Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Rendering

Rendering was much the same as the technique used in previous modelling modules. The slight change was that this time we rendered the 3D Studio Max file into TAGA images. This meant that if there were any errors at a certain frame we could re-render from that frame rather than the entire animation.
We set the output to HDTV (720x1280) in order to get a nice quality resolution and put the output images into a single file for the sake of ease.

Narration

At this point I had to get my David Attenborough on. The script was just factual information that we found but the voice over adds some extra information to our scenes.
We recorded onto a phone and then uploaded the clips to Premiere Pro for editing.

Blowing in the Wind

This scene was of the attack rumour document being "misplaced".
The document started as a simple plane with the document applied as a texture. The plane was then given the texture of spandex. This was a preset and set up the plane to react as spandex would when outside forces, such as wind, acted upon it.

We then added wind into the scene and sampled the animation. Although the document reacted it took various attempts, changing the wind speed, direction and turbulence in order to make the document react as required. Once the paper was flying properly we had to cheat slightly by having to move the window into its path but it turns out that shooting a piece of paper through a window using nothing but wind is remarkably difficult.

The Man in the Office

This was the first meld of components created by different members of the team. The office, created by me, and the soldier created by Mel. In this scene the soldier is seen walking into the office and using the Morse Code Machine.

In order to make him walk the Footstep Mode was used to make the biped walk around the office. Initially a set number of footsteps were placed simultaneously and then once the figure was close enough to the seat footsteps were placed individually in order to get it into the correct position to sit.

Once the biped was correctly placed to sit a new layer was created in the animation, as extra animation cannot be created after the footsteps have stopped on that layer. On this new layer I moved the biped so that it was sitting and using the morse code machine. This layer was set to become visible after the walking layer had finished.

Models - The Office

After having completed all the office equipment models, it was time to build the office itself.

You guessed it, the box! This time the faces were flipped and a backface cull was applied so that the interior of the room could be seen from every angle without having to delete walls. This was looking toward insertion of cameras for the animating stage. It the walls were deleted then they would always have to kept out of shot but with this option applied the camera could move more freely.


Then it was just a case of populating the room. A window was added and a door complete with door knobs. Because the division between floor and wall was very sharp, a skirting board was also added. Once the rookm itself was ready and textured then furniture was added. A simple table was built as well from boxes on which the other furniture was placed.

Models - Typewriter

As with every other model, the trusty box was the starting point. The polygons of this box were then deleted in order to form a basic shell for the typewriter. Once the basic shape was formed the polygons and vertexes were then fine tuned to form rounded edges and other similar details.

After the shell of the typewriter was complete, it was then time to fill it with all the typewriter-y bits. These started as a simple box that was moulded into the curves of the top/front of the model. This was again achieved through editing the vertexes.

Once the body of the model was in place and shaped properly, the roller was inserted. This was a cylinder the every other polygon on one end extruded inwards to form a cog. Then to make a change in the texturing the next row of polygons had their texturing number changed so that it formed a seam between this row and the ones next to it.

Finally the tray at the back was formed in a similar way to the wires in the previous two models.

The knobs and wheels were also added in a similar way to the ones in the previous models. Thankfully the potentially most time-consuming part of this model, the keybourd had already been done and could just be imported from the Enigma Machine model and placed.


When applying textures to this model it followed a similar patteren to the previous constructions as they all used reasonably simialr materials.

Models - The Morse Code Machine

Similar to the Enigma Machine, this model was based upon the basic box shape.

Firstly an indent in one of the faces was created using the Inset and Extrude tools to form the main control panel. This was then fine tuned by editing certain polygons to achieve two curved arches at the top of this panel.

The buttons were then created and placed. They were built using cylinders mostly. Some had curved tops which were created by pulling up the vertexes on the top face of the cylinder to make it curved (this technique was also used to elongate some of the buttons). These knobs then had every other face around the sides extruded and bevelled to form the rough grip for them.

Then came the plugs for the wires. These were cylinders with the outermost ring of polygons selected and then extruded to form the sides of the plug. Within then plug itself, pins were placed made from capsule shapes.

