I’m really sad because there will be no more class from Nick next Term. I learned so much from him.
FINAL ANIMATION DEMO
DOCUMENTING
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Category: Mechanical Arm
This week I did the shooting for the compositing. I bought a green gloves on amazon and shoot the video myself.
I filmed the video and used premiere pro to take out the green gloves. I used the “Ultra Key” effect and selected the colour to remove the gloves.
Instead of exporting the video from the alpha channel, I used the luma key to take out the black background.
Process:
I also shoot a blank background for the final compositing:
Final work:
From past weeks of learning, I really gained a lot understanding about rigging.
I learned that Rigging is composed of three parts: geometry, curves, and joints. Geometry is controlled by joints. Joints are controlled by Controllers. Organization in Rigging is essential. Something that’s named wrongly, something that’s not properly aligned, or something that’s not in the right place all of those things will break the rig.
Final render and animation
Idea: Naturalistic mech arm
I want to create a naturalistic looking for my mechanical arm because I think it is interesting to blend the idea of nature and machines together. A lot of design in life actually comes from nature. One example is the sharkskin swimsuit. Shark skin has a texture that can reduce drag in the water, allowing swimmers to move more quickly.
Design the robot arm in Procreate:
Modelling process:
Final model
UV MAPPING:
Open the UV first, then in maya, there will be a messy UV, then sew it and then unfold it to organize it. Then cut it the way it makes (the default square map on the UV has to be even). Keep doing the process until the UV map is tidy and the square is even.
Texturing:
There are two ways to do the texture here. One is using Substance Painter to paint it following the UV map. The second way is using a node to do the texture. For this project, I think it is better to use nodes for texturing.
I did some experiments on the texture as well to find the best visual I wanted:
Rendering process:
Final:
Arm rigging:
After finishing the constrain on the small objects. I simply create a parent constrain between the controller for the elbow and forearm. Then I create parent constrain between the shoulder and upper arm.
Tips for rigging:
1.Rigging 1_elbow ctrl-forearm-parent constrain
2. Use point ctrl to centre the control curve
3. Shoulder/upper arm–parent constrain
4. Set driven key-crtl/shoulder pad-key
5. Modify constrain-limit information
Modelling process:
Rigging:
Introduction: use different constrain to rig the mechanical arm.
Use aim constrain to create control between locator and the pipe.(1) Then use point constrain to create the popping animation between the pipes. At last, create parent constrain between the top axis and top locator(2)
Nick went through what he taught last term this class, which is animating with Set Driven Key. It is a relatively new way for me to animate, but I think it is very useful in lots of situations. It’s very clean and not so hard to set up. Use Set Driven Key can be a very nice workflow when comes to animating.
aim constrain—-control the rotation
point constrain—-control the translation
parent constrain—both the translation and rotation
1.Place the locator (Nick’s explanation)
(2)(Nick’s explanation)
tip1: holding ctrl while mouth right click=extra bar
tip2: use Set Driven Key to make animation.
Process
Render View
Rigging
Introduction:
tip1: ctrl D + shift P to duplicate and take it out from the hierarchy.
tip2: crease tool and mid mouth button to create hard edgy.
tip3: put on display handle and then it’s easier to keep the pivot from one parts together.
Process
Categories
Week 2 Continue hand set-up
Introduction:
Last Nick’s session was very helpful and insightful on both fundamental hard surface modelling and animating. The fun I had following his teaching made want to develop more on the mechanical model. This week’s session is about modelling the palm of the hand. Firstly Nick taught us to organize and name the model. It’s a very necessary process because model with the right name is very crucial for rigging.
Nick showed us different way of closing holes. I usually use bridge to fix topology. Nick showed us the way of closing it differently by using closing holes and multi-cut. I asked my 3D modeller friend after about it, my friend sometimes bridge bugs so closing holes is better.
tip1: create quick selection so it’s easier to control.
Process
Categories
Week 1 Modelling basic Part 1
Introduction:
This week Nick did a comprehensive class on how to design and construct a robotic arm. He said that building a robot arm may look hard but it’s not so hard to do. It is new to me to make a complicated robot arm as well. I don’t usually work with Maya, so it might be challenging for me to do the robot arm. However, Nick’s class is always helpful on the fundamental side of learning the software because he is very experienced and a nice lecturer to learn from. I’m very happy and excited to do the robot arm.
New tip: Holding ctrl while scaling makes the object smoother.
tip 2: holding middle mouse button can change the number on the selected bar easily.
tip 3: open custom shelf, click ctrl and shift at the same time and drag the insert edgy loop (or other function) into the shelf.
tip 4: press 7 to turn on light view. Create spot light and press t to create aim. So the big light can follow the aim around.
tip 5: put both pre and post infinity cycle-select infinity on view to create a loop animation.
tip 6: ctrl+shift+d for duplicate special
Modelling Process: