2024-25

Quarter 1

8/28/24 First Reflection

Why did you take 3D Modeling & Animation?

I decided to take 3D modeling & animation when a friend talked about the class. It interested me so I decided to look into it and decided to take the class. I'm really excided to learn more in this class

What do you expect to learn in this class?

I expect to learn about 3D modeling, Tools and skills that are useful for this career field, and just things I generally don't know since I don't really know anything about the subject but I am excided and interested to learn more about.

8/30/24 Reflecting on Durable Skills

Character Design

Epic Games: Character Texture Artist

The job is for a Senior Character Texture Artist to join a team working on Fortnite. You will create top-quality textures and materials for the game and the characters and props in the game (backpacks and pickaxes). Some hard skills will be needed such as: creating appealing textures for characters, know color theory, PBR lighting, and stylized texturing techniques, organic texturing skills like human faces, clothing, believable creatures and hard-surface texturing skills like armor and weapons.

Why I chose this job

What mainly drew me in to look into this job listing was the fact it was for a game. I really like games and I think it would be cool to work on one. as I read the job description I was more intrigued by the job because one of my favorite part about games is the intricate details of the game if its characters props or environment and it's always been my favorite part about games aside from realistic game mechanics.

Durable Employment Skills

The first soft skill that I think would be important for this job is collaboration. The reason I think collaboration would be an important skill is because you would have to work with the leads and be able to give and receive feedback and criticism. The second soft skill that seems important for this job is teamwork. As I said earlier in the job description you would be working on a team and you will need the ability to work and collaborate with those on the team to work efficiently and with ease. The third soft skill that I think will be important is adaptability, technology is constantly changing so you will have to be ready for changes in software. Also you'll have to adapt if a person on your team is not able to come in on a crucial day, week, or month.

Conclusion

3D modeling & animation is a very competitive field, soft skills are just as important as hard skills. I chose collaboration, teamwork, and adaptability because they seemed the most prominent to be used from the job listing, but they're are many more soft skills that can be used at this job as well as many other jobs. Soft skills will give you an advantage over someone that doesn't have soft skills even if they have the same exact hard skills as you do. If you continue to develop soft skills you will continue to have a competitive edge over people in the same field of work as you. Soft skills are always important to all jobs no matter what field you are in. In any competitive field it is crucial to have soft skills so that you have a better chance at getting the job and having the opportunities you want. Soft skills are things that don't seem important but are very crucial to getting a job, and if you have no experience and if you are looking to ger a first time job soft skills will get you there.

References

Epic Games. "Senior Character Texture Artist" Google job listing, 5 Aug.2024 https://www.google.com/search?q=job+openings+for+3d+modelers+in+character+design&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1125&oq=job+openings+for+3D+modelers+in+Charac&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBECEYoAEyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigAdIBCDU3MDhqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&jbr=sep:0&udm=8&safe=active&ssui=on#vhid=vt%3D20/docid%3D-NKpf5pSRFh34YhPAAAAAA%3D%3D&vssid=jobs-detail-viewer

9/18/24 Block model

Scene

This activity I think was I great learning experience for just the basic use of measurements in the program. I knew nothing about 3Ds max before this project so the repetitive use of the same tools over and over for this first one was a nice sort of set up for future projects so I don't forget, It was also a nice to get experience for most of the basic primitives just getting to use most of them. I thought this activity was relatively easy overall and really just felt like a basic learning experience rather than a project so it didn't feel overwhelming at all and just like a simple task and learning.

Simple Block Model 1

Ok, with this project I really liked it. I learned how to center it out, copy it, and that not everything needs to be precise. I really liked the full video guidance and also that few parts where left out to let us figure it out to sort of get comfortable with the software a bit more when we start with other projects. I really think centering out and copying will definitely be useful in the future. I thought this project also very easy and basic and not overwhelming and just a learning experience to get more comfortable with the program

Simple Block Model 2

Ok, this project was also pretty great but also a bit harder just from my own fault of not remembering things. So I also like the fact like with simple block model one was the video but also where it didn't give me all of the things I needed to know like specific measurements and things. I also really thought it was a great introduction to using the other viewports. then the re-discovery of later in the video that in fact there are more tools I can use like the modify panel and not redo stuff and just to edit generally which will be useful in other projects, and learning how to delete pieces that I want to completely fix. also the learning the use of the other viewports which will definitely come in handy for future projects.