Once all the plugs and sockets were built and placed, readout was constructed by extruding a flattened cylinder. Firstly the vertexes had to be edited so that the extruded portions formed the shape of the glass panel on the reader. Once the vertexes were correctly positioned the faces that were to be extruded were selected and then modified. This produced and correctly shaped indent but the readout has glass on it. To put this in the section of the readout that had been extruded was selected again and duplicated. a material was then added to this section that was created by reducing it's visibility and increasing it's glossiness to mimic glass. The duplication of this section also meant the glass panel was a perfect fit.

Similarly, this glass texture was used for two similar inclusions either side of the main readout. For these a rectangle was textured and bent.

A second, smaller model formed the device with which the operator taps out messages. This was again another box except that it's edges were modified in order to make them more curved. This was done by moving the vertexes to from a more rounded edge. As for the button on top, this was a flattened cylinder, again with the vertexes moved to form a rounded edge.

The cable connecting the receiver and the smaller tapping box was made in the same fashion as the wires on the Enigma Machine model.
As with the Enigma MAchine model, screws were added to this machine to add to the realism of it.

The Model was them textured using the Material Editor both for creating custom textures by changing the glossiness, colour, gradient, bump, noise setting etc.


Models - Enigma Machine

The Enigma Machine is essentially a box and so this is what the model was based upon. The model incorporated various boxes to form the wooden case in which the machine itself is kept. To form the lid the Extrude and Inset tools where used to form a rim and then push in the underside face. The surrounding edges were simple boxes, measured and them put into place.

 The internal mechanism of the machine itself was a cylinder which was then ringed with tubes to form the cog mountings. The cogs themselves were formed from flattened cylinders with every other edge bevelled and extruded to form the spokes. in order for these spokes to be suitably sharp faces were deleted and the gaps bridged.

The dials and buttons where mostly just cylinders with some detailing incorporated using the Extrude tool and Vertex modifier give texture to the standard shapes. For some of the oval shaped dials, a sphere was used, flattened and then stretched into the correct shape.

The keybourd was perhaps the most time consuming aspect of this model. The black bases were simple cylinders coloured black and duplicated for the 26 letters. The letters themselves were simple text that was placed upon each of the keys so that they were in the centre. Each key was then grouped (base and letter) so that when the keys were positioned everything could be moved easily. The positioning was made easier by placing the key stalks first. Once the first was placed it was then duplicated at regular intervals to ensure the proper spacing. Once this was done the keys themselves were then placed on top and centred.

Next came the texture. For the casing a worn wood texture was taken from the Internet and Bump added to it, providing a realistic texture. This material was then placed onto the box exterior. Unfortunately the incorporated worn edge did not fall upon the side that it was meant to. To correct this, the UVW Mapping modifier was used that made it possible for the texture to be fitted to the shape and moved into the correct place through manipulation of the U, V and W channels.
Wood was not the only texture within this model design, plastic and metal were also incorporated as part of the machine's casing and inner working as well as some of the controls. 3D Studio Max incorporates certain pre-set textures that provide a great base to work with with regards to these materials. They are accessed through assigning the renderer to be Mental Ray and then entering the Material Editor. Within this menu the various material templates can be accessed and then refined for based upon the user's needs.
For this model a brown platic was needed for the inner casing of the machine. A plastic pre-set was selected then tweeked with regards to colour, glossiness and distortion until the resultant material was suitable for application to the model. A similar technique was used for the metal textures used within this model.

Finally a little more detail was added to the model with addition of screws that were simply fattened spheres with two lines of polygons removed from one side and then the subsequent hole filled. They were simple to make but their addition lends that much more realism to the model.
Additionally, the wires at the front were added by creating a compound object from a spline and a cylinder, this allowed for the wires to all curve differently but also have substance and texture applied.


And there you have it, one Enigma Machine.

Thursday, 8 November 2012

Research - TBY-2 Radio

This radio was developed for the Navy in the late 1930s and used prominently by the Marine Corps. It was prominent in the film "Windtalkers".
They were often used as ship-to-shore radios and could be found on the vessels docked at Pearl Harbour. This was the reason for their inclusion, they were an iconic piece of equipment for the U.S. Navy and as such I felt that it should be included in a presentation that focuses upon the tragedy that befell, primarily, the soldiers of this branch of the American Armed Forces.


