123d Catch (Autodesk)

I have a video with 360 views of David but thought I would try see if there was anything a bit better.

I have come across 360 cities, it does have a view of david, but its from below so not really the best. If the camera was higher it would have been great!

http://www.360cities.net/image/the-statue-of-david-at-piazzale-michelangelo-square#-191.15,-47.69,110.0

I have also found 123d catch (not cb123) on Autodesk.

To do this:

• Start a new project
• upload images
• the program processes the images
• download the software to edit

After I loaded some images for the face, it turned out very very weird. Took about 10 minutes to process but I ended up having to delete it. Only half of the face appeared, looked scary.

So I then went into Photoshop and removed the background to the images to see if that would help in any way.

After 6 minutes it said it has processed but it wouldn't let me open the document. It is a little annoying because it is showing me an image of what it created and says it was unsuccessful. The image looks alright to me. Oh well.

The images were from various sites found through google images as the ones I had from books were not of the best quality.

Second attempt didnt succeed either, I dont know why though because I removed the background so that it would be easier for the program to pick it up.

Even the third time didnt work, but looking at the image below a product is actually coming up so I think it should atleast show me what it tried to make.

Argh, a little annoying now because the fourth attempt didnt work either. I think its times for a little break. Make tea for the lovely family and then get back to work :/

Todays Meeting

I had a chat with Drew today about my project as I hadn't updated him in a while.
It was good to catch up and he has got me back on track with what needs to be done.

The outcome of the meeting is:

Update my schedule in depth

• explaining what I am doing in detail and the time frame, not just: 1 week model. 

Statue of David:

• Get 360 images of the statue
• Put into CB123 to get a base model
• Work in Mudbox to get the defined shapes etc
• In a separate layer create the cartoon style (fat,bald etc)
• If after an hour I am not getting the character I like then resort to plan b
• Plan B: Use realistic character and have him run off, yawn, jump - something
• Think of the weights in his body with these movements, are there any cracks, does a bit crumble, is there dust.
• Use the free rig that Drew informed us about ( it is on the fyp facebook page)
• For textures: old, bird poop, moss, dirt, sun damage
• Make sure there are no light aspects in the model textures, as in do not put in shadows

Building:

• Add edge loops to the arches to give a better look when rendered
• Textures - project one of the images I have, or create the look in photoshop. Start with old stone (what material the building is made from) and add the rust, water marks, moss, bird poop.

Render tests:

• Render movements to check that the lights and the textures work okay

Lighting:

• This alone could take a week to make sure it is right.

Factor in the group project into the schedule.

So basically the new to do list:

• Model David
• Rig David
• Complete Model of Building
• Texture both assets
• Texture ground and sky
• Render tests of textures still and moving
• Lights
• Render tests of lights moving and still
• Animate character
• Render tests
• Final Render
• Sound
• Credits
• Final Edit

And 4 weeks to do it all...

Music Update

I have received a message back from one of my friends in Pieve di Soligio which is in the province of Treviso.

Evelyn:
"For me, Venice is related to 'Rondo Veneziano', its a musical composition dating back to Baroque times. If you do a research you can hear it!!! Reading your friends comments I have to tell you that I have never heard the cornetto song in my life! Thats Amore is a song which describes south regions of Italy, certainly not Venice! Hope this helps with your project."

There quite a few youtube videos of this so I have found a long one which I can go through to pick which sections might work and also to check royalties on this particular piece. The beginning of the clip sounds a bit too happy and dancy so at the moment not really sure it will fit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKSp0jb5JrI

http://www.rondoveneziano.com/

On the website it has information about the maestro Gian Piero Reverberi. There are also quite a few of his albums which are about Venice:

1980 Rondo Veneziano
1983 Venezia 2000
1984 Odissea Veneziana
1985 Odissea Veneziana
1986 Fantasia Veneziana
1986 Rapsodia Veneziana
1987 Misteriosa Venezia
1988 Poesia di Venezia
1989 Visioni di Venezia
1992 Stagioni di Venezia
1992 Venezia Romantica
1994 Il Mago di Venezia
1999 Splendore di Venezia
2001 Capricco di Veneziano

I will need to take some time to go through them all and see if any are what I am looking for and also will need to look into royalties.

It has been a big help getting this information, especially from an Italian herself!

Music is a bit part to a production so I want to make sure it is something that fits the area and the scene.

**Update**

I have now listened to a few of the tracks and there are some really nice soothing ones that I think will best go with my production.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtuYG-0XH8Q - D'ombres et de lumieres (From Capricco di Veneziano)

I like the above song and think that is the tone I would like to go with but would like to listen to a few more of his songs just to see what else there is.

