WEEK 10: Texturing & Shading 1: Intro to Viewport Canvas and Photoshop 3D paint

Did you know you could have been painting right in your 3DS Max viewport this whole time? Well.. with Viewport Canvas you can. Photoshop has similar capabilities we can experiment with as well. We'll take a crack at it and very quickly learn why --for now-- painting in the 3D viewport is still pretty laborious, but occasionally very useful.

Here are the intro videos we'll be using for this class:
"Using the Viewport Canvas" - video #44 in the Intro to 3DS Max series.

http://game.georgebrown.ca/~tdonovan/movies/ts1_viewPortCanvasIntro.mov
http://game.georgebrown.ca/~tdonovan/movies/ts1_viewPortCanvas2.mov
http://game.georgebrown.ca/~tdonovan/movies/ts1_viewPortCanvas3.mov
Click here to download the material files for this class.

If you want more practice at this you should check out the Digital Tutors lessons:
"Texturing Using the Viewport Canvas in 3DS Max" - a course in 10 lessons.
Autodesk's "Viewport Canvas toolset" is a good brief overview as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shEl4iMebxM

It's time for our last texturing assignment -- your own choice from your city models.

This assignment is worth 40% of your grade so it should be something pretty chunky - I'd recommend you set this up for your portfolio by making it a set piece -- you could group some props with ground and wall planes, maybe a fence with some grass growing up from some cracks, for example.  

City models – planning and organizing
"Mood Boards"
Start UV'ing city models to texture next week

Assignment 6: Final Assignment
Assigned: November 8th
Due: December 13th in class
% of Final Grade: 40%
File sizes should be either 512x512 for smaller props or 1024x1024 for larger ones.

Filenames:
tdonovan_ final_000.max

tdonovan_final_descriptor_diff_001.tga

tdonovan_final_descriptor_nrm_001.tga
tdonovan_final_descriptor_spec_001.tga

etc.

WEEK 10: Animation Direction 1 - Game Cycles -- #1 Treadmill Walks!

You're going to get lots of practice setting up game cycles: walks, runs, jumps, and idles, and finally, blending them seamlessly together.

First cycle on the agenda: Walks. It's time for a whole new level of picky: treadmills.  You are about to become very involved with your Graph Editor. If that scares you, it's time to learn to love this indispensable tool.

Walk Reference:
Treadmill Walk: Dude
"Endless Reference"'s You Tube channel (also see sidebar link -->)
Monster's Inc
Iron Giant

You need to pick a rig to use for all your cycles.
Here's a post about a whole bunch of license-free rigs.

Getting good at cycles requires patience and practice. You should try a few different ones so you get faster at setting them up. It's always better work from reference. Shooting your own reference can be invaluable so you understand the mechanics.

Your final cycles are all due near the end of term but we'll have lots of in-class time to work on them.

Assignment 4: Animation Cycles
Assigned: November 7th
Due: December 15th in class
% of Final Grade: 50%
Please keep file sizes under 2MB
Filenames:
tdonovan_ anim_000.ma

Please include your rig in the same file as the animation so I can reference it in.

Animation work-in-progress will be critiqued in class. The final blended animation sequence will be graded as one project. The sequence must contain at least 3 of the following cycles, blended together into one scene.
1.Walk
2.Run
3.Jump
4.Idle
For example, your sequence could be Walk-Run-Jump, or Idle-Walk-Run. You can have more cycles if you wish. Every cycle must include all of the Principles of Animation. The character should have believable weight, a clear personality, and move with fluidity and clarity. The cycles should blend together cleanly with all necessary weight shifts, anticipations and reactions added to the final file. 

Click here to download a bookmark-sized "12 Principles Desktop Cheat Sheet"

Good luck!

WEEK 10: Character Acting 1 -- Quadruped Study - Royal Winter Fair

Field Trip!!
Okay, that doesn't sound as fun as a Road Trip, but it's still pretty cool.

We'll be sketching 4-legged animals as part of our quadruped study. Sketching at the Royal is a long-standing tradition of animators and artists around the city (see attached!). It is very hard work but awesomely fun.
If you Google "sketching" and "Royal Winter Fair" you'll see a huge selection of intimidatingly beautiful work. Here are links to a couple of really good collections, one by a current Sheridan student and one by the rather well-known illustrator Bobby Chiu.

http://sprogisonline.blogspot.com/2009/11/royal-winter-fair.html
http://imaginismstudios.blogspot.com/2007/11/farm-animals-at-royal-winter-fair.html

If you can't afford to come with us, or you want more practice drawing live animals, I heartily recommend a sketching trip to Riverdale Farm -- a free model farm in the heart of Cabbage Town, open every day from 9-5.
Visit it now before The Fords chop it forever!
http://www.friendsofriverdalefarm.com/tips.htm

soon to be you!