Week 12 – Reflection and Thoughts

Overall, I have enjoyed working through this module. Although the workload has been quite intense, the module has been very interesting. 3D modelling is not one of my strong points and probably not something I will be continuing very much with. However, it has been great learning new skills about 3D modelling, animating the models and learning the piece of software itself.

I feel that the group worked well together and we managed to split the workload up into manageable sections that each group member could work on. As I did not feel I would be able to complete as much of the modelling as the other group members, I only took a small proportion of the modelling and worked mainly on the audio and post-production parts of the project. Our group managed to work well to the timeframe that was laid out during the first week of the project with only minor changes when certain bits took a little longer than anticipated.

The parts that I modelled for the group went well and I managed to produce all the parts allocated. I did struggle with a couple of parts but was able to ask fellow group members who were able to point me in the right direction.

Finally, I think our overall product we created as a group has worked well and has met expectations we had in the first few weeks. The animation does what it is meant to and shows the engine

Week 12 – Presentation

During the final week of the module, a presentation will be given to the clients, volunteers from the Museum of Power. The presentation will show the clients which model our group chose to create, how we went about researching and planning the animation and then finally how the model was modelled, animated and put into a video.

The presentation is split into four sections so each group member is able to talk about one thing. As I had mainly worked on the post-production parts of the animation, this is the part I will talk about. This includes rendering, video editing, adding text info and audio editing.

Week 11 – Rendering and Video Production

The last stage to create the animation was to render the 3D Studio Max file into video files. If this was done by one group member in one go, it would have taken a few days to render. To cut this down, we split the rendering up between the group members. One group member took the environment part of the animation to render and the other part with the engine rotating was split up into 3 sections between the other 3 group members.

After all the sections had been rendered, it was my task to create the final video. To begin with I collected all of the rendered video files from the other group members. I then used Adobe Premiere Pro to place all of the renders onto a timeline that matched our original storyboard. Once I had all of the video files in place, I started to add in the text facts. As the machine was so unusual and almost unique, it was hard to find information and facts about the engine and its use, so the research for these facts was taken from information found at the Museum of Power. Most of the text facts are displayed whilst the engine is rotating in the animation.

The audio that I edited during the previous week was then added into the timeline to add to the video. We decided, as a group, not to include narration in the final video as the noisy environment of the Museum of Power would make it hard for anyone trying to listen.

Finally, the timeline was rendered out to a Windows AVI file and also a QuickTime MOV file.

Week 10 – Sound Research and Editing

One of my tasks allocated for this project was to provide all of the sound effects used for the final animation. We decided that we wanted a mixture of sounds from the environment and sound of the engine itself.

To start with, I took a look at the environment that had been modelled for the animation and started looking for sound effects that would match the scene. I used the sound of water rippling, a water wheel turning and some general ambience sounds of birds, wind and trees to create the sound effects required for this part of the video. For the engine itself, I used audio of the actual machine running from the video that I took at the Museum of Power when we visited a couple of weeks ago. I also added this to the beginning environment scene and mixed it quietly with the rest of the audio to make it sound muffled as it was inside the dredger on the lake.

Week 9 – Creating the Handle

To create the wheel and handle, I started by drawing a helix with plenty of turns for the thread and making sure that the radius were the same. I then added an extrude modifier and changed the amount until the extruded part just touched the next coil. I then added a normals modifier to turn the thread the right way round as it was currently inside out.

I then used a Vertex Weld modifier to weld the gap between each coil together. I adjusted the amount just enough so the gap disappeared. I then went to Editable Poly and chose Edge mode. Selecting one edge down the length of the object, I pressed the Ring button to select the entire helix. I then clicked the connect button and gave the selection 1 segment. This now created another helix travelling the length of the object.

To set the thread depth, I selected one edge of the spiral and clicked the Loop tool to select one spiral. I then used the scale tool to decrease this spiral which would then adjust how deep the thread was. I then scaled the whole helix down the length to adjust how close the thread was.

To create the wheel on the end, I drew a Torus shape for the outline of the wheel. I then added a thin cylinder in the middle and joined that to the outside with small boxes. This then created the main wheel shape.

To create the wooden handle, I drew out a spline line for the outside shape and then used the lathe modifier to create the entire handle. It took a couple of attempts to get this right, but eventually, I had a shape I was happy with.

Finally, I placed this handle onto the wheel and then placed both onto the thread I created earlier. I added a long cylinder to the end of the thread to create the connecting rod.

Week 9 – Modelling Side and Handle

Before I started modelling the side part I had been allocated, I decided to draw out the part onto paper so I could clearly see what I was modelling. Using the reference photos and video taken, I was able to create a drawing I could work from which was easier to use than lots of photos.