Sound

I have been looking into sound for my project and at first thought an instrumental would suit as the scene is just panning around the building and the statue.

I had one in mind but I am not the best singer so I cant really get across the song I am trying to find ha. It is from a cartoon where its zooming into a forest, I think. After thinking about this I feel it is too cartoony for my scene so maybe its for the best that I cant remember the name of it. I might have to rewatch some looney tunes and cartoons from then to get what its called so it doesnt bug me

With that song out my mind I have researched some other types of music:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH-f-6uLb2c - Music in Venice
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGDEUlJzznw - Music in Venice
• http://learn-italian-review.toptenreviews.com/top-ten-italian-songs-of-all-time.html - Italian Music
• http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081002083503AAKVvrW - Italian street fair music
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG4SbelgIFk- Youtube of the street fair music

I also posted a question on twitter, my personal facebook page, the computer animation facebook page and also instagram -

'What song best describes Venice/Italy to you or what song comes to mind when you think of Italy?'

This will help with what genre I go for, for example if the majority of people go for opera then I will pick a suitable opera one.  I am waiting on feedback from anyone.

I had thought to have the nice music playing and then it comes to a hault, like the record scretches and stops. Then David turns into the cartoon and stretches with the sound of him yawning. When he goes back to the original statue then scene fades as the music starts up again and stays on through credits.

The clips I have found are snippets of songs put in one track, which works fine for me as my scene is not very long. I just need to listen to them all to pick out which songs I like the best.

I also need to check on royalties, hopefully will be able to find out all of the relevant information by hand in!

Before finishing this I have had a few comments back on my posts:

• Luciano Pavarotti - 'O sole mio (also known as the cornetto song) (Feedback from Imogen Bryson, Sharon Burns, Ross Cameron, Paul Williamson, Michael Moir, Karen Rose, Angela Quinn, Lana Zgomic, Margie Hailey, Dawn Mcgrath Conolly )
• Dean Martin - Thats Amore (Feedback from Ruth Cains, Kerry Lenehan, Paulo Sousa, Denise Whitworth Stone) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69O4PXzAQ5Y
• Cheesy Stereotypical songs (Feedback from Sarah Franks)
• Moon River - Andy Williams (Feedback from Gemma Fox)
• Shuddup your face - Joe Dolce (Feedback from Michael Heap)
• Row row row your boat - ha...(Feedback from Steven Wells, Jonathan Watson)
• Nessun Dorma - Pavorotti (Feedback from Lana Zgomic, Richard Eccleston)
• Italian Mafia - Sicilian Heart (Feedback from Paulo Sousa) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FirFc1azLw4
• Mambo Italiano - Dean Martin (Feedback from Bianca Iancu) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsu03M_DbUM
• Pizza, Pasta (Feedback from Bianca Iancu)
• Anything by Andrea Bocelli (Feedback from Rosaleen Evans)
• Madonna - Like a virgin (Feedback from Dawn Mcgrath Conolly)
• Andrea Bocelli - Con Te Partiro (Feedback from Janey Konoplits)

It was brought to my attention that Birmingham has more water ways than Venice, not sure what I will do with this information but I am glad it was shared with me.

I also have some friends that live in Italy so I have sent them a message asking which best describes Venice for them. I will update their feedback when I receive it.

I am looking up royalty free music and I have found a few versions of O sole mio which range from $25 - $100. Although some of them sound more greek than italian like this one -

http://www.productiontrax.com/royalty-free-music/305472

Will keep looking for further details into the above suggested songs.

Schedule

20 Feb - 24 Feb - Complete Procuratie Vecchie
25 Feb - 10 March -  Model David
10 March - 15 March - Textures and lighting
15 March - 20 March - Rendering and Sound
21 March - 27 March - Report (editing blog material)

As you can see by the above schedule it has changed again. With not having lots of time I need to rush on with this project. Unfortunately I haven't left myself a lot of breathing space (or sleep by the looks of it).

I also received an email to state I had been accepted into Expotees so there are a few things I need to update for that as well: Business card, show reel, Portfolio,

As I wont have time before hand in for the 'if i have time' part of the project, I will try to have this section complete for expotees in May.

Textures:
David
Ground
Procuartie Vecchi
Sky

Notes to self for Report and Viva

Report:
Summary of the research undertaken
A dicussion of tools, processes and techniques used and why
Any problems and solutions
Final critical reflection and evaluation of the product

Contents Page
Preproduction
Production
Post Production
All with images and spelling correct!

