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.