Week 1 – Green screen and Compositing Basics

Green screen removal task

Apocalyptic building task

Hybrid animal Photoshop exercise – Owl & Pug mix

Resources – Pexels

Flying Squirrel

Resources – Pexels

Week 2 – Fake News & Introduction to Maya

Maya:

Amphitheatre1:

More complex amphitheatre:

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Spaceships:

Week 4:

To create this mug, we used a technique to combine a cylinder and a torus by merging some of their vertices to make them one object.

We used the curves tool to create these glasses. We painted half a glass while we used the top view camera.

Then, we went to the menu to surfaces->revolve and set the following settings:

Week 5:

Week 6:

Fake news:

1. Dementors Invasion in Tel Aviv

 

 

 

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James Bond Gadget and Fake News Assessments:

Fake News Assignment: “Huge flamingos Spotted in London”:

I made the newspaper using an original Washington Post newspaper as a reference. The only fabricated content is the Flamingos news article.

References and original photos:

James Bond Gadget: “Iron Bee”:

For my James Bond gadget assessment, I decided to create mechanical bees with special abilities. I made a series of bees, each with a unique skill. I was inspired by the Iron Man suit when designing and colouring these models, therefore, each bee represents a form of the Iron Man suit. The line includes “Iron Bee Patriot Z1,” “Iron Bee V1,” and “Bee War Machine 1.” As we asked to submit only one model, I’m choosing to hand in the “Bee War Machine 1”, but I will present the three models here. The last model I’ll mention is the “Bee War Machine 1,” the one I’m handing in.

The bees themselves are 10 cm in length. Their eyes function as cameras, and they can be operated from a control room. They can be stored everywhere in the house and they will seem like a home decor item.

1.”Iron Bee V1″:

Inspired by Iron Man’s main suit

Abilities: Intelligence only – Eyes function as cameras. The two antennas allow to control the bee and to receive an image from the built-in cameras.

2. “Iron Bee Patriot Z1”

Inspired by the Iron Patriot suit and the colours of the Israeli flag:

Abilities: Intelligence only – Eyes function as cameras. The left antenna allows to control the bee and to receive an image from the built-in cameras. The right antenna scans the radio frequency around the bee and sends it back to the control room.

3. “Bee War Machine 1”

Inspired by the”War Machine” Iron Man suit:

Abilities: Intelligence only – Eyes function as cameras. Has some kind of M134 mini gun mounted on the right side of his body. It has mini antennas for controlling the bee and the gun and to receive a live video from the cameras.

6 Screenshots of the Final Model:

  

Uncoloured Model:

Making the Lightbulb:

I created a curve [create -> curve tools -> EP curve tool] to half the shape I wanted, then adjusted the vertices to get a more accurate shape.

After, I used the revolve function to transform the curve into some bulb shape: Surfaces -> Revolve (axis preset = Z, output geometry = polygons, type = quads, tessellation method = general, U type/V type = per span)

Then, I extruded the shape and [mesh display -> reverse]. I assigned an Arnold AI standard surface shader and changed the preset to glass.

For the wire coil, I created a Helix and adjusted its coils, height, width and radius parameters and deleted history. Then use the Deform -> none linear -> bend function and set the following settings: Rotate Y = -90, Rotate x = 0, Rotate Z = -90, Curvature = 50

Then, I extruded the faces on the edge of the shape to create a “wire” look. I wanted to add a vertex to the centre of those faces and make edges and faces to them, so I used the following function: Edit mesh -> poke and then selected the edges and bevelled them.

I assigned to the wire coil a mesh light by choosing the object, [Arnold -> Lights – > Mesh light] and set the following settings:

In the end, I created one more cylinder, extruded and bevelled it a couple of times so it would be a more complicated object, and “connected” the wire coil to it

Final render:

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Week 7: Maps and Rendering

Metalness:

 

Transmission:

Opacity:

Bump Shader:

Displacement:

Understanding Bump, Normal, and Displacement Maps

Normal map: gives depth information

Height map (occlusion map) which can be used as a displacement map and bump map

Albedo map (colour map):

Displacement map:

Basically, it means to plug in a black and white image, and it will, in fact, displace the geometry of the object. The silhouette in the displacement map will rise and fall the geometry, so it impacts the silhouette.

How to assign a displacement map?

Assign an Arnold AI standard surface shader. Under the specular tab, change the Roughness settings to 0.5. Then press the output icon, which will lead us to the SG node. On the new window, click on the Displacement mat. and then choose a file.

 

A new window will appear. there click on the connection icon of the Displacement. Then click on the image name and choose the height map.

There will be no preview of the displacement map, and we will see it only when we render.

We can then adjust and edit the displacement map so it will look better. There are many ways to do so.

Bump map:

When we apply a bump map, it does not affect the silhouette. It’s good for making wrinkles, moles, things on clothes and more…

How to assign a bump map?

Assign an Arnold AI standard surface shader. Under the specular tab, change the Roughness settings to 0.5. Under Geometry: bump mapping -> file icon. A new window will appear. There, click on the output of the “Bump Value”.

Then press on the folder icon of the “Image Name” and choose a height map.

make sure to press 6 on the keyboard. When we talk about a bump map and, in this case, a height map, anything white rises up and anything dark sinks in.

