Week 6

 

 

The Museum of Power Assignment Brief

Today marked the start of the next part of the "Virtual Environments" assignment involving the modeling and animation of a steam powered asset from the "Museum of Power". Having decided our group several weeks ago, today the first official group meeting took place where it was decided what asset was to be made. Having taken numerous reference photos from the prior Museum visit we all came to the mutual decision to choose the "LMS Fowler 2-6-4T" Steam Engine as our final asset. This was due to the fact that it is a relatively complex vehicle, comprised of a multitude of mechanical moving parts which will present a challenge in terms of modeling and animation.

 

2368 LMS Fowler 4 - MT Class 2-6-4 (1927)

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Once this decision had been reached a work schedule was devised starting by compiling a list of probable tasks needing to be completed in order to reach the final goal. These were then placed within a Gantt chart so the timings of each could be predicted. Now that we had established the tasks required, the work load and job roles were distributed amongst the group members. Myself and Steven Harwood will commence the modeling process, hopefully reaching the stage that was agreed in the meeting for next week. Lee confidently gave the presentation which he prepared prior to today's lecture and displayed his concept storyboard/sketches for the animation process. Steven Muller also presented several sketches which were drawn of a potential "Steam Bot" character that will be modeled this week for inclusion in the end animation.

My task assigned for this week involved the creation of the train wheels and undercarriage area. This will be modeled as accurately as possible based on the reference images that were collected. In order to prevent potential problems during the modeling process in the future, a measurement scale was confirmed so that each part of the Steam Train  will be correctly sized. Upon the completion of this stage of modeling, a trial animation can be conducted next week to gain a rough understanding of how the remaining parts will interact.

Week 4 & 5

 

UVW  Unwrap &  Texture Creation

 

Now that all of the modeling had been finalized, the last stage to complete the 3D representation of my head was Texturing. This is arguably the most significant aspect throughout the production process as a good texture gives the impression of realism and personality.

Before creating the texture for the model, the surface needed to be examined using a "UVW Map" to identify problematic areas that are prone to stretching.  Consequently to conduct this test an "Unwrap UVW" modifier was applied, then a black and white checker pattern was then assigned to the head model. In an ideal scenario the checker pattern should be completely uniform over the entire surface, which would be indicated by perfectly sized and spaced squares. However this inevitably is not the case and additional tweaking is required to produce as little stretching as possible.

One immediate issue was the top of the head, where substantial stretching was evident from the deformed rectangular checker pattern.

 

Stretched Checker Pattern

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Fortunately a tool found under the "Edit" parametres of the Unwrap UVW modifier called "Relax" rectified the problem after several applications. The Relax tool basically does as its name suggests, it relaxes the selected faces/vertices by using spacing on edge, faces or centre angles. The tool can therefore be applied a number of times until the desired outcome is achieved, the amount of relaxation applied can also be fine tuned using the Iterations, Amount and Stretch settings.

This process was also used to rectify further areas of stretching especially around the neck, eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Many of these features are comprised of a complex surfaces and therefore the relax tool alone was not sufficient enough. As a result manual adjustment via moving individual vertices was required to flatten out the UVW Map as much as possible.

 

Top of Head after Relax Tool

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Two built in features included in the "Edit Menu" of the UVW Map Modifier also made overlapping faces rapid to identify using the select commands "Select Inverted Faces" and "Select Overlapped Faces". When either of these commands are used faces that are overlapping or inverted are then highlighted bright red to show their position. These sort of faces need to be eradicated before texturing as they can cause noticeable seams/imperfections in the texture which should be one continuous flowing asset. Once any offending faces had been pinpointed a slight vertex adjustment easily resolved any overlapping edges.

 

Overlapped Faces in Ear Canal

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Now that the square checker pattern had been sufficiently adjusted to remove as much evidence of stretching as possible, the next step was to render out the UVW Map for use in Photoshop.

 

Relaxed Head w/ Checker Pattern

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This was achieved by using the "Render UVW Template" command found under the tools menu of the Unwrap UVW modifier. When this tool is used various options are available including the ability to render edges, seams, fills and change display modes. In order to produce a nice clear set of guides only the edges of UVW Map were rendered out as a Bitmap (.BMP) at a resolution of 4096 px by 2048 px. This may seem quite large for the template however using this size will produce nice sharp edges, additionally the photos from which the face textures will be made from are approximately around the same resolution. This will therefore eliminate the need to re-size any texture selections from the face images, which if enlarged or significantly shrunk to fit the UVW Map would introduce apparent blurriness/low resolution.

