I started my UVW with the base shape, I changed Totoro so it was one solid island, then I chopped it up by cutting it in half on the x-axis, cutting the arms, legs, ears, and nose. After that I arranged them in the UV editor to coordinate them into positions that it would be easy to tell and remember what they are and where they are supposed to be on the model. I first made the color map to color Totoro which wasn't too hard since Totoro is made up of pretty simple colors, where it gets more difficult is the normal(bump) and specular maps, I couldn't make them work the way I wanted and they kept messing with the model. After trial and error I scrapped the normal map and then eventually figured out how to get the specular map to stop messing with the model. then I realized I had only been looking at in the 3DS and not the rendered version since sometimes it looks different so I did that and it worked pretty well in the end.

I decided to make the bus stop scene from Totoro since I thought it would be a nice scene. I made the backdrop of the scene and made it black so that it would give off the vibe that there was more forest in the scene. Next I made some of the plants, I made drip leaves to match the ones in the scene. I started by making a plane and modifying the shape. I used a bend modifier once I was happy with the shape. I then made a cone and used a bend and mesh smooth modifier to look like grass, I used it for the base of the leaf plant and as grass. I used the foliage in the program to make the trees that are seen in the scene. I made the sign that's also in the scene. After I finished the scene I made a UVW for the ground, I found a photo I liked and made the maps by adjusting levels in photoshop but still had a few challenges just like Totoro. I did the leaves and the sign in the scene by doing the same thing but for some reason the sign in was flipped so I just went into photoshop and flipped the maps so it was right in 3Ds Max. I only added two dim lights since the scene is supposed to be a dark dim scene, I added a spot to give the street lamp vibe and then an omni light to add some extra light, I took the shadows from the omni light since the spot is the key light. I then added one more light to light the scene as a whole add made it very dim as not to over power the other lights,

I decided to showcase my item in the way where, when you break a block or item in Minecraft and it floats up and down while rotating before you pick it up just to make my animation look more purposeful than just rotating it in a circle for five seconds. I started by turning on set key and setting a key for the original space. Then I made it move up and down and made another set key, then I added to that key and shrunk the object. after that I started to move up in down in rotation for the main part of the animation which took some trial and error for the transition. lastly I ended the animation the same way it started to get the loop effect which took some trial and error but I pretty much took the first frames and copied them for the end transition and had to clean it up.