CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Final Post

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Final Post

Sledge Amalgam Box

A supply box that randomizes its contents, the Sledge Amalgam Box appears across all sorts of locations across time and space.  When interacted with, this Sci-Fi crate pulls up one of many possible contents, ranging from inventory duplication to giving mass amounts of batteries.  The appearance of the crate comes from others in universe, imitating, but not entirely, trying to be its own thing.  It is made of highly durable material, and despite holding content, the crate itself is quite useful as a physical tool of sorts.  Battering ram or trap switch holders are among some clever uses.  Sometimes, the crate gives another crate, basically becoming a surprise in a box.  The only way to determine a crate’s contents without opening it is to use a decoder that acts as an x-ray through the titanium panels.  In universe, this box is often used for practical jokes and sometimes just as a block to be built upon or around.  These are manufactured by the suppliers of all common crates, the contents of which are decided by sponsors.  They can be bought, sold, and traded as currency in some cases.  They aren’t very serious artifacts, but they vary in importance from case to case.

Concept:

The concepts I used for this Sci-Fi crate came from three main references, crates of their own which I took inspiration from for corresponding panels. The first reference comes from artist Luchador on Turbosquid, whose design inspired two of the side panels.  The second reference comes from Frank Vanderwhel, whose design inspired three panels, one of which was the bottom.  The third reference was used for the top vent panel, inspired by artist Rick SL on Turbosquid.  Overall, I thought of this concept as an amalgamation that still fits as a whole cohesive object.

Workflow Process:

The approach I took to create the initial primitives for the crate was creating quarter portions of each of the six panels, two of which shared the same design based on one concept, and two others in the same line taking after a different concept.  In addition, I had to create separate parts for each panel, such as corresponding inner and outer portions, notches modeled individually to combine with others later on, and buttons that sit on the outside.  Once I was happy with the models of each quarter, I mirrored them out to form the full panels.  I then had to align and adjust everything into the final cube crate shape.  As a final result for the high polygon model, most of the parts remained separate, under a single grouping.  Next, for the low polygon model, I used the quad draw method to trace over and create the new simpler form.  After straightening things out and tweaking to get as close to the high poly version as possible, I formatted the UVs.  It took some time to remember techniques, but eventually the process became clear and finding the right layout for exporting came easy.  The toughest part came in setting up the three models for export: the low, high, and id.  After much trial and error, I finally managed to make the jump over to Substance Painter.  Once there, I went through the motions and came out with a decent set of texture maps to bring back and apply in Maya.  Finally, the model was textured, cleaned, and primed for submission.

Problems and Solutions:

Many of my issues throughout the project came from backtracking due to misunderstanding.  It mainly came down to extensive trial and error and doubts about adhering strictly to the examples and tutorials.  As much as I followed along point for point, the main challenge was exploring and altering things to fit my specific project.  To point out the most concerning road blocks, texturing, moving from Maya to Substance Painter, and combining versus not combining meshes were among the hardest parts.  Luckily, as tough as the problems came, with enough time and effort, I was able to push past and bring everything together in the end.  The true cause of concern was time, seeing as some things were necessary to have completed in order to move on.  The backtracking occurred as each milestone came along, so I needed to take more than a few steps backward to move forward correctly.

Time Frame List:

Concept Development – 3 hours

Modeling – 24 hours

-          High Poly – 18 hours

-          Low Poly – 6 hours

Texturing – 8 hours

Finalizing – 5 hours

References:

-Most videos and other tools in the suggested toolbox for CAGD330.

-Professional Tips For Modeling Complex Shapes: Part 1, 2, 3 by Paul Conner.

Final Model on SketchFab

Sci-Fi Crate Model by Nng3 on Sketchfab

CAGD 545 Animated Short Week 7-12

CAGD 545 Animated Short 

Rough Llama
Mar 9-Apr 13

Week 7-8

These couple of weeks were all about setting up the official scenes.  Every group member was brought onto the same level of understanding, prepping to move forward altogether.  We learned about properly referencing and coordinating assets and scenes.  We also established shots and scenes for assignment to animators.  We got the layout of the story fully conceptualized and polished to a point where we were all happy with.  There is plenty of room for change all around, which is very comforting going forward.  The large discussion of dividing the story into shots was very helpful and made good progress on giving this project a good basis.

The following week was the first step towards animating the official scenes.  I personally worked on a couple of scenes throughout the overall film, testing my animation style from previous warm-ups against the newly modeled environments.  For the most part, all seems to fit together, and it has so far been a great start given the layout now.  I mainly blocked out the scenes, not going too in depth with the animation flow.  I tried to jump around to simply establish each scene, along with potential cameras for playblasts.  Later on, I can come back and tweak once everyone is on board with scene assignment and camera shot positioning.  As an initial setup, this was a good session.

Week 9-10

These couple of weeks were periods of no class.  In the meantime, my focus was primarily continuing blocking of scenes and animation.  Little by little, I picked out scenes I felt most comfortable taking on for the overall film.  I got more and more used to working with the figs and assets, and my visualization of how the end product may look got a little clearer.  Things are starting to near the end, so after this, we may need to pick up the speed in bringing everything together.

