Final version of Artefact 5

Artefact 5:

Evaluation:

For my final artefact I wanted to focus on close ups and material experiment. I wanted my final artefact stand out from the rest and be slightly different but still relevant. I also wanted to experiment with depth of field.

The original plan was to create a close up of an ash tray with a cigarette on the desk. With depth of field applied to focus on the main object. I firstly created the cigarette and then the ash tray which was simple modelling and some trial and error with applying textures. The next challenge was to create the ash texture which firstly I created in 3ds max by making a splodge shaped object and then applying an ash texture to it inside the ash tray. I then realised that this didn't look and feel realistic enough. I then tried creating different splodge shapes and realised this method doesn’t work. So I decided to render out the scene without any ash then later Photoshop it in. I felt that this was getting closer to the desired effect but still didn’t look realistic.

I then decided to observe a real ashtray and cigarette to see what type of textures I am dealing with. Then I had the idea of using partials within 3ds max to create the ash effect. I done this then exported the ash texture to Photoshop where I used a pattern overlay where I created my own ash texture. I found that this worked the best and gave the most realistic results.

I then created and animated cigarette smoke in after effect to bring this render to life. Overall I am very happy with the outcome of this artefact and have learnt many new techniques which will be useful to me in the future.

Issues:

When creating this artefact the main issue was creating the ash texture. This took me a very long time to master. Below is the previous versions of this artefact which I felt were unsuccessful:

Final version of Artefact 4

Artefact 4

Evaluation:

Artefact 4

For my forth artefact I wanted to keep the same environment but see how much it would change if a different lived in the room. I wanted to focus mainly on realism and materials on this artefact by getting as close to real life as possible and to experiment with different textures and models.

When researching into bedrooms I wanted to create a bedroom which would almost be the complete opposite of what I have been creating so far. So with this in mind I decided to create a bedroom for a girl aged 5-7.

When researching girl’s bedrooms the main colours I found were pink/white, and then when I researched the specific age of 5–7 year old girls I found Disney princess characters in the bedrooms painted on the wall. I thought this was a great idea to incorporate into my design as it would straight away tell the viewer that it is a young girl’s bedroom.

When creating this bedroom I started to create my own textures too. For the wallpaper used in the bedroom I created a tillable cupcake pattern on a pink background on Photoshop. This turned out great and bought life into the bedroom. One of the main differences in this bedroom is the bunk-bed which I modelled. I created this and stuck with the pink theme of the bed sheets and applied a wooden texture to the bed frame. Once I created this artefact I wanted to ensure that it was realistic so I created a questionnaire and asked people on the multimedia course if it was realistic and how accurate is the girl’s room portrayed. Overall the results were good. But I also had some comments from people saying that I should apply bump map to the bed frame which I have now done to add to the effect of realism.

Once I created this artefact I created a questionnaire. Screen shot below:

I sent out this questionnaire asking how realistic my render was as I was focusing this artefact on realism. The second question I asked was how accurately was the girls bedroom portrayed. I had also left a comment box at the end of the questionnaire for any further comments on how I could improve this render. The results of this questionnaire were quite good as "9" received the most votes on a scale of 1-10 on how realistic was my render and also my second question most people voted "10" when asking them how well I portrayed the girls bedroom. Results below:

One of the main comments that I received from the questionnaire was that I needed to add bump map texture to the bed frame to make it look more realistic. Another comment that I received was that the rug on the floor looked slightly raised and needed to be completely flat on the floor. I addressed them issues and applied a wood grain texture to the bed frame and made the rug completely flat on the floor.

Once I fixed them problems |I posted my renders on various 3D forums and also I tweeted my renders on twitter to specific 3D artists and companies. As expected I didn't get any replies from the biggest companies such as Pixar and Disney, but I thought id try my luck. On the other hand I did get replies on a forum called 'Indigo.' I created a poll on the form asking these professionals how realistic my render was, I received a high number of votes saying that I done it well, which I was very please with. People also commented that my bedroom was very stereotypical and I was stereotyping girls. I took this into account and thought that I have to be stereotypical to get my point across and to accurately portray a girls bedroom. 

Below is a screenshot of question that I posted on the forum and also my twitter page where I tweeted my renders:

Final version of Artefact 3

Artefact 3:

Evaluation:

The aim of this artefact is to create a depressing mood to the room. I had researched into depression and the main links that I found were alcohol abuse, smoking, and darkness. I wanted to portray this emotion accurately so I incorporate all of these elements into the environment and then created a questionnaire once it was completed to see if this was successful.

I used the same environment as the previous artefact but this time I changed the composition and lighting. Firstly I had the blanket falling off the bed to show a sign of distress and to show that the person living there doesn’t care about presentation. The second thing I did was modeled alcohol bottles and placed them around the bedroom showing the viewer that he is abusing alcohol which is linked to depression. I have also added a cigarette in an ash tray on the bed to add to the depressing emotion.

As another sign of distress I placed the records on the floor next to the speaker which has fallen on the floor by all of the alcohol bottles, I created another render focusing on these objects as I thought it was an important part of my artefact and it clearly shows the viewer the emotions in the environment.

I showed this artefact to my focus group and I also created a questionnaire asking what type of mood / emotions are portrayed in the environment. The highest response I received was depression. This was a clear indication to me that this artefact portrayed the desired emotion and mood accurately.

