Quarter 3

Snow Day February 19 2025

For this project, I used a TV remote as my subject and a white poster board as the background. I set up three light sources: a desk lamp as my key light, a smaller lamp as my fill light, and a flashlight for the back light. I positioned the key light at a 45-degree angle to the front left of the remote and the fill light at a 45-degree angle on the right side. The flashlight was placed behind the remote, slightly above, to create separation from the background.

One challenge I faced was balancing the brightness of the lights. The key light was too strong at first, washing out some of the remote’s details.

Exploring Cameras-March 12 2025

For this project, I explored different camera types and settings in 3ds Max to understand how they affect composition and rendering. I worked with targeted cameras, free cameras, and physical cameras, adjusting focal lengths, field of view, and clipping planes to see how they influenced the final image.

One challenge I faced was controlling the field of view when switching between different lenses. For example, using a 200mm telephoto lens compressed the scene, while a 15mm wide-angle lens distorted the perspective. Adjusting the clipping planes also required careful fine-tuning to avoid cutting off important elements of the scene.

Working with a physical camera was particularly interesting, as it closely mimicked real-world camera settings. Adjusting exposure and white balance helped me control the brightness and color balance of my renders. Overall, this activity helped me gain a deeper understanding of camera functionality in 3D modeling and how different settings impact the final composition.

Video Game Scene-March 5 2025

For this project, I created a 3D scene inspired by Bowser’s Castle, focusing on its dark, fiery atmosphere. I modeled stone walls, spiked pillars, and glowing lava to capture its intimidating feel.

One challenge was creating a realistic lava texture—I used emissive materials and noise maps to achieve a molten look. Lighting played a key role, with ambient darkness, flickering torches, and lava glow enhancing the mood.

This project improved my skills in texturing and lighting, helping me balance realism with the stylized elements of the Mario series.

Arnold Renderer-March 14 2025

For this project, I explored the Arnold Renderer in 3ds Max by adjusting various settings to observe how they impact image quality. I created a simple scene with a backdrop and a teapot, set up a 3-point lighting system, and rendered the scene three times with different settings.

In the first render, I used low Camera AA, Diffuse, and Specular values with a 640x480 resolution, resulting in a grainy image. The second render improved quality by increasing Camera AA and slightly raising Diffuse and Specular samples at 1280x720 resolution. The final high-quality render had even higher sampling values and a resolution of 1920x1080, producing a much cleaner and more detailed image.

This activity helped me understand how adjusting sampling values, resolution, and lighting affects render quality, showing the importance of balancing settings for the best results.

Editing Curves-March 25 2025

For this project, I animated five cars racing across a plane in 3ds Max, using the Curve Editor to control acceleration and deceleration instead of keyframes. Each car reached the finish line at a different time based on tangent adjustments

I started by opening the provided Cars.max file and scrubbing through the timeline to observe the default motion. Then, I used the Curve Editor to adjust each car’s movement: the yellow car started slow and sped up (Ease In), the green car moved at a steady speed (Linear), the red car started fast and slowed down (Ease Out), the blue car had smooth acceleration and deceleration (Bezier Curve), and the pink car had irregular speed changes (Custom Tangents). These adjustments created more dynamic and natural movement.

After refining the motion, I rendered the animation at 1280x720 resolution in AVI format. I took screenshots of the Curve Editor to show the tangent modifications and reflected on the process, discussing how adjusting tangents influenced movement realism, the most effective tangent type, and potential applications in game design.

Animated 4 Corners-March 25 2025

For this project, I animated a car following a path in 3ds Max using a Path Constraint, ensuring smooth movement along the road. To create a more natural animation, I set the frame rate to 30 fps and rescaled the timeline to 720 frames, slowing the car’s motion.

One challenge I faced was controlling speed, as the car initially moved too fast. By extending the frame count and adjusting timing, I achieved smoother, more realistic movement.

This activity improved my understanding of animation constraints, frame rate adjustments, and timeline rescaling, showing how small changes enhance realism and flow.

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