Animation

I have finished my animation project now, well when I say finished I mean we're moving on to out next carousel, however my animation piece still has some work to be done. I found the project really challenging, and have struggled to complete it in time. There was a lot of content to include for the project, and this was using software (3ds max) that I have very little experience using and a not many skills. That means that everything takes that much longer to do because I am looking for ways to do what I want, and when I found the right tool, I'm not always sure of the best way to use it. I also think that the pace of the main workshop was too fast, and didn't give me a chance to keep up with what we were supposed to be learning, and once you miss a step, it is very difficult to catch  up or you find that it does not work out at the end because you've missed a step. In DP1 I was able to keep up a lot more easily, despite having no experience using the software. I believe that the gap between the two projects was too large, for someone with very little knowledge of the software. 


On the other hand I think the brief was really interesting, and with a little more time I think I should be able to have a fairly good piece. I came up with the idea of old fashioned London theme murder trail for my ride. I thought this would be a bit different and had some good ideas for scare scenes. My inspiration for the idea came from a mix of Jack the ripper and the ride at the London Dungeons, which is set in London streets and has a really effective eerie feel. I wanted to create a really dark and damp feel to my ride, so I played around with a lot of lighting and fog effects to really set the scene for the ride. I did this by adjusting the volume light and fog in the Environments settings. I think this is one of the most effective aspects of my project and the part I am most pleased with. My scare scenes were a old graveyard to start the ride of, with creaking gate at the end to get the riders attention right at the start, the ride then goes up a hill, and through a tunnel and which point a body drops down at the end, this conceals the track dropping away and the rider is convinced that they will hit the body before dropping away, it then comes down to a old London street, with rows of houses, with lots of dark and dingey alleyways, you can hear footsteps and evil laughs, the cart then turns into a dead end where it is revealed there is a body on the wall and a message scrawled across it, 'There is no escape now!.' I think that the scare scenes work well, however I found it quite difficult to make them work effectively. I researched techniques via online tutorials which really helped me create some of the effects. 


To develop my ideas I created 3d models of the track using wire, this allowed me a different perspective of the track and the confinements I had to work to. I also used Sketch Up to mock up ideas for the cart which were really useful to let me see it in 3d before transferring it to 3ds Max and did initial sketches of my designs for my scare scenes which made it easier to replicate them in 3ds Max. I researched images and created a mood board on my blog to give me inspiration for my scare scenes, as well as looking at examples on YouTube and researching the ride at the London Dungeons. These methods of research were really effective in giving me inspiration, the only other things I could have would have been maybe to visit an actual ride to gain ideas. 


One of the most difficult aspects of the ride was to make the houses look as realistic as possible. I did this extrude part of the material bitmaps to make it look slightly 3d as well as experimenting with different lighting effects to cast realistic shadows. 


Overall the project was a difficult one and I am pleased it has finished, although I still have some developments for my ride. I think if I was to do it again I would ensure that I planned out my time a lot more effectively and ensured i was fully up to date with the work at each stage of the design process.