Week 4 – Environment Modelling – Advanced Experimental Animation Unit

Unit 2.1 Advanced and Experimental 3D Computer Animation Techniques – Project 1, week 4.

Puppy House

Modelling

I tried making the door with Boolean (see figure 1), however, the vertices this produced were too great in number and too dispersed. Before settling on this modelling for the doorway, I will experiment more. Instead I used an object, as seen in figure 1, as a guide and made the appropriate number of vertices along the already existing edges. Using the multi-cut tool, I completed half of the doorway. After some clean up work, I deleted half of the mesh and used the mirror tool to complete the structure.

*Figure 2*. I modelled the inside geometry using a simple extrude.

*Figure 3.* Beveled edge loops for effect.

I bevelled appropriately placed edges and then extruded them in. This will later help me to give the appearance of wooden planks on the house.

*Figure 4.* The finished dog house model.

The model is mostly done at this point. There are a few visible changes I wish to make based on my opinion and on peer feedback. The small roof over the door looks strange. I will remove it. And I want to exaggerate the ‘tall structure from the perspective of a small animal’ style theme. I have changed the model like so:

*Figure 5*. Altered model using lattice deformer.

The front and back side of the dog house have been rotated/ more inclined backwards.

*Figure 6*. Another angle of the alterations.

As you can see from a lower angle, the changes made should help with the perspective, even slightly. To resemble the feeling of looking at a skyscraper/ very tall building from a small perspective. I will do the same with the main residence building, however, I think I will have to adjust the camera so that there are more shots of the buildings from below, looking up. Since the effect will not work as well otherwise. I wanted to have more high-angle shots looking down at the ‘vulnerable’ animal. Nevertheless, they will simply have to be lower than in my storyboard, but above the character. Then, I can have a shot somewhere when looking at the tall building from below.

UVs

Thoughts About The Design So Far:

Colour Assignment

The primary colour pallet is only for viewing purposes so that I and my reader can easily identify what the differently coloured parts of the model will be. Also, the way I have planned this (the key to my diagram) is that the labels with only codes, e.g. ‘R1F’, have an Arnold material. Any that have a material before the code, e.g. ‘Wood R1F’, mean to use Substance Painter. The codes refer to the colour pallet in the corner. I will try to have mostly Arnold materials used for most parts of the model. Other areas that are the main structures of certain details can have more realism using Substance Painter. For this, all I will do is apply a material in SP such as ‘clean concrete’ and overlay a fill colour layer on top with altered opacity accordingly. This way I can have some level of realism, as well as not too much strain on time.

Textures

*Figure 11.* Version 1 dog house texturing.

This is the dog house so far. The combination of colours is interesting, however not the most aesthetically pleasing combination of shades. I believe more extreme shade comparisons should be used. For example, darkening the concrete base to a darker shade of bluey-grey, as well as lightening the rooftop.

Correcting Incorrections

When completing the texturing in Substance Painter, I realised that I had completed the UVs incorrectly. In order for the material to have the correct wood grain directions, the UV shells alignment was important.

Also, as you can see one the model in figure 12, the planks on the main structure are curved. And I left the UV edges on the extruded in areas curved as well.

*Figure 12.* Original errored uv shape notes on top of the image that shows the result of the error.

However, the material applied to the uv and mode is straight and did not curve to follow the mesh. That being the case, I thought of a method that would quickly solve this issue. I simply straightened the selected curved edges in the UV editor and used the ‘straighten UV tool’. This required some clean up, yet the result was a material that appeared to curve around the model. For further explanation, see figure 13.

*Figure 13.* Explanation of how I created a curved appearance to the texture maps on models using straight UVs and texture maps.

Also, I intentionally did not assign texture sets, in order to quicken the process. Therefore, the wood material I assigned to the model covered all of the UV shells, leading to some with incorrect orientations for wood grain. these were easily fixed once I had corrected the orientation of the ups to fit a uniform direction according to each UV shapes need.

Additional Touches

*Figure 14.* Change in colour and wood grain style material.

*Figure 15*. The wood grain is curved just like it should be.

