Fall Project Final

My project was to create a functioning podracer of my own design and a track for it to move on. Adding extra lighting and special effects was something I wanted to do in order to add that extra step into making the project more personal. I had this idea mainly from a Nintendo 64 game called StarWars Podracer that I played as a kid. My process started with research on what certain podracers looked like and how they moved on a track with all the lighting and particle effects.

 I started by drawing inspiration from a few different podracers and then mixing it with my own creativity of produce the racer. The podracer itself took a bit of time to make because the shell of the cockpit required incredible detail in order to move the polygons to form that shell-like appearance of the cockpit. The electricity for the energy beam was something that I thought would be the hardest thing to make but it turns out that it was quite simple and fun to make. The environment that my podracer is placed in was something that I created from base concepts of Yavin IV and Naboo from the Star Wars universe and I thoroughly enjoyed creating the shatter effects on the walls. The Temple and pillars that I created were something that I had enjoyed seeing on Yavin IV and took that idea into my own creation, turning all the pillars and bricks from the original planet and turned it into Jade.










Coming into the project I had no idea how to make a shattered wall or even the glow effects on the energy beam on the podracer. Other than those two things, there wasn't anything new that I have learned when making this project. I would definitely try and make more podracers to race around the track in the future to add more diversity to the environment and to the animation as a whole. However, that was the only thing that I would really change besides making the animation just a little less choppy. I can see myself using some of these techniques, especially the shatter, in my future projects.

Fall Animation Project

For my project this fall I wanted to design something from my childhood reimagined in my own way. My project is of my own custom podracer from the Star Wars universe. I have always been fascinated with vehicles of Star Wars and decided to create my own. I drew part of my inspiration from Sebulba's podracer from Episode 1 and then crafted it to fit the design that I had imagined. I also am designing a track for it as well, and the track is something that I created with inspiration from two planets, Naboo and Kashyyyk and my knowledge of ancient structures to create an ancient looking course. I personally love the fracture effect I created on the walls of the track to represent impact markers and just to create an effect of wear and tear on the track. I'm not sure what part to add next, either an environment or animation, however I believe it will turn out well no matter what course I choose.

Podracer front view

Side view. Tiles are different types of metal used in the crafting of the engine

Spiked domes taken from Naboo

Inspiration for the dome, Theed Palace, Naboo.

End of the year graphics

In this class I'm sure that we were supposed to learn about designing things and how to properly create packages and other things. However I didn't really learn much of anything besides the fact that I will not be doing Graphic Design. I originally was in 3rd hour GD and even in that class there was nothing we actually learned how to do on our own. Our teacher never helped us as her responses to any question was either a response that ended up being even more confusing or she simply said "Don't ask me, use google." You would think that someone with a teaching degree would actually teach the class, but that wasn't the case. The things I did learn were always on my own or through the help of my limited friends in the class. This helped me bond with the other students as our disdain for our teacher brought us together despite our differences. Through the racism, sexism, and favoritism, my friends and I powered forward and turned in all of our assignments that met all the requirements. The only time we never turned something in was when the project was already completed and turned in, and our teacher claims that there was another part to it, which was not discussed when the assignment was made. As such we refused to do it and continued with our work. I have improved in the art of blocking voices out and focusing down on other more important work. When the new GD teacher arrives I hope for the sake of people taking graphic design that he or she is a better teacher than this one. Due to this class alone I wanted to drop Ecomm. but animation and Mr. Netterville made me stay as I loved that class. Overall I am disgusted with this class and honestly wished that I chose a different strand to do something that I actually cared about because half way through the year I basically stopped caring about this class altogether. I was even more mad about the fact that I would actually try on a lot of assignments and she would basically tell me that they were garbage and she wouldn't let me print it off and gave me a worse grade than people who didn't even submit the assignment. Overall I am disappointed with this class and I hope that this gets changed for the future generations that come after myself and my classmates. To that I bid you farewell.

