SWOT Analysis

Based upon the progress of the work so far, it is possible to make a SWOT analysis. The purpose of this, is to establish the strengths, weaknesses of the project thus far, along with any opportunities or threats there are to the project. By identifying these, priorities can be set to correcting the weaknesses and setting action plans on how to overcome any possible threats.

Strengths

A skill that has been carried through this project amongst others is the ability for myself to write vast amounts of text within a small amount of time. Although, this blog has been updated weekly to keep on schedule with the timetable guideline, if this skill wasn't present, I would have a lot to worry about as there is a deadline, much of my time is spent trying to get the animation working and ready for the deadline without needing to panic on top with getting the written work along side it.

Secondly, I am capable of working to guidelines, thus, this project will be handed in on time, and although there is a lot still to be done, as there is a clear storyboard of the chain of events, the trailer will take. The work that is needed is clear, it just requires the time to complete it and render. Therefore, the project is still on track.

Especially, as this is the first time this software has been used, I am very pleased with the result of the human model along with how he walks and poses during the animations. Some indeed, are more comical than resembling real life but still, as this is the first time I am very pleased with the results. Furthermore, during the time using this software, my familiarity in the material editor has dramatically improved, which has resulted in the trailer having a more varied use of materials. To begin with, the only materials being used was bitmaps that were being manipulated. Now, as the deadline nears closer, gradients have been created to make the illusion of smoke in the titles scene and in the gun shot scene. Along with making materials more interesting with displacement and bump adding texture to the overall feel of the trailer.

I have experience in blogging, which has made the corresponding report to the trailer much easier, as I know how to import files and display the desired image and effect to my audience.

During the modelling of the new character James Bond, my sketching skills have acted as a strength during this project. When creating storyboards, a clear idea of what should be happening with James in each scene. Along with being able to visualise the muscles in the body after sketching them, added more integrity to his shape.

Plus, during the animation process, very small scenes were created so that when they were created, it took very little time for them to render, saving valuable time that was then able to be used in creating further scenes.

Weaknesses

As mentioned earlier within this post, I have a very limited product knowledge of 3DS Max. Partially due to how much the program has to offer, there is so much to learn in such a small period of time, but also how many small hidden menus each time a different button is selected. This is great for the flexibility of the program as the possibilities are endless. However, in a short period of time, this makes it incredibly difficult to make an effective trailer as I first intended to make.

The models that were created during the first stages of the project were made by using basic modelling tools which inevitably limited how sophisticated the models could be. Thus, during the animation stages, it is incredibly difficult to make an effective animation with a suffering model. After receiving feedback from the prototype, it was decided that the models needed to be either all Lego like toys are as close to real life as possible. It was decided against making them look like Lego, therefore, the character representing James Bond was created again. This model had a lot more techniques and modifiers added to it but as time was pressing on and with the fear of falling behind in mind, the model was left at a stage that animation could begin, but could certainly use more work.

A weakness of myself includes the panic of a forthcoming deadline. Unfortunately, this panic tends to do more damage than good. As the deadline draws closer, more time is spent panicking by the end than producing more work. Furthermore, during the panic, I have been observing my colleagues work on their blogs, and find myself panicking even more as I compare my work to theirs. Also, pieces of work that had been previously considered finished was then scrapped based upon the assumption, it wasn't as good as theirs. This is why, I try to keep to the timetable as close as possible as this minimises panic. This is an attribute of mine that will need to be developed upon in the future.

Opportunities

During the creation of this James Bond trailer, there has been an enormous learning curve, which has provided the building blocks for a useful professional level skill that can be taken with me, once my time at University has ended.

Furthermore, after creating a human model, I now understand the contours and general physique of the human body a lot better than before this project. When creating models in the future, this knowledge can be taken with and hopefully even better models will be created. This software package will be used in the future, to develop my 3D modelling and animation skills.

Upon completion of this project, this can be placed into my personal portfolio to show future employers the skills that have been acquired after a short period of time with the program, to show my potential.

Threats

As I have such limited product knowledge of this software, the colleagues in my class that have used this will most likely look a lot better than the finished trailer of this project. Colleagues within the class have made their trailers look very realistic, to the extent that instantly, their audience is able to see their intended effect. For example, in one of the colleagues has created a room which Goldfinger is about to try and kill James Bond with his laser. The way that the body is upon the table and how Goldfinger walks across the floor. Or another example is how a car skids around the corner in the snow as the particles then go in the air representing snow.