*Figure 16*. I added scratches to the base of the dog house, to show unrest/ anxious behaviour from a young dog.

Tree Modelling

Most of the tree roots are traditionally at ground level. I tried to mix things up a bit by curving them off the ground more, to vary their shape. This may also become a narrative prop in the animation, I could use the roots and have the character trip over them? While this idea is still doable, I do not like the look of the model, and may undo the roots that are not on the ground. Also, this may be best considering the scale of the puppy in comparison to the size of the environment. Roots that are too large will not work for the small size of the puppy.

I am making progress with the tree model. At this point, I wanted to critically analyse the visual structure. The base seems to large, it looks unnatural.

*Figure 19*. This is the result. Much better, in terms of proportions.

I finished the branches, however with the direction and angles of the curves, I think I strayed away from my original design too much. They should be curving down and out more. I want to restart the branches and make them more like I originally designed them.

*Figure 21.* Final model without smoothing.

*Figure 22*. Finished tree model smoothed.

Leaf Modelling

Testing Shapes

*Figure 24*. Leave shape tests, front view.

While these models are designed around my initial drawing, I do not resonate with any of them. I want to try another shape, as I do not think having block shapes as leaves would fit with the environment style. I want to try an alpha map, as I mentioned before, however, I will try to style them around my initial design. By this I mean, they could be sized, shaped and positioned similarly.

Alpha Leaves

*Figure 25*. Alpha leafs imported, viewport.

This was the first time that I made alpha leaves, so it took me a while to get used to it. This is the result of the experiment.

I want the leaves to be the same colour scheme of the initial design, however, I made a few alpha leaf variations just in case I want to experiment with colours later. (I have more than in the image above).

Leaf Placement

Here I experimented with the sizing and placement of the leaves.

I think that the size should be increased. This will mean that I need to place less of them to cover the tree.

…Like so. With a larger density of the leaves, this should suffice. Perhaps positioned slightly higher also.

*Figure 30*. Lower level leaves placed, bigger size.

*Figure 31.* All leaves placed, version 1.

*Figure 32.* Leaf placement version 2, render view.

Looking at the leaves now, I think the density is questionable. I will need peer feedback, however, it should be suitable for my environment. One part of the leaf placement I should correct is the angle of the upper leaves, they should be downwards more to fit with the lower half and the concept design. I am also wondering if the colour of the leaves is appropriate, yet this will have to be revaluated when I have complete the rest of the environment textures.

*Figure 33*. Leaf positioning, version 2.

Draft Trunk Colour Tests

I will later use a substance painter wood material on the trunk, but for now, I applied an Arnold material to see what the tree looks like with different colours. I believe the darker colours would be too much. Not enough variety in comparison to the rest of the scene and the leaf colour. This tree will be a background setting object, therefore it needs to blend in, not stand out. The last two images would be most appropriate.

Textures

*Figure 35a.* Tree trunk Substance Painter material first try. Zoomed-in view.

*Figure 35b.* Tree trunk Substance Painter material first try.

For now, I have added a simple wood material. Looking at this now, I should add more details, such as shading and dirt.

I decided to make it slightly darker. The image looks too dark simply considering the lighting difference between the two images, but it shouldn’t look too dark in Maya. Maya always seems to change the colouring when I transfer the texture maps.

*Figure 36.* Substance Painter new tree texture.

Garden Plant Box

*Figure 37*. Plant box with alpha leaves and soil texture.

*Figure 38*. Plant box with texture maps from Substance painter applied.

The textures did not appear on some of the planks. Instead of restarting, I simply applied a aistandardsurface material. So that I wouldn’t waste time and could move on quickly. The wood texture still appeared on some parts of the plant pot base, therefore, this result is satisfactory. It also brings a slight colour variation. I will try to apply the textures again when bringing together all of the environment models, though.

Fence

I utilised a lattice deformer to change the shape of the fence. This happened to be the first time learning to use deformers, I found it fit with my goal and worked perfectly. Even though it was my first time using a deformer, I was able to produce the shape I wanted easily using this tool.