10/8/24 Custom Objects

Field Scene

I used bend, taper, noise, and mesh smooth modifiers for this project. it was completely new to learn and I think this project helped me understand how to use the tool in general. Also pivot point and array tool, those two tools are definitely very useful, especially useful for the flowers. I think that the biggest challenge was that it was the slow process for me personally because I had to keep going back for all the steps but other than that everything was pretty good.

Nut & Bolt

pro Boolean  is what I used for this and it makes things a how lot easier and also allows to make something simple look so much more complex. For this project I didn't really run into any problems with the project. also with the animation tool. it was very simple and straight forward to use for the simplicity of the animation but I feel like you could do much more complex animations with this tool.

Toy Submarine

For this one I used both Boolean, pivot, and array. this project also was a introduction into learning and getting used to using splines. For this I had a few problems with the array tool, I did it the right way and all I made sure I had my pivot point moved but for some reason the array tool didn't go around the pivot point a few times but eventually it did work and I'm not sue what changed to get it to work but it still did. Other than that I had so problems

Conclusion

Every single modifier I used for these projects was pro Boolean, bend, taper, noise, mesh smooth, pivot point, and array. even those all these tools are only a small number but their impact on a project is huge. they can change a project to have it look complete different than what you had created. Even though Boolean is such a simple tool it can have a big impact. you know the saying "it's always in the fine print"? well it's similar here, art in any form always comes together in the small fine details making look amazing I think these tool would have pros and cons on my block out project. They would make it look so much more real and make it just better in general, but I would be a complete perfectionist and take way to long to complete the project, there are pros and cons to anything.

End of Quarter 1 Reflection

What new skills or techniques did you learn in 3ds Max this quarter? 

this was my very first introduction to 3D modeling so I learned a whole lot this quarter an I think I've come a long way in the short time we've been learning all this. Like learning how to use basic primitives, make Block out, learn how to use modifiers, learning how to edit the modifiers, Boolean, splines, and sub-object modes. It's a lot to learn in the first quarter and it's insane amazing amount that I've learned this quarter and I'm really proud of my progress personally. 

Which project or exercise helped you understand a specific aspect of 3D modeling better?

 I honestly think the repetitive tedious tasks really helped, just doing it over and over tediously really helped a lot of the things stick in my head really well. Also I think the guided projects where it slowly got less and less guided basically slowly making it so you would have to adjust to doing things by yourself and getting us comfortable to be able to use certain tools by yourself is something I really liked because it made it less overwhelming and more fun and easier to learn. Also getting told and used to the idea of experimenting with the tools to get things to look the way you want was also important and a great experience too.

 What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? 

Some challenges that I encountered were things I hadn't quite understood but through trial and error of these things were probably some great experience that can be applied to the future. I had a few problems that I had with working with some of the tools like Boolean and modifiers that I wasn't scared to ask help for that had pretty simple answers but simple answers like that are still also great learning experiences. so in opinion making mistakes and asking for help is the best way to learn things and overcome challenges.

Quarter 2

11/14/24 Exploring maps

What parameters were manipulated on the basic Physical Materials in the Applying Physical Materials activity?

well the basic parameters do a lot with the limited abilities of just the physical material. It only edits how it looks physically, hence the name physical material, but this activity was fun none the less.

What effect do various parameters have on the appearance of Physical Materials when applied to modeled objects?

they change the way it looks, either giving it shine, transparency, or just a color there are many different ways the basic parameters are and adding different materials together and edit them to make them completely different from when together and separate.

What are the differences between the base color, normal, displacement, and roughness maps, and what does each contribute to the final appearance of a material?

They all contribute a different aspect to make it look more real or cartoony or whatever you are going for at that time. like the base color, it gives the specific color, the normal map sets it up for the displacement and the roughness, the displacement gives kind of depth or like a noise affect

How do you assign different texture maps (like base color, normal, displacement, and roughness) to materials in 3ds Max?

They are named in the file, when you drag it in, you can also go by corresponding the pictures from the files to the picture shown next to the map but you can also name them, you can just name them and it will give you a good way to organize the materials and maps. Also name physical materials to the corresponding material that it's connected to so you know which object you want to add it to.

What effect does adjusting values in the bump and displacement maps have on the final render, and how does this impact the appearance of the textures?

It enhances the way the material affects the object you put it on and changes how you can make it have more or less depth. Like enhancing the displacement it makes it look more distorted, and with the bump it makes it more rough depending on the material and makes it have more reality and depth to it. 