On the other hand, in terms of time remaining for the project to be completed, the project may not be completed in time. To overcome this, a strict plan of action is being incorporated into the animation stages of the trailer. Shorter deadlines have been set to get particular tasks complete within a given time to keep track of how close the project is to completion.

Overall, it is clear to see through the previous posts on this blog, plus what has been mentioned above, there are a number of weaknesses and threats for this project, and it is unlikely that it will be the best project that is presented. However, even with such limited product knowledge there is still promise and potential for this project with a lot of hard work within these last few weeks as the deadline draws closer.

Reactors On James Bond

As mentioned in previous posts, reactors can be used in animations and they add a level of sophistication as they apply effects to objects based upon given arguments. If those arguments relate to real life, then the models will react similar to everyday instances of how that object would. As mentioned in the "Setting Up the Rag-Doll Scene" tutorial provided by Auto desk 3DS Max, it adds physicality to a scene. Depending on the desired effect, if it were an alien world being created, gravity may react differently. For example in the Havoc 1 World properties, to resemble gravity, the x axis is a negative number, this is because a negative number informs Max that it must descend down the z axis rather than go up it. If the x or the y axis were to be modified, objects could have a gravitational pull to the left.

To better understand the usefulness of reactors, a tutorial was followed to make a model fall down some stairs. Thus, once complete the same knowledge could be applied to James Bond in a different scenario.

When applying mass to an object within Studio Max, it must be higher than zero, if it is expected to move. This is because Studio Max is programmed so that if the object properties are set to zero, under no circumstances does that object move during the animation. It treats it like a building firm set into place.

The elasticity property determines how bouncy the object should be. For example, in the bouncy ball exercise, the balls were not bouncy because of this very control, they had no elasticity applied to them. Friction, on the other hand, determines how easy it is for the object to slide across a given surface.

To make James Bond behave like a human should, it's important to ensure his limbs react the same as a humans would. This is achieved by assigning constraints and applying reactor collections.

The first task is to create a Rigid Body (RB) collection and place within one of the view ports. In the modifier panel, the add button needs to be selected so that all of the bones of the body, along with the floor of the scene needs to be added to the RB collection. This is so the objects are now physical, 3DS Max now knows, they should not deform but rather they should act like skittles being hit by a bowling ball. They don't break, rather it disperses in different directions but it remains whole.

A constraint solver needs to be added to the scene. To make this work properly its important that all of the constraints are RBs and they belong to the same collection. Underneath it's name, click "None", followed by pressing the 'H' key on the keyboard to bring up the name selection window. RBCollection01 needs to be selected.

To attach the body limbs together, hinge constraints is first used. Like a hinge on a door, the hinge allows the joint in an arm to move only as far as it's hinge limits. To assign hinges to limbs, on the helpers panel, the hinge constraint is added to one of the view ports. In the properties panel, the "None" button next to "Child" needs to be selected. By pressing the 'H' key on the keyboard and in turn choosing the child limb and the parent. For example, one child may be the lower arm, with its parent being the upper arm. A hierarchy of limbs as shown in the name list is being created in hinges.

To make his movements more realistic to a human body, his limbs need to have hinge limits. The angles needed to be changed and the values were taken from the tutorial which is available from the tutorials selections in 3DS Max. Now, the initial joints have been created (wrists, elbows, knees and ankles), they need to be added to the constraint solver by selecting 'Add'. All of the joints that appear in the window need to be added.

To stop the limbs falling through the floor, collision pairs are defined. The bones listed need to be disabled so that the effects of having the hinge constraints can be shown and so they the body doesn't fall apart. Next, the exhaustive list needs to be sifted through and enable the common collisions that include any floor objects. This will stop James falling through the floor.

Adding the Rag Doll Constraint

The rag doll constraint is how the back, neck and shoulders connect together. It is what keeps the body together when the body hits the floor. To define how much they can turn and twist, they are controlled by three main controls; twist axis, plane axis and Twist x Plane axis (Cone axis). Like the hinge constraints, a parent and child relationship needs to be declared. For example, the right thigh is the child to the pelvis parent.

The constraints were defined by the guidelines provided by 3DS Max tutorial. The rag doll constraints now need to be added to the constraints solver. Once complete, the animation can be previewed and the limbs should all remain together when the body hits the floor.

Making the Car Chase

The aim of this scene was to have Bond driving the car across a rocky desert like background, with the harrier following him firing missiles towards the car and seeing the explosions caused by the missiles. To finish the scene, Bond swerves the car so that it is not facing the opposite direction and fires his own missile from the car, which then hits the harrier and makes it explode and disappear, and then Bond reverse off concluding the scene.

