Summary

I can start off by saying I am proud for completing the modeling side of this project, and I like the look of it. Usually I am very very critical but how it looks as a whole I like it.

The original plan was to create a scene with David animated, however with time not being on my side I was un able to achieve this. I did however specifiy I would do that if there was time, so I have partically done what I said I would do

Modeling:
I found some of this to be fairly easy and other bits annoying. I only really had to create one of each asset and duplicate it and put into place and then amend each one once they were in place. There were a few issues as explained in previous posts but most of them were resolved. There are few little things I would change in regards to shapes of some of the objects. For example the ground floor archways, I would make the part where it connects to the column sharper as they are rounded. I would also redo the top floor round windows as the sides are not as smooth as I would like them to be. I want to add the fabric to the tables and the windows as well. There is still time to correct these issues before Expotees.

Lights:
I wanted to have natural light on my building to make it 'reaslistic' so I looked on line to see what I could find. I came across the sun light option which is built into Maya. Following a youtube video I was able to locate the option and turn it on. I then rotated the sun to get the right side for the shadows. One side was too dark and too much shadow. I like the amount of shadow in the angle I have went for. I turned down the intensity by almost half as well as the scene was very white and washed out by the brightness.



I am hoping when I add textures that the light will calm down a little bit more, bouncing off the colours that I add.



Textures:

I tested a few textures but they did not work out to plan so this took longer than expected. I left myself too little time to experiment and have ended up leaving it blank. I was hoping to have at least the windows finished but again, with having to leave for the train I dont have time.



I should have factored in more time and it is my own fault for not being prepared for this.



Rendering:

I was fiddling on too much with little things that it only left me with 2 hours to render, after half an hour I checked it and it was only on frame 18. To solve this problem I ended up doing a render of individual shots and then putting them into AE to create a short video of my work.



This is not ideal as I would have preferred the video.



My video was going to be 500 frames, with the camera zooming around the building to show my work and then end on David.



Sound:

I wanted to add sound from a composer I was told about. I have a blog entry about him and his work. Again, with not having time to render out the video I have not added the sound.



For expotees I would like to have the texturing complete and have sound.



I am not too worried that the animation did not take place as that was not part of my project, it was an added bonus if I had time. If there is time after the group project and before Expotees then I would like to have that part complete.

The 'Real' David

Here is the link to the video I submitted.

http://youtu.be/o2ccVNNVtgE

Render Tests

Another light texture test.

Test render of the window under the archway.

Test Render of the final shot.

First scene.

Textures

Unfortunately I don't think I have time to do all the textures. I spent too much time on other areas, and redoing things that I didnt plan to redo.  With this in mind I didnt evaluate my time to the best schedule. It started off great but then as time went on the time seemed to slip by. So, it left me with having to texture today (hand in day), and I dont want to rush it as it will look rubbish.

I am making sure the modelling and lighting is complete so then all that is left to do by expotees is texturing. 'All thats left', I am sure I will find other things to change and texturing isnt a small job so it will keep me busy!

I also wanted to use this as the back ground to my business cards so another reason to get moving on it. Like I say, I dont want to rush it and it turn out crap so I am going to leave it just as the default colour. If I have time I will do the windows though.

I do like how it looks though with out texture, reminds me of the buildings they did in the architects firm I used to work at. Like a model for a client. After render a few frames I have grown to like this look but I do feel in the long run I need to practice textures so will get it done after hand in.

Placing Chairs

I had a bit of a panic moment when the light stopped working!! I took me about half an hour to get it sorted. It is back now so that is all good. I have changed the texture to a mental ray texture as well.  I have added more chairs as well to the scene.

More Roof

I have created the other model for the roof. I used a cylinder and then extruded the top and then scaling to create the below look. I then added edge loops around the extruded areas and then smoothed to create the rounded look.

Walls

Well, I have made the front of the building a teensy bit different to the original building. This is only because I have been having some issues with the front. 

The above image is what it should be like and the below is what I have done. With the booleans not working I had cut the shapes manually in the face of the building. I should have really thought about that first as they stuck out more than the other rest of the building. After spending so much time creating the holes I did not want to do it all over again just to make the top of the building stick out a little further. 

Still to do:

The little round statues for the roof, more shubbery on roof, finish the top of the columns around the windows, windows in ground floor archways, tables for the chairs, texture everything. Oh happy days!

Lights

Making the texture for the lights, they dont even really look all that different but I changed the settings for each of them.

They all look too noisy, I have tried to change the reflectivity and glossiness to try and make it work. 

Modeling Chairs

To model the chairs I looked at a few images but then decided to just try it on my own with out uploaded an image into the view. 

I looked on line for a few textures, I liked the look of the holes in the metal and thought it looked okay as the back of the chair. As the seat part it didnt look right and most of the materials didnt either. I went with a brushed metal texture in the end. 

