3d modeling & animation: retro kitchen APRIL 2009

My kitchen modeling and animation was created for my final project of 3D Modeling and Animation in 2009. I combined many techniques and used various tools in the program to make this possible. I followed many of the same steps as the living room. Some of the highlights of this room are the hardwood flooring, the glass roof feature, and the marbled countertops. I really like the three round windows before the staircase as well.

Autodesk Maya 2008, Adobe Photoshop CS3

"My biggest downfall with animating in Maya was that I always had the camera go through my scenes rather fast. This 3d kitchen would be awesome if the viewer could enjoy it instead of being rushed through it! I put many great features in my kitchen and it would have been beneficial to showcase the minute detail I contributed to the project. Example: my microwave actually has numbers on it! One way that I overcame this was to show still images at the end of the video, but even they zoom by the human eye."

3d modeling & animation: night scene MARCH 2009

All of the buildings were created using polygon cubes. Using the insert edge loop tool allowed me to add multiple materials to each building – this worked great for creating glass transparencies and glass reflectivity. I extruded some of the buildings to create doors and outdoor porches. The roof tops for the small buildings were created by adding faces, and then extruding. Again, using the insert edge loop tool I was able to create street lights by selecting the vertices and rotating to get the arched effect. Point lights with an orange glow and low intensity are in each of the black light fixtures.

Autodesk Maya 2008, Adobe Photoshop CS3

How to... create a neon sign in Maya: The first step in creating the ‘CASINO’ neon sign was to select the CV curve tool and make each letter, starting with the C. Once I liked it I went into the surfaces menu; under the surfaces dropdown, I clicked Revolve. Once the letters were created: edit color; transparency; add glow; place area lights.

3d modeling & animation: living room FEBRUARY 2009

Many of the objects in my room were created using simple polygon primitives. The extrusions on the mantle wall were effective and appeared as indented shelves with pictures inside each. The lamp is simply a half sphere, the vases were created using the CV curve tool, and the inspirational words on the walls are text bevels. The fire effect in the fireplace was created using the dynamics menu. Spotlight and ambient light were used to light my room. When I was satisfied with my living room, I then used a camera to pan around.

Autodesk Maya 2008, Adobe Photoshop CS3

How to... create a mirror and glass: By increasing the reflectivity on a black lambert shader I was able to get the effect of a mirror in my room. The glass effect is simple – assign a new material; change the colour to any that you want (probably white or blue); reduce the transparency. ...create the in-wall shelves: I created many additional faces on the walls by using the insert edge loop tool so that I could then extrude certain parts out to give it a realistic effect.

Final Cut Pro & Motion DVD Menu OCTOBER 2008

The assigned task for my video and motion graphics class was to pick a movie that I enjoy, and create a DVD menu without any of the actual footage, images, or audio. I compiled images of good times for the first few minutes of the intro to the DVD menu, and then made a page for each character. Once it went through the four characters I placed the DVD menu options (Play, Scene Selection…). I looped the last thirty seconds of the menu. This project was exported as a .mov.

Final Cut Pro, Motion, Adobe Photoshop CS3

Valuable lesson... When I finished the project I was very happy with it, but later realized that I should have had the DVD menu options available for the entire last thirty seconds. It would have been more effective for me to place the options at the bottom of the screen.

Flash Gordon movie trailer OCTOBER 2008

No, unfortunately it isn’t the newest Flash Gordon series, it is footage from a very vintage Flash Gordon era. In RSR 259: Video and Compositing, we were asked to create a movie trailer (out of a choice of old movies) using Final Cut Pro and Motion. I picked the most intriguing clips, and then added text, particle effects, and behaviours. A music track was added after the clips, text, and effects were composited.

Final Cut Pro, Motion, GarageBand

panorama of Lethbridge, Alberta: Brewery Gardens MARCH 2008

After I went out and captured my twelve images using a tripod and a digital camera (turn it 30 degrees after each shot), I uploaded them. With the Quicktime VR program, it simply loads the images in chronological order and then stitches them together. I edited the stitching to shift the photos up and down, because the program does not stitch it perfectly. The Brewery Gardens was a great place for me to do my panorama because until September 2007, it was all I knew of Lethbridge (on vacations to Fernie, BC).

Quicktime VR

How to... move around the movie: To move around the movie, click and drag your mouse. To zoom in or out, use the controller provided at the bottom of the movie. Feel free to click on the hot spot located on 'Welcome to Lethbridge' to enter the Lethbridge College homepage.