Module two was all about navigating 3DS Max and how to organize project folders, however, I did learn some new tools. The main tools that I learned were the group tool, the window/crossing tool, and the selection shape tool. I also learned some modifiers, with the main one being edit poly. Edit poly allows for very precise modifications to the sides of an object. The first project was a 4 corners scene with trees, an igloo, buildings, and pyramids. The second project was creating Alfie Hitchcat, a red and orange Lego cat.

This module was very good for introducing the some slightly more advanced tools and primitives, and I will use this knowledge to hopefully model high quality, customized 3D prints to sell as a business in the future. I can also use the knowledge learned in this module to design video game characters and assets in the future. This module has given me a solid look into 3DS Max, showing me more of the powerful tools and capabilities. I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned to future projects, whether it’s for 3D printing or for video game design.

Module three was really in depth, and the main focus was object modeling. I learned to use the modifier tool called edit poly, which is really useful to make complex shapes. Edit poly is a very versatile tool that can make any simple object into a complex shape by extruding, chamfering, and scaling different parts. The first project in this module was a Lego minifigure, which took multiple days and was really complicated. That project served as a good introduction into the complex modeling that I would use later in the module on the other 6 assignments. Overall, this module was about going into object modeling in more depth than the previous modules. By far the hardest assignment in the module was the last one called Object Modeling. In this assignment, I could choose any real world object, as long as it isn't too simple, to model. I chose to make the computer setup that I work at in class, and it turned out to be harder than I thought, but I persevered and finished it after 2 weeks of work. I went into the very nitty gritty details of the monitors and keyboard, and I am very proud of the final product. I hope to be able to use this knowledge in the future to model useful household items that serve a good purpose, but also look good with the tools in 3DS Max. 

The main focus of module four was using all of the lighting capabilities of 3DS Max. This module didn't go into depth for all of the different types of lights, but it did explain a few of the simpler and more useful lights. One of the most useful lights is called a "target spot", which acts as a spotlight. With a target spot, you can aim the spotlight at anything in the scene, change the brightness, size, and color of the spotlight. You can also change the decay of the light, which changes how the light appears when you render the scene. Anoth useful light that I learned in this module was the "omni light", which sends light in all directions like a typical lightbulb. Similarly to the target spot, you can change almost anything about the omni light. I used the omni light in all three of the assignments in this module, and I used it the most in the table lamp to shine light all around the lamp. The first project in this module was titled Citizen Kane, and the point was to recreate a certain image from the movie. The scene in the movie was a very dark room, with light streaming in through two small windows. I had to render a shot with the lamp on, and one with the lamp off. This module was really helpful in learning how to make models look realistic in 3DS Max, and I hope to use this in the future to make my own models look real.

The main focus of module five was using all of the rendering capabilities of 3DS Max. The only assignment for this module was called Still Life, and it consisted of a few different objects from different movies, like a bowling ball, a Maltese Falcon, a Heart of The Ocean, and the One Ring. The hardest and most complex part of this assignment was the bowling ball, which consisted of a lot of different texturing devices like physical materials, color maps, and distortion maps. The plant was relatively easy to do, as it just consisted of a plane, an image of the plant, and an opacity map to get rid of the watermark on the plant and make the rest of the plane transparent. The Maltese falcon was also pretty easy, but it required a lot of little tweaking to make it perfect. The One Ring only required a little tweaking, so it was pretty easy. Finally, the Heart of The Ocean was pretty hard, as it consisted of see through materials and solid silver materials to make the final product. Overall, although this module was very tedious, it was really fun, and the final product is awesome. 

This module was focused on learning how to texture objects in 3DS. The module starts off with talking about what UVW maps and UVW coordinates are. UVW coordinates are explained as similar to XYZ coordinates in that they both correspond to where something is in a space. UVW coordinates control how a certain texture is applied to an object, which gives you much greater control over how textures look. The first assignment in this module is making our Lego minifigure that we modeled in module 3 into Indiana Jones. This assignment was very tough to figure out because there is so much precision necessary to get every texture perfectly applied. I started off with the torso because that would by far be the easiest, as it only has 6 sides. After that, I moved on to the head, which was slightly harder, but the "pack custom" tool made it much easier by lining all of the textures up automatically. The pelvis was the hardest part by far because it has so many sides to it and the pack custom tool didn't work for it. The final part of it was the legs, which were reasonably quick and easy. The end result looks really good, and I'm proud of it. The second and final assignment in this module was a simple textured tank, where we had to make a tank using the editable poly modifier and then finding textures online to use for it. Modeling the tank was really easy, and then once I found the textures I wanted, I had to use the multi/sub-object material to apply different textures to all the parts of the tank. This included the treads, turret, and main body of it. Overall, this module was pretty quick and the texturing was hard but rewarding.

Module seven was focused on the rigging aspect of animation. Rigging is basically making a bone structure for characters or objects so that you can easily move them around to animate. Rigging is essential for making it easier to animate because without a bone structure, you would have to move all of the parts of a character independently of each other and try to line them up for every frame. There was only one assignment for this module, and it was to rig a huge monster called "Frankenstone", and create 3 different fun images with Frankenstone and Doctor Frankenstone, a Lego figure. This assignment was pretty fun, and to rig Frankenstone, I used the biped bone structure, which is based on a human's bone structure. I had to heavily modify the bone structure because Frankenstone is huge and not very similar to a human at all, so I had to put the biped in "figure mode" to edit the structure. This proved to be somewhat annoying, but once you get one side done, you can just mirror it to the other side and be done. For all three of my scenes with them, I tried to show that instead of being a menacing monster, Frankenstone is a fun-loving and happy monster that loves to mess around. The doctor was supposed to come textured, but he didn't, so it just looks like a blank minifigure, which I don't like, but all three scenes turned out looking awesome. Overall, this module was really fun but tedious.