Research - Station HYPO, Hawaii

Station HYPO, also known as Fleet Radio Unit Pacific (FRUPAC), was the U.S. Navy Intelligence Base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. It was one of two Allied Signal Intelligence Units (Fleet Radio Units), the other being Frumel in Melbourne, Australia.
It was under the control of OP-20-G (Office of Chief of Naval Operation/OPNAV, 20th Division of the Office of Naval Communications, G-Section/Communication), based in Washington and housed in the Old Administration Building at Pearl Harbour.
It was tasked with Cryptanalytic assignments relating to the Japanese along with a couple of other stations, namely CAST at Cavite and Corregidor in the Philippines.

The code they were most concerned with was called JN-25 which was the Japanese Naval Code.

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

There's no Smoke without Fire

As part of our tutorials, we were shown particle systems. Using these tools we were able to create smoke and fire which will come in handy when doing the final animation as fire and smoke are part and parcel in explosions.

This tutorial was also extremely useful for me as Particle Systems are the new technique that I wanted to develop. Because of this I made extensive notes based upon a couple of tutorial videos and the techniques that we were shown in class.

I created both the smoke and fire based upon tutorial notes and through watching some tutorial videos.

First I started by creating a Super Spray particle system by choosing the Particle Systems creator. Once this was selected it was much the same as other basic objects in placing in the scene, just drag and drop. When placing the system initially, you have control over its size. This can be altered later.

Once the Particle System has been placed, we must set it up in terms of how it will look. With the system in the view port we are presented with various modifying options in the modifier tab.

The number of particles used per frame was the first task, this is found within the Particle Generation Tab, Particle Quantity then Use rate. Similarly for Particle Size and Timing. The Timing controls when the particles are emitted from and to.

We can also change the type of particles emitted. Initially I chose Facing. The Facing particles will always face the viewer, no matter what angles they are seen from. Later I changed this the spherical ones as I felt these gave a more realistic smoke effect.

Now that the basic particle system was established, I could then start to add materials to it so that it was actually smoke coloured. This process was similar to adding materials to any other model, by using the Material Editor.

By going into the Maps tab followed by the Diffuse colour option and then choosing particle age, we can edit the colour of the the particles as they age. They will be one colour when emitted, another half way through the animation and then a final colour before they disappear.

Similarly with the Opacity. We are presented with two channels, Map and Mask. Within the Map channel I placed the Noise Map to give a dappled effect and Gradient in the Mask channel to make the colour transitions smooth.

After a few goes and messing around with colours I was left with smoke and fire.

Models - The Office Chair

I started to model the code breaking offices with a basic piece of furniture, the humble office chair.

This model was created with basic objects. Cylinders were used for the legs of the chair, they were bent and their Z Axis squashed. The back-rest handle was created from a flattened cylinder which had had some of its polygons deleted. When deleting these faces holes were left in the shape. I had to plug these by using the Cap tool in the Border selection.

Although the actual modelling was not too challenging with this model, I have tried to make it as detailed as possible with the inclusion of screws holding it all together.

A simple model but a start to the decoding offices.

Project Research

The first task that we assigned ourselves was to split the animation and modelling aspects of our project into tasks for each member.
My modelling role was to look into the code breaking aspects of Pearl Harbour. This involved the equipment that was used and the layout of the offices that they worked in.
I researched the type of equipment that the U.S. military was using in 1941 in their code breaking and intelligence offices.
I also looked into other code breaking offices such as Bletchley Park in order to see the similarities and differences between the operations. The layout of the offices, techniques and equipment used were very similar.

The German Enigma Machine:

This Machine was originally developed Nazi Germany and used to encryt their messages. When the Japanese developed their naval ode they based it upon this Enigma machine, although not strictly present at the Naval Offices at Pearl Harbour, I wanted to include it to highlight the backing that Japan had. It wasn't just them acting alone, they were supported by Nazi forces.


Station HYPO in Hawaii:


Office Chair used in 1941:

Olympia Robust, military issue typewriter:



The document that rumoured an attack upon Pearl Harbour:





Bletchley Park, UK








Wednesday, 10 October 2012

My New Technique

As part of the group project, we all had to choose an aspect of modelling that we wanted to develop within this module. With the topic of Pearl Harbour being the focus, explosions will play a part. I felt that this was a good opportunity to look into particle systems which can be used for the explosion and smoke effects.
Since I did not incorporate this technique in the last modelling module this was something that I would need to develop because of the numerous applications it offers.

