Week 5: Modeling Environment

This week I dedicated my time to modeling the environment of the painting. This included building the ground plain and sculpting it to look like a river terrain as well as learning a new software called TreeIt to create all of the foliage in the scene. I also finished modeling the bridge that goes across the river, the stone wall and the boat dock. Lastly I staged the whole environment in Maya.

When building the terrain I decided to sculpt it in ZBrush because I had the freedom to make the model extremely high or low poly and I think sculpting in ZBrush is a lot smoother than in Maya. It was hard for me to get the right bend and curve in the river but after trial and error I figured out a good way to do it. 

Once the river had been sculpted out I was able to make the bridge that spanned the length of the gap in the river. In order to make the bridge I used a Boolean on a rectangle to create the arches then used a bend deformer to get the curved effect the bridge has.

Once the bridge was done and everything was laid out I dipped into a software called TreeIt. This software is good for creating custom trees that look relatively realistic. The software is a little complex and full of settings but I'm starting to get the hang of it. 

From here on out I plan on learning and getting a good understanding on how TreeIt works. Then I will be working on populating the scene with a bunch of trees. Once that is finished I will start working on final modeling touch ups before I get into UVing.    

    

  

Week 4: Modeling

This week I finished making the church and the priests house that are next to each other. In the house I decided to create the window frames using geometry instead of textures. I have also cleaned up much of the geometry on the church so that it is all clean and efficient. The priests house was hard to make but worked out relatively well.

I think that it was a good call to model the windows into the church because it looks a lot more realistic than if I just used textures. I plan to simulate a light behind the window by using an illuminate texture on a plane in the shape of the window that I'm trying to light up.

The priests house was hard to create but I think that it looks pretty good. I decided to used the duplicate special tool to create the arches that are around the building. It took me a while to figure out but once I did it worked pretty well.

This is the church and the priests house with a couple of lamp posts put in to show what the set up should look like in the rendering engine Marmoset Toolbag. 

I intend to start modeling the environment starting with the ground plane so I know how wide the river is supposed to be. That way I know how big the bridge is supposed to be in order to cross the river. 

Week 3: Modeling

Last week I had jumped the gun and began modeling the props in my scene and completely forgot to do a blocking scene for my painting. Here it is...

This week I started working on the main structures that are inside the painting. I started working on the church first because it would be the hardest structure to model and it is the main focus in the painting. So far I have practically finished modeling the whole church. The major decision that I need to make is if I will be modeling the windows or saving polygons and texturing them.

One of the hardest parts of modeling the church was getting the dimensions of the church correct. Also the two windows in the front of the church were really hard to make because I used a Boolean to cut the geometry into the building. But I think I did a good job at cleaning up the geometry. 

One of my favorite parts of the model was the front door. I think that it is the one of the better parts of the model and it came out looking really good. 

Next week I plan to make my final decision on weather I will texture or model the windows of the church. I will also try to have the priests house, the bridge, and the rest of the church done. I will also start learning how to use the program Tree It for all of the trees in the painting.   

    

 

Week 2: Modeling

This week I began modeling many of the objects that are in the scene. This included the lamppost, the bridge lamps, the gazebo, and the boat. I thought it would be better to start out with these props because they could be done as a group. 

The lamp post was my favorite prop to do because I got to use the curve and revolve tools. Using those tools you can create some beautiful designs for posts. One of the hardest parts of the lamppost was creating the supports for the lamp itself, it took me a while to find the right curve but I found it eventually. 

The gazebo was a fun structure to do, in the painting it is hard to see many of the small details but the overall details are pretty clear. Trying to figure out the number of polls that go around the gazebo was not easy but I think I figured it out. The wire frame roof was fun to make and I think it looks pretty close to the one in the painting. 

The bridge lamp was pretty easy to make. Once I had the lamppost done I took the lamp off the post and created a new base for it. That way it sits nicely on the bridge. 

Lastly I built the boat that is in the bottom left corner of the painting. I'm probably going to change this boat a bit because it is so smooth, I want it to have more defined edges.   

Next week I will be completing the church that is in the painting as well as hopefully finishing the bridge. The toughest part about modeling the church will be trying to complete the sides that I cant see. The bridge will be an interesting task as well.   

              

3D Painting

This semester I plan on creating a 3D environment using a painting as my reference. The artist that I have chosen to 3D is Thomas Kinkade. I like Kinkade because of the scenery that he creates in many of his paintings. I think that they are very cool paintings and have great potential for being created in a 3D world. The buildings that are used in his paintings are very well detailed and, in my opinion, give a nice touch to his paintings. I think that the hardest part of this project will be getting the scenery of the painting correct.

I plan on making a camera move through the painting so that the audience can feel like they are inside of the paintings. I will experiment and see if certain effects can be helpful for creating and enhancing the realism of the scene.

Schedule

Week 1: Concept

Week 2: Modeling Structure

Week 3: Modeling Structure

Week 4: Modeling Structure/Props

Week 5: Modeling Structure/Props

Week 6: Modeling Environment/Trees

Week 7: Modeling Environment/Trees

Week 8: Modeling Environment/Trees

Week 9: Texturing

Week 10: Texturing

Week 11: Texturing

Week 12: Rendering/Small animation touches

Week 13: Rendering/ small final touches

Week 14: Rendering