Week 6 - Project Assignment: PART ONE

The object I'm going to model for my Project 2 is a laptop.

1. STORY

Jimmy was competing a rat-racing game with his friends. In the computer game, a rat was racing around a track on a mousetrap car. The game was very intense as it was during the finals. Due to high nervousness, Jimmy pressed the up button for full speed, causing the rat speeding towards the finishing line with full speed. He can see that his rat was winning the race. But however due to the high spamming of his arrow keys, his rat's car lost control and crashed against the walls of the track due to full speeding. His rat's car was badly dented and the body parts of the rat was scattered everywhere. (>.<)  In the end, his rat immediately emerged as the last competitor in the race and his game was over.

2. SHAPE

There are two parts which I will think it will be difficult to model is the keypads and the speaker of my laptop. As my laptop has an extra number pad which is unusual for normal laptops, I have to model more buttons for the keypads. But that is not the difficult part. The difficult part is that there are some holes in between the keypads. When you model, you do not just merely create polygon cubes and place it on top of a polygon plane. There are two ways to model the keypads, which is boolean difference and using insert edge loop tool followed by extrusion. But I will choose the latter, because I've tried to use boolean difference and do an example of my keypads, but it turned out the topology was little bit messy when you smoothed it as compared to the other method. The extrusion method was much faster and easier.

As for the speakers, I need to draw the holes first on either Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. It just consists of a rectangular background and a few circles. I want the holes to look deeper when I model my laptop, so I should choose the darkest colour possible which is black. Then I go to Assign New Material in Maya and choose Bump Mapping. Since my speakers are metallic, I should choose Blinn.

For the rest of the parts of my laptop, I will just create polygon cubes and bevel them. After that I'll just smooth them.

3. DESIGN

I'm not a professional artist, so my sketches may not look so alike my laptop but it is roughly those edges, corners and look I want to model.

Side view

Top view

Front view

Perspective view

Sketch of perspective view of my laptop

4. RESEARCH

For everyone who wants to model something, there should be a reference image around to picture what the object looks like in detail. In this research, this person modeling a laptop use the above picture as a reference image. My laptop looks similar to this as it has a number pad too. But my overall laptop is white in colour and the corners of my laptops is round.

For the keys of the keypads, the keys are simply made up of many small polygon planes. The person who model this keypads just scaled plane to  the size of one of the keys and duplicate the rest. For those longer keys, he just chose the Edge mode and scale it longer or made the width shorter for the arrow keys. that derives to the picture above.

This guy basically just used the laptop image as a reference image and traced out all the primitive shapes of the laptop. But he didn't model the part where there are holes in between the keys. I think a laptop is just using polygon primitives to model a laptop. Overall, I think this guy has done a great job in modeling the laptop. Of course, it requires techniques like extrusion of the keys, smoothing of the keys insert edge loop tools, beveling and many others. In the end, colours must be added to give it a real look of a real laptop.  

Week 4 - E-learning Exercise

Q: Does multi-tasking give you a real or false sense of having accomplished something?

A: Multi-tasking gives me a real sense of having accomplished something because after so many lab exercises on modelling different kinds of things (eg. gear, cardboard and track), it really feels so good. Due to many exercises of IN3D, at least for me,  the feeling of completing each exercise really gives me a great sense of achievement. It has been so long since I felt this way because it is the first time I complete everything after the long holiday.

Q: Is learning 3D and design different from learning programming, or is all learning the same? Why?

A: 3D and design, to me, is very different from programming, although both also requires design to begin with. 3D and design, using Maya, can make things seems to come to live, while programming commonly used by Adobe Flash, is mainly designing 2D shapes and later drawing out the remaining parts/edges to make it 3D.  For most people, using Maya to design 3D is a much easier and convenient way to animate things. It also saves more time as compared to Adobe Flash. I think many 3D designers today also choose Maya to create their 3D figures.