Low Poly Building

This tutorial demonstrates a simple way of building a background cityscape using simple Low Poly buildings. By using the standard plane primitive, comprised of a single polygon, an image of a building was placed onto it like any other texture. Converting this to an editable poly allowed us to use the Quickslice Tool to add edges for the windows. After the edges were placed we could then select the created polygons for the windows and then extrude them to create depth. Simple but effective.

Making a Box a Circle

In a similar exercises to my man-cave I have created. By using the Ring, Connect and Inset tools as before I have indented the box. This process can be used to create plane fuselages, which is useful considering the topic of the assignments.

Unwrap UVW

Expanding upon basic textures, we learnt about Unwrapping UVW textures. This involves deconstructing a shape and mapping the correct texture to the individual faces so that when the texture is applied to the shape it fits perfectly. In this case we were making a simple dice.
We started with a humble box. Applied to this box was the Unwrap UVW modifier which, with the shape highlighted, can then be edited. When editing, the shape is shown like flat packed furniture, spread out flat on a grid. The faces can then be moved around into the correct position, handily when a face is selected on the Unwrap editor it also becomes highlighted in the preview window so it is easier to identify which faces should be aligned where.
Once all the faces have been aligned properly, the edges must be welded together. Within the UVW editor, under Tools, there is a Weld Edges option. With to edges selected and this tool used the green edges turn from green to grey. Having welded all the correct edges, the template must be scaled to fit within the editing boundary, a dark blue box within the UVW editor. This UV template must then be rendered, an option within the tools tab, so that it can be saved as a PNG file and imported into photoshop.
Having imported the template into Photoshop, we added another layer to form the colour for the dice. Another layer was added for the dots. Images can also be imported and aligned for more complex models. The outline layer was then hidden, as we don't want this showing up on the model, and then the image saved as a PNG file.



Adding this texture to the model then follows the same procedure as normal, a simple drag and drop.

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

Smoothing: The Easy Way

Next we looked at smoothing by selecting various polygons within a basic shape. We started with a basic sphere and converted it to Editable Poly. We can then select the Polygon Tool. With this selected we scroll down to a section with a number grid. This grid represents the different smoothing groups for the polygons within the selected shape. By selecting different smoothing groups for various polygons we can create seam in the shape without adding more geometry. The example that was used was a basic plane and creating a seam between the body and wings.
Two sets of polygons with separate smoothing groups will create a seam. If these two groups are then given an additional common smoothing group this seem will disappear and look no different to the original object.

My Man-Cave

Building upon our work in 3D Modelling last semester, I have created my man-cave complete with inset door and window. Although the final product leaves alot to be desired with regards to decore, the framework is certainly there.
The man-cave started life as a humble box that is then converted to and Editable Poly. Once this has been done I selected the Edge Tool and chose one of the eges of the box. The Ring Tool was used to select all of the edges that were on the same face. The Connect Tool connects two edges together. This means that if horizontal connections are wanted you select a side edge or for vertical connections either the top or bottom edge. Once I had a corrrectly shaped polygon to form a door, the Extrude tool was used to create a door frame and Inset to put in the depth of the door.
The same technique was used for the window.
And there we have it, the basics of a man-cave.


Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Research Assignment

As the research behind this assignment will need to be in-depth and thorough, we have split up the various aspects of it between the group members.

In order to achieve an authentic feel to our animation, I have been tasked with looking into the code-breaking that was employed by the Americans to intercept and translate the Japanese radio traffic. Incorporated within this topic will be the locations, office layout, documentation structure and the equipment that was used in the decryption operations in that time period.

The Brief


We have been asked to research and create and animation describing the events of the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese on the 7th December 1941.

Surrounding these events are numerous conspiracy theories blaming FDR directly for the attack, claiming that he had foreknowledge and allowed the destruction of the base and the death of 2400 Americans simply to rally the American people and shake them from their overwhelming isolationist mind-set.

The task is definitely an engaging one, allowing us to decipher fact from fiction and then present our conclusions in the form of an animation.
Having enjoyed my previous work with 3D modelling, I think that the scope of this assignment and the need to look into the events and draw our own conclusions will only add to the enjoyment.
I’m very much looking forward to getting stuck in to this assignment.