I started by using a spline to draw out the shape of the metal side, following my drawing I had done earlier. I experimented with the different initial and drag types for the corners to get them as smooth as possible and to match the model as best they could.

When I had the shape drawn out in 3D Studio Max, I converted the spline to an editable poly. I then used the extrude tool to make the shape 3D and give it some depth.

To create the tapered metal strip, I simply created a long, thin box which I converted to editable poly. I then went into vertex mode and moved the bottom vertexes out to create the taper effect.

I then used more thin boxes to create the angle-iron sections of the side plate. I rotated one piece 90 degrees to connect to the other to create the right angle piece. I then went into vertex mode to move some of the vertexes at the end to create the sloping metal end.

Spheres were used to create some of the bolt heads seen on the model. These were placed half in, half out on the model so only half of the sphere was actually on show. This looked quite effective and worked well as a pan head bolt. For the other hexagonal bolt heads I used a Gengon (found in extended primitives). These were then positioned onto the model to work, like the spheres, as bolt heads. To create the nuts seen on some of the bolts, I used another Gengon but created a hole through the middle with a cylinder and the Boolean tool. An OilTank was then added inside the Gengon to look like the end of the bolt.

The bottom of the lever was created by using a box for the metal plate and two cylinders placed on top of each other to represent the spacers on the model. Four small spheres were used as bolt heads in each corner of the small metal plate.

I created the lever itself by drawing a long, thin box into the front viewport. I then drew a cylinder that had the same diameter as the width of the box. Entering editable poly and polygon mode, I selected and removed half of the polygons of the cylinder so I was left with a half cylinder. I then attached this to the box to create the main part of the lever.

A chamfer box was used a little way up the lever as a connecting spacer. I used polygon mode to select and remove more polygons to create the straight edges. I then used the Cap edges tool to cover up the holes I had made by removing polygons.

A small box, to show the locking mechanism, was placed a small way further up the lever. Four small gengons were used as bolt heads in each corner on the front face. I then drew a cylinder handle for the top of the lever.

To create the locking handle of the lever, I drew out another box and added 4 segments in each axis. This enabled me, when converting the box to editable poly, to select and remove polygons in the middle of the box. This was to allow the part to fit around the lever. I used the cap tool to cover any holes I had made. This was then placed onto the lever and two cylinders were used to represent the pins holding the lever in.

I then drew a final long, thin box to use as the connecting rod between the locking handle and locking mechanism a bit further down the lever.

The rack section of the lever was created by first drawing out a box into the front viewport. I then made sure that the box had plenty of width segments and chose 53 as the final number. After converting to editable poly and selecting polygon mode, I selected alternate polygons along the top of the rack box and then extruded them down to create the rack model. When I was happy with the looks of this, I then created a cylinder with the same diameter as the height of the box, cut the cylinder in two and placed at either ends to create the rounded ends. These were attached to create one object. I then applied a curve modifier in the x-axis of 58 degrees and 90 degrees direction to create a realistic rack.

This was then placed just under the locking mechanism of the lever and duplicated either side. Two cylinders were used as connecting bolts and two gengons and OilTanks were used for the bolt heads.

A connecting rod was created by drawing out a long, horizontal, thin box and then just extruding the end to create the staggered effect. This was then joined on to the raised chamfer box created earlier on the lever.

Finally, I drew out small cylinders, placed them through the metal side and used the Boolean tool to create the holes.

Week 7 - Job Allocation and Beginning to model

As I didn’t feel I would be able to model quite as much as some of the other group members, I chose to model a small section and then mainly focus on the post production audio and video editing. The parts I chose to model were the base that the whole engine sat on and a side plate with lever and handle.

To create the base I started by creating a chamfer box in the top viewport. I then changed the fillet size until I had a good representation of the curve on the base of the engine. I then converted the chamfer box to an editable poly. Using polygon mode, I then selected the polygons on two opposite ends and deleted them to create straight, rather than curved, ends.

I then created a cylinder in the top viewport and used the scale tool to change one axis so the cylinder became oval. I then duplicated this and placed the two cylinders through the chamfer box and used the Boolean tool to remove these from the base. This then created two recesses where parts of the engine rotated into.

Next, I selected polygons on the underside of the chamfer box and removed them to get rid of the bottom half of the curve. I used the cap tool to create a cap over the parts I had removed. I then drew a thin box, the same size as the base, for the chamfer box to sit on. I then converted the box to an editable poly and attached it to the chamfer box to create one object.

I removed polygons on one end to create a recess where the main body of the engine sat. I placed small cylinders around the edge of the base and used the Boolean tool again to remove these cylinders to create holes for fixing points on the base.

Finally, I added two boxes near the back of the model for part of the engine to sit on and also created four triangles for supports on the bottom of the base.