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

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.

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.