 

Head & Ear UVW Template

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The rendered UVW Map was then opened in Photoshop in addition to the reference images of the head, from which the texture will be created. The edges on the UVW template were then duplicated as a "layer mask" allowing them to be viewed over the top of the texture to help align the selected features. Certain selections were then made on the front and side images of the head image which were then pasted as separate layers underneath the UVW guide layer. For example the Eye socket area was selected using the "Lasso" tool, Crtl+C then Ctrl+V were used to paste it onto the UVW template file. The selected eye area was then repositioned and transformed accordingly to match the UVW edge guide as closely as possible. This technique was repeated for the entire face until all of the main features were correctly placed on the face texture.

 

Positioned Facial Features

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The Photoshop file was then used as a material within 3DS Max which was applied to the head in order preview the appearance and position of the copied features of the face texture. This was done frequently by making changes and saving the Photoshop file which would then automatically be updated within 3DS Max to show the specified alterations.

 

Positioned Facial Features Texture Preview

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The next step was to merge all the facial features together in order to produce a seamless, flowing head texture with no obvious joins or gaps visible. This was conducted via using the powerful Cloning tools within Photoshop to fill in gaps and join overlapping selections where the skin  didn't flow for example. The main tools used were a combination of the "Cloning Stamp, Spot Healing Brush and Patch" tools. The Cloning Stamp tool basically copies a sampled area which can then be painted over gaps in the skin for example. This is a really useful tool ideal for extending/copying parts of an image, however if it is used too much in one area repetition will frequently become visible. Repeating sections of skin for example would deter from the overall level of realism and consequently any occurrence of this sort was eradicated using the Spot Healing Brush and Patch tools. The Spot Healing Brush is similar to the Cloning stamp, however rather than sampling and copying a certain area it blends the selection based on the colour/position of surrounding pixels. This therefore helped to hide any repeating sections of skin for example to create a nice unique and flowing texture. The final tool used was the Patch tool, this basically combines the functions of both the Spot Healing Brush and Cloning Stamp to fill a selected area with a sampled selection which is then blended with the existing pixels. This tool was ideal for adding further detail to areas which had become blurred as a result of considerable cloning.

 

Gap Between Features BEFORE Cloning

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Merged features After Cloning w/ Patch Tool

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Once the front and sides of the head had been merged together the last remaining feature to texture was the ears. These again were textured using the same techniques as were used for the face, however due to the shear complexity of the ear additional action was required to provide a realistic outcome. Firstly the ear was copied from the side of head reference image and then pasted into the UVW  Template file. Although the UVW Edge guide could be used to roughly position the ear its complex surface made aligning a 2D version extremely difficult. Therefore in order to aid the situation a "Normals Map" was generated using the Render UVW Template tool in 3DS Max. The fill mode was change from "None" to "Normal" which basically draws up the surface of the UVW based on faces's X,Yand Z positions. The outcome is a vibrant colour image which clearly shows the flow of the textured surface. This image was saved and imported into Photoshop on a separate layer for use with the ears. The selected ear texture was then placed above this layer and given a "Layer Mode" of "Multiply" which made it opaque and allowed the normals image map to show through. Having done this the ear texture could then be sufficiently aligned using the "Warp" and "Rotate" transformation tools.

 

Ear Texture Warp w/ Normal Map Underneath

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When the head texture was finished, further detail was introduced by creating both a "Bump Map" and "Specular Map". Firstly the Bump Map was produced by creating a copy of the textured head UVW Map which was de-saturated to make it purely black and white. A "High Pass filter" was then used which creates an embossed/engraved effect of the image. 3DS Max interprets Bump information based on Alpha Channels (Black & White), black being an area which is lowered inwards and white the opposite creating a raised appearance. Based on this fact the resulting image was altered by manually using a soft white brush to add further detail to areas such as moles & freckles, to give them a slightly raised appearance. The final Bump image was then assigned to the head texture material in its "Bump map slot" and given an value of "30".  Extra detail to blend the bumped surface with more of an irregular skin surface was accomplished using a "Fractal Noise Map" with a Tiling of "3.0" and Size of "0.101". This was combined with the Bump Map using a "Mix Map" which basically allows two maps to be merged/overlaid using a given "Mix Amount" which in this case was set a value of "75".