End Of The Year Reflection

  There were many things that I learned in animation. This was the first time I have ever used a true 3D modeling and animation software to create projects and animate them. I learned so much just about Maya in general that it's just too much information to correctly restate and list out. However some of the key things that I learned, not just in Maya, are as follows. First and I think the most important was how to use special FX to edit a video to make it look all snazzy. This was done in our first explosion video and our final for the quarter. The second is how to batch render key frames in Maya and properly transfer them into After Effects to create a well rendered out video, which was done in just about every project. More specifically, the snowflake project had a lot of editing with the colors and gamma so rendering it out took just a little bit longer than expected. Finally I learned how to create a motion path and attach an object to it in order to create movement for that object, which was totally awesome because I was able to make a spaceship fly around and have my coin logo roll down the collection ramp of an arcade machine. This was all acquired through the wonderful instruction of Mr. Netterville and the tutorials he provided for all of his classes. He was always there to support us when we needed help and always had some sort of a tutorial or other resource to give us if we had a question about anything. Netterville helped me out so much with my logo project that honestly, I don't think I could've finished it on my own, and I am so thankful that he devoted so much time to helping me. He is someone who has kept me going in animation and I can't thank him enough for the work he has done. He always has a smile on his face and tries his best to make class enjoyable while focusing down on the work that needs to be done. Animation is something I never thought I would do as it just never occurred to me that I was able to create these things myself, so knowing what I know now, animation holds a special place in my heart and is a pastime I enjoy at home. It's a way to express my own unique outlook on certain projects or to just pour an idea out and have it come to life through maya. That being said, I still have a lot of work to do in order to make my projects more outstanding and unique than they are now and I look forward to the challenge of making them better. I feel as though simply designing and modeling my objects is what I'm best at as I can model something relatively quickly and make it look good, like the grenade I made which according to someone who was actually in the Army, was almost spot on. On the other end of that spectrum, I am pretty bad at making an animation for my object(s) unless it's a simple stationary movement, which is just easy in general. I hope to get better at animating as that is the strand I have selected for next year. This summer I hope to find a summer workshop on how to make my animations better, but as of right now it's still up in the air. I have also been talking with a few potential business partners and I hope to be able to work with them over the summer and create a few projects for them. This is all in part to what I learned in Animation class and I wouldn't want to have it any other way. The only downfall is that projects were often times rushed due to time constraints and when you after school job like I do, it can be very hard to try and squeeze time in to work on those projects after school. Overall I really enjoyed this class. I appreciate all the work Mr. Netterville has done and I appreciate the collaboration and praise of my classmates even more. I love this program and I cannot wait to continue in it through the rest of high school.

Professional Article Review

The article titled "CAD versus Sketching, Why Ask?" by James Self poses a very interesting view on design. In the article, the author goes around to universities and professional designers to get their opinions and test the different ways himself. After his experiences and research he came to a few conclusions,  one of them is that CAD is a very restricting program and limits what the designer can do based on the limitations of the programs own restrictions. He says that this could crush some designers hopes of making something creative due to not actually being able to 3d model it. The second point he makes is that while CAD can be restrictive, it has a better design structure for measurements and correct boundaries then doing sketches by hand. The third and final claim is that despite CAD and freehand having their own benefits and downfalls, combining the two when designing can be a very useful tool in seeing how exactly a sketch will look upon completion and allows for the digital transfer of files to producers or potential buyers. The author makes very strong claims and his research shows through in almost anything he ever says, which is really nice when comparing something common with something that is not so common like CAD. However, these claims fall short as he only talks about each claim for a brief period without anymore data or conclusions to say about them, which creates the idea that he doesn't really seem to have a real say on what the overall idea of both methods are. Personally as someone who has used CAD and programs similar to it, I find this article to be of a significant importance to me as I like to design things in my free time and have been looking to purchase software to do so. The author definitely knows what he is talking about and I will keep his advice and his research in mind when choosing a design software. Overall I think this is an interesting article that provides good information for anyone who is looking to design using CAD and/or by free handing.
Self, James. "CAD versus Sketching, Why Ask? by James Self." Core77. Core Jr., 2012. Web. 12 May 2016.

Personal Project

Personal Project Blog

In E-Comm we were required to make a container with a label wrapping. I took this a step farther and decided to make a company out of an idea for a coffee mug that I had. I wanted to create a coffee mug with a logo for a company of my own design with a saying on it that accurately describes me. So I started drafting and sketching out some ideas. I eventually settled on two different designs, and with a little help from Mr. Netterville, I was able to create my current logo and brand name, Early Bird Coffee. It was a little difficult to create a coffee mug in Maya, and even more difficult to make the handle. However I learned that when using soft select and adjusting the size and shape that I had 3d revolved, I could easily craft my handle and mug. This required a little outside help from a few of my classmates, but I greatly appreciated the help. I don't think there was anything that I would do different, except maybe try to set up a better scene for my mugs to be displayed in. Honestly, I wouldn't change anything about my process as everything went rather smoothly and moved quickly. My next project is going to be about a moving toy, and I'm sure I'll have to use soft select or maybe even a 3d revolve, so we'll see where it ends up. Overall I am very happy with the way everything turned out and am very proud of my work.