FGA6 - N.U.C.A: 2009

Evaluation

Character

The show reel shows my character in different filters used on photoshop going through what I hope looks like development starting with black an whit images through to the finished image I created last term. I used this image as I feel like it is the best 2D piece of work I have created and I wanted more than just 3D in my final show reel so that people can see that there is more to my work. In the show reel I wish I could have put more effects into it for this part but unfortunately I found 30 seconds to be too short of a time to include three pieces of work with a nice clean finish and effects that can improve the site of it during the final show reel. I included in it a close up of what I think to be the three best parts of my character; his hair shine, the body belt lighting and the good contrasts on his skirt. If I had more time in the show reel I would have made the close up boxes fade in from 0 opacity to 100% with an ease zoom in feature. This would bring more of your attention to the boxes as they appeared but instead I used some negative flashes of each one so that they are clearly what needs your attention at that time.

3D Environment

From the start of trying to make a fly through camera of this environment I had problems. For starters I didn't know how to make one and also I wasn't sure whether I was going to be able to show the whole environment with two other videos to add as well. Instead of doing the camera fly through I was able to, with some technical advice from the 3D technician, record the screen as the character ran through the environment after which I needed to take 31 seconds of film and edit it down to just 13 seconds or so. The end result isn't as good as I would have liked as there are parts in the video where the camera jumps and misses out some turns the character did during the run through but unfortunately it was unavoidable. All in all the final render shows all of the environment and every aspect can be seen which is what I wanted.

3D head

I am very proud of the way my head turned out with the final render looking the way I wanted it to. There are still quite a few things I would like to have been better. For starters the texture on the head isn't to the standard that I would have liked, for example on the back of his neck is a dark area where I had forgotten to paint over or adjust so it fitted better with the rest of the skin tone of the head. Also on the face the eyebrows have been painted on and the next time I produce a head or face I would like these to be modelled with the fur tool that I used for the hair thus creating a more realistic looking head. Another point I don't like is that there are some sharp edges on the cheek bone area that are noticeable when the model rotates in the final show reel. The things I like about are his eyes in particular as I think the y look quite real and have a good shine and reflectiveness to them creating the said realness. The over all shape of the head and its proportions are good. The ear is something I had some trouble with, I couldn't quite get my head around how to make it without box modelling the whole thing which I was told was much harder than patch modelling, that turned out to be exactly right, but it ended up looking satisfactory although could have been better. The last thin I dont feel was perfect enough was his jaw line and how it has a sort of droop to it on either side of his chin which is noticeable from the front.

NOTE: The 3D technicians have been more than helpful and I would like to say how appreciative I am of their time and patience with me throughout the duration of this project because I have been pestering them non-stop.

Music

The music did take a while to find the right sort of tracks to match up to the type of video being shown at that particular time but worked out really well in the end. I used a fast paced track for the environment as I think it matches the video because its fast paced and needs the viewer to take in a lot at one time. The following piece of music was perfect for what I wanted for the head rotation but was too quite, unfortunately when I turned it up the sound distorts slightly which is a shame. Also it would have worked better if the head videos rotated at a slower speed but that comes down to the alloted time I had.

Overall

Overall I am pleased with what has been produce and again like last term I have learned a lot and that comes from attending the studio practice times and having interaction with the technicians. I also have a better understanding of Maya which I thought was an impossible program to use. The one thing which I was unable to do was stick to the time given of 30 seconds as I just wanted to add more and more of the work I have produced to it, I could have quite happily have made it 5 minutes long.

I hope you enjoy my show reel as much as I did making it.