Of Bots and Bananas Final

Of Bots and Bananas Final




Ok this is my final version of my Robot Animation. On the whole I am really happy with it, all things considered this is the first piece of animation I've ever attempted and everything moves well and looks natural. The main problem though is my choice of background, I had a black horizon but I don't think this works at all because it means that you can't see a lot of the robots. I'll hopefully change this at some point in the future.


The biggest problems with it come from my over ambition really, I tried a lot of different camera angles and pans thinking that this would link in with my flying robot however it doesn't really work. Another part is when the robot actually trips, I wanted a really epic slow motion scene where the robot helper only just escapes however something doesn't quite work and the camera angle restricts what you can see a lot, so by trying something new it actually misses out some of the best bits of animation.


However I am really proud of how it looks and is modelled really well, its a miracle that I managed to get the rig to work because it was that complicated and the fact that I've got anything even half functional is amazing. So yeah I'm very happy with it, if I get time I might go back and iron out a few of the mistakes but on the whole it's a good effort and I'm proud of it.

Roller Coaster Ready to Render

Roller Coaster Ready to Render

Finally got my Rollercoaster ready to render, I'm pretty happy with it I've gone for a basic idea basing my idea around a childs mobile with everything hanging down from the sky. What this allows me to do is have very basic but effective textures so rendering isn't as bad as I thought it would be so I've got enough time to render out a few different shots and get the finished piece looking good.

Card Designs Updated

Card Designs Updated

Ok I've now gone back and updated my card designs, I really wasn't happy with the block colours of the last ones so I've changed that. I've kept the first one exactly the same and I like how its a different colour because this is going to be my magic card designs, so its good to seperate the two different types. I've also split mages and warrior cards into two different colours to make it easier for the player.

Final 'Of Bot's and Bananas' - Part 1

Final 'Of Bot's and Bananas' - Part 1


Just finished rendering the first part of my robot animation, this is where the robot helper first discovers the banana and then goes running off to find the main robot, it's more of a prequel of whats to come than anything else but I'm happy with it just going to plow on with this rendering now and get it all done.

Scanline or Mental Ray?

Scanline or Mental Ray?
I'm at a very annoying point with my rollercoaster, I'm just starting to put it all together and add the final few textures but I really don't know which renderer to use, they both have major flaws for this project. Scanline renders really quickly and does everything that I want it to but doesn't have the same amount of textures as Mental Ray. However Mental Ray, takes forever to render and doesn't pick up all the finer details that I have on my rollercoaster, for example it's missing parts of the string, while Scanline does this perfectly.

It's a tough choice, I think that I'll have to stick with Scanline at the moment and see how I get on with texturing, I can also use the rendering effects in Scanline. It's just annoying though.

A Working Planet

A Working Planet

This is again another render for another piece of the background for my Rollercoaster, again I like the way that it pivots making it look as though it is hanging on a piece of string. I also added some rotation to the rings around it and added an asteroid that follows a path constaint around the planet. Trying to follow the theme of something that has been made I also added a line around the planet to make it appear as though it has been joined together from two different parts.

The only problem I am having at the moment is texturing, I'm close to finishing this project at the minuite but textures seem to kill my laptop and slow down rendering time in a big way so I need to try and find a way around this without jeprodising how it looks, this is Visualisation after all.

Stars

Stars

This whole idea mainly came from the artwork from The Cure's Greatest Hits, I love how the stars hang down from the ceiling and thought that the idea would work really well with my rollercoaster. But yeah I'm really happy with how it looks and moves around quite naturally.

I've finally managed to get the lens effects to work on 3D S Max so without any further adue here is just one of the stars that I'm going to stick around my rollercoaster. The reason for this is that instead of just sticking on a background picture of stars I would create a simple one myself in 3D S Max that suits my theme much more so I'm hoping that this is the final missing link that my rollercoaster needs. I'll now start putting all of this together and keep posting up when something major gets added.

Ready to Animate

Ready to Animate

Ok it has taken forever but I am finally ready to get animating everything is rigged up and ready to go at last. Which I will do tommorow and the get rendering.

I'm going to use very basic textures so that I can actually render it in less then a year. The only thing that I'm not completely happy with is that my main robot doesn't move as smoothly as I'd hoped, I can get around this with some clever camera work but this does mean that I won't get every shot that I'd hoped for. So what I'm going to do IF I have time is do another one over the weekend using the robot I built in Andy's seminars to show how I wanted it to look, if it doesn't turn out well.