The objectives to achieve this aim was to create the rocky desert like scenery ready for the animation, followed by importing the car and the harrier to the scene. Using cameras and animation tools, to make an effective car chase.

The first task was to create the plane for the car to drive across. First the horizon line was created using a very thin cylinder with a terrain bitmap taken from the 3DS Max tutorials folder. As shown in the first image, it is rather bland as it is to begin with.

Instead, the displacement button on the material editor for the terrain bitmap was then adjusted in selected parts of the plane. To do this, the plane was converted to a poly, and using the face editor, the outer edges were selected and then modified in the material editor. For such a quick alteration, it brings a lot more depth to the scene. The effective part of the displacement modifier is that it doesn't make everything all level, it makes it all different which is why it is so effective for this scene, as rocks are not all the same size.

A simple rectangular plane was placed on top of the cylinder to represent tarmac for the car to drive across. Due to the displacement modifier on the cylinder material, the tarmac needs to be lifted and then tested to make sure it doesn't disappear into the cylinder material.

Once complete, the animation can begin. The explosions were actually really simple, as there is a tutorial that was followed to produce that effect from 3DS Max tutorials menu. It basically comprised of creating a plane on the stage, and put an .avi file as the material of an explosion. So that as the car zooms across the screen, the plane material is just playing like the rest of the animation and shows the explosions. This gives a template for where the explosions need to take place on the timeline and where the car needs to be driving and where the harrier should be placed.

The car moves across the scene by using Auto Key and scrubbing the timeline to the next part of the scene where the car needs to be and Auto Key fills in the blanks. This is also the case for the harrier. The positioning of the car needs to represent a car swerving evading missiles dropping on the ground, therefore the car will swerve suddenly from left to right like in the .avi file beneath. The harrier will also swerve as it endeavours to fire the missile onto the car. 

A tedious but necessary task is to adjust the positioning of the wheels so that they appear to be turning in the direction of the car with the rest of the animation. In real life the wheel is the element of the car that controls the direction that the car moves in. This needs to be represented in the animation. However, by doing this, it alters all of the animation of the wheels, which means that every frame of the two front wheels needs to be altered so that it doesn't look like the wheels are about to fall off. Bond is very stylish and very cool, he would not be seen in a broken car on purpose, if so he would do something very cool to destroy the enemy by also destroying the uncool car. This will not be happening in this scene, so the wheels need to be changed. To ensure it looks right in the animation by scrubbing the timeline, the finished appearance is displayed in the view ports. 

A target camera then needs to be used in this scene as the target is the car within this scene. The car will drive towards the camera, and the camera will adjust so that it captures both the harrier and the car amongst the explosions. The positioning will be determined by choosing the most effective shot with the explosions. This is the scene result. This was rendered by adjusting the time configuration settings to finish on the last animated frame, and then setting the range in the render set up from zero to the last frame. The file was then selected as an .avi file and the folder to save it to was also selected. The render button is then selected and when played it looks like the below .avi file. I think it works rather well.

Reactors

To give an animation a higher level of sophistication, it requires the use of reactors. A reactor is a tool that makes an object react to something. For example, if the rigid body collection which is one type of reactor is applied to a sphere and a mass element is applied to it as well. It means that it fall to a surface. If there was a board beneath that was on a tilt, then the sphere would roll off of the board as well.

Whereas, if the cloth modifier was to be added to a plane, and then the cloth collection was then applied. It is possible to make a curtain effect by attaching vertices to their hooks which could be a sphere of cylinder. By using Auto Key, a short animation can be created and make the curtains slide from one end to the other as if they were being opened.

A quick guide is below on how to create the curtain effect:

1. Make the plane, name it curtain. Make your hooks out of cylinders or spheres and place them on a long cylinder that will act as the pole.
2. Select the plane (curtain) and select the cloth modifier which is in the reactor tool bar, (if this is not visible select reactor from the create panel and then right click on the main tool bar and select reactor, it should now appear. Note: if the cloth collection is applied before the modifier it will not work. The cloth modifier should now appear in the stack.
3. For the curtain pole, attach a rigid body - ensure that the curtain (plane) is not placed in this (remove if so).
4. Now go to the cloth modifier and select vertex at sub-object level, followed by constraints and click to attach to rigid body.
5. Change the name that appears in the dialog box as it will get very confusing later, and then highlight the vertices around the hook. Select none, then click on the hook. It should then turn yellow on those vertices selected to show it is complete. Complete this step for each of the hooks.
6. Select preview animation, press 'P' and the cloth should be moving. The animation can now take place by moving the hooks to make the curtains open.

