1. 3D Modelling & Animation

2. ‘Computer Generated Imagery’
CGI
‘Computer Generated Imagery’

3. 3D Modelling and Animation
Content generated from modelling and animation systems appear
in many applications and scenarios including:
Short or feature length animations
3D content generation for virtual environments
Character design and animation (e.g. lip sync)
Broadcasting and entertainment systems
TV advertising, web marketing and product evaluation
Composition and integration with still imagery
Photorealistic image production.

4. Typical Features of 3D Modelling and Animation Environments
Interface with several orthographic views + perspective view
Creation of mesh primitives (polygons, NURBS)
Applying materials and textures
Creation of lights and cameras to view the scene
Animation of models, lights , cameras
Character construction and animation
Importing de-facto standard mesh models e.g .3ds
Application of cinematic effects and physics modelling.

6. Polygon: Polysphere
Faceted
Smooth

7. Polygon Characteristics Vertex Selection Mode
Selected vertex highlighted
Polygon sphere in vertex selection mode

8. Polygon Move Selection:Vertex

10. Four views of model showing alternative shading in each viewport: wireframe (top left), full shading (top right), flat shading (bottom left), wireframe on shaded (bottom right).

11. Nurbs Sphere: Object Mode
Isoparms

12. Nurbs Sphere: Control Vertices

13. Nurbs Sphere: Add Isoparm
Line follows mouse cursor
New Isoparm added

17. Animation Keyframe Animation
Key (important) frames are set in model scene
Animation is interpolated between set keyframes
Rigid Body
Objects are assigned material with properties that react with other objects in a manner that is defined by there physics properties
e.g an object with metal properties colliding with an object that has elastic properties
Inverse Kinematics
Animated components have inverted hierarchy which respond to each connected components movement in a predefined expected way.

18. Animation:Motion Capture
Motion Capture (MoCap)
Motion is recorded by optical systems attached to people carrying out particular human movement and activities
Motion capture data is digitised and then applied to characters in the modelling environment via popular motion capture file formats such as .bvh
Motion capture records subtle nuances of human motion that would be difficult to reproduce by traditional animation techniques.

19. Motion Capture Devices
Moven
see:

20. Biped character with skeletal rig (hidden) ready for animation inside Maya or export to character animation studio.

21. Character Animation
Character showing internal skeletal structure (rig)

22. Character Animation
Character showing internal skeletal structure with animation keys

23. Particle and Motion Effects
Particle systems
Smoke and vapour
Combustion
Waves
Hair and cloth.

24. Rendering

25. Rendering Workflow Preview rendering with playblast
Set project common rendering configuration in render globals
Set renderer-specific parameters
Use ‘Interactive Photorealistic Renderer’ (IPR) for preview and adjustments of lights and materials
Preview animation from batch-rendering n-frames
Batch-render sequence from menu option
Batch render from the command line allows rendering to take place while continuing to work in the modelling environment.

26. Choices for Rendering Renderer - Hardware, Software, Vector
Image Format - avi, mpg, gif, jpg, .tiff, .tga
Resolution - width x height y e.g. 640 x 480
Sequence - start frame, end frame, nth frames to render
File name and extensions
Anti-aliasing Quality
Raytracing options (increases rendering times!)
Network Rendering - Mental Ray

27. Examples of Rendering using Mental Ray

28. 3D Software Applications
Days of Yore
3D Studio (MSDOS)
Povray (Open Source)
Maya (cross platform)
3D Studio Max (PC)
Softimage ( PC & Linux) (2015 final version)
Cinema4D (PC & Mac)
Others including Truespace & Blender.

29. Theme Resources Video Tutorials for Maya and Mudbox
Art of Maya (Sybex) ISBN
Abridged version available from the module homepage
Software
Maya 2015
Mudbox 2015
Adobe Premiere

30. Additional Resources Autodesk ‘The Area’ http://area.autodesk.com/
(UWE Student Login)
TurboSquid - 3D Models for Sale (some free!)

31. Autodesk Student Licences
Autodesk currently provides three-year licences for students.
Register with your UWE at:
(there is a link on the programme homepage)
Once registered you can access a range of free software including Maya and many other industry-standard software applications.