Giving a Bone Structure to a Object (College Work)

Using the Character selection tools, you can give a bone structure to a object and make them bend or move how you would like it to. I shall make a leg bend and move by using this tool.

First, by selecting a cube onto the stage then using the Extrude tool () to stretch the shape out into what looks like a leg shape with a foot joint attached to the end. I will now give this object a bone structure so I can freely move this object about the way I want it to.





Now with the bone structure in place, this is called the Joint Tool. (Selected this with the Character tool.)

But to join both the bone structure and the cube object together though is a tricky one.




Select three of the joints in the Objects tab which would be the hip, the knee and the ankle. From here, go back to the character tab and select "IK Chain" from the Commands section in Character. This joins each joint together and available to attach to the leg!





To attach something to the object, select everything on the Object Stage area, and then in the Character menu, select Command > Bind. This should create a skin around the object and enables the object to move according to how the user moves it.

Design Sketches and Story Board for 3D Animation (College Work)

For my final project, I have decided to go with a winter scene, and a snowman. In this animation will be two balls of snow rolling towards each other, down separate hills to form a snowman. After time, children place items of clothing and a face on the snow man (Although, you shall never see the children, they will not be in scene.)  then finally melting, leaving the scarf and rocks which made the snowmans face, behind.

Here is my Design Sketches.

I thought this would be a lovely little animation, as it shows the passage of time, and how things can not stay forever. I will use a series of textures and little quirks to help me with this animation so it looks how I would like to have it. An Emitter NURB will help exceptionally well to show the collision of the snow balls when they smash together. The scarf will be made by a freehand spline which is connected to a Lathe NURB to create a slightly uneven scarf but so it goes around the snowmans neck. The colours of the scarf will be Blue and Yellow.


The storyboard will show each stage that will be in camera view. Some of them will be the same camera view but from a different side of the middle piece its self. I want it to look very cartoony and animated as possible, playing around with the angles I knew most, but experimenting with ways it can be viewed.

Development for my Final Animation - Mind and Mood map (College Work)

Mind Map
The mind map determines on what I shall write and branch off for the mood board. I wanted to have a viriaty of scenes and seasons, I just don't know what to do with it yet. I shall place the idea in the middle and branch it off from there ("Seasons"). All the things which remind or have to do with seasons will be written around the middle.

Mood Board
I decided to do a mood board for my final piece to get a little idea of what I would like. Now I had a rough idea of what theme I wanted in my final piece; A snow scene. Now I needed some sort of short story which will grab a watchers attention, but keep shot and sweet. I wrote down all the things which snow reminds me of and then I branched those words off into other things associated with snow and that word together.

3D Animations used in the Industry (College Work)

CG or Computer Graphics is a term used for the usage of 3D models in a range of ways. Todays industry uses these models in Computer Games, Animated Films, Adverts, Architect and so on, gives products a view from a unique perspective. By making 3D models on the computer, it saves time and constructive energy to make something or reproduce something if anything ever goes wrong, which is why it is so popular to use, and takes over sculpting.

Artists (or 3D modelers) will create 3D models just for art, for their Portfolio. Having skills for 3D animation or modeling is a great experience and can help in many other important jobs that they may stumble into for comissions.

Having an Artists personal view on 3D models can result in crazy ideas and designs. Humanoids can be made, which can easily be placed into games or animations, what ever they prefer. Normally 3D models are sketched out onto paper, mesured and examined so they are to scale. On websites like DeviantART, you get many of these artists, uploading or selling these products to producers who are interested in some ones skills or tallents, and wants them to take everything a step further. With these characters or designs they make, they can easily add a moveable spline to it, and animate it to their own demand and free will.

Plugin's are normally free, and can be used in many situations for a designer. For computer games, Plugin's are quite useful to get something done quick and easy, with no fuss about making things individually. When you are working on something for a company, or for learning perposes, getting things done on time is key to attaining a great atmosphere and collectiveness in your own product. Games designers use Plugins, but they will make one model of what is needed, then maybe manipulate it into their own example. Plugin's can also consist of characters with animateable parts, and movement, which is already inbuilt, you just need to tell the design (which has the spline structure inbuilt) what to do in your own fasion.