The Title of The Film

The film that is being animated as previously stated in earlier posts is "You Only Live Twice". At the very end of the trailer the name of the trailer will be displayed to the audience. The intended effect was to get a font as close to the original title as possible, to make it seem more authentic. This is the image of DVD cover of the film:



Details that have been noted so far were that the 'L' curve upwards, they are not just flat, this is the same for the 'U's they have the caps at the top of the letters. Plus, there is a low leading level as the characters are very close together and the font is bold as well. When browsing through the list of fonts, the ones that came close were 'Courier New Bold', 'David Bold', 'Impact' and 'Vani'. The fonts that were the closest were 'DilleniaUPC Bold' and 'GungsuhChe'. The one that was used was 'DilleniaUPC Bold', however when the text was converted to a poly, to extrude the letters so they have a dominant presence when rendered, the 'C' would not convert, whereas it would on 'GungsuhChe'. The font isn't as close as the first but it is close enough.

A material now needs to be added to it. To animate it to finish the trailer the use of lighting and cameras will be used to create the desired effect of how the title should appear to the audience.

The material that was added to the title is the smoke tool, with the colours that have been adjusted applied with the bump tool to add more texture, the smoke tool was used as the bump. This was the what it looked like afterwards:

For extra effect, '007' was added behind the title text with a smoke material applied to it. As there is a lot to fit into the trailer this will be rendered as it is and if there is time at the end within the trailer then more detail can be added. This is very unlikely, so it will be rendered like the image above in the render window. The title's only purpose is to inform the audience of what the film is. Plus, in other examples of trailers that are displayed at the cinema, the attention is directed at the film itself and the title is such a small part of it that it only tells the audience which film to ask to watch. A very small piece of the trailer but an important piece. An omni light was added to the scene, to make it easier to see the '007' text. So the audience have a chance to read the title, Auto Key was used for a second's worth of frames (60 frames) .

To add more texture to the words on screen, the dent map was added to the bump map along with having a smoke map as well, which works well in creating depth to each of the letters. To do this, in the material editor, under the maps section
This is the clip finished ready for editing at the end...

Creating The Scene When Bond Walks And Shoots

Based upon the initial research of the James Bond films, one of the most dominant generic conventions is that there is always the scene when James Bond walks across the scene, followed by turning to the audience and concludes the scene by shooting towards the camera, as the scene fills with red representing blood. Therefore, as it is such an iconic part of James Bond, this will be incorporated into the trailer. For the beginning of this scene, the small white circles move across the stage in a straight line like the image below (Elcaru1989, 2008).

This was my interpretation:

This was created by simply adding a geosphere to the stage of a radius of 10 with 20 segments to make the objects smooth around the edges. To make it like the colour in the film, the material that was applied was a white diffuse colour, that had a specular level of 80, a glossiness level of 80, the soften was left to the default settings of 0.1 and the self illumination was set from 0 to 100. This made the object very bright when moving across the stage, rather than a greyish colour that occured when the self illumination wasn't applied.

The number of frames within this part of the animation was 60 frames which equates as 2 seconds. Using Auto Key, the geosphere was toggled from one side of the stage to the other, at 60 frames, a clone copy of the geosphere was made and toggled to the left of the original object, so that when played the clone moved away from the original like the films did.

This worked rather well, the next step, is to make a cone which the camera will look through for James to walk across the scene like the original films did. The model to make James walk across the stage will be the same model that will be used throughout the trailer. Indeed, there will be some alterations to the model, as in the original trailers he is wearing a suit, as the model was created in different attire, and given the time restraints he will be wearing a more casual attire, but the pose will be still be the same as the original.

This will be the chain of events that the storyboard will follow in the trailer. To ensure that it all fits in within the 30 seconds, this will be slightly quicker than the original, by editing some of the parts out. Once there is a clearer idea of how long it takes, this can then be edited down to size.

This is the image to begin the animation for James to walk across the stage...

The bottom left view port is the view from the camera, there is a material that has been added to make it look similar to clouds in the background, as it is not rendered, it is not possible to see it in this image. When the animation begins on this part, the camera will pan following Bond like the original does, always looking through the cone. The swirl tool was applied to the material to make it give a similar look to the original as well.

The New and Improved James Bond Character

This is the body of the new character that will star as James Bond within the trailer. As mentioned from the reaction to the feedback, more modelling tools would be incorporated into the making of the model and this has been the case for this model. Tools and techniques that have been used thus far include, Inset, Extrude, Bevel, Connect, Ring, Loop, Chamfer, Soft Selection and the use of 'See Through'.

