Maya NURBS Modelling Introduction

Friday 27th September we had our first Maya Workshop with tutor Jin Zhi. This semester we will be learning about 3D Modelling (NURBS and Polygons), Texturing, Lighting, Rendering and Compositing. The goal is "realism" as we are concentrating on VFX. Our first assignment is to select a reference picture and recreate it using only NURBS modelling.
Our first lesson was an introduction to modelling with NURBS:

Most of the 3D modelling I've done previously has been with polygons. The only NURBS modelling I've done before was to model some iron railings in a mostly polygon-created town environment:

simple railings made with NURBS

So this lesson was helpful in learning more techniques for modelling with NURBS.
Here are a few of the basic techniques we learnt (This may seem like detailed blogging but it also acts as a reference/guide for me to look back at if I forget how to do something):

Creating a wall:

Using the CV Curve Tool draw out line shape (hold 'shift' to snap into a straight line)

Once line is drawn, press 'enter' to complete

'Ctrl + D' to duplicate and move across

Select both lines and 'Loft' to create the wall

To add more detail to the wall it needs more points to select and manipulate; to do this first Right click and select 'Isoparm'

Hold 'shift' and drag new isoparms down - however many needed from each side

To turn the yellow dotted isoparms into solid green lines, select 'Insert Isoparms'

Can then Right click and select 'Control Vertex' to manipulate points on the wall

Create a pipe/wire:

Create a curved shaped using CV Curve Tool

Press 'enter' to finish drawing the curve

Create a NURBS Circle

Select the 'Move Tool' for the circle. Hold 'C' and middle mouse click on the curve to snap the circle to it

Drag circle to the end of the curve and rotate to roughly 90 degrees to the curve

With the circle selected, 'shift' click the curve and go to the 'Surfaces' menu and click the option box next to 'Extrude'

Make sure 'Path Direction' is highlighted next to 'Orientation' and then 'Apply' or 'Extrude' to create the pipe/wire object

Create a square from a NURBS circle:

From what I quickly wrote down in my notebook, I thought after a NURBS circle was created with 12 points, a square was created by snapping vertex together but I can't work out how to do that so maybe the points were just scaled together?

This shape was made by moving and scaling vertex points.

Duplicate and scale down, 'loft' between both of the squares

To "close end" just scale smaller curve down until it is too small to see

The finished shape

I found another way - don't know if this is a good way to create a square from a circle but I guess I'll find that out once I start my NURBS modelling, by creating a 4-point circle with Linear Degree as highlighted in image (below)

Revolve:

Use CV Curve Tool to draw out shape

'Center Pivot', then press 'insert' and hold 'c', middle mouse click on curve to move the pivot point to the end of the curve

Under the 'Surfaces' menu, select 'Revolve' to create object

Creating holes:

To close a curve you have just drawn with the CV Curve Tool, use 'Open/Close Curves'

Right click and 'Control Vertex' to move points around

Select the curve and a surface, then 'Project Curve on Surface'

Select the new projection...

...and select the surface, select 'Trim Tool', click on the surface, then press 'enter' 

A hole has now been created in the surface

The next steps I find are very temperamental, sometimes it works, sometimes it does not and I'm not quite sure why:

Right click and select 'Trim Edge' to select the edge

The theory behind creating the above objects is to 'Duplicate NURBS Patches' and move the duplicate curve back and then 'loft' between the two to create the "tunnel"

Mind mapping

Today's task was to create a mind map based on the Programme of Study we have started to fill out. Covering things such as our aims with the course, background, inspiration etc. Here is the first draft of the mind map I created and a glimpse into the depths of my brain! (complete with differently patterned lines because I had no coloured pencils...) :

We then had to use some free software to create a digital version of the mind map. This actually gave me a chance to slightly reformat parts of the mind map from my original sketch, to not look as complicated and "brain-splat". After having a good look through a lot of the different ones I came across 'Coggle' - which you can sign up to with a Google account. I found it very easy to use, edit and personalize - this one has colour!

To view larger image Right Click and open image in a new tab

48hr film project "This movie sucks..."

Presenting the results of our 48hr film project: 'This movie sucks...'

It was great to show our film to the rest of the class and we were glad there were plenty of laughs throughout :D

Editing the '48hr film project'

Friday 20th and Saturday 21st were our main days for editing. Having only used After Effects and Final Cut  for video editing before; Adobe Premiere was new to me and the rest of the team but didn't take too long to get used to. The scene I edited was the 'Flat Scene'. First I got all the shots in order, then cut each shot down to what was needed. The first part of the scene is the Vampire arriving home in distress after losing his vampire fangs. Time passes - shown by a winding clock and a montage begins of the Vampire getting more and more hungry: I overlaid footage of the winding clock over the montage to emphasise the this plot point.

On the Saturday I finished editing the first Graveyard scene which Steph had started on Friday night. Kieran figured out how to edit the audio in Premiere so I helped cross-fade audio on some of the shots which didn't flow as well inbetween cuts. Then Kieran put together the final edit of the film whilst myself and George searched for additional sound effects needed in the film. Editing was complete minutes before university closing time, so we left the film to render and pick up on Monday - hoping nothing goes wrong with the render!

Filming on location - Day 2

Wednesday 18th - Filming started back at the Graveyard in the morning. Some of the shots from last night's filming were a bit too dark so we re-shot some of the scenes. There was also some unscheduled rain which actually brought out the colours of the stones a bit better on camera.

Here is some behind-the-scenes photos from the Graveyard shoot...

After the rain:

Spooky graveyard:

Winding path:

George playing dead:

A walk down the path:

The very old wall:

Vampire spotted in the graveyard:

Trying to use white-tack to make the vampire fangs stick:

One of the main problems filming today was the ever-changing light because the clouds were patchy:

Jumping and turning into a bat:

George filming:

More "bat transformation" leaps:

Spot the stunt flying bat next to Steph:

Focusing the camera:

Production values... a plastic bat tied to a pole:

Oneeee ketchup...:

Twooooo ketchup...:

After finishing filming at the graveyard we found a street to film the scenes where the vampire knocks his teeth out...

Car stunts:

Checking in the mirror:

The knocked out vampire fangs:

Positioning the camera:

The perfect car sticker:

The Vampire chasing Steph down the street:

Chomping down on Steph's arm:

The Vampire's sad walk home:

A poster the bat should have read before flying:

Mike's skateboard for filming bat flying scenes:

And that's a wrap on filming! Next stage is editing :)