Q: The article states that “Learning is actually a very complex operation for an individual”. Do you agree with this? Do you feel that you approach your learning in the best way – if yes, how, and if no, how can you change your work style?

A: I totally agree with the statement, “Learning is actually a very complex operation for an individual”.  Learning is an essential process before you could actually start on anything. Without understanding what you have learnt, it is very difficult to succeed on one thing. While learning, you need to understand, analyse, summarize to make your learning process easier. But doing all these is not very easy because not all people are born genius; we have to create our own style of learning things and ask for advice if our way of learning is correct or incorrect. I do not really think that I approach my learning inn the best way because I feel that even though someone thinks that their way of learning is the best in the world, we tend to explore and find other better way than their 'best' way of learning. I think I can change my work style by having better time management, because as projects progress, there are also some homework we need to do and hand up like the next day or next week. For example, if we end at 6pm or 7pm almost everyday, by the time we go home, we either do a bit of homework and go to sleep or we finish and go to school and sleep the next day or we do not even do at all ( and homework increases) . I don't think that's a very ideal way to learn.

 

Q: What are your thoughts about the last paragraph in the extract?

                        

The students for today’s industry have to have talent and the personality to fit in with the team. As a professional artist, communication is important and the ability to communicate well with other team members is an ongoing struggle. It is well noted that a businesses success rides completely on communication and this area is no different. The ability to effectively write an email, give and take constructive criticism, articulate a solution to a problem, and in some situations talk with a client are foundational skills necessary for success.

A: I agree on this last paragraph to the extent that the students' for today's industry have to have talent and the personality to fit in with the team. If one has no talent and the personality to fit in with the team, we can still accept them but we have to train them in the area that they lack. For most people, we prefer those who have talent and the personality to do things correctly because that saves time and we can progress work faster. I personally feel that communication is a very critical thing because in anywhere in the future when we work, we need to present to our clients/colleagues/bosses our proposal for anything. If we did not explain clearly or shy to speak up our mind, the chances of getting our message across is very low. We must also give and take constructive criticism so that we can learn from others as well.

Q: Should your lecturers also focus on your work attitude, or just leave you to sink or swim on your own? Why?

A: Lecturers should also focus on our work attitude because if we do not know anything, it is essential that a lecturer is around to guide us. If a lecturer just let us to swim on our own, I do not see the point why a lecturer should come into a class when he/she is just coming in and sit in front of the computer doing nothing. The lecturer might as well go home and relax, rather than coming to school just to teach. The lecturer, to me, is not qualified to be a lecturer to even mention.

 

Week 3 - Lab 2: Washboard Modelling

1. Create a Polygon Cube and set the width to 34.3, height to 0.6 and depth to 29.2. Set the subdivisions width to 17 and height to 1.

2. Hold right click and select Edge Mode. Select the interior edges of the cube.

3. In the hotbox menu, choose Extrude options under the Edit Mesh option. Set the width to 0.6 in the extrude options.

4. Hold right click and choose Face mode. Select the faces of the beveled edges earlier on.

5. In the Edit Mesh options, select Extrude options and reset their settings. Apply and close.

6. Move the manipulator up a short distance on the Z axis ans set Translate Z to 0.6.

7. Hold right click and select Edge. In the hotbox menu, select Edit Mesh and then select Bevel options. Set the width to 0.5 and segments to 2.

8. Create another Polygon cube and set its width to 1.9, height to 5.1 and depth to 33.

9. In the Channel Box, under pCube1, set Translate X = -29, Z = 0, Y = 2.55.

10. Create another Polygon cube and set its width to 11, height to 0.6 and depth to 29.2 and name it top-panel.

11. Under Modify, select Align tool. Select the top_panel first before the top_header and align the top_panel till it is in the middle of the top_header.

12. Create another polygon cube at the bottom of the top_panel and set it's width to 1.9, height to 3.8 and depth to 29.2.

13. Under the Modify options, select the Align tool again. Align the stringer until it is in the middle of the top_panel.

14. Select the glass  followed by the top_panel and go under Modify options and choose Align tool. Align the glass until it is in the middle of the top_panel.

15. Duplicate the top_stringer to make the bottom stringer of the washboard. In the Channel Box, set Translate X to 18.7.

16. Create another Polygon cube along the width of the glass and set the width to 59.1, height to 3.8 and depth to 1.9. Rename it to leg_left.

17. Use the align tool and align the leg_left to the rest of the washboard. Select leg_left and duplicate it to make the right leg of the washboard.

18. Select the top header, both stringers and both legs. Under the hotbox menu, select Edit Mesh and Bevel options. In the dialog, set Width to .2. Leave the remaining settings at default.

19. In the main menus, choose Window > Outliner. Drag glass over top_header in the Outliner. Link the remaining pieces to the top header.

20. The washboard is done! ^_^

Reflection:
I find this really interesting because I like the sense of satisfaction it gives after designing exactly the same as the pdf file shows. It took me quite some time because I need to specifically join the parts together if not it will look weird. A new thing I learnt today! - Align tool, so cool!

Week 3 - Lab 2: Track Modelling

1. Create a Polygon plane on the front panel. Set width to 10 and height to 4. Set also Translate X, Y and Z to 0.

2. Hold the right-click option and choose Assign New Material > Blinn from the menu. In the Attribute Editor, name the material Track_Profile. In the Attribute Editor > Common Material Attributes dropdown,
choose the button next to Color. In the Create Render Node dialog, under 2D Textures, choose
File. In the File Attributes drop-down, click the file icon next to Image Name and navigate to the file in the source images folder called Track Outline.jpg and open it. In the Front panel, turn on Smooth Shade all and Textured from the Panel Toolbar to see the image on the plane.

3. Go to Edit UVs udner  the hotbox menu and select Normalize.

4. On the main menus, choose Mesh > Create Polygon Tool. To start creating the polygon, click on the corner of the track profile on the lower left side, where it begins to step inward to form the slot. Continue to select the corners in a clockwise direction.

5. After the polygon is complete, hold the right-click option and choose Vertex from the menu. Adjust the placement of any vertices as needed to match the profile closely.

6. Turn visibility off.

7. Go to Edit Mesh in the hotbox menu and set divisions to 20. Extrude a small amount on the Z axis.

8. Set Local Translate z to 45.

9. Hold right click and select Edge. Go to Insert Edge Tool under the Edit Mesh menu. In the Insert Edge Loop Tool dialog, select Multiple Edge Loops and set the Number of edge loops to 2.

10. Click on the edge on the bottom corner at the top of the slot and two lines will appear.

11. Press r for the scale tool and scale the lines approximately 2.9 apart on the X axis.

12. Hold right click and choose the first two faces at the bottom of the track.

13. In the hotbox menu, select Extrude Settings and set divisions to 1. Extrude the polygon a small amount on the Z axis.

14. Set Local Translate Z to 0.2  and Pivot X, Y and Z to 0.

15. Press g to repeat the extrude command and extrude the polygon a little on the Z axis.

16. Set Local Translate Z to 3 and Pivot X, Y, Z to 0.

17. Hold right click and select Edge Mode. Choose the two small edges at the outer corners of the new polygon. In the hotbox menu, choose Edit Mesh and Bevel. In the Bevel Options dialog, set Width to 0.5 and Segments to 1.

 The result:

18. To bend the track, set to Animation on the Status Line. On the main menus, choose Create Deformers > Nonlinear > Bend Settings. In the Create Deformers Options, set Curvature to 1.

19. Set Rotate X to -90. It will bend like the below screenshot.

20. The track is done! :D

Reflection:
It did not took me long to do this but at the back where you had to bend the track, I was wondering why I cannot bend. I mistook Rotate X for Rotate Z, and I went to Rotate Z -90. I learnt my lesson; to be careful next time! ^_^