Charlie Whiffing, BA(Hons) Computer animation arts, UCA Rochester

This is the finished render of the chicken coop that has been textured and had a sky added along with a light wrap. All of the textures where made in photoshop using the UV's as a template so the right textures appeared in the right places. The barn and coop textures consisted of some distorted lines added while the floor uses textures to separate the lighter parts from the darker ones as well as have some dots added. The actual sky was made in Maya using a sky dome with a gradient added to separate the different shades of blue however, this also adds a blue tinge on the environment so the sky was rendered and saved as a separate image from the actual scene. In photoshop they where put on two separate layers.

Most of the problems I experienced in the what if metropolis project revolved around Maya as this is the first time that I had to make 3D models from scratch. The Orthographic's I made where not entirely accurate and while most where only slightly of, I ad problem where I couldn't visualize more complex shapes from different angles such as the arms and legs of the elephant bin that looked flat rom the front but more like cylinders from the side. I new making 3D modals takes a long time which is why I allowed more time for it and while it still took a long time, in the process I learned how to do certain parts that took a long time quicker such as for the main cube building in the scene where all of the borders where separate pieces that I could of made by extruding in the face as well as how to modal more organic shapes such as for the previously mentioned elephant bin which will help in the future. Probably the most important lesson I learned from this project is that more tim...

What if Metropolis Art Of by Charlie on Scribd

What if Metropolis Presenta... by Charlie on Scribd

An image made in photoshop showing the process of making the 3D set using several renders. The renders show the set in its default grey, then in wire frame and finally in color. To make it I layered the picture on top of each other and deleted sections to show the transition.

An influence map for the potential art style of the 3D set which will have a painted look.

Here I have finished the lighting for the 3D set by mostly using glowing textures for the lamp posts and windows. The only other actual lights are a directional one to represent the sun and a dome for general lighting. While the scene doesn't take place at night it is over cast with rain clouds. One of the side walks is reflecting the objects next to it for some reason, not intentional but could be used to slightly reflect objects as the pavement is wet. There is a lot of noise that I need to get rid of but all that left is to block in the color and texture it, the UV's are already done so it should just be a mater of filling the in.

With most of the UV's finished I spent most of today putting together the final scene based off the concept art I did for Fedora. The main problem I had was recreating the perspective I used in the concept art which required me to arrange the objects differently. That large tower in the distance is much farther away then it looks and isn't touching the ground as here you cant see most of it. The lamp posts are not in a straight line either because when I did that they didn't match the concept art. Only two objects are missing from this scene and then the lighting and textures can be applied.

The background matt painting for the 3D scene which will be used instead of modeling the background mainly because I don't have time ti actually model this. Besides I don't know how to make clouds or rain in Maya. In the original concept the clouds n building where done last as only part of them was visible, as I am not entirely sure how accurate the 3D set will be to the concept art I completely filled in the clouds and building. There will also be a layer of rain in front of the set which is here but not entirely visible.

These should be the lat orthographs I need for the 3D models. By this point I have already made the road in Maya which leaves the museum that shouldn't take long. I only really need to make halve of one of the pillars which can then be mirrored and copied and pasted three more times. The ball in the middle will likely be made just by making a large sphere.

Wit these there is only one more model that still needs to be made being the museum that is a background object so shouldn't take as long. Picture one is the cleaning robot that will be quite small in the image so I don't think it will require much detail. Picture two is the road which will be the floor for the 3D set, for some reason I forgot I would need to make this. The last picture is off the towers which are far away from the camera and hence wont require much detail.

Besides UV,s and the fact they are halve of there former selves these two models are nearly done. Which leaves three to go of which two of which are halve done and are background models that wont require any where near the same amount of detail as these ones. For the lamp post I was shown how to make the ear and I replicated that for the bin by starting from a plane and using as few edge loops as possible to get the right shape which was then smoothed. That plane was then extruded and beveled to keep the shape. The trash goes down the ears of these bins so I made a hole by putting down two edge loops and extruding in the faces, I wanted the hole to curve so no other geometry was needed. The two curved parts on the lamp post where done in a similar way.

Out of all the objects I have to make for this project, the Elephant bin is probably the most tricky due to its more organic shape when compared to the other models I have made up to this point. Here all the parts have been made except for the ears. The body and head where made from a cube that is smoothed and re shapes sightly with a lattice. The arm and leg are made from cylinders that have been smoothed. The eyes and nails are made from just a basic sphere.

After making all the off the assets for the scene separately we imported them in to one scene using a top down map orthographic. Most of the objects had to be scaled to the right size. The lighting for the scene was applied in to forms, a directional light source to represent the sun and a sky dome for the general lighting. Both of which produced the shadows in the scene. Basic colors have been blocked in but the coop, floor and barn still require texturing.

Another set of orthographic for a building that is too far away from the camera to be a hero object. In the same vain it will  not have as much detail put into it or redesigned as I do not have time. This one required an over head view to show the fact that the rings re not attached to the building and for placement. I don't foresee any problems modeling the building as its mostly basic shapes that can be made fro a cylinder or square without to much modification.

This is the mane hero object that will be in the 3D scene that I am still working on. I have made halve of so I can do the UV's for halve the objects and the mirror them over after wards to save time. By this point all the objects geometry have been decided up ad I am halve way through the UV's. I encountered some problems such not being sure how to make the windows. I initially tried to cut them out of the base of the building but that distorted the geometry so instead I made separate pieces out of cubes for the windows that I then divided up and extracted. When I was making the barn scene in preparation for this the orthographic where actual screen shots of a finished version that made then completely accurate, however working from separately drawn ones I have found is not as accurate as one is slightly of from the other meaning I occasionally need to turn them of and match the parts up to the actual model. Encountered a strange problem where for some reason I cant put edge...

Travelogue by Charlie on Scribd

OGR_What if Metropolis by Charlie on Scribd Life drawing: https://charliewucablog.blogspot.com/search/label/Life%20drawing Film review: https://charliewucablog.blogspot.com/search/label/Film%20review Photoshop lessons: https://charliewucablog.blogspot.com/search/label/photoshop%20tutorial Animate lessons:  https://charliewucablog.blogspot.com/search/label/Toolkit%20workshop