 

Bump Map Creation

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Using the previously created image a "Specular Map" was fashioned using a "Levels Adjustment" to increase the contrast between black and white. A Specular Map is interpreted by 3DS Max in a similar way to the Bump Map, however this time the White information will be signified as "Specular Highlights" and the black areas have the opposite effect of low highlights/shine. Again this was modified using a white brush to paint in areas of the skin which are naturally more oily in real-life. Consequently these would be more shiny, such as the forehead, nose, ears, cheeks and chin. Areas such as the eye sockets and lips were given a vast amount of whiteness as these would reflect a large amount of light due to there wetness. Then to create more of realistic appearance a "Gaussian Blur" was applied, which removed any harsh brush strokes leaving a smooth softened effect. The resulting image was then assigned to the "Specular Level" map slot of the head material and given a value of "80".

 

Specular Level Map Creation /w Gaussian Blur

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Bump and Specular Maps Render Preview

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Eyes were then produced for the head model using basic Spheres which where converted to "Editable Poly's" and positioned accordingly in the eye sockets. These were then given a quick eye texture using the same method as the head by applying an Unwrap UVW Modifier. The eye texture was then positioned in Photoshop using a rendered UVW Map of the Sphere objects. This was then assigned to a new slot in the "Material Browser" and given a high amount of "Glossiness" and " Specular Level" to simulate a realistic wet appearance. This newly created material was then assigned to the Sphere objects to simulate basic human eyes.

 

Eye Texture UVW Align

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The final task before running out of time to complete this assignment was to add hair to the head model using the "Hair & Fur" modifier. This was achieved by make a selection of Polygons based on the underlying hair line on the texture of the head.  The preset of "Semi-Clumpy Brown" was then loaded as a starting point for the Hair & Fur modifier. The "Hair Guides" were then styled using the "Pop", "Comb" and "Hair Brush" tools to make it flow in the correct direction at each point. The hairline was then given a more precise shape using the "Hair Cut" and "Scale" tools. This proved to be rather a frustrating process as the hair is controlled by the orange Hair Guides which are different lengths compared to the actual hair strands that render. Parameters of the hair itself rather than the guides were then changed including "Scale", "Cut Length", "Hair Count", "Hair Segments", "Hair Passes" and "Root Thick". The colour of the hair was also adjusted by changing the "Tip", "Root", "Mutant" and "Specular Tint" Colours in addition to modifying the "Hue Variation" values. All of these settings were continually adjusted before a satisfactory result was acquired. The entire task of creating the hair was evidently aggravating as any changes made to the parameters had to be viewed by re-rendering the hair which was an exceptionally time consuming process.

 

Hair Guide Styling

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Once I was eventually satisfied with the appearance of the hair, I created a Camera in the scene and manoeuvred it to a desired position for a final render of the completed 3D Head.

 

Final Rendered Head w/ Hair

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Over the last five weeks I have learnt a vast amount of knowledge concerning the creation of organic assets such as a human head within 3DS Max. The process of sculpting the head based on hand drawn Topology was particularly rewarding given the fact that in my opinion the final shape of the head is somewhat comparable to the reference images. Therefore overall I am exceptionally pleased with the way the final rendered head came out, even thought some stages of the production were troublesome.

One of the more significant aspects I would fix if time was not an option, would be to improve the glossiness and realism of the eyes by using an "HDR Reflection" to simulate a wet, reflected appearance. Additionally I would spend a vast amount of time to perfect the hair which is an extremely in-depth modifier involving a substantial amount of time to produce realistic results. The final rendered appearance is also heavily dependant on a decent lighting setup as well as appropriately modified parameters.

Week 3

 

Back of Head & Ear Construction

Once I had finished shaping the main facial features the next step was to form the rest of the head and skull. This began by creating a basic sphere object which was squashed accordingly to match up roughly with the reference images using the scale tool.

