Fall 2014:
3D Animation
Project requirements
Overview
 Attendance required – people who do not come
to class tend to create not-very-good projects!
 One assignment: an architectural scene
 Indoor or outdoor
 Complete
 Elegant
 Due date: the final exam slot for the class
 Video – 1 to 3 minutes
you will need
autodesk maya: students.autodesk.com
A video clip maker: MPEG Streamclip,
Compressor, or Quicktime Legacy (Pro)
a video editor: for adding sound to video and for
editing multiple clips
a sound editor (maybe)
an image editor
The Video
 Make a one to three minute video rendered as avi, wmv, mov, or
mpeg4. Your video must be playable on one of:
 Quicktime
 VLC http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html on a Mac or
Windows
 Make your video tell a story. Something begins, continues for a
while, and then has an ending. There needs to be a point to why
we are watching your video, something (however simple) must
unfold.
 There must be a complete environment, animation, and sound
 Use at least 1240 by 960 pixels; anything smaller will not look good.
 Use a high level of anti-aliasing.
Hand in
 A data (not a playable) DVD or flash key containing…
 Your entire project folder, minus only the individual images you
rendered for your video. These images should be the only thing
that makes your project folder big.
 Your video – no larger than a gigabyte.
 During the first 10 seconds of your video, display:
Intro to Animation, Fall 2014, Joe Cool
(except plug in your own name…)
 Test your DVD to make sure it is readable!
 You can also put your zipped up project and video on the
web for me to download
Importing content
you can import textures
You can use outside sound data for your
soundtrack
You can use content from the Maya “Visor”
But only for minor content
The visor material cannot be what our eyes are drawn
to – it can only be for secondary modeling and can
take up only a very small part of your rendered frames
You cannot import modeling content from any
other source than the visor
No importing of modeling done by any other
individual; ALL modeling in the primary part of your
scene must be your own
Advice
 Make sure all the parts of your environment fit
together stylistically. This can be a problem if you
use canned stuff from the Visor.
 Don’t take on a project that is too large for you
to finish completely or too simplistic – this is why I
need to be involved.
 Leave lots of time for rendering, and do test
renderings along the way, to judge your render
time needs.
 We will work on the projects in class – so come
Primary goal:
build an entire environment
 The two most important criteria are
 Careful, deliberate modeling
 Careful, clean application of materials and textures
 Please do not mimic any proprietary content, such as a
character or model from a movie or a video game.
 Your modeling must be clean and elegant, and must contain
a realistic level of detail.
 For example, a living room with noting on tables or shelves
looks unrealistic.
 Use geometry for larger grained surface features.
 Avoid random modeling…!
 Remember: detailed modeling and carefully applied textures
and materials are what make your scene realistic!
Primary goal:
build an entire environment,
continued…
 All your modeling must be done in Maya
 Carefully balance materials, lights, shadows, and
reflective and transparent materials - to give your
scene a deep 3D look.
Important
For your storyline
You need a modeling and story inspiration
Consider storyboards
resources
the ATLAS lab machines have
maya
premiere
final cut pro
Photoshop
Audition
The biggest stumbling block
Time for rendering your project!
Please keep in mind that a full, crisp rendering is
required
Ideas for giving a scene feeling
Lighting, shadows, materials
Fog, transparency, length and
sharpness of shadows
A moving camera can reveal a
scene incrementally or make us dizzy
Skyline (perhaps with an
environment material and light)
Pay particular attention to..
Building a model with materials and animation in
mind
Use the Outliner!
Name all your model components, materials,
textures, cameras, lights, etc.
A model and movement that is the focus of the
viewer’s attention and is engaging
Textures & materials
This makes or breaks a model
Budget time to do this right
No ugly tiling
No wrap-around seams
No uneven projections
Remember bump maps and layered
materials
Overriding goals
Create a scene you can finish
completely and elegantly
Give your scene a unique look and feel
Don’t compromise on
materials/textures, modeling details,
fleshing out the surrounding scene, or
rendering your scenes they way they
look best
Shadows and raytracing are critical
Items required
In black - required
In orange –
suggestions/altrernatives
Required components
 Materials and textures
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Using a texture as the color of a material
Using a texture as a bump map of a material
Glass
Sun and Sky or homemade sun and sky
Seamlessly tile-able textures
A layered texture
 Proper use of Outliner and naming of components
 Modeling
 Nurbs bottom up geometry – using lines to create surfaces
(extrusion, lofting, revolving), stitching, sculpting
 Polygon modeling – using extrusion, push and pull, and
component-based modeling, extrusion, sculpting
Required components, cont
 Smoothing
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Smooth command
Manipulating normals
Soft translation (move)
Beveling
 Animation
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Motion path
Keyframing
Blendshape
A dynamics effect
A hard (or soft) body effect
An animated skeleton
Required components, cont
 Carefully engineered lighting/shadows
 Cameras and lights – not the defaults!
 A dynamics effect and/or a hard (or soft) body
effect
 Raytraced renderings