the selected area.I thn opened the 'u.v editor', which is the box you can see in the above image, and again posistion the frame edge to how I wanted it.
Once I chose what frame texture I wanted to use I clicked onto the 'face' option, scrolled down the menu and clicked 'assign new material'. This will allow me to put a new texture base onto the frame.
I decided to personalise the office even more so with pictures on the desks and shelves. I did this by modelling the photoframe in maya by using a very simple rectangle shape. Then I went on the internet and saved some portrait images to use as the photos. I then applied the textures to the frame and posistioned the image to fit the size like in the above picture.
Above is a diagram I put together to explain how I reference files into a new scene. The reason why I reference the files I need rather then importing them into each scene is because it allows me to continue to update the files, such as the individual character files and the set, But also lets me use the version I have at the moment to animate with. Once the final version of the characters are made, I will save over the old files with the finished version, but save it under the same name.
After I had fixed the environment to how I wanted it, I then went back into every scene and referenced in the updated set and checked to make sure that the new props didn't interfere with the camera angles. I had to make some minor adjustments to a few of the cameras but for the most part they were fine the way they were. Above are a few of the images from the camera angles from various scenes with the new set.
Final two rubble piles, the second is slightly hard to see, As its at the back of the large loading bay door, so this may be moved at a later date.
Rubble pile next to broken pillar.
First rubble pile at the end of the corridor.
The last thing I wanted to apply to my set in the way of props (Unless I think of any more) is the rubble piles I made some time back. I went into the old file and textured the rubble,bricks and pipes with images found on the internet. Then I went into the UV editor which is the box that can be seen in the above image, which allows you to alter the way the picture is textured onto the model so that it tiles smoothly. I did this process for all the objects in the rubble pile and then imported the finished product into the main set.
Unfortunately the first lot of shelves I filled had to be undone, as the section I had worked on previously with the calanders went slightly wrong. I had applied the second calander texture without trouble, but what I later discoverd after I has just finished filling the shelves is that I had missed out a stage in texturing the calander. Instead of selecting 'new material' in the drop down menu, and then choosing the calander picture file to apply, I had gone straight to the picture file by mistake. The calander was textured fine but so was all the door frames which shared the same material attribute. So I had very small calenders framing all of the skirting boards and door frames and unfortunately the only way to get rid of it was to undo all the work I had just done with the shelves (2 hours worth) and get it back to the point where I could apply the texture correctly. I had to do it this was because I couldn't reapply the original textures to the door frames or skirting boards as they are part of the main set which cant be alterd as the previous modeller had put a lock on the layers so they cant be alterd. The image above is the second shelves I made the following morning.
Once I had gotten the shelves modelled and posisioned to my liking I then went ahead and filled it with various office supplies, all of which can be seen scattered throughout the rest of the office room.
I applied a calander to the other side of the wall aswell, This one being the more professional of the two people who one shared this office space, I decided to make this calander more conservative. I got the calander textures of the internet and applied it through maya onto 2 blank 'planes' once I had gotten them to the desired size.
I thought the walls were quite bare and decided that what every office needs is a pin up girl calander. Again it adds a sense of ownership to the desk space by showing personalisation,Which in turn helps to make the set feel lived in.
Another prop which I thought was missing within the office was shelves, So I modelled some brackets and shelves to put next to one of the desks.
I duplicated the bin from the corridor and put one in the office to make it look more lived in.
Shot of the ash tray I had modelled.
Test render of the new door I had modelled for the set, the glass is quite reflective and transparent which is why you can see partially into the room. I did this because I liked the effect better then when the glass was more dense and less transparent. Once the final lighting is applied it will look quite good reflecting the low light of the corridor.
Shot of the corridor once it was fixed.
The inside of the ware house once the duplicate layer was deleted. I next had to delete the extra signs,beams and pillars etc.
Once I had done this for all sections of the building I went back into the corridor and took a test render. As you can see the brick walls are showing through fine now with no fragments of black showing. In this shot however you can still see some bacl inside the right room and immediately infront. This is because those are walla on the outside of the set and inside the room, but it proved that the duplicate layer was what was causing the trouble and I then went about deleting all duplicate layers within the set entirely.
Here I have deleted the duplicate layer and will then move the textured layer back into its original place.
In this image you can see that I have gone onto the outside of the set and clicked and dragged onto the main warehouse section and moved the textured part to one side. This is something which I did for each section of the building before going and deleting the duplicate layer.