The boots were created first, by creating a box and then extruding. To make them appear less boxy, highlighting the edges of the boots, and selecting the loop tools, it selects all of the edges and the connect tool, connects them together by adding more faces, which can then be modified. The reference plate was then used to guide the shoe into place. The bend tool was used to make the boot bend slightly with the foot, as the position he is standing in would not make his shoes go completely straight to the floor.

To create the legs, the cylinder shape was used with extrude to make the leg bigger. The rotate and scale tool was used to make the leg shrink and enlarge to the contours of the legs, to match the reference plate. This work much better than previous attempts of the models. The inset tool was used to make the gap in his trousers at the top, this allows you to see all the way through the trousers looking through the top view port. This was also completed for the boots as well. For both the boots and the legs, instance clones were created and flipped into place using the symmetry tool.

To make the T-Shirt, the plane shape was created, and then extruded around the outline of the reference plate uisng the left view port. This was particularly difficult to master, and took many attempts before reaching a standard that would be satisfactory to include in this post. The vertices were then amended to match the outline of the reference plate. Using the loop tool on the outer edge of the plane outline, all of the edges are then selected on that side. Holding the shift key as the move tool is used, it extrudes the same outline again and again, until the bulk of the t-shirt has been completed before reaching the sleeves. Before the sleeves were begun, the bridge tool was used to join the edges from one side to the other to add some more basic details to the t-shirt. There was still a gap in the clothing for where the arms would go.

The arms were created by making a cyclinder and extruding, rotating and scaling the arm using the front, side and top view ports to conform to the guidelines. Once the arm was made, the hand was created by making a simple box that had been put into place with the guidelines. Each vertex was modified so that each edge was in line for where the fingers would go. To create a space for the fingers, the chamfer tool was used to add some extra sections, so that when the faces of each finger were extruded and beveled, they would not mesh into one large mitten like feature. This was completed for each finger and the thumb which required some more rotation and scale. The arm and the hand were attached together. Upon completion, the faces of the hand and arm were bridged together to make it one object. This again was mirrored using the mirror tool in the main tool bar and then put into place.

To bend the fingers, soft selection was used and the edge distance was altered from the default 1 to 4. This meant that the other fingers would not be effected when one was moved. They moved down to make them appear more organic and less box like. The rotation tool was then used to make the fingers appear slightly bent.

So far, this model appears to be making much better progress than any of the previous models that have been created in this project. To accomplish this model, a very useful tutorial is available in 3DS Max in their tutorial section.

This is the head as it is begins to take shape. This was made from a box with the vertices moulded to fit the reference plate. There is only half of the face as the symmetry modifier will be applied later. The nose was created by using the cut tool and making the basic shape of a nose, which was then extruded and rotated into shape ready for the symmetry tool to be activated.

The mouth was then created by adding faces using the connect and cut tools. The vertices were then moved and rearranged to create a small mouth with a result like below:

Next, the shape for the eyes needed to be made using the cut tool. Once, cut the outline was then inset to make the eyes sink into the face. The vertices were then atered to reduce stretch lines where it had been inset. The face of the eye was then removed, and replaced with a geosphere placed within the head. The vertices were then adjusted again so that the eye lids cover the eye rather than the eyes escaping them as this would be unrealistic. Compared to the previous attempts for models especially the previous posts for heads, this has made a lot of progress. The cut and connect tool was also used to define the cheeks, forehead and chin a little more.

When this was mesh smoothed, it had puzzling results as the nose kept caving in on itself, this was overcome by deleting the two faces on the side of the nose, which was preventing the edges from being bridged together. Once this was achieved the nose looked much more sophisticated. Furthermore, the shape of the nose began to take more shape, when more edges were added using the cut tool so that vertices could be pulled out in different positions to give it more shape and the effects were like so...

To complete the face so it can be attached to the rest of the body, the ears and hair need to be added and then the character will be ready for animation.

The next step was to create ears for the Mr Bond. This was achieved by using the cut tool on the side of the head, using the symmetry modifier this meant that the cut tool worked on both sides of the head. The faces that had been created by the cut tool were then extruded and the vertices were then adjusted so that they began to resemble a pair of ears better.

Next, the top of the head was extruded to make a hair line. This was basic as the vertices were adjusted and it now makes James Bond look like one of the disastrous hair cuts from the 90's. Upon completion, the stack for the head was collapsed so that when the file was merged with the body the neck could be bridged together without only half the head showing. Once both of the files had been merged together the body and the head were then attached to make one large object.

