Finishing Up

Once we had all of the animation complete, we had to render it. This took quite some time due to the hair modifier, and also we found that sometimes Max would crash when rendering. However, we rendered most of the files on Ben's laptop, which seemed to work more reliably.

Using Premier, we put all of the clips together, and applied transitions between them. We also modified the speed of some clips to change the length and speed to fit better with the music. We had roughly 15 seconds time per letter, and about 30 on the ending.

We then applied transitions to the music, and added fades using keyframes, and then dragging the volume bar to apply fades.

Once everything had been put together, we saved the movie as an AVI file.

In conclusion, I felt that this module was very challenging as I have not got much experience with animating in 3D. However, I feel that the end result was quite effective, through good use of camera angles and editing. I was satisfied with the result and feel that it was as good as I had expected.

Animation & Rendering Issues

After animating the A, the rest of the group continued worked on animating the other three letters while I moved onto creating shots for the final scene of all four characters performing together.


I placed all four characters on the stage, forming a band. I created a drumset for the C, which would take the place of the turntables, to give it more of a 'band' feel. We arranged the letters so that they formed the initials 'YMCA' and added in lights and camera angles once more.

I also applied the cameras and lighting for the scene of the C on it's own, making the camera zoom in and out rapidly so that it would fit with the dance atmosphere, and the animation that Sam had applied to the letter itself.

One problem that we encountered is that the Hair and Fur modifier used on the crowd members and the Punky Y character caused the rendering to take a lot longer. At the moment we are intending to try and keep the hair if we have time, but it may have to be cut if we run out of time.

Animating the A

The next stage was to begin animating the characters. Ben had boned the A so that I could begin working on it. As I found this quite complicated, I didnt go too complicated, and simply had the A tapping its 'feet' as it appeared to sing on stage. I added a camera to the scene, with the target facing the letter, and applied a path constraint to the camera itself which arced around the letter.

I also added the lights, which were something I had not really experimented with before. I used Target Spot lights, and applied a Volume Light to it. I then changed the colour and clicked the check box to show the cone, which resulted in colourful spotlights which worked well.

The audience members that Sam had created were also added to the scene, and animated moving to the music.

Testing Lights and Animation

Before moving on to adding lighting, I did a simple test animation to see that I could apply lights and testing a way of animating the audience members in the future. The result was as I had hoped, and would be helpful in the next part of the project.

Finishing the Stage

I finished the stage by adding textures, and lights on the ceiling. Ben also created a light which was then placed on the stage. I had some trouble finding suitable textures, but eventually found some that looked suitable. Once lighting is added, I think it will look quite good.

I created the wallpaper by applying a blue hue to an image of plaster, and the poster and banner were created using simple images that were applied to planes. The stage and characters are now ready to be put together and animated.

The Stage

Once we had created all four letters between us, I then moved on to creating the stage, while the rest of the group added bones to the characters, and modelled a character to be used to create the audience.

For the stage, I looked at various images to get an idea of the general structure I should use. I first created the structure of the stage, and steps on either side, and then created the grider type structure that would be used to hold the lights later on.

The next thing I modelled was a speaker, as an object to add into the environment. I modelled it on an image of a real speaker, and was quite happy with the end result.

Reggae A

The next letter I created was the letter A. To create it, I fused three box polygons using Booleans to create unions, and then to remove the excess parts that were unnecessary. I then created the beanie hat using half of a sphere which I then converted to an editable poly to give it more shape. I created the hair and beard using polygons with textures.

This is the end result:

I also created the structure of a microphone using an editable poly for the base.

DJ C

The first character I worked on was DJ 'C', the letter C on a set of turntables with a pair of headphones.

I used some images of Turntables to get an idea for the design, and used the bend tool on a cylindrical polygon.

The end result appeared like this:

I created the turntables using various polygons, and created the indentations on the speakers using the boolean tool. I then added a pair of headphones, and some textures to give the speakers and table a wooden feel, and a metallic look to the records and microphone.

Further decisions

We decided on genres for each of the letters, trying to have a diverse selection.

The decision was:

Y - Punk
M - Metal
C - DJ
A - Reggae

Finally, at the end we will have some kind of pop/band music for when all of the characters come together. We have each taken a letter to get started on creating before we animate.

I will be working on the C, the DJ. I intend to create the letter, with some turntables and a pair of headphones.

Storyboarding - Week 3

We have decided to animate the four letters of the YMCA to represent different genres of music, seperately to begin with, and then together playing as a band with a fifth genre of music. Then the letters would rearrange to form the name of the club.

We intend to use 3d Max to create all of the characters individually, and then animate them together on a stage background with music and lighting.

The animation will not be too complicated but will convey the message appropriately to the intended audience.

Brainstorming

We have visited the YMCA youth club in Chelmsford, dubbed the "Y Club". We are to create an animation that would encourage potential members of the right age group to take an interest in the activities of the group.





After hearing about the different activities that the group takes place in, we have decided that we should create something that encompasses all of the different social groups of the age range (ages of around 13-18 years).




We have decided to use an animated 'Y' character to convey the message to the age group in a fun way that should keep their interest and hopefully give them the information they need.