My most recent task in my DDA class was to use UVW maps to create realistic game assets. It went well enough that I still think pretty highly of UVW maps, even though had a little trouble at first. The main issue is trying to learn how to slap multiple maps onto a single object. Once you figure that out, though, it's smooth sailing. UVW maps are very convinient to use otherwise, allowing you to put textures in specific places that would be tedious in any other situation. dealing with the can was the first real obstacle, having to use a cylindrical projection as well as planar ones. In the end, though, I feel like it turned out well. I got what I was looking for. Using this form of mapping is also just super satisfying. It makes things look so much smoother and clean. I like how you can also put materials on top of your maps, which allows you to get even more realism onto this already superior form of mapping. Overall, it's super convenient to use and creates a product that you will be happy with. I am enjoying this form of mapping so far, and I'm excited to use it more in the future.
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Over this past quarter, simulation in 3DS MAX has been a hot topic that I have been struggling to work with in my class. MassFX, the daylight system, particles, and cloth simulations are a special part of 3DS MAX that are so cool and interesting, yet so frustrating and hard to deal with. They're a blast when they work and a pain when they don't. There are a lot of things about the features that I like, but those mainly boil down to how cool or funny things can work. MassFX is not that complicated, there is just a lot to remember and a lot of small things that can go wrong. I like how they do simplify it more than they could've (because they could've left a LOT more things less easy to access, understand, or use in conjunction with other things), and how when I do get it to work it's just stupid fun. Making things crash int each other and knock things down is way more fun than it sounds. The daylight system is also pretty cool. It allows you add just that extra bit of spice to your final render. It's easy to set up; all you have to do is select what location, time of year and time of day you want it to simulate (and where you want you light to come from in your scene). It does the rest itself. The only hard part is actually getting it to render correctly. There are a lot of small settings that have to be on or off that aren't that easy to intuit or even remember on your own. Particles are also in that "stupid fun" category, but doing more advanced things like using pbombs and other forces is still not entirely clear to me. I think understanding particles will just take time. Unlike Particles, cloth is, to my understanding, a pure incarnation of evil. It can and will fail to render, fold in on itself, not obey collisions you have set up, and crash your computer for seemingly no reason at all. When it does decide to work, it can make things look cool and more natural. But most of the time it will fight you just for having one setting missing or doing one thing out of order. Overall, I think that the simulation features in 3DS MAX will be great tools for me in the future, but for now, I do not know how to use them to their fullest potential
In summary:
As someone who likes to use school computers for their intended purpose, that is, playing flash games, it's hard to stay ahead of what is blocked and what you can get away with. One discovery out of absolute thin air is that of a game known as Leaders Strike 3D, a first person shooter that lets you gun brawl as an assortment of world leaders, past and present. These leaders include Abraham Lincoln, Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Angela Merkel, Kim Jong Un, and Hillary Clinton. It's a very basic game, with a small amount of basic mechanics (like shooting jumping, ADSing, crouching, etc.), but they come together to make a coherent experience that is more than you could ask for in any free online game. The discovery of this game has led to a search for more, a larger craving for interesting free experiences untamed by the schools lackluster firewall. Its a real journey searching for unblocked websites, but it is a fruitful endeavor in the end. What you find is a cascade of unheard of gems, in which you can fight your friends in blocky worlds with mediocre online, or fight massive spiders with rocket launchers. It is an amazing felling to discover games like these, even by accident, like in the case of Leaders Strike 3D, where we came across it on complete accident. However you discover something in this vain, it's always a pleasure.