Normal Map:

Looks like it has more in-depth information. Normal maps tend to be more detailed. It does not change the silhouette of the object. It is usually used in gaming.

How to assign a Normal map?

Assign an Arnold AI standard surface shader. Under the specular tab, change the Roughness settings to 0.5. Under Geometry: bump mapping -> file icon. A new window will appear. Under the 2d Bump Attributes tab, change “Use As” to “Tangent Space Normals”. Also, under the Arnold tab, turn off the flip R. Click on the output icon of the “Bump Value”

A new window will appear.  Under file attributes, click on the “Image Name” file icon and choose a normal map image. Make sure that [Color Balance -> Alpha Is Luminance] is turned on

Week 8: UV Mapping

I built a mushroom out of a cube:
I mainly used the extrusion, edit mesh -> circularize, (selected edge +) cmd + right click->edge ring utilities->to edge ring and split, and the smooth methods.

I switched the workspace to “UV editing”.
To create a UV map of the object:

Result:

With the 3D Cut tool, I sliced the model into 4 different parts.
When we “cut” the model using this tool, it won’t affect the model itself, only its UV map.

I chose one of the parts and clicked unfold. Then I clicked on “Straighten Shell”

In order to modify the UV, it is recommended to use the “Smooth” tool. To use this tool, just click on the unfold/relax text and drag.

It is recommended to work with the smooth and straightened shell tool a couple of times to receive a better result.
After we have implemented functions on all of the parts we sliced, we will use the Layout UV option tool. This tool makes all parts in the same resolution.
shift+Layout to open the settings of the tool and modify it according to the screenshot below:

or
Final Result:

Assessment 2: 1940’s Volkswagen Beetle in an old street in Germany

Time Period: World War 2 (1939-1945)
VW Beetle Background Research: During World War 2, the Volkswagen Beetle was commissioned by Adolf Hitler and designed by Ferdinand Porsche to create a car that could be affordable for German families. The war shifted priorities. Instead of civilian vehicles, the factory produced military vehicles and equipment. The Beetle’s design was versatile, leading to its use as a staff car for the German army.

Environment Background Research: The former building of the Berlin Stock Exchange as it appeared at Friedrichsbrücke in Old Berlin in 1886. The building was completely destroyed in 1945.

Car References:

Street references:
The image was taken by Hermann Oskar Rückwardt (1845 – 1919)

Final Model of the car:

Final Environment Model:

Before Render:

Final Scene:

   

 

“How to” section:

Tire:
I created a pipe with 60 subdivisions axis and 4 subdivisions height.

I adjusted the dimensions of the pipe and created 2 loop edges, as seen in the image below:

I extruded the inner edges twice, one towards the inner circle and the second one outside:

I selected this edge loop, increased its size and tilted it outward. Then I beveled it, chose the new faces, and extruded them in

Then, I chose the following faces, extruded them and turned off the option of keeping the faces together.

Merge 3 vertices into one:

Choose the following vertices and slightly change their angle:

I chose the outer faces of the tire and extruded them, and turned off the option of keeping the faces together. Then I deleted the inner faces of the shape.

Merged the following vertices along the entire shape

I deleted half of the tire and mirrored it to make sure both sides of the tire were the same.

UV:

Final Tire:

The body of the car was made manually by moving vertices and creating edge loops, using blueprints of the car from different angles.

The metals attached to the car:
To create the metals at the front and the back of the car I used the Deform->Nonlinear->Bend method. I created a cube and changed its size as seen in the following screenshot:

Deleted history, and Deform->Nonlinear->Bend. Rotated the Y to -90 and and Z to 90 of the bend. Then changed the Curvature to -50.

Deleted half of the object and stylized the end of the shape.

Deleted history again, and mirrored the object with the following settings:
 

Added edge loops:

Created a cylinder. Changed its dimensions and added edges.

Deleted history, Deform->Nonlinear->Bend. Rotated the Y to -90 and and Z to 90 of the bend. Then changed the Curvature to -48.

Deleted half of the object, created some more loops at the end of it and chose the faces around the end of the object (as seen in the screenshots).

Deform->Nonlinear->Bend. Rotated the bend X to 45 and Z to 90. Then, changed the Curvature to 90.

Chose the following faces and extruded them
 

Deleted history. Chose the marked half of the object and dele

Mirrored the object and used the following settings:

Deleted the overlapping faces, chose the edges and bridged them

Deleted History and mirrored the object using the following settings:

I used the same technique for the irons at the front of the car.

To paint the whole scene, I needed to create correct UV maps that would work with the texture maps I wanted to implement.
To paint the environment, I used texture maps and imported them into Maya.
I implemented displacement maps as well. These are the 3 color maps that I used for the bridge itself.
 

To create the texture of the street lights, I used adobe substance painter

Then, I implemented it to Maya: (First image – glass, Second image – body)

Light Bulb settings:

Final Render:

Car UV Map:

The Light Settings:
Important! The light samples = 2 instead of 1 for a better quality when rendering

Render settings:

Youtube tutorials which I used:
Exporting Textures From Substance 3D Painter to Maya
How to work with Adobe Substance Painter –
Adobe Substance Painter Channel and this tutorial
How to create a glass (for the street lights and the car lights)
How to assign Ambient Occlusion map