To make the character ready to walk in the trailer, the Biped tool was used and merged together with the object. The Biped tool can be located in the create panel followed by selecting systems. The biped was formed in the front view port and made to scale to the model. The shoulders were adjusted on the biped to match the model. It was then merged to the model. To test if all of the objects within the biped were controlling the corresponding model limb, using the footstep tool, the model is able to walk across the screen following a set layout of footsteps. The parts that are not being controlled by the biped leave nasty stretch marks that will move on the model. In this case, there were marks on both the feet, the arms and the head. This was adjusted by altering the radius on the physique envelope modifer along with the parent and child contols. The way to know if it should be the parent or the child control to adjust is thinking which limb is being adjusted. For example, the hand to the arm is the child to the parent. The toes on a foot is the child to the parent. Or vice versa, the thigh to the shin on a leg is the parent to the child.

Once, there were no stretch marks, the limbs of the biped were then moved and adjusted by selecting figure mode when the biped was selected. This was so that when the trailer plays, the audience doesn't see a mixture of both models but rather just James Bond and not his skeleton trying to get to the spot first.



To complete this character ready for animation is to apply some materials to him to make him appear more sophisticated.

Using the paint selection region tool, the individual faces were able to highlighted rather quickly, so that materials could be made and applied to the different body parts quickly and effectively. A skin texture was found from the internet (Filter Forge, 2006) which were applied to the arms and face. This had the bump modifier applied as well with the same skin bitmap and applied at 30. This added extra texture to the skin and worked rather well.

The t-shirt was made again by finding a fabric texture from the internet (Hart-Davis, D (2011) which was then mirrored to create the effect shown in the image above. To create the khaki style trousers, an image of a khaki fabric was located from the internet (Lings Designs, ND) and then given the bump modifer with smoke, this added an interesting effect especially when the specular level was adjusted as well.

The boots were given a leather bitmap to begin with, again taken from an internet source (InetGiant, 2009), which was then adjusted by mirroring and tiling was adjusted to 10. Furthermore, it was also selected to be an environ rather than a texture. This made it look better as before this was applied, the boots looked very bumpy and not shoe like at all.

The hair again selected using the paint selection region tool was made by finding a bitmap from the internet (Bangin, 2007). This didn't appear very sophisticated when adjusting the qualities of the bitmap, and is more a shade of black than having a texture of hair. Alternatively, the hair and fur modifer was going to be applied but then the file size and render time would be severly affected, so this was a decision that would have to be kept.

The final step for this model so that animation can begin is to add eyes and apply the textures to those eyes.

Here is an image with the model with eyes:

To create the eyes a basic geosphere was created and copied. They were then converted to editable poly's, so that faces were able to be selected and adjust the specular levels to make there be a light reflecting off of it. These are very basic eyes but the animation will not focus on it for very long at all so, to ensure that there is enough time ot complete the animation, this detail will be left as it is.

Creating the head for the new Character

For this model, I was determined to use new modelling techniques that had not been used in the previous models. It is clear from the feedback, that using more techniques other than extrude and mesh smooth, there is a lot more potential. Indeed, for this model there is a lot of work still to be completed in the alloted time, however, the difference between the original and this shows a lot of progress and an obvious learning curve. In this head alone, the techniques and tools that have been used so far include:
Cut
Remove
Relax
Smooth

This can be seen in the images below.

This is an example of when the back of the head was being created. The cut tool was used a lot here so that the model was as close to the reference plate as possible. It also meant that when editing hte vertices, to make them curve, not much was needed to be applied, and it did not result in horrid stretch marks, which is what happened before.



This view is when the shape was beginning to come together, and some of the details of the nose was beginning to be applied. In this example, this has the relax tool, which transformed straight square edges into smaller caved in ones. This was beneficial for the curves and contours of the face and worked rather well.

This was when the noise was being finished and the lips were beginning to be applied. The remove tool was important as, the head needed to be created twice, as there were so many faces that the program was unable to cope and crashed to the extent that the file will not even open anymore.

This is what the face looked like after the symmetry tool had been applied, this was to make sure all of the features of the face were symmetrical. I am not as pleased as I thought I would be after seeing the progress of the face, this could have gone better.

Reference plates for the Characters Head

To ensure the character looks as realistic as possible some reference planes have been collected from the internet to use in each view port. These will act as guidelines whilst creating the face. 

This reference plate (above) will be used in the front view port as a guideline.

This reference plate (above) will be used in the left view port and as a guideline for the side view of the head. This is quite a feminine face so exceptions will need to be made later, but for getting the general shape of the face, this will suit fine. There are only two reference plates that have been found rather than one from each viewport, this is because when the symmetry modifier is used, the other side will be taken care of.