Trying to put them into place and then will add the tables.

The holes again!

Today I have had to redo the building as I must have created some extra edges when I was using the cut/edge tools. It seems to be taking forever but I think that is only because this is due tomorrow so time seems to be going quickly! Here are some screen shots of having to cut the holes again for the top floor windows.

Roof

I have used a paint effect brush on maya to create some plants to go on the roof. I rotated and scaled some of them so they were not all the same.

Why do booleans not want to work!!!

So booleans have decided to never work for me. Even after going through what people suggested it just decided, no linsey, i will not work! Instead I have added used the interactive split tool to create the panel around the windows and then use the cut faces tool. I then moved the vertices and once I had the shape, I removed the inside face to reveal the window.

I then removed the edges I created.

As you can see it has worked great, only one thing...I realised they were too far out of the building so when I moved them back it messed up the holes. After trying to move the vertices/edges around, it just made it worse. I should have left all of the lines I had created in case this thing happened, but obviously I wasnt thinking. 

I have to redo it now so :(

second and third floor windows

To create the vents in the archways I first tried to extrude the inside faces of the arch which took a few tries as it was making some weird shapes and was not going straight for me. After moving vertices and edges I got the right shape. I then selected the inner faces as seen in the image below. Then i extruded them in and then extruded in again but pushing the faces back to create a space for the vents. 

 My first attempt I selected the faces and rotated them but when I went into the side view and wire view it looks very confusing as extra edges were there and some of the lines were out of whack. I think when I selected faces to extrude that some of the back faces had been selected, I should have checked before extruding!

This resulting in weird shapes and me trying to delete things to make it better but didnt quite work out.

 After trying this out about  5 times I decided to smooth the arch, select the front faces and extrude them twice and on the third one I moved the faces back to create a rounded edge. I then deleted the edge loop which I had put around the edges as it was causing the edge to look sharp. I then deleted the extra vertices as well.

For the inside I ended up selecting of the arches (non extruded one) smoothing it and placing it inside the original arch. I then scaled it to the shape I wanted then used cubes for the vent. 

Arch above windows

Now for the windows. I used one of my reference photos I found to get the shape of the windows. . For the top part of the windows I extruded the inner faces of the arch already in place and then removed the triangular faces. Next I selected the edge and filled the hole to create one face. This made it easer to extrude and get the shape I was after. I then used the interactive split tool to create sections so I could create the vents. 

I had to move some of the vertices as they went a little scewwhiff during the split tool process.

Columns for around windows

To create the coumns for around the windows I followed a tutorial I found online.

Tutorial by: Justin Slick.  

Web address: http://3d.about.com/od/Creating-3D-The-CG-Pipeline/ss/Maya-Tutorial-Series-Detailing-The-Greek-Column_7.htm

Web Creator: About.com 2014

I started with a cylinder and used the different views to make sure it was centered on the grid, making it a little easier to get the correct sizes. I extruded the top of the cylinder 7 times to get the shape which is in the first image.

I then added edge loops around each edge to make sure the shape stays when it is put into 'smooth'.

To create the 'greek column' look I selected every other edge along the sides (not including the extruded parts at the top), I then scaled them inwards. I then selected the other edges (ones that were not scaled) and selected the bevel tool (segments 1 and roundness 0.3).  The end of the column was out of shape so I selected the vertices and scaled them down so they all were in line.

I added the columns by duplicating them as instances. After I did this I had to go through and move some of them slightly to line up with the archways that they are under.

I also re did the hole in the archways, i used cut faces tool.

Shop Names

http://3d.about.com/od/Creating-3D-The-CG-Pipeline/ss/Maya-Tutorial-Series-Detailing-The-Greek-Column.htm

I stumbled across the above link, was looking for something completely different and at the bottom of the page was an image of a greek column. And it turned out to be a 'how to' guide on making them. The look of it is perfect for the columns around the windows, so I will give it a go.

I have found a texture which I quite like for the sky which I found on www.shareeac.com - However now when I go back to the site to try and get the information about the image it wont load up. Also after rendering out the image the sky is very dark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rct7TzUUim4&feature=youtu.be

I have rendered out a 6 second video to try a camera movement.

I did another search on what the actual shops/cafes are called on the ground floor, and this is a harder search than I imagined. They all name one cafe in particular but that seems to be the most help I am getting. I came across some books - 

Name: The Golden Book of Venice All of the City and its masterpieces

Printed: Italy, Centro Stampa Editoriale Bonechi, Sesto Fiorentino

Page 6 - 11

Gran Cafe Quadri is on the vecchi side - 

Name: Italy

Authors: Dana Facaros, Michael Pauls

London, 2004

Pages 336

Doing another search of high quailty images the shutters are shut on the majority of places so that helps as I can just model some shutters and can angle the shot where it does not look at the names above doors for these places.

I have also found some helpful images which show the windows which are in the archways.