Look Theres a Targa Over There

Rendering in 3DS used to be very irritating, halfway through the render the program most likely crash, or the file size would reach the maximum and it would refuse to render further. That was until I discovered the magical thing known as rendering in Targa Images. This renders each frame as an image that can then be imported into Premier Pro by selecting import and numbered stills. This setting is amazing because if the program crashes (as it often seems to do with me) you can just continue rendering from the previous rendered images (For example if it crashes at image 0135 you can continue rendering from frame 136)

Render Set Up used when rendering the scenes

Targa set up

Targa files

So Much To Do So Little Time

So it comes to this, the end of the module. I have learnt many new techniques, most of which I have written about. But there is always that feeling of if I had more time I would do this and that. Well if I did have more time I would've added more explosions and details in the Pearl Harbour scene, as well as slowing down the other scenes. Other then that I am happy and satisfied with what I have produced and animated.

Overall I am impressed with what I have managed to accomplish in this module. I have managed to create my own realist looking water. I have managed to effectively use the various particle systems and space warps. I believe I have also managed to master the art of low poly modelling, something that I found difficult last year. When it comes to the day light system I have improved the the out put by just adjusting a few settings, the same can be said for creating materials. I have found that I am relying less on the ready made materials and more on creating my own. All in all I believe I have made a big leap in my knowledge of the software compared to last years module, as well as the out come of my models and animation. There are a few things that I would like to improve and create such as organic modelling, but there is always the character modeling module next semester!

Bang Goes the Harbour

And so it comes to the final scene where we blow up various different models. I took Mel's Pearl Harbour and added the water I created around it. Cam added the US planes and a run way before I added the Japanese plane and the bomb that Jan had created. I then attached both the plane and the bomb to a path constraint. From then I used the array bomb to blow up the ship.

Flight Training For America

It was decided that a second plane will be needed to place on Pearl Harbour. This second plane would have to be American. To create this plane, I took the original one I created for the Japanese and extruded the nose, as well as change the shape of  the windows as well as changed the colours to grey.

Quick! Catch That Document!

Using Jan's office model, I placed a plane on the desk and added the Bomb Plot document to the materials before adding it the plane. Jan and myself then selected the plane and went into the modify tab. From there we went into the drop down menu and selected cloth. Of all the materials we decided that the one that would act best like paper was spandex (who would've thought!) we then applied this to the document before going into the Space Warps, selected forces and then wind. Through a lot of trial and error we found the perfect angle, however the window needed to be moved. Jan moved the window and added a camera. I adjusted the angle of the camera and added some motion to it, and we were done with that scene. What can be described as possibly the funniest thing we have ever done in 3DS!

Flight for Fright

I decided to quickly create a scene that is to go before Pearl Harbour gets destroyed. This involved me placing my plane into a scene with water and the day light system. I set the time on the light to 7.35 thus creating the right light for the time of the attack. I then multiplied the amount of planes in the scene before adding in the camera. I decided for a greater effect to place the camera behind the first plane, thus making it look as a single plane is going in for the attack, before rotating and panning the camera to reveal the others. I am hoping that by adding this scene to the animation will give it more suspense.

Don't Rock the Boat

The second scene I animated involves the boats that Cam created. Applied to the water from Let There be Water I then imported the boats into the scene before animating them with the set key tool. This gave them a realistic looking bob on top of the water. It was at this point that I attempted to add the rain without success.