Virtual Environments Week Three

This week the project can be broken down into two parts; the first is the creation of a 3D face prototype and the second is taking the next steps for the YMCA assignment. Having pitched the original YMCA idea to the course leader and received positive feedback and constructive criticisms the intention is to draw full scale front, back and side views of each young male characters. The aim for doing this is so there are defined shapes and sizes to work with; a two dimensional template for the three dimensional characters. We also decided to play with textures that could be worked with in Studios Max; whether to use block colours or create such materials as denim, cotton and leather. These options will be decided later in the final stages of the project as the actual build is more important to focus on at this stage. The meeting with Craig Gough is yet to be arranged but the possibilities are for week five or six.

The second part of the project for this week is the creation of a prototype face. The preparation of which requires a front and side view photographed self portrait.

Once taken these photos had to be loaded into Adobe Photoshop and then the face must be adjusted so the features are both the same size and level between the two different views. In order to create a three dimensional face in 3D Studios Max preparation can be done to simplify the process in Photoshop. The basic idea here is to draw in the structure lines of the face, tracing the shapes and contours around the eyes, mouth, cheekbones and chin providing to scale guidelines to trace in 3DS Max. To do so, an online tutorial found at

http://cg-india.com/tutorials/3dsmaxtutorialsorganicmodeling.html

provided step by step instructions directing where the lines need to be drawn and how to achieve the best results. Once the feature lines have been drawn on a separate layer to the photograph of the front view using a blue paintbrush a new layer must be created. Then the next step is to trace the blue feature lines and extend them to outline each shape of the face and draw in quad lines which will be used to construct the model of the face when transferred into the 3D package.

The tutorial took a matter of hours to complete to be at a standard that was high enough for this level of work. The image was imported into 3D Studios Max and this was where some teething problems were encountered. The resolution of the lines drawn in Photoshop that shown in 3Ds Max are not of a high quality and therefore the quad lines are not visible enough to be traced as intended.

Virtual Environments Week Two

Mondays lecture was replaced with an initial briefing of and visit to the Young Mans Christian Association Chelmsford. The talk was hosted by Craig Gough who informed the group of his expectations regarding the advertisement as well as key groups and event nights held at the YMCA which he wishes to promote to a wide spectrum audience.

We could not view the premises as the group was too large and therefore Daniel and I emailed Mr. Gough (craig.gough@chelmsfordymca.co.uk) in order to arrange a meeting at a later stage to formally visit and observe the various functions of each room as well as which groups make use of the facilities.

As a starting point to meet the expectations of Mr. Gough and our brief we designed an idea cloud of various solutions to the problem. The favoured response would be to create an advert which appealed to a wide age range to incorporate the many amenities available at the YMCA. Mr. Gough mentioned he would like an animation which could be posted directly to schools to advertise the Charity and the variety of activities, groups and support they offer for all ages.

The idea cloud encouraged the idea of a first proposition to solve the problem. A grayscale home environment with two brothers; one young and energetic, the other older with the need of a creative outlet, bored at home and watching dull daytime television. The screen pans round to show the television screen which suddenly becomes colourful, bright and fun lighting the room and advertising the YMCA.
The advertisement asks its audience [the two brothers] if they are bored and invites them to join in the fun at the YMCA Chelmsford. The pair of boys are taken in by the advertisement and find themselves at the charity premises. The camera follows them as they dash excitedly from room to room [highlighting the nursery, after schools club, battle of the band, open mic night and youth sports club] before they go their separate ways to make new friends and participate in the sports club and open mic night.

The aim here is to reach a wide audience of various ages, interests and needs and therefore it is believed that two main characters with opposing interests and a fairly large age gap is the best solution. The first excited look around the YMCA allows insight into the large variety of activities, groups and support available as well as the services provided by the charity.