Attempt 3 Creating the Character Model

Based upon the feedback received from the prototype design, it would seem appropriate to try to do the character again. This time, to ensure it is the last time that this model is created, a mood board has been created of all different images of James Bond focusing on the contours of his face, various suit designs and the male anatomy to make this model as effective as possible.

This will act as a reference when the model is created again. The sooner this model is completed, the sooner the animation can continue. More modelling tools will be used such as the cut and remove tool to add a more sophisticated look to the model.

Reaction To Prototype Feedback

After submitting the models for some feedback, there is a lot of room for improvement, and this will be discussed throughout the written work, as the blog posts will be updated. Furthermore, the models will also be updated and in some cases remade based upon some of the feedback.

Although, there was a lot of initial research into the brief using words and images, more of this will be incorporated into the later stages of the work as well. This is because, research doesn't just stop once the first bit is done, to make a model sophisticated, constant reference to images and research is vital to keeping to the intended outcome that is desired.

One of the crucial elements that requires a lot of attention in the remaining time left before the deadline, is to become more confident with using the different tools available within 3DS Max 10, and not just sticking to the basic extrude and mesh smooth tools. Instead, using the cut and remove tools along with more of the tools and modifiers available in the program to produce more sophisticated models. This will be the biggest challenge, and will produce the largest learning curve throughout the course.

Plus, one of the fundamental elements about this trailer that has been overlooked thus far, the character model was based upon a Lego toy, although everything else was intended to look realistic. However, it should be one or the other, if they are both combined, it would appear that one is in the wrong reality, it should all appear unrealistic and toy like or all life like. The decision that has been made, is to make it as realistic as possible. If the lego theme was to be incorporated throughout, I run the risk of it not looking like anything rather than it looking like something if were realistic. Therefore, the character model will need to be created again.

Overall, the project is making good progress, but there is a lot of room for improvement, and this will be addressed throughout the remaining time until the final application is submitted.

How The Hotel Was Created

The main element of the introductory scene is the hotel, that James Bond will walk out of, turn around and see the harrier about to fire at him as he runs for his car. Therefore, as there will be a lot of focus upon the hotel it is important that it looks sophisticated.

As a building such as a hotel can vary in different ways, some are very elegant, some appear to be very cheap and cheerful, whereas some others appear to be very lavish. As there are different ways it could be interpreted, some pictorial research was collated and used as a reference to create the hotel. It was not used as a reference plate as a material on a plane, but rather my own interpretation of the hotel was sketched and then used and referred to when creating the hotel. This is the original image (Venere.com, nd).

This is my interpretation of the hotel and how I intend the hotel to look.

This was achieved by first creating a box onto the stage of substantial height, weight and depth. The number of segments was 20 across all three dimensions before converting it to a poly. Using the extrude tool, the windows and door was pushed inwards, making a nice frame for each of them. The roof was extruded in multiple layers to represent a roofs generic conventions of gradually ascending to a higher level. There is also a arch on top of the door naming the hotel. This was again accomplished using the extrude tool, and completed by moving the vertices closer together to give the impression of a curve.

The material that was used on the building was a combination of maps, including the marble effect that with a tiling of 20, made the hotel appear to be the grey colour with the vertical lines going down the hotel. To add a texture to the building, the bump tool was also used approximately 80 to add a lot of texture of the same material (marble) to give the impression of a tile like texture. This has worked well for this model.

The next step was creating a path for James Bond to walk across as he heads for his car. The intended effect for gravel was used by searching on the internet (REFERENCE) for a suitable image that could be imported as a bitmap and used within the material editor. This worked very well, better than what was intended as there appears to be a hint of blue that has come through on the material when rendered. This works because of the lighting coming from the hotel, it appears that there is something reflecting onto the path. Along with hotel patios tend not to be controversial with the designs of their pavements outside the hotel.

Lamp posts were created by making thin cylinders with a bend modifier on the piece at the top, so that a cone could then hang from the object. The omni light, found in the create>light>omni panel acts as a small beam of light, the same as you would expect from a lamp post light. Therefore, this works very well. Other lights were used, such as sky light among others, but the light source seemed to great for the intended effect.

Many hotels tend to have a garden feature in front of it to make it more aesthetically appealing, thus to draw more customers to their hotel. Therefore, to add to the hotel's authenticity, a garden feature has been used in this model. First a thin cylinder was created which would act as grass. The material that was used for this was swirl with the tiling adjusted so that it made small circles. When the bump tool was then applied and adjusted to 100, it made a green grass and mud effect. It was green and brown as these were the colours that were adjusted from the swirl instead of the standard yellow and brown used within the default. It was not intended to appear to have long grass, firstly, as the render time is horrendous, but also a garden feature appearing in their kind of destination would ensure it was cut short, thus this was the intended effect.