What two techniques are used to assign materials to modeled objects?

well, with the slate material editor you have nodes. You can either drag the nodes to the object or double click the node and click the object. I prefer dragging because sometimes the base doesn't show up before the render so it's hard to tell if you click rather than drag and it will just make the progress slower by clicking with the ones that don't show up before the render.

11/19/24 Multi/Sub-Object Material

What are the main benefits of using the Multi/Sub-Object material when working with complex objects?

I think it's good because it helps provide some extra complexity in little detail to bring it all together so it looks more real and like you want it to. which personally I think it's really cool you can add that extra depth to your build but it also doesn't change it completely.

How did assigning unique Material IDs to each polygon make it easier to apply multiple materials to the same object?

well you use the polygon tool to click on the specific polygon and set the material ID to a different number for each one so each polygon will have a different material. I also find it helpful to name the material the ID of the ID you named the polygon so you can match up where you want them to go.

What challenges did you face when assigning parameters to each material, and how did changing parameters like transparency or roughness affect the look of the material?

I didn't have any trouble really, I just set different things for each one like color, roughness, metalness, and different finishes to each one. I really didn't have any trouble because it was fairly simple.

What strategies did you use to keep your Material Editor organized, especially when working with multiple nodes and materials?

Naming everything, just name everything and you'll know what's what without getting lost. I remember in the first project we worked on materials I didn't name everything and got lost a bunch. It may seem time consuming to name everything but it saves you time down the line.

How would you describe the difference between using individual materials and combining them under a Multi/Sub-Object material in terms of both workflow and result?

Well I think they are both very important tools but in terms of work flow it really just depends on what you want. if you wans to and multiple different images to your object to give it more variety you should use Sub-Object. If you want to only have one image to keep it uniform than individual materials is how you'll want to go. I don't think one tool is better than the other, I think it really just depends on what you want your object to look like.

1/23/25 UVW Reflection

What steps did you take to create and apply UVW maps for your model?

For creating and applying the UVW maps first I had to cut up the UV islands so I could get the map flat so it won't distort and then the next part was a little more challenging. I painted my tank, white, green, and red because I was doing a Christmas themed tank because we had just come out of Christmas and then I just did the other maps and completed the maps.

What challenges did you encounter while working with UVW mapping and materials? How did you overcome them?

the biggest challenge was probably my art block, I had art block and it really stressed me out when we were coming to the deadline so this has been my most stressful project till I decided to do a candy cane design and that sort of got me out of that hurdle and finished the project which worked out in the end.

How did using materials and textures enhance the realism or visual appeal of your model?

Making customs maps and using materials and textures with UVW is great because you make perfect custom textures for the object and adding the other maps like diffuse, bump, and spec maps add more realism to the design and works well in adding more of that realistic sheen to the model so it's great. it's also completely oriented right and it works great in being realistic and looks good.

What is one skill you learned during this project that you feel most proud of? Why?

Doing more maps than just diffuse with UVW and working with everything we've learned this quarter and added it all together to make one thing that really advanced with all of the stuff we've learned this quarter is probably the best part and I'm really proud of my work and what I've done and it's great I really enjoyed working with UVW despite the stress and everything but it has been really great.

How do you see yourself using UVW mapping and materials in future projects, whether for school or personal use?

I do plan to use this for future use and different projects and I'm really excided to use this for personal or school projects. I really am excited to see how I use this information since it's an open ended question and I'm excited to see what I do with my new skills and am really excited to see where this goes.

Rendering Techniques - Feb 19, 2025

What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them?

During this quarter I faced a lot of challenges. like when working with substance maps their were a lot of problems with finding working maps and rendering. If I found working map I used it, if I found one that didn't work I'd replace it. For the rendering part I just closed and re-opened 3Ds max for each render and it worked fine. Another challenge I faced was the first time I worked with UVW on the UVW practice, for some reason it was acting weird and not rendering properly and for some reason would fade to yellow but keep the design. For this I just asked for help and for some reason my normals were flipped but it worked out correctly.

What aspects of 3ds Max do you feel more confident in using now compared to the beginning of the quarter?

Definitely working with maps and UVW because that's what this whole quarter is about but going into it in more depth I learned a lot. Here is a few examples: you can reorient it with a modifier to make it look right, how to edit existing maps in the editor, how to create your own limited maps in 3Ds max. Also how it built on it self, we learned how to use materials at the beginning of the quarter and then we continued using different maps on more complex objects, and then we started creating maps on simple objects, and then we started creating our own maps on more complex objects completely on our own. So it shows how much we've learned and I'm definitely more confident using maps now than at the start of the quarter.

