Quarter 1

Field Scene

Reflection - This project is probably one of the more multipart projects I have worked on so far. It was fun to make all of the unique flowers, mushrooms, and rocks to use in this model. I put in a lot of effort to make the different versions of all the objects in the scene, and I got to put in a lot of fun little details. One of the main ideas I had for this project was the detail of the multicolored rocks in the center of the field. The arrangement and coloring of the rocks was meant to resemble an Amaja Circle from the Lego theme Bionicle in the 2000s. It was nice using so many different modifiers in 3DSMax to create these objects. I got to learn how a lot of different modifiers work and put them to use in my own original ways. I enjoyed thinking of ways to create flowers and mushrooms that weren't just more normal-looking flowers and mushrooms, so I made stuff like little mushroom people and a flower with a mouth. 

Screwdriver

Reflection - I had a lot of trouble working on this assignment. I got to learn a new technique called lofting, where one can extend a two dimensional shape across a line, giving that shape thickness. With this I had difficulty making the screwdriver look right. Specifically, I kept messing up the transitions between two shapes on the line, which kept ending up making strange-looking geometry between them. In the end, I was able to figure out the problem and make a pretty good looking screwdriver.

Lego minifigure

Reflection - This was a project I was very excited to work on. I have had a lot of experience with Lego and Lego pieces, so it was fun to get to recreate them in 3DSMax. The most easy part of this project was probably at the beginning, when I started out making the head, torso, and crotch. The legs were the most complicated part I had to make, since I was provided the arms to import into my model, so I didn't have to make them myself. One of the best things about this project was all of the new techniques I learned working on it. I got to make use of a lot of new modifiers that I didn't understand before, and I learned things about how to make shapes look more realistic by rounding corners, since there are no 100% sharp corners in real life. My only problem with this project is that the end model ended up actually being unrealistic from an actual minifigure, since the top part of the crotch is actually supposed to be part of the torso, the reason its in my model is since I was following a tutorial making it. 

Quarter 2

simple textured tank

Reflection - I like this model for a few reasons. This model was great practice for using UVW maps. I also really enjoyed picking textures to put on the tank that reference the design of Megatron in the Generation 2 Transformers continuity. At first, I had some difficulty with getting the individual textures to match on their own facets that they were applied to, but I was able to figure it out later and I was able to get a much better grasp of UVW mapping. This project mad UVW mapping feel a lot more approachable.

The big premier

Reflection - I enjoyed this project since it was my first try at animating in 3DS Max. I like how it turned out and I ended up figuring out a lot about animating. At the beginning, I got pretty confused animating the walkcycle, since I didn't realize that each object had specific keyframes that I could only see when the object was selected. I was able to figure out the trouble with those keyframes after I got some help and I got the hang of animating like that pretty well. It was also interesting to animate the rock creature's walkcycle, since it uses a specific function of the Biped bone system that the creature uses. I didn't get to experiment with the stone creature's walkcycle much, but I still learned a lot about animating.

PBM character

Reflection - I like this piece because it was a model where I could pretty much make whatever I want. There were a lot of details that I had to leave out in the final model because I was running out of time to complete it. I had to make this model with a plan on animating it, since it is part of the PBM that I have to do. I definitely had a lot of trouble preparing this character for animation and I had to learn a lot about how to link different parts together so they can interact well for animation. At first, I tried rigging the character with bones, but I couldn't figure out how to get the bones to interact with the character's mesh, so I decided to connect the different parts together so that I could articulate the character by moving specific parts.