 

Sphere Head Object

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The sphere was then rotated 90 degrees so that the triangular polygons that comprise the two sides of the sphere were over the ear area. The edges that make up the circumference of the sphere were now running parallel to the edges on forehead. The number of  segments on the sphere was increased to "32" so that its edge spacing matched that of the forehead as closely as possible.

The triangular polygons in addition to others underneath the face were selected using the "paint selection region tool" as a quick method and then deleted.

 

Rotated & Scaled Sphere w/ Adjusted Segment Count

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"Vertex Snap" was then enabled so that the edge vertices of the sphere could be lined up with those on the top of the forehead. Having done this the rest of the head could then be lined up and attached to the face. However before doing this the sphere object was simplified to reduce the number of edges in comparison to that of the face. Fewer edges may mean less detail but smoothing modifiers produce a better effect as a result, further details can be added at a later stage by adding extra edge loops for example. In order to simplify the sphere/head object without a significant transformation of shape, every other edge was selected and then the "Ring" selection button was used to select all adjacent edges.

 

Head to Face Vertex Alignment

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The "Collapse" button located under the "Edit Geometry" Rollout menu of the "Modify Panel" was then used on the selected edges. This function basically removed the edges and alters the object according to the selected and surrounding edges that remain.

 

Sphere Edges Ring Selected (Before Collapse)

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Collapsed Sphere Edges (After Collapse)

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The sphere object was then attached to the existing face object using the "Attach" button found under the Edit Geometry Rollout. Although the sphere object changed to the same colour as the face to signify they became one object, they were still not attached. This is due to the fact that the aligned vertices were only overlapping and consequently needed to be welded together.

 

Head Attached to Face Object

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After welding all overlapping and unconnected vertices, the side of the head as well as neckline were modelled by extruding new edges. Whilst conducting this process I purposely tried to use as few edges as possible for the previously described reason of better end results after applying a Turbo Smooth Modifier. Large polygons were also created over the ear area as these will need to be deleted in order to attach the ear once produced, a lower number of edges will also making connecting the ear an easier task.

 

Connected Head, Face & Neck-line

(Click for full-size image)

 

Before constructing the ear itself it is crucial to analyse the structure of the ear by referring to the head profile images. This is because the ear is an extremely complex object in terms of replicating an organic object, as it is comprised of various dips and ridges. As a result I planned the Topology in Photoshop by drawing on rough curves following the contours of the ear, to approximate the flow of quads (four-sided polygons). The side profile image was then updated with these additional topology guidelines and imported into 3DS Max to start the creation of the ear.

 

Hand Drawn Ear Topology in Photoshop

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Production of the ear was then initiated using the same techniques that were employed when originally making the face. The Topology was traced using Splines which were converted to an editable poly and then welded to form a single object. The vertices were then dragged out using the "select and move tool" based on the positioning apparent on the reference image planes. During the shaping of the ear a Turbo Smooth Modifier was previewed to identify how vertex positioning would effect the final smoothed object. Additional edges were also introduced in order to replicate the majority of the ridges that are present in the reference images. This was achieved via the combination of creating edge loops and connecting specific vertices.

 

Ear Spline Topology / Vertice Pull-Out

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Smoothed Ear Preview & Adjusted Shape

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The ear canal was then produced by insetting a selected group of polygons and extruding them inwards multiple times to replicate the curvature downwards of a real ear canal.

 

Ear Canal Creation - Inset Polygons

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The rough shape of the back of the ear was then fashioned by extruding the outer edges and scaling them down appropriately. This process was then repeated a couple of times to build up the rough shape of the back of the ear.

 

Back of Ear Edge Scaling

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Now that the production of the ear was nearly finalized it was time to attach it to the rest of the head. This was achieved using the same attachment process as used for connecting the back of the head to the face. However in this scenario the ear itself required considerable tweaking before it could be physically attached to the surface of the head. This was due to the fact that the ear contained a large number of edges in comparison to that of the side of the head were it was being attached.