What goals do you have for the next quarter to further improve your 3D modeling skills?

My goal for next quarter is to just keep going and learning, I plan to do my best and to continue learning. I'm really interested in getting into the lighting to apply it to more models and see what we can do with it since I know nothing other than how to use the default arnold light so I'm very interested in how much we can do with this new part of modeling.

Quarter 3

Rendering techniques - Feb 19, 2025

Which settings appeared to have the biggest effect on render quality?

I think it was noise reduction and resolution that had the biggest effect on render quality, they seemed to be the biggest factors that changed throughout the rendering process.

How was render speed affected when various settings were changed?

the rendering speed continued to get slower and slower as the quality of the render improved, I think the ones that effect quality the most are the ones that effected the speed which I think was noise reduction and resolution.

Which settings appeared to have the biggest effect on render quality?

For this one I'm less sure because there was barely any change between the 3 so it's very hard to tell but the shadows get darker and more sharp as the quality increases and the image gets much clearer so I think the settings that had the biggest effect were shadow intensity, resolution, and iterations.

How was render speed affected when various settings were changed?

I didn't really notice much difference in the speed on this one because the changes are so subtle so their was very little change in speed but I think shadow intensity, resolution, and iterations had the most effect.

Which settings appeared to have the biggest effect on render quality?

I think that the shadows(Hammersley and type of shadows) had a large effect because the shadows got way more defined in when the quality increased and the resolution because the image became much clearer.

How was render speed affected when various settings were changed?

The rendering speed wasn't really effected but it did slow down a bit with higher quality, so I think the resolution was the one that effected the speed the most in general, but I also think shadow quality had some effects too.

Conclusion

Which renderer produced the best visual results, and why do you think it performed better?

I think that Arnold produced the best visual results because it's the highest quality render we have used and in my opinion produced the best looking results, it looks better and is more visually appealing.

Which renderer was the easiest to use? Which was the most difficult? Why?

The easiest to use was Quicksliver because it wasn't slow and it was quick and easy with the arnold lights I had already set up. Scanline was a little more difficult because it wasn't compatible with arnold so you'd have to re-setup the lights. Arnold was the hardest mainly because it took a very long time to render but also because it had more parameters you had to change so it just generally took up more time than the others.

What differences did you notice in how each renderer handled lighting and shadows?

For Arnold the shadows got less hazy when you increased the quality but there wasn't much else changed.  Quicksliver and Scanline both had much more flexabilty with what you changed with the shadows so those had a bit more change with the shadows. The difference in lights is that scanline had to use a different type of light.

If you were working on a real project, which renderer would you prefer to use, and in what situation?

Quicksliver mainly because it's the most clean without making it look too shiny or metallic, it also is much easier to work with since it's most accurate to what you actually put in 3Ds max, so it's easy to work with and gives good clean results, that's why I would use it.

Snow Day - Wednesday

My 3 point light set up is used from lights I found in my home, a reading light, camping lamp, and phone flashlight, the reason I found and used these.  The phone flashlight was the Key light for this set up, the reading light is the fill light, and the camping light is the back light. originally I was going to use a regular flashlight rather than the phone flashlight, but it was too bright and overpowered the other lights so you couldn't see them, so I went with the phone light.  the reading light for the fill light, my reasoning for this is because it had a warm color so it worked well for this set up. the camping light for the back light, the reason I chose the camping light for the back light is because it was the coolest light out of the 3 and it was the best light I had for this situation.

Snow Day - Thursday/Friday

Creation Process

What materials did you use? 

I used something called sculpey for this project, it's like clay but more friendly to kids and households rather than professional clay that has to be cooked at an extremely high degree, I used a brown and a blue color for this project.

Why did you choose these materials? 

It was the most malleable, flexible material we had, and mainly because it was already on my mine since my little brother had been using it earlier so it was the first thing that came to mind that would work for this project.

How did you build your model?

I started with the body of the reed pipes(brown part), and I made cylinders and then pushed them together and cut the top to be level and then I cut the bottom at a slant so it would look like the reed pipes. Then I made the second part(blue part) I rolled out the sculpey, folded it, and twisted it to look like vines.

