School Year

Quarter 1

End of Quarter 1 Reflection

This is my Quarter 1 reflection. This quarter introduced me to the basics of modeling in 3ds max. It introduced me to several different techniques and modifiers. It has prepared me for future assignments and projects for the class. The character head assignment helped me prepare for more complex models in the future. I feel much more confident with the modifiers and basic shapes than I have ever felt. Over all this quarter has been helpful and emboldening as I continue to grow. 

Quarter 2

End of Quarter 2 Reflection

This is my Quarter 2 reflection. This quarter I learned how to use UVW as well as how to create a texture map. The Textured Tank Project helped me understand how a UVW bends and stretches a texture map. My understanding of modeling has improved greatly as well as my determination. I am much more confident with texturing my more complex models now. This Quarter has helped me greatly refine my skills in 3DS max. 

Quarter 3

Rendering Techniques Reflection

This is my Rendering Techniques Reflection

I would say that the diffuse, specular, and transmission had the biggest effect on render quality for this set. I noticed some changes with the other settings but those three had a tremendous effect especially when it comes to making it less grainy. the speed however became much more of a problem as I improved the settings. It slowed down so much that by the end it  had about a 15-minute difference in speed.

For this set I think allowing Ray tracing and enabling Global Supersampling were the most important. They gave the image a much sharper and clearer look. The speed changed only a little over the course of these renders. The longest was a little less than a minute.

Changing the number of  iterations was incredibly impactful for this set. The first one looked much less good than the second two. The render speed for this one was pretty excellent the entire time. It came no were near the Arnold Renderer in terms of  render time.

The Arnold Renderer produced the best visuals by far.  I think it performed the best in part because of how detailed and precise the settings were. It lets you alter much more about the appearance than the other two renderers. However it was not the easiest to use. I think that the  Scanline Renderer is much easier to use. It was very straightforward and everything was sorted really well. The Quicksilver Renderer was the hardest because it was really hard to find the settings I needed to change. It felt like all of the settings were hidden from me. The Arnold Renderer provided much more realistic lighting and shadows  than the other two. The Quicksilver Renderer was much softer than the other two. The Scanline was much sharper than the other two especially in terms of the shadows. If I was working on a real project I would prefer to use arnold. It feels much cleaner and clearer. It would be best for working on a realistic looking video game. Even though it takes a long time to render it is much better than the other two.

Feb 19, 2025

Snow Day Assighnment Reflection

This is my snow day assignment. I have never taken any photography classes but I think this photo looks pretty good. it was hard finding the right lights for it because i didnt know wich of my lights would be a good ambient light.  I eventually found a ring light,  a lamp, and a night light to use. over all I think that it worked out ok. 

Febuary 19, 2025

 This is my Snow Day Game Assighnment Reflection. I used legos for this assignment. I used them because they were of a similar shape and detail as a block model. I found two half cylinder legos and a couple of white and red small block legos. First I worked on the top of the mushroom and then I attached the second layer so that it wouldn't get in the way of the stock. I had a hard time finding a good angle to take my pictures from. It is a very small object so getting a close look that was focused was hard. Eventually I found a surface small enough so that I could get good shots without being super far away. The three point lighting wasn't easy either because I had so little space to put them. If i were to do this digitally i would have used modifiers instead of blocking it out so rigorously. I would have used extrude for the stock to make it more connected and less cylindrical. I would have used Bevel for the shape of the mushroom cap to make the base wider than the top.  Finally I would have used a smoothing modifier so that it looked less blocky.

Feb 20, 2025

Snow Day Game Asset Assighnment Reflection

Video Game Scene Reflection

This is my Video Game Scene Project Reflection. The most challenging object to model was the small tower coming off the front of the building. I eventually had to use a spline to recreate the window/supports on the tower, then bevel and extrude the top of it to get the desired look. I tried to make the lighting show a relatively significant amount of shadow to reflect the desert-like location of the game and scene I chose. I used the strongest Arnold render I could so that I would have the best image quality. It had a Output size of 1920x1080, camera (aa) 5, diffuse 4, specular 4, and a transmission of 4. One issue I encountered while working on the project was the etching on the murals. I eventually had to use a spline and a proboolean effect to combine my spline with the wall to make the mural. If i had more time i would have included more details like plants and textured water to my scene, other than that i am extremely happy with what i made. I adore this game and highly recommend it. 