 

Ear Edge Problem

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In order to resolve this issue a great deal of time was spent governing several methods and which produced the best outcome. Initially I attempted a quick fix by simply inserting numerous edge loops equivalent to the number of extra edges of the ear compared to the side of the head. However this severely disrupted the surface of the face mesh, where many of the newly created edges were too close together causing harsh lines to appear across the surface of the affected areas. Consequently this method was rapidly abandoned for a more laborious approach which yielded more satisfying results. This alternate technique involved carefully placing additional edges on the edge polygons of the ear causing three edges to meet for example, creating a new polygon with a single connecting edge.

 

Edge Reduction Example

 

 

Back of Ear Edge Reduction in Progress

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Having reduced the number of edges on the ear it was then attached to the side of the head by extruding polygons on the head around the ear. These were then attached to the ear surface by target welding certain vertices to connect the required polygons. The overall shape of the joint ear and head object was then tweaked with smoothing previewed to finalize its appearance.

 

Ear Attached w/ Reduced Connecting Edges

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Ear Attached w/ Smoothing Preview

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Museum of Power Visit

For the next part of the Virtual Environments assignment we had been assigned a pre-arranged client for whom a group project would be completed for. Having formed a group of four members, today we visited the client which was The Museum of Power, located in Langford, Maldon, Essex. The purpose of the visit was to attain a better understanding of the type of exhibits the Museum has on offer, as well as how some of these function. The Museum itself is rather dated and consequently the client would like us to produce a 3D animation demonstrating the working of a chosen piece of machinery.

Therefore during the visit hundreds of reference photos were taken using digital cameras, in addition to short video footage of several items to capture their physical operation and how the moving parts interact.

The vast majority of the Museum's content was focused around steam powered equipment such as pumps, engines and other various tools. Before deciding exactly which attraction to produce an animation for, several group meetings will be scheduled so that discussions can be held concerning individual idea/concepts. A review of the photo's & video footage captured will also be conducted which in turn will aid the decision making process.

Overall I feel that visiting the museum was an invaluable experience as a vast amount of content was captured which will serve as vital reference point during the modelling and animation production stages. The only negative aspects that come to mind involving the visit was the fact that a large number of attractions were either roped off or in glass display cases. This therefore made it extremely difficult to try and photograph the different angles of each object, which may prove essential when attempting to create a 3D representation. Consequently if further reference images are required for a particular object these may have to be sourced elsewhere using the internet and printed media for example.

Week 2

 

2D to 3D

After previously aligning the head profile images and then importing them into 3DS Max, modeling of the head can now begin. Using the Topology guidelines that were drawn on the images, I began by using the line tool to trace each quad. Whilst doing this I ensured that the snap button was toggled on and setup to "snap to vertex", as this enabled all the splines to be accurately lined up at the corners without leaving any gaps. When drawing each spline I also verified that each one was closed using the "close spline" dialogue box as not doing so would create issues further on when converting the splines to polygons.

 

Tracing Quad Topology Using Splines

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Once all of the required Quads had been traced as Splines, they were all selected and converted into editable polys. However at this point they stilled remained as separate Polygons, therefore using the "vertex sub object mode" all the Vertices were selected and then welded to create a whole continuous mesh, without overlapping Vertices or gaps between the Quads. The object was then made see-through using the "alt + x" keyboard shortcut which essentially toggles the object's opacity, thus allowing the head image underneath to show through.

 

Welded Polygons To Form Whole Mesh

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At this point only half of the face has been traced as this will considerably reduce the work load as the other side will simply be Mirrored using the "Symmetry Modifier". Due to this fact the line of Vertices running vertically through the centre of the head need to be perfectly aligned in the X-Axis to form a straight edge for the Symmetry Modifier which will later be applied. If these weren't aligned properly, gaps would be present between the two halves of the face which could prove problematic when trying to weld together. Consequently these Vertices were selected and aligned in the X-Axis using the "Make Planar" tool found under the "Edit Geometry" rollout of the Vertex Sub-Object Selection Mode.

Now as a single Mesh, each Vertex was manually moved in the X-Axis using the left Viewport to correspond with Side view image. It was crucial to only manipulate the Vertices in this axis as altering the Y-Axis for example would cause misalignment on the front view of the head. This was initiated from the right side of the mesh working left towards the ear, therefore maintaining a logical order and starting from the highest point. Whilst the shape of the head began materializing I also ensured that the quads followed the general curves of the face, as any straight lines are unnatural and shouldn't be present on an organic object.