Robot Model Finished

Robot Model Finished

Finally! I have finished my robot and I am so proud of how it looks, it has taken forever but now that it's done I can just sit back and enjoy my hard work.

I've gone for a very Transformers/Gundam look and I deffinately think that it looks badass which is what I set out to create.

I'm really happy with the layered look that I've given it, I might have to change some parts though so that

the different pieces don't colide.

I also textured it however this takes forever to render, this one image took 3 minuites, so as much as I'd like to have an epic animation with beautiful textures and everything.

However in the interests of logic and time I'll apply a basic texture instead which should keep the rendering time down to a minimal. So I'll finish rigging the hands tommorow and then get cracking with this animation.

Robot Head

Robot Head

The head for my robot is now finished, I'm happy with it I might make a few minor changes if I get time but I'm a lot more interested in getting this finished at the moment but it looks good.

I'll attach this to the rest of my robot and quickly rig it up and I'm done and ready to go. Should have the finished render of my robot up by the end of the day.

Robot Chest

Robot Chest

I've now finished the chest and back of my robot and just thought that I'd post it up so anyone that wants to can have a look. I am very happy with how this is turning out so far, I set out to create a bad ass robot and that's what I'm doing. The only thing I'm slightly not happy with is that I had to move a few of the pieces so that they wouldn't colide during animation, however that now means that you can see some of the joints. It's not really a problem, but if I've got time I'd like to fix it somehow.

I've also rigged up the frame underneath and it's all working fine now, so all that's left is the arms and head, which should be a pretty quick job and I'll post the results up once it's done.

Roller Coaster Modelled

Roller Coaster Modelled

I've now pretty much finished my model for my rollercoaster and I'm very happy with it. I've tried to get it to look like a mining cart track, so really rough and ready but it works. I've not added any textures yet because I want 3D s Max to work right for the moment while I add all of the planets, stars, moons and asteroids that I modelled earlier but I'll keep posting up as I'm going. The only problem I'm having is getting my things to stay on the track when I use a path constraint, but I might use this to my advantage and have my cart look as though it's bouncing around almost falling off the track.

Movement test

Movement test

Just thought that I'd stick this on aswell before I start modelling the rest of it properly, I've had a bit of a play with the follow path thing used with splines. It looks pretty good so far I need to think of a way of making sure the rollercoaster stays on the track without going through it or floating on top of it. But it works on the whole and that's the main thing. I also tried using the curve editor to slow it down in splace it works to some extent but I'll properly perfect it for my final piece.

Roller Coaster Spline

Roller Coaster Spline

Well I've finall finished the splne of my roller coaster and thought I'd post it up. I know that I should have done this weeks ago but I have been working on my rollercoaster but I've been doing the other pieces that are going to go around it. Basically I don't really like working with splines unless it's on a flat plane they are very hard to get right but it's done now.

I'm going to be working on it all night so I'll post the results up once it's done.

Robot Legs

Robot Legs

Here's a quick render of my robot so far so you can hopefully get the just of how it's going to look. I'm very happy with how it's turned out so far and I'll very hopefully get the rest of it finished by the end of the day and have it posted up. I'll then rig it tonight ready to have a bit of a play with the animation for tommorow.

That's the plan anyway.

Card Designs

Card Designs

Ok here's my designs for my cards. I've got three types, magic, mages and warriors and I thought it better to divide them into colours to make everything a lot simpler for the player. I'm really happy with them actually 'all' I have to do now is add images and types up each card, and then print them off, cut them out and I'm done. Yeah it's going to be a long weekend, but I really want to get the presentation right on this and make everything look good.

Robot Helper Finshed

Robot Helper Finshed

Ok I've now finshed my Helper Robot and I'm very happy with how it looks, just how I planned anyway. It's all rigged and ready to go once I finish my main robot. I should have my main robot finshed and rigged by the end of tommorow with any luck and then it's just a case of animating and rendering for the deadline but I know exactly what I'm going to do so it's all gravy.

Anyway here's a short clip of my robot in action.

Robot - Armour Plating

Robot - Armour Plating

Ok here's my mission for today, I'm going to completely cover my robot frame in plates so that it looks totally amazing and everything, I'll hopefully have it finished by the end of the day and ill post up the results.