Week 11-12

With another class period to work, everyone is busy with blocking out as many scenes as possible and rendering to make a solid animatic.  In addition, the modelers are continuing work on assets, bringing the scenes closer and closer to their final form.  This will probably be the case for many weeks to come.  An animatic should be assembled soon, as the next step is critique and finalization.
An animatic was finally started, and strung together as many rendered shots as possible to convey our story.  So far, there were plenty of scenes blocked out and a lot of things to improve upon.  Luckily, the story still reads fairly well, and is very flexible and open to criticism and improvements all around.

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Development Week 5

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Development 

Week 5

3/11/18

This week was all about fixing things up and preparing for texturing.  Before the big task of exporting to Substance Painter, there were plenty of things to do beforehand in Maya.  First off, I went back to fix up the high poly model of the crate.  I had to backtrack on a few aspects in order to get on the right path.  I think this will work out for the better in the long run.  In consequence, I also had to redo the low poly model due to some misunderstandings in instruction.  Now, I think the models are ready to properly format UVs and export.
After polishing the models, I went in to manage the UVs.  Spreading each part out and separating where necessary was not so bad, but did take time just because alignment needed to be precise.  The overall pallet of UVs was a bit tough to visualize at first, but in comparison between the high and low poly versions, there was a decent idea of what to do.  Overlapping identical parts was essential, and pretty clear since there were many parts that were the same.  Mirrored panels and similar types that would have the same texture were put closer.  Each section set up for texture mapping was then exported for work in Substance Painter.
Once in Substance, it was a matter of finding and applying the right settings to the baking process.

Low Polygon Model

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Development Week 4

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Development 

Week 4

3/4/18

For the next step in this project, the objective is creating a low polygon version of the crate model.  Now that everything is together, the shapes can be simplified.  I chose to replicate and simplify by way of quad draw, which for the most part worked out well.  It was a bit of a challenge determining what to leave for the UV and what to re-model.  I ended up merging every panel and modeled out as a whole into a quarter to later mirror and map out for UVs.  There is the base model, as well as separate pieces for inner panels, and the notch indentations.  All have been simplified, hopefully enough to properly match the high polygon version.  Eventually, I will go back to redo and fix both the high poly and low poly models.  Now, the next step is making sure things line up, and applying textures.

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Development Week 3

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Development 

Week 3

2/25/18

This week was the last for work on the high-poly version of the crate.  It was a big task bringing every individual panel together, then further bringing them together as the cube shape.  The first part went over well, each of the four unique panels turning out alright.  The hard part was preparing and combining each panel on the corresponding side of the box.  Vertices needed to be lined up properly and polygons enlarged or condensed depending on what transition of the edge or corner took place.  Overall, it was a matter of time and effort put into putting it all together.  The benefits and risks of this method sort of evened out at this point.  

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Development Week 2

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Development 

Week 2

2/19/18

This week I focused on bringing all separate components of the box model at the time to a decent level of quality.  The side panels are each shaping up well, mainly remaining flat aside from a few extrusions.  The individual modules that fit inside and out of the crate are so far coming along well, not presenting many problems as far as holding their shape with beveling and fencing.  No big trouble thus far, aside from having to decide what method is best for forming the geometry between primitive and subdivision states.  The biggest issue so far is keeping proper measurements throughout every individual part, so that they fit together correctly later on.  Mirroring the finished quarters or halves of certain parts has worked out fairly well, and has certainly been a help to this process overall.

These will be the inner panels for three sides.  The left will go on opposing ends left and right, while the right will be used as the bottom panel.

These are the base models that were mirrored into the previous pictured panels.  The two halves of a button to the left will be integrated onto corresponding ends of each panel as further texturing.

These inner modules will be combined in mesh and bridges outward to fill the corresponding frame.  Beveling process is being undergone at the moment, and finalization will be necessary before the proposed combination and bridging.

This vent face will be used as the top panel.  Fairly simple beveling and mirroring, but there is room for improvement later on.  If more details come along, this shape is open to change.

These are the main outer frames that will be used for almost every side of the box.  These will soon be duplicated and combined with the corresponding inner panel; then they will be stitched together to give this crate and actual cubic shape.

I want to keep all the components separate just a little longer to allow for any last minute tweaks that could be dealt with easier as they are now.  The next step is formatting everything into an actual cube box form.

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Development Week 1

CAGD 330 Sci-Fi Crate Development 

Week 1

2/12/18

In the beginning process of this project, I started out by creating primitives and formatting the most basic shapes that will become the main components.  Among the most definitive aspects of the concepts I chose for this sci-fi crate are the main frame borders, the various notches and bordering panels, and the other differently shaped parts that will ultimately fit together as a cube.  Starting up this modeling process, nothing is quite shaped out completely.  Most primitives were carved out and molded to fit the description in the basic form.  Later down the line, as more essential parts come along, hopefully all parts will progress in quality together, so that in the end they come together cohesive and properly.

So far, I have worked off of planes, expanding out and adding or taking away polygons to get the shapes necessary.  The notches will be multiplied and connected as needed, and eventually will form the inner frames that will be bordered.  The line of three frames will also be multiplied and lined up to become the outermost shape of the box.  The raised panel with dips is inspired by the second reference, with belts overlapping on the outside.  The other panel with an inner square will become the base for the vent which can either go on the top or bottom of the crate, depending on final outcome.  The idea is to have this all come together like a modular, with each side being equally detailed, and fitting as one whole.