 

Vertex To Image Alignment

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I proceeded to pull out the Vertices until they all aligned up in both the front and left Viewports. Having done this the basic shape of the face was complete, however specific holes were left for the more detailed features to be added individually, namely the eyes, nose and mouth. A "Turbo Smooth" modifier was also applied to intentionally gather an idea of what the final surface of the face would look like. Alterations to the Vertices and shape of the head were then made with this modifier enabled, using the "Show End Result" preview button. This basically allowed changes to be made using the "Low Poly Cage" whilst temporarily viewing the smoothed version. At this point a "Symmetry Modifier" was also applied to the mesh in order to see what the whole face would like rather than relying on just half of the head. The Symmetry modifier was tweaked slightly by expanding the plus sign next to its name in the stack, revealing the mirror function which allowed the cloned half to be positioned exactly adjacent to the existing half.

 

Turbo Smooth & Symmetry Preview w/ Low Poly Cage

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Constructing the Nose, Eye-Lids & Lips

With the basic structure of the face finalized it was time to introduce the main features which help to add character to a person's appearance,  including the Nose, Eyes and Mouth.

To begin with I started working on the nostrils as the bridge of the nose had already been produced when aligning the eye socket. A hole was purposely left around the nostril as it is a rather complex shape made of a variety of different curved surfaces which would have been difficult to comprehend when drawing the initial guidelines. Therefore to make the nostrils, the ring of edges around the hole were selected and then scaled inwards whilst holding the shift-key on the keyboard to drag out new edges. These were arranged in a circular fashion again leaving a hole in the middle for the actual nostril cavity. These new edges then had to be connected at certain points to the existing geometry around the nose area, this was achieved by simply Welding the necessary Vertices.

 

Extra Nostril Edges

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An edge loop was then introduced between these edges to prevent a five-sided polygon from being formed. This was a vital step as any pinching in a detailed area such as the nose would evidently show up detracting from the level of realism as well as disrupting the surface of the mesh.  These additional edges also allowed more detail to be present by creating a raised surface and smoother curve.

 

Adding Detail With Edge Loop

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The remaining hole was then filled by bridging the edges to create several polygons over the hole. These were were then extruded inwards in the Y-Axis to form the walls of the nostril cavity. The positioning of these newly created polygons was then altered by moving them slightly towards the centre of the nose and backwards a small amount to simulate the appearance of a real nostril cavity.

 

Nostril Cavity - Inwards Extrusion

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The turbo Smooth modifier was then toggled back on to preview the nose in its smoothed form, the shape of the nostril cavity was then altered considerably to match the reference images as closely as possible. Consequently the nostril cavity was changed to more of a tear drop shape and given more volume in the centre joint.

 

Nostril Shape Adjustment

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I then continued with the facial features using the same techniques used with the nostril to fashion the lips. The lips were given several edge loops to allow for finer detail to be added such as the very edge of the lips where they join the face and to add more volume/protrusion to their surface.

 

Lips Edge Extrusion

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The top lip was made to overhang the bottom lip slightly as dictated by the side reference image. In order to implement this feature a small gap had to be left between the two lips to prevent vertices from clipping the surface of the mesh which could result in pinching effect in addition to unexpected shading issues.

 

Lip Definition/Volume

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The next facial feature I concentrated on was around the eye socket area, mainly the eyelids that will surround the eye. The eye area on any human face is another crucial aspect which defines the resemblance of a person's appearance. Consequently I tried to follow the reference images as accurately as possible without disrupting the overall shape of the head that I had already produced.

To start with I extruded the edges along the top of the eye to form the basis of top eyelid. This was repeated several times to build up a curved edge. Several vertices above the eyelid were then moved downwards in the Y-Axis to reproduce a minor overhang/crease effect which is present in the front reference image. Although in order to pull off this aspect some of the vertices clip through the surface of the mesh in the low poly view. However once the Turbo Smooth Modifier is previewed the smoothed mesh is free of this issue, as the modifier rounded off the sharp edges which were protruding, yet still maintained the intended overhanging appearance. The same process was employed for the lower lid except the area below was given more of a plumpness to represent the presence of the eye itself within the eye socket.

 

Eye Lid/Socket Construction

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