Summary:
In my DDA class, our most recent project was to make a wild west scene using the techniques we have been learning over the past month. Those techniques included array, sweep, scatter, terrain, and (pro)boolean. The terrain tool was the newest and hardest to get used to. There are a lot of small things you have to get right for it to work, like that pieces have to be directly under each other, and there can't be more than one piece per piece below. It was really satisfying to use in the end, though. I was proud of my end result. The scatter tool was definitely much more of a pain. It's not that hard to use, but it's also not hard to screw up. You cant use multi object objects, so moving my plants was difficult since I had already used the scatter tool to make the needles on my cacti. The array tool wasn't actually part of the assignment, it just made making my tumbleweed easier. The sweep tool was used for roof details for the buildings that we had to make. The buildings were probably my favorite part. Seeing them come together, after going from standard primitives to decent looking buildings that might have actually been around during that time. Boolean was used wherever I could. It's convenient in all situations, so I used it for most of my things that weren't any of the other tools (i.e my tunnel entrance, my platforms, the ladder). Overall, I really enjoyed this project and feel like I have at least a decent grasp on the tools I have been taught to use.
In Summary:
These past few weeks in DDA have been about learning how to use different compound objects in 3DS MAX, some of which where more fun and or useful than others. My personal favorite compound object would have to be the scatter tool. It's very simplistic, used for scattering objects around a scene or other objects. It is very easy to use, and very satisfying to use as well. It may slow down the school computers, but using it at home is a lot more enjoyable since my computer isn't terrible. There aren't that many steps to using scatter, all you need really is an object to scatter and a source to scatter it on. After you pick those things all you have to do is choose how many of that object you want scattered and a few orientation options for "precise" detail."Planst" made in 3DS MAX, both cacti use the scatter tool for the needles (the tumbleweed uses array). The most useful compound object that we have learned in 3DS MAX so far would have to be proboolean. I talked about proboolean in my last post, but in short it just a very versatile and convenient all purpose sort of tool. You can combine objects, subtract an object from another, take the intersecting space of two objects, among other things. It's my go to whenever I need anything done; it's what I think of first that can get a job done. I enjoy using it too; it isn't that hard to navigate around it once you know what you're doing. Those two tools are definitely the two compound objects I enjoy the most, with the proboolean definitely being the more useful of the two. "SWAG BB" made in 3DS MAX from an assortment of proboolean modifyers including but not limited to subtract, union, and intersect. In summary:
In my DDA class, we are beginning to make 3D objects and modify them with the ProBoolean modifier. ProBoolean is definitely a fun and rewarding modifier, but takes a little bit of getting used to. There are multiple different tools that you can use within ProBoolean, and small modifications that my class has not gone deeper into and I don't understand. The tools, though, were very fun to learn and work with. All of the tools are very convenient and rewarding to use as well. The union tool allows you to make multiple objects into one selectable object (and removes overlapping polygons). The intersect tools allows you to create one object out of the intersection of two selected objects. The subtraction tool removes a section the dimensions of a selected object from a specified object. The merge tool merges two objects together (without messing with polygons). The attach tool attaches multiple selected objects to your chosen object. The the insert tool is complicated and I have yet to use it. It basically masses only with the polygons of one object but not the other or something along those lines. I'm sure all of these have a use, but for the ones that I did use it was evident how they worked and it was just so satisfying to make one thing out of so many small things. It's a little uncomfortable at first, but it doesn't take that long to get used to.
In Summary: -there are a lot of ways to use ProBoolean -ProBoolean is very satisfying and fun to use after learning it In my DDA class, we have begun to do some pencil sketching. This is most likely to help us in the realms of concept design and story boarding. There are some people that have been sketching prior and are very good at sketching. That is not the case for me. I am not great at sketching, but I still find it very interesting. We are starting with the human form, and there are a lot of things about it that are very interesting. Sketching is very hard, but that does not mean that I don't enjoy it a little bit. I like trying to replicate something that do not understand in the slightest, and getting the satisfaction of actually getting a form to not look like complete and utter garbage. There are also a lot of elements that can make drawing forms easy to do, like specific shapes and alignments that you can use for different features. They make learning them a little difficult but will most likely help me in the long run. My favorite part is definitely the shading. Just seeing all of the contours light up and everything come together is really satisfying, even if I didn't do it that well. The hardest part for me was learning how to draw the far side of the face, or the one most squished by perspective. I could never seem to find the right proportions to make the face look as realistic as possible. All in all, drawing is something that I definitely need to get better at, as we are going to be doing more of it throughout the year.
Summary: -Drawing is hard -Drawing, despite being hard, is also kind of fun |
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