Challenges & Solutions 

What difficulties did you face, and how did you overcome them?

the first problem I ran into was what I was going to make, I thought I might do a medieval weapon but decided against it because I didn't have enough of the right color, so then I decide on the reed pipes, I reason I chose the reed pipes is because of Percy Jackson, I really like the books and was going to do Percy's sword but decided against it because I was having trouble, so I thought maybe a flute but I decided on the reed pipes which is a satyrs thing on nature magic, so I thought it would be cool to make.

From Physical to Digital

If you were to recreate this model in 3D software (like 3ds Max), what steps would you take? What tools (extrude, bevel, sculpting, etc.) would you use?

I don't know any other 3D software so I'd have to go with 3Ds Max so I have to go with that. First, I would do a block out of the reed pipes and test some things that might work. Second, I would start making the reed pipe body, I'd use tubes so make the pipes, and vertex in edit poly or Boolean to get the slant on the pipes, I'd use Boolean to also make the holes in the reed pipes. Finally, I'd make the vine,  I'd most likely go with the twist, and bend tool for this part, I'd twist a cylinder to get the effect of vines wrapping around themselves, then, I'd use the bend tool to wrap it around the pipes to get the finished product.

Video Game Scene - March 18, 2025

Modeling Choices:

What was the most challenging object to model in your scene, and how did you overcome that challenge?

the tree was the hardest thing to model in my scene, I had difficulty making the tree because I had no idea how I was going to do it. I tried many different things in trying to make the tree and it was one thing my brain couldn't figure out. Eventually I figured out how to do the tree, I used a cone and I didn't close it all the way off at the top and bent it around in editable poly and then I extruded the branches and then used mesh smooth.

Lighting Choices:

How did you use both ambient and object-specific lighting to enhance the realism of your scene?

I tried my best to get the scene to look like the reference image so instead of the original key light the one farthest from the scene view in the key light to get the effect of the scene a bit more. although the reason I didn't make it more orange like the scene is because I couldn't get it to a point were the pink on the tree didn't appear orange but I really like through the lighting turned out.

Renderer Used:

Which rendering settings or renderer (Scanline, Arnold, etc.) did you use, and why did you choose it for your final image?

I used quicksilver hardware renderer because it looked most like a video game to me and I really liked how it turned out, how it effected my choices in my scene, and how I did my materials.

Problem-Solving:

What was one issue you encountered while working on this project, and how did you resolve it?

So at the beginning of the project I got ARTBLOCK, and it was hard, so for the first parts I struggled through art block at the beginning in the two weeks that this we had started this project and eventually I broke through and got it done. Also figuring out how I was going to do certain things in the project and that was also apart of the art block but that was my biggest hurtle was the art block I got through this project.

Final Result:

If you had more time, what improvements or changes would you make to your scene?

I had a LOT of extra time that I took to complete this project and so I got it in very late but I still think I could have improved it if I didn't have that art block I feel like I could've done so much better, more detailed rocks, more trees, more petals, and better materials but overall I still think the scene was great and I'm really proud of it.

Exploring Cameras

Lens Settings

How does this affect the camera? How does this affect the rendered image?

It expands or shrinks what you see from the camera, in changing the lens you zoom in or out with the camera to make it appear closer or farther away. you also get the field of view changed with changing the lens making it narrow or widen the what you see.

Clipping Masks

What happened when these settings were changed? How did this affect the rendered image?

Using a clipping mask cuts off the back round farthest from the camera from view, allowing you to removes things from view you don't want to see without permanently destroying those items.

Camera Location

What affect does this have on the camera? How does this affect the camera's target? How does this affect the rendered image?

Moving the camera changes from what side you view the object your focusing on. Depending on where you move the camera is how close or far you get to the object or your target, it also doesn't effect the target unless you move it separately.

Target Location

How does this affect the camera? How does this affect the rendered image?

Moving the target doesn't actually move the camera at all. It just moves target and changes where the camera is facing, but it doesn't move the camera. wherever you put the target is where the camera will always face.

Free Camera

What affect does this have on the camera? How does this affect the camera's target? How does this affect the rendered image?

Because the Free Camera doesn't have a target when you move it, it doesn't see the object because the "target" is always where the camera is facing and it can only be changed when moving the camera. so if you don't manually face the camera you won't see that object

Physical Camera

What did you learn playing with the physical camera's settings?

Changing the focal length seems fairly similar to changing the zoom but it is slightly different but focal length has much smaller movement. Aperture doesn't have any effect with the current setup that's there. the different features of white balance adds a nice variety of features to change the look of the image and it's very nice.