Feedback I recived when presenting in front of my focus group:

The image above shows the main comments from my focus group. I took all of these suggestions into mind when amending this artefact. I blurred out the window image so that the view doesnt get distracted and focuses on the rest of the bedroom. I also re created the cigarette smoke within photoshop after experimenting with various methods. I then re positioned the light source outside the window, slightly lower so that you could see the carpet and the alcohol bottles more clearly. I also fixed the bed sheet texture by creating a red fabric material and applying it to the object and fixing the polygons within 3Ds max when the cloth modifier made the cloth object overlap it self. I finally moved the canvas toward the left of the window so that more light came through the window. Below is the before and after images with clear indications of what I have changed:

After fixing my artefact I decided to create a questionnaire to see what people thought about the artefact, mainly to see if people could tell that i'm trying to portray depression within the scene. I created this questionnaire and sent it to people on the multimedia course. Below is a screenshot of the questionnaire:

  

After sending out my questionnaire I saw the results and the depression received the highest number of votes, This was a clear indication to me that my artefact was a success and that the audience really felt the emotions that I wanted to portray. Below is bar chart that I created with the results of this artefact:

Final version of Artefact 2

Artefact 2:

Evaluation:

Artefact 2

The aim of this artefact is to create a night time scene by exploring lighting and focal points. I gathered my research and decided to experiment with lighting coming through the window, as many night time bedroom scenes are focused around the window.

The first thing I did was that I turned off all the lighting in my environment and used a photometric light outside the bedroom so that it would shine inside the room. I wanted that to be the only light source that my room would have. This is because many of the images that I have seen of night time scenes; this would be the only source. I had to ensure that I placed the light in the correct position so that the shadows would fall in the perfect position. I wanted the light to create a focal point onto the bed, where the viewer’s eyes would instantly be attracted to. The focal point on this image is the bed and the records on the bed.

Once I created the images I showed my focus group and they suggested that I create a moonlight version by adding a blue tint to the light. I had done this by changing the colour of the light to blue. I created 3 different versions of blue light scenes and created a questionnaire to see which one people preferred and thought that portrayed a realistic night time scene alongside my original. The results showed that people preferred my original version despite the colour theories of blue moonlight.

Image I presented for my questionnaire:

The questionnaire that I sent out to people on the multimedia course. This gave me the opportunity to see other peoples opinions and any improvements or changes that they suggest:

The results of my questionnaires that I sent out. The results showed that people preferred the original version of the night time scene despite the moonlight colour theory Brooker talks about "As the moon is a neutral gray colour, the light that it reflects towards us is actually exactly the same colour as the suns light, which might seem a little odd at first, as we’re used to seeing the moon with a blue tint. However our perception of the moons light as blue comes from the way in which the rods in our eyes adapt to low light situations"

Final version of Artefact 1

Artefact 1

Evaluation: 

For my first artefact I created a bedroom. Before I started anything I researched into bedrooms by searching online and observing real life of today and wanted to incorporate something different into my design. When researching I came across lighting panels in bedrooms and decided to put this into my design. When creating this artefact I looked at the usual things that you would find in a bedroom such as beds, desks, and computers and then modelled them.

As this artefact was focusing on lighting/key lighting I had to make sure that this was perfect. I created the lighting setup in this room by using 1 main key light and then 9 fill lights and to soften the main lights and one back light which were in the lighting panel. Once I created this artefact and presented it in front of my focus group made up of virtual environment students many of them didn’t like the lighting panel and thought the bedroom would look better with normal lights. I then thought about these comments made and decided to change the lighting and get rid of the light panel. As I did this I placed another main light to replace the lighting panel and placed a canvas where the panel was to give the bedroom more life and character. Another comment I received was to fill up the room more. I did this by adding a chair into the bedroom along with a dustbin.

I didn’t want to over fill the bedroom and distract the user from the main point of the artefact which is the lighting. I created this artefact to also build the foundation for the rest of my artefacts as I want to try different experiments in this bedroom and find various results.

Further research

I have done further research and came across the update of 3ds max which is due to release next year.

It has many new features which could help me in the future if i was to re do my artefacts in the future.

The updates include:

3Ds Max 2014

Offer new solutions to answer today's modern 3D challenges.

The new populate feature saves artists time

Significantly enhanced and more efficient Particle Flow toolset

Performance-enhanced viewport that now supports MS DirectX 11 shaders.


These are the main updates that could of helped me in the future. For example the populate feature will generate models of people easily into a scene. I could of used this in my second artefact when creating a dark scene. I talked about how moonlight is more convincing when it de-saturated the human skin tone. This could of changed my feedback that I received when asking my audience which version of the night scene they preferred I think that if I added a person into the scene and made the moonlight de-saturate the skin tone. This would of proven my fact more and maybe the results of my questionnaire would have varied. The reason I didn't create my own model person is that it would take too long to create. As I wanted all of my artefact to only contain models that I created, I didn't want to download a character from the internet. I wanted to keep all of my artefacts 100% of my own work and creations. Overall I am still very happy with the outcome of that artefact as it taught me different effects of night scenes and also the proprieties of moonlight and also audiences perception of night time scenes which will defiantly help me in the future.

Another useful update that could have helped me this time around is the enhanced and more efficient Particle Flow toolset. This could have helped me greatly in my final artefact when creating ash for the cigarette which I modeled. This was one of the biggest challenges I faced within creating 5 of my artefacts. As I explained in my Viva Voce presentation all of the issues I came across and different methods I tested to perfect this artefact. The end solution was to use particals within 3Ds max to create the ash and then tweak the textures carefully in photoshop. The methods I used were very long and time consuming. With the 3ds max update they are improving visual effects specialists create more sophisticated, realistic, and customised physical simulations in less time. This is the solution to my problem which is much easier and faster.
                                  

Update

I have swapped around the 4th and 5th artefact as I thought it would make more sense to keep all of the bedroom artefacts together and then finish with the close up artefact