Making A Sky Box

In Maya

You may be thinking that making a sky box is a long and difficult process but it is actually really easy to accomplish. In this tutorial i'll be showing you how to make a sky box quick and easy.

1. To start you need to create a sphere that is larger than the seen you are creating.

  

2. You then go to faces mode and select the bottom half (make sure to go all the way around to make sure all there aren't any missing) then delete the bottom half.

3.Now that you half a half sphere go to the scale tool and select the blue square in the middle bring the shape to the center until it reflects so the the black is on the outside and the polygon faces on the inside.

4.The last part is choosing a texture any sky texture will do just place is on the half-sphere and make sure that is covers all the inside, and that is all there is to it.

 From the inside it will look like a real sky. Now form the inside it will look like a real sky, but remember it get;s kind of hard to work in a sky box so it may be best to add it last.

 

TIME

This is my Hourglass for my time project. It's a very simple 4 second animation but I'm proud with how it turned out. The Hourglass counstrutction is actually really simple the glass part is only two cylindars in different directions. The outer structure is made of a lot  basic shape which also isn't that time consuming. The hard part of the sand within that had to be animated. I had to make sure that the sand of deceasing on the top and increasing the sand on the bottom all while making it look natural and making sure it fit into the confines of the hourglass. All in all I feel like it turned out ok for the amount of time i actually spent on it.    

We Can't Live Without the Cosmo is a Russian animation by Bronzit. The story revolves around two astronauts who train and work hard to make it into space, but an accident occurs that cost one of them their life. The other astronaut than goes into a deep depression. What makes this story so emotional is how there is no speak in the story at all and only a few words of text to give context to the scene. The animation isn't that that detailed but the the way the backgrounds change out in certain places give the story a feel that only an animation could accomplish. For example at one part the two astronauts are jumping on a bed and the background changes to space to give the sense that there is no gravity. Another unique transition is a wide shot of the night sky but as the sense grows sadder theaters turn into snowflakes. this is something the highly detailed animation couldn't get away with and that's way sometimes less is more.

Airbnb's Walls and Chains is a story about the Berlin wall and the effects it had on the people who guarded it. Now looking at the animation it is pretty clear that it is hand drawn, but here's the thing: it isn't. This is a semi-new style known as non-photorealistic rendering (NPR). NPR is a style that uses 3D models to create a the feel of hand-drawn landscapes. It might seem impossible at first but with new innovations in technology it's actually forecast effective and easier than the standard CGI characters that make an appearance in every major move now a days. Walls and Chains is a great example of how flashing and extreme animation is not needed to tell a emotional and developed story.  

My Semester 1 Work 

 I've spent the entire 1st semester working on an animation that ended up being about two minutes long. Now you might be thinking that I didn't do much, but everything in the animation was done by me from the modeling to the the textures to the the lighting and the animation itself.The modeling took by far the longest as everything from the grand piano to the bottles on the shelve had to crafted. It much harder to make abstract objects that it is to make buildings or simple shapes. 

    

 

The texturing was not as bad as I thought is would be. UV mapping help me out when it came to un-flat objects. The texturing came out pretty good over all although the floor still looks a little strange with the texture i used.

 

The main problem i ran into working on this project was the way Maya handles lighting: it lies. When rendering out the the images they would be about 10 times darker than what had been on my screen. This led to me having to guess how intense the lights should be so you could still see but still give the illusion of night. 

     

Left: what Maya shows

Bottom: what rendering looks like.

The animation itself mainly consisted of moving the camera up and down to simulate walking and the movement of the arms and hands to interact with objects in the environment. All of this combined filled my 120 hours of work and this is the final result.  

Crepuscular Rays

Crepuscular Rays (A.K.A God rays) are a great lighting technique that take advantage of the environment. They are streams of light that pass between objects. They have a certain density that normal lights do not have. They are mostly used to show light that comes thought a window or between building, but they are also used for sunlight that is under water. This was used in notable movies like Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean. These add realism and atmosphere and help create a light source that can light an entire scene. The best part about god rays is that there east to make. All it requires is a point light that has a higher density in the middle then the sides and then placing it in the right place. This is the beauty of the god ray. 

Article: http://tigerprints.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3047&context=all_theses

How to make a Goblet in Maya  

By Alan Seidl

1. Open Maya and hit 'space' to go into side view. 

2. Go to the Curves/ Surfaces tap. 

3. Choice the button that is displayed on the left.  'curve tool' to start creating your goblet.


4. Create your first point at the origin then make a straight line to the right as shown below.

5. Create a U-curve so the line is heading back to the Y-axis.

6. Make points going back to the Y-axis until you've come to a point that you feel is the right thickness for the stem/handle. Then make points going up and out so the top is rounded out like that of a cup.

7.The example below is what your goblet should look like, but keep in mind it depends on your taste so yours could look different but the basic shape should look the same.


















7. Once you have a Goblet shape that you like. Deselect your line then reselect your line and press the button displayed on the left 'revolve' to create your goblet.


8. It should look something like this.