For my final, I decided to continue working on the scene that I had presented for my midterm. I took on the project to make an entire room using the objects I already made. The finish product came out to be a living room complete with a working fire place and candles and a grandfather clock with moving pendulum. Most of the objects from the midterm were incorporated but finished with different textures. The table lamp was the only piece that didn't make it into the finished product, but the beaded pull-string was used for the standing lamp.
<frame sequence 1> open on flower vase and camera pans up to window
<frame sequence 2> curtains blow and camera turns toward side wall
<frame sequence 3>zooms into picture frames and moves toward clock
<frame sequence 4>clock pendulum swings and camera zooms into fire place
<frame sequence 5>scene finished with zoom out of whole room
FINAL PRODUCT:
PRODUCTION LOG:
The finished look is of a contemporary living room. I started out with the idea of the fireplace and everything came together around that. When the lights are "on" an off-white area light (intensity 1.2) appears in scene approx. 230 frames. At this point, the blue spot light (1.5) disappears. This effect was done using key frames.
This is a close up of the coffee table in the center of the room. The flower vase is the same object that was featured in my midterm, but the petal color has been altered to compliment the colors in the room. The table that it is sitting on is the same table that was in the midterm as well, but the table legs have been shortened using the scale tool. The newspaper was a touch that was added towards the end of the process. I thought it would give the room more of a feeling of home. It was made using two nurb planes and altered point components. The look was completed by taking file textures (two news paper pictures from google images) to make it look like a real paper.
The couch was probably the most challenging piece to create. After searching tutorial after tutorial online, I was unsuccessful in finding some assistance. As a result, I modeled this while looking at reference images of couches from google images. Looking bottom to top, the legs were made using nurb cylinders. The radius of the top/cap was increased using the stretch tool. The final look has a wood 3D texture found in the attribute editor. The colors were edited. The base is a cube and cushions are cylinders that have been stretched and molded. The component points were moved to shape the cushion and the final result was duplicated (edit>duplicate special). The back cushions and pillows were made using cubes with moved component points to have a puffy/stuffed look. The back support is a cube with moved component points to make rounded edges. The arm rests were made by using the pencil tool to create the shape. The shape was then duplicated and lofted. (surfaces>loft). This made a hollow shape so I needed to fill it in using two planes by moving the nurb components. The couch was texturized using a texture found on google images to give it a suede look and the pillows were covered with the same texture (google images) used for the curtains to match.
This image shows a nice view of the lamp that is seen in the back corner during the final video. The shape of the stand was made using the CV curve tool on top of a lamp reference image. The image was imported (.iff format) on a plane. I drew on top of the image using the curve tool and revolved the line when I was finished. The chain of the table lamp was imported from the midterm. The shade was also made using the CV curve tool, but without a reference image. The texture for the shade is an off white lambert and a gold blinn for the stand. The light that you can see shining too the floor is a yellow spotlight (intensity .800/cone angle 84).
These curtains were made in the midterm and have maintained their animation and structure into the final. The only thing that has changed is the texture. I found a red curtain pattern on google images that I changed into .iff format to import into maya. The black ties have also been tightened using the stretch and move tool to make them look more realistic.
In order to add more character to the room, I added some family photos. The frames were made using cubes that were stretched into rectangles. The shape was duplicated from the frame seen in the midterm. After grouping the objects, I could rotate to a landscape using the rotate tool. The pictures are a file texture on a nurb plane. I felt this was an important and pleasant touch to the room to pull the scene together and make it look like an actual family living room.
I had the idea of a grandfather clock in the back of my mind while I was modeling the room. It was one of the last objects I modeled in the room. It was made using a similar techniques as the lamp and arm rest. I took a reference image of a clock and imported it as a file image on a plane. Then, I used the pencil tool to build to bottom arch. The shape was duplicated, lofted, and filled in with three nurb planes. The base is a cube with the bottom component points pulled out to give it character. The same approach was used for the detail in the middle and the top. The clock was textured with a brown lambert. The pendulum was made using as cylinder, altered nurb circle, and a gold, blinn texture. The pendulum was animated using key frames. Every 24 frames (one second), I would rotate the group (cylinder and circle) to the opposite side to make the illusion that the "pendulum" is swinging.
The books in the screen shot were made using one cube. Three of the four sides were moved in to make it look like pages. Then, I duplicated the group twice and resized each copy. Each book uses a different labert shader for the cover and a pale gold lambert for the pages.
The picture seen in the bottom left is the same object from my midterm with a different shader on the picture frame.
The candle stick was made using CV curves and revolving the line. The candle consists of two cylinders. One uses a white lambert and the other (smaller at the top), which has been scrunched to appear like wax, uses a darker lambert. The wick is a lambert shaded small cylinder.
The flame was made with the help of an online tutorial (http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-maya/how-to-create-an-awesome-fire-effect-using-maya-fluids/). I added a glow behind the candle by using a red-orange area light (intensity .2).
The flame was made using the same tutorial as the candle. The fire is sitting on two cylinders with a wood texture.
EVALUATION:
I am very happy with how the final product came out. I think it's clean, has a mood, and appropriately conveys the conventional living room idea that I was going for. If I had more time, there are a few things I would have liked to change or edit. When the camera pans toward the clock, it becomes noticeable to the viewer that there is no ceiling to the room. I originally hoped to build that ceiling and add a fan or chandelier, but I ran out of time. (This is something to consider adding in future additions). Also, at the end of the camera sequence, when it is zooming out, the viewer again can see the a hole where the floor and wall stop. This is a minor distraction that I would like to edit out in the future. There were also a few holes in my models that should be corrected.
I would also like to play around with the clock more. I think that I could add a more realistic texture for the outside and the pendulum, but most importantly, I would have liked to add a second hand on the clock. When the camera zooms in, it would be nice to see the seconds ticking by to complement the pendulum.
I also tried adding an arm chair to complement the couch, but the way the room was set up, the camera wouldn't be able to catch it without showing an empty background. As I revisit this project in the future, I would really like to add a full background to utilize the whole floor space and have the camera focus on each object.
In the future, I would like to keep working with different textures and building on the shading techniques. I did the best I could with some of the objects, but I had a lot of trouble working in the attribute and hyper-shade editors to get some of my textures to fit the right way.
As the room comes together, I think it would be nice to bring the final render into Finalcut and add music to the scene. This would package the whole project for a nice portfolio piece.
Over all, for being a beginner to Autodesk Maya, the final product is something I can be proud of. I think this was a challenging and worthwhile introduction to the program. I look forward to learning more of what it has to offer and seeing what I can create in the future.