Exploring Cameras Reflection

This is my Exploring Camera's Reflection. Changing the Lens size controls the zoom of the camera and can significantly improve quality. The clipping mask takes all objects outside its range out of the picture. This can significantly change what is seen in the render. The main difference between target and free cameras is that free cameras are not tethered to point at a specific place. Targeted cameras will always be angled toward a specific place no matter where you put the camera itself. Physical cameras can be either target or free but most importantly they can be filtered more easily which can significantly change a render. I prefer targeted cameras. They allow me to more freely tailor an image to my liking without having to worry about the object leaving the field of vision of the camera. I would use a target camera for rendering a subject, a free camera for rendering a scene, and a physical camera for specific effects and scenes.

3/12/25

Basic Animation Assighnment Reflection

This is my Basic Animation Assignment Reflection. Adjusting the time configuration adjusted how many frames I could have in my animation and how fast the animation would be. When keyframing I struggled with figuring out how to make the changes I made actually show up in the animation. I did not know how to select all of my objects before making a key frame. It made the animation slightly less smooth but made rendering much faster. I used set key mode because I found it easier to set the frames myself. Games use much more advanced animation coupled with coding to make games. What I learned is the basics of what they use when making game animations. 

Editing Curves Reflection

This is my Editing Curves Reflection. Adjusting tangents made the cars change velocity at different times creating a much more realistic looking race. The bezier curve looked the most realistic speed change by far. Cars dont stop immediately and they also don't start immediately so it made it look much better. I came across a challenge when it came to the cars that had to start fast or end slow. I could not figure out how to get rid of the initial/end slowing of the bezier curve. This technique could be used when deciding how breaks should be animated in the game to make it less unrealistic looking. If i were to refine it more i would add some small changes mid curve to make it look like it is slightly bouncing. 

Animated 4 Corners Assighnment

This is my Animated 4 Corners Assignment. Finding the file with the right scene in this project was quite easy.  I did not use the suggested file method but I keep my files neat and to the point to make things easier to find. adding a path constraint assured that the car followed the road and stayed off the rest of the model. I added the following parameter and a small amount of bank to make it more realistic looking traveling around the road. Extending the animation to 24 seconds helped it look much smoother when played by adding  more frames and extending the animation to fit them.  Increasing the frame count didn't work because the car stopped well before the time did. Using Rescale Time made it so that the animation took up the entire length of the video. Changing the frame rate to 30 made it look slightly smoother than if I had stuck to 29.97.

3/25/2025

Final 4 Corners Project

This is my Final 4 Corners Project. Adding the different kinds of lights changes the feel and look of the light. Adding the spot light for the sun allowed the light to look like the sun  was rising and setting. It was challenging making the accurate changes at the accurate times. I had a hard time locating the settings and my eyes kept jumping to the wrong section of the graph provided. Linking and aligning the spot  lights to the car's headlights  helped it look more realistic in the “night time.” It provided a sense of realism that the headlights followed the car and  illuminated the scene from the car's perspective. Animating the times of day made it look like we were watching a long trip through various landmarks. It added a more peaceful and active atmosphere to the animation. I had to edit the light the sun was giving off through the day to create a sunrise and sunset and I had to move the sun across the sky in a realistic manner. It was important to enable shadows so that the sun changing positions would actually affect the length and opacity of the shadows. It made it look much more realistic. Adding the cameras helped me see the scene from multiple different perspectives like in a video game. It made it seem much more cinematic and made you feel like part of the scene.

3/27/25

3/21/25 Quarter 3 Reflection

This Quarter built my understanding of 3ds Max significantly. In this quarter we learned about renderers, lighting, and a small amount of animation! I feel much more confident with my modeling skills now. One assignment that helped me understand lighting and 3d modeling better was the Video Game Scene assignment. It helped visualize and create a large scene as well as understand how lighting affects how a scene looks. I had to use a lot of modeling in that assignment coupled with the new lighting techniques I was taught. So far this has been my favorite quarter. I am excited to keep modeling in this class. 

5/27/25 Quarter 4 Reflection 

This Quarter tied together everything I had learned in this class.  I had to use lighting, texturing, modeling, rendering, and animation to pull off the assignment. This quarter contained only one final project and challenged us to make one increadible scene. It taught me how to create a finalized product that looked seamless.  I am extreamly proud of the work I did this Quarter and think it is a perfect way to end the year. I hope I contiune modeling in the future.