I've decided to start this blog to show my experience progress through my time as Full Sail University. However, since I am already well into the Computer Animation BS degree program and I already have so much work done already, so I'm using this first post to get a recap on the CG work I have done already.
The way it's laid out is from most recent work on top to oldest on bottom. This way I can keep the flow of the blog setup.
Character Rigging 2
This class was a bit different than CRI1 because we were using Motion capture data to create a scene with a rig. In this class we learned about the skin binding process, how to make blend shapes, and nDynamics such as cloth, hair, and fur.
Character Rigging 1
In this class we created a proxy rig for a character that had an IK/FK switch on the arms. it also had reverse foot lock on the feet controls. We also practiced scripting in Python. I really enjoyed this class as well.
Production Modeling
This was probably my favorite class so far. I think it challenged me the most. This was our last modeling class. In this class we took an in depth look at using Zbrush and how to get better at doing digital sculptures.
Fundamentals of animation
During this month we converted what we learned in 2D animation and used it in 3D with Maya. We did a few animation and the final one was a "walk and kick" with legs.
Compositing Fundamentals
During this month we got our first look at compositing, which is the integration of different components for a specific image or movie, such as CG elements in film or CG on CG or even film with film. It's sort of the last step in the pipeline before the movie is finished.
2D animation
Next we dove into the principals of animation in 2D on paper. We drew out a few animation sequences that showed the basics of animation principals.
Character design and creation
This class is another modeling class, but unlike MCR and modeling in Maya, we started to take our modeling practices into other sculpting programs like ZBrush and sculptris. The name of the program doesn't exactly fit the curriculum because we didn't really design or create a character, but we did dive into modeling with correct anatomy. This way people that took the class would be able to actually go through and fully design and model out a character.
Methods of design
This was also an art class like FMA 1 and 2, but it was a little bit more focused on the design principles behind the same kinds of art work. During this month I also took college math, and during that class I wrote a paper on how to decide what your polygon limits are when creating a game. I will post this paper in a later blog post.
Fundamentals of Art 2
This class was pretty much an extension of FMA1 except we did a lot of live drawing. Drawing things while they move. We did live human anatomy practices, and drawings of animals, then we did some character design practices and sculptures.
Shading and Lighting
During this month we practiced the basics of using Maya Mental Ray and rendering using mia_material_x. We got a better understanding on how to light a scene and how to use the different lights given within Maya. Just my personal thought, I'm not really a big fan of shading and lighting. I found this class to be pretty confusing and boring, but I did well anyway. I don't think that this will be my focus when it comes to finals.
Fundamentals of Art 1
This class is pretty self explanatory it's the practice and understanding of the core concepts of art; such as Line, contrast, shape, movement, color, etc. This is some pictures of my work from this month.
Model Creation
The next month was MCR. I took this class at the same time as Art fundamentals 1. This class was focused on the basics of 3d modeling using just Maya. During this month we modeled out 3 scenes. The first one was a garage. Most of the items in the garage were already modeled, and we were given some choices on what we wanted to model. The choices were typical things you would find in a garage such as paint buckets/ brushes, tools, landscaping tools, broom, etc. We were given limits on the amount of polygons we could use, but it was much more reasonable than 3DF.
Here's a few screenshots of the items I modeled.
The next scene was an outdoor cafe. In this scene the only things that were already modeled were the cafe building, the ground, and the things inside the cafe. We had to populate the outside with a list of items. In this scene the models had to hold their shape in "3" key smoothing so we had to make sure we had holding edges and such as well.
Here's some pictures.
The last scene for the month was a final. This scene was different because we weren't already given anything other than a reference photo to model from. We had to chose from a list of pictures of rooms and we were given 3 tiers of difficulty to choose from. I personally asked the instructor what he thought the hardest out of all of them would be because I was doing well in the class already by this time and I like a good challenge. So the image of the Loft room was the one I ended up going with. I ended up getting a 100% on the project, and I was given the Course Director's award.
Here's the reference photo.
And here's mine.
3D Foundations
First up is 3DF. This was my introduction to 3D arts. Storyboarding, modeling, rigging, shading and lighting, and animation. We were assigned to do a 6 second video, and do all the requirements from beginning to end. At the time I thought that I did a pretty good job since the models were restricted to a certain number of polygons, but looking back I can see so much that went wrong. I've gone so far since then.
