Working on the Head Model
Overall I found the head model very challenging and uncomfortable, although it showed me a lot of new techniques. Honestly the biggest issue I had with the model was trying to work on my own face. I have always found it difficult to model/draw organic models as well as having a dislike for drawing self-portraits. With that said I did learn a lot of new techniques and enjoyed the time I spent creating the face.
Looking at the model I find it hard to see myself. The parts I dislike the most are the chin, cheek bones and neck. I think that the chin is far to pointy to be mine, and the cheek bones need to come out more, giving the model a more rounded cheek. The neck is only a small issue but I found that it came out to wide and had a few unknown bumps in it.
The parts of it I like are the nose, eyes and hair. The nose is still a little too straight but it looks to be the same size and have the same bridge. The eyes are the same size and I feel they are the right distance from the nose. The eyes still need work done on them and detail added but the basic figure is there. The hair also seems to follow the right mold, showing similarities to the real hair style and size. The only issue I have with the hair is the white light highlights it seems to show.
To conclude, I feel that I have created a low quality head model, with some likenesses to my own head. If I where to repeat the model I would defiantly spend more time on the models shape before textures where applied, as this caused a big issue when trying to adjust it later. One last thing I would do is add a second and third hair and fur modifier to the model and create realistic looking eyebrows instead of the textures ones that can be seen in the final render.
Working on the Guildhall
I found this part of the module the most interesting, fun and educational. I found that during the time I spent developing the models and the animation I learnt several good techniques as well as tips including;
The slice tool
The pro Boolean tool
How to use Rayfire
How to use lighting effectively and the specifications
How to use textures more effectively and give them properties
How to animate with multiple tools and camera paths
How to use the network render (Backburner) for Autodesk
Learning all of these skills and more has greatly increased the speed at which I can work as well as the quality of the final product. The only two things I would have to mention negatively with this project was the time restriction and the lack of equipment. When we started the project we were given six weeks to complete all of the models as well as the animation. This was difficult to keep to and we ended up taking another week to finish off the animation. I felt that to complete the high quality models we should have been given six weeks alone, with another six weeks for animation, rendering and video production. The other problem we had was the lack of equipment, broken computers, nowhere to render most of the time and no computers that could work with Rayfire. This caused constant problems throughout the project, but is respectably unavoidable.
The rest of the group seemed to work well with odd moments of weakness, but as a regular group member I can understand that stress levels and issues can cause arguments at any time and the best thing to do is relax and come back to the discussion later. I feel that we all worked hard and well, notably Jack Cassie who did a good job leading the team and working hard to learn the plug-in Rayfire with me and create the animations. The group and I worked hard to complete all of the models, animate the finalise the final product, and I could ask for no better.
The things I would do next time would firstly be to try and use a better range of computers, that give all of us access to Rayfire as apposed to just me and Jack. I would also like to have worked more on the lighting, as this was a big issue. We originally had two renders of the product, one with global illumination and one using the daylight system. The problem we had was that the global illumination copy looked unreal, but the daylight copy had to many beams of light, giving a realistic lighting effect but smudging the walls and creating white light in points where there shouldn't have been. Me and Jack both spent around twelve hours over the period of two days trying to create a better lighting environment with no success. This would have made the HD renders look more impressive and realistic.
In all I felt that the group worked extremely hard and I personally learnt a lot, as well as gaining the motivation to learn even more. In my opinion the project still looks amazing and one of the highlights of my educational lifetime. It could in respect use some work in places and alterations to the lighting, however given enough time anything can be improved and with that in mind, it's finished
Module Evaluation
No comments:
Post a Comment