But how about Organic models? Games today use 3D schematics to create their scenes and areas, quite like Architectural buildings, but to create areas for a player to experience and relate to as they're mashing buttons to the next level.

The best example of remaking and reshaping would be 3D Architecture (Example on the left), where you would have to reshape or refurbish a room you would like to recreate in real life. It doesn't have to just be a room, it can me buildings, gardens or other homely things. 3D Architecture is on the dot and can be made by simple calculations and processes which creates a final project to scale. Much more simpler then making and crafting a model of something.

Assassin's Creed (to the right) has a wide range of different types of models and Architecture from the past, built on true history. Though, because animation is involved, instead of a still image, the polygons that make the game its self must be lowered and so must the texture and quality of the 3D models made so that the game should run in an even pace. (Not really the same sort of process, but CG Films must do the same, as well, but the rendering is done piece by piece which gives them a better quality then a game as Film Producers get a lot more time then Games Designers themselves. Not just that, but during a game, it is constantly playing and must deal with a lot of objects on a screen.)

Last but not least, to advertise something, 3D is quite eye catching and very different from the normal hand drawn animations or actors. Like Films, adverts requite animation which cuts quality but is worked on a lot more for quality instead of quantity.

 Not only is 3D eye catching and gives the wow-factor, it's good to really show a product off, or even a message. It doesn't even need to look realistic either. Like the bee and the can (to the left), it looks cartoony, but simple and understandable of what it is. Advertising is really just to get people really focusing on what you're trying to sell or bring to light, and 3D really has that impact.

Make things change over the Time Line (College Work)

Now, what if I need to change a certain objects colour or shape over time? Using the timeline I can easily do this by key frames. I'll be working with a simple shape and no movement for this.

First, I select a sphere shape onto the stage, and use a material to paint it white. Now, by pressing the "keyframe" () button, whilst the shape is selected, it records that shape in the timeline its self.

Attaching a Camera to a Spline (College Work)

A Camera can be selected from the light selection tool. A position or stage for your animation to play on is crucial. However, to do this, you can attach the camera to a spline you have created.

To start off with a decided to create an object for the camera to focus on (This makes it easier if your object is directly in the center, as the camera on the spline will automatically point to the center, without any fuss). Then it was time to make the spline I wanted on the scene.

Now my spline and my object is now complete, I added the camera into the scene, and attached it to the spline by selecting Tags > Cinema 4D Tags > Align to Spline. You can then drag and drop the spline selection into the "Spline" box. Now the camera is attached, and will now ride along the spline when you have keyframed the camera from the start of the spline to the end of it.

Now everything is now complete; here is the final outcome.

Making Multiple Objects Appear at Once (College Work)

The emitter selection tool () is a great tool to use if you were to create a moving scene. It spawns multiple objects, and these objects can be manipulated to directions. So, to practice this I made a snow scene, which is in need of many objects spawned at a time for it to look believable. I made a base and a sphere, chose their colours (white) and then created the emitter, placing it where I wanted it.

Now that I have each object I want to make the snow scene, I will change the size of the sphere and make it smaller, making it more like snow.





As I began to change the colours and sizes of the objects I had on the stage, I started to tamper with the frame rate and the amount of "snow" which will spawn of the emitter (Birth Rate), life time and the all important "Show Objects" which enables the object you have selected to be in the emitter (In this case, the sphere) to appear.



After doing all of this, it was ready to render and make sure all the frames were shown during the animation. The finished product is below!

Rotation Animation (College Work)

Cogs are the most common rotational item, so it is very nice to animate and show that it works. I made sure that the cogs were well separated and work just as well as normal cogs do. 

How I made the Cogs was using the already built in cog splines and changed the spokes on them so that they would fit together perfectly. Then placed the Extrude Nurb on the splines to make them full and stable.