Once the grass effect had been added to the feature, foliage was then applied. This was achieved by selecting the create panel and selecting from the drop down menu "AEC". Foliage can then be selected which gives a large menu of various plants and trees to choose from. A small plant from the menu was selected and then arranged in a small pattern following the shape of the circle. This were adjusted and moved into place to appear symmetrical. Finally, to complete the foliage, a tree was then added to the centre of the feature which has worked well. Various trees were tried and tested, each appeared to give a different representation of what type kind of building, it was supposed to represent. An exotic tree was chosen, as the idea of exotic trees, in my opinion links to the idea of holiday destination, thus hotel. To add to the idea of holiday and hotels with their stereotypical features, more exotic trees were added in between lamp posts to add to the scene. 

To finish the scene, another omni light was put within the hotel, to appear that the hotel was open and so that the audience can then see Bond leaving the hotel.

Using The Cut & Remove Tools

A model lacks sophistication when only basic modeling techniques are applied such as extrude, lofting and the symmetry modifiers. To add detail to shapes and enable more complex shapes to manifest, it will require the cut and remove tools.

The cut tool allows the user to select an edge and place extra edges into that face, which effectively adds another face to the object. It cuts the face into a smaller one. More than one cut can be applied to one face. This effect can be very useful if the shape of an arm for instance was being created out of the side of a box.

The remove tool, on the other hand, allows for faces to be deleted to leave a gap. This can be useful if the desired effect is to be able to see inside the object. Alternatively, one object might be attached to another using the bridge tool and bridge the two holes together.

Overall, these are some very useful tools that will be incorporated into the modeling of any objects created in the future.

Creating a Water Effect

One of the effects that I really wanted to incorporate into the trailer was some water to add to the danger of the car Bond is driving falling into the sea. A tutorial from the internet (Mucio, 2002) explains in great detail each step of how to create this effect.

This is the final outcome (the bitmap used in the reflection depends on what the background is supposed to be), in this case a Manhattan Skyline was used to create this effect.



By altering the bump level from 39 to 59 it makes it work even better. This is a very useful tutorial and will be incorporated into the final trailer.

I am very pleased with this.

This effect has now been incorporated into one of the scenes with the car crossing the bridge, with its wheels turning with a blur effect as well. The camera then changes direction as it follows the car.

To create  the water effect (paraphasing from the tutorial), first, create a sphere and create a modifier FFD 2x2x2 and move the points so that it looks flat like a pancake. To move the points, control points must be selected.

Next add a noise modifier, select 'Fractal' with roughness of 0.405 and iterations of 6. The strength should be x:0.028, y:0, and z:0.125.

Next, set the animation length using the 'Time Configuration Panel' located next to the frame number.

Once the end of the timeline has been selected, the strength values need to be changed to the following:

x:0.028, y:0, z:-0.227 . Go to the half way frame and modify the strength values to the following:

x: 0.028, y:0, z:0.29 . This makes the waves change and appear to have small waves as the water moves.

The next step is to create a standard target camera and place on the right hand side (in the left view) slightly above the object.

Next, create a wave, this can be found in the create panel, followed by space warps and then select from the drop down menu 'Geometric/Deformable' and then click 'Wave'.

The same way a plane would be created, click and drag the wave across the sphere surface, making sure to keep it within the sphere otherwise it will cause problems later.

Once aligned, select the "Bind to space warp" button located in the top menu. The parameters for the wave should be as follows:

WAVE:

Amplitude 1: 0.021

Amplitude 2: 0.029

Wave Length: 3.697

Phase: 32.1

Decay: 0

DISPLAY:

Sides: 11

Segments: 36

Divisions: 9

Once the object is finished all of the above figures can be changed to create different effects. If the play button is pressed, the waves should move slightly.

Next, create two omni lights, the first should be placed on the left most side above the sphere and its multiplier should be set to 0.3. This should make it darker. The second should be placed beneath the first in the left view port making sure they are aligned together in the other viewports, and set the multiplier as 0.1. The colours of the wave should now begin to be showing.

Finally, add a material of what the water should be reflecting in the diffuser button. It should have a high specular and high glossiness level such as 80 for each. Plus, when on maps on  the parent material, reflection should also be used with the same bitmap so it reflects the image off. Finally add a bump of 59 with the same bitmap image and this gives a lovely water texture. When the camera viewport is selected, the water will move as the camera sees it.