Viva aim:
Things to look at while preparing:
High quality work, shows excellent level of competence and professionalism. Evidence of original thinking. Demonstrates knowledge of the product and development and able to answer all questions clearly. Confidence in the work. Can discuss what can be improved and how the product can be extended. Understanding and insight of the contribution of their sork in terms of employment. Work is credible and my own!

Animex 2014

What a great week it was last week for Animex. All of the speakers were great and I really enjoyed hearing the different stories. All with in the same industry yet all got there differently and go through different experiences on a daily basis.

I went to the networking events on Monday and Thursday. Monday was good to get the feel of what it is like, unfortunately I didn't speak to anyone but made up for it on Thursday. I spoke to MPC and The Mill regarding what they look for, how they got into the industry and what their personal experience has been like.

I find it encouraging to hear the good and the bad, I know its not going to be all rainbows and butterflies and feel speakers shouldn't sugar coat the industry to keep our hopes up. I like it better when they actually tell us they struggled and had hard times but picked themselves back up and got to where they wanted to be by getting back up and pushing forward with their goals.

While speaking to Tom Knight, Mike Chapman and David Fleet they gave some really good insight by being  real and honest with what it is like with stress and deadlines but also shared that it is a sociable and friendly environment. If you get along with the team then it makes the work that much more enjoyable.

They shared some advice on show reels as well - stating that its good to be an all rounder. For example, if I want to be a modeller, they said to make that the majority of the reel and great quality but also have some other things in there just to show that you can actually do other things if they need you to.

After the festival was over I went on to twitter to 'follow' the speakers on twitter to keep up to date with their work and news...and possible job opportunities :D

Great opportunity to be able to listen to all these wonderful people and  having the chance to meet them is even better!! Might have to go next year too!

Rooftop

To finish the roof top I have created the shape by using a cv curve. After I moved the vertices to create the look I wanted I then duplicated the shape and turned it 180 degrees. I then went into the front view, wire frame so I could see the shape a little better.

I then selected both sides and combined them then selected the vertices and snapped one side to the other.

To do this I followed the instructions on: http://www.pixelstreetstudios.com/maya80/combineObj/

Took a lot of zooming in and out to make sure all of the vertices were actually lining up.

I then merged the objects in Edit Mesh.

I had a few problems along the way with this one, in regards to making sure everything was lined up :/

When changing views I realised half of them were not lined up!

Then when I put the shape into smoothed mode there was a deformation on the corner which was easier corrected. I deleted the X shaped edges and used the split took to create a straight line.

I then removed all of the polygons from the front side and filled the close to create one polygon.

 I then extruded the front face to create the desired look.

For the ground floor arches I selected the arch itself (faces) and extracted that from the rest of the arch, as I had made them as one object. This way I can smooth and amend the arch with out changing the columns. 

After I smoothed the arch there were a few areas were still a bit blocky. I found lots of unneeded vertices and a few extra edges where to be honest I am not entirely sure where they came form. I removed the un wanted items and it made a much more smoother shape. I had to move the vertices at the bottom of the arch as they were not in line with the rest of the bottom ones.

During one of our classes Drew suggested I add a bit more detail to the building and maybe make the arches as bricks, so I have tried this out as well.

I am not happy with how they look, they looks a little cartoony so I will try out a different way. I did this effect by selecting the faces and extruding them a little bit.

I have extruded the bits between the archways to create the space where the shops are and the walking space for people.

Putting the pieces together

To put all the pieces together I have found an image that looks relatively useful to help with placements/sizing.

As the image is on a slight angle I have had to adjust some of the windows and arches so they are spaced evenly.

Before finding this image I was marking on a piece of paper and using a ruler to get measurements for the space between the windows etc. This has worked out a lot better!

Starting on the first floor windows and for the arch way I have used the same arch as I have for the ground floor. I duplicated the arch and removed the polygons that I did not need. I then selected the vertices so I was able to amend the shape.

To create the columns I added 8 segments on the height so I could extrude the certain areas to make them bigger/smaller.

Top circle windows

On the top floor of the building are small circular windows, I have modeled them by using a cylinder and extruding the front faces and then added edge looks to create the more defined shapes after smoothing the object. For the middle of the window I deleted all of the faces and filled the hole to create one polygon. I then used the slip tool to create the middle of the window pane. I then extruded the two polygons on either side back a little bit.

I have tested out creating the holes in the building itself like using a spline circle or booleans and for some reason it didn't work out like the tutorial, after a few attempts I decided to create the shape on its own.