L5 14

Evaluation:
In conclusion I managed to achieve many of the goals I set out to do in the brief. I learned about working with the L-system in houdini which meant using maths to create geometry that looks like trees and in my research I also came across new ideas that I had not seen before, such as algorithmically generated walk patterns for spiders. I learned about fresnel equations which deals with the maths/values behind light reflecting and refracting, based on this I was able to produce a sphere in maya with a realistic metal reflection.

For the Pre production group work I also researched different woods, metals and dust. The breakdown and analysis I provided of these textures would be useful to me in the future when thinking about why it is that a metal surface looks reflective or dull and being able to recreate that look in software.

One area of major frustration when working with the software was a lack of help, small problems which could have been fixed within seconds had I been able to talk to someone more knowledgeable, took hours to figure out and solve, for example the lack of mental ray showing up as default in the plugins in Maya. Tutorials are hugely helpful but insanely frustrating when even a simple thing goes wrong, I feel this is/was the biggest obstacle to my progress in this area, as I wasted many hours on small problems which gets in the way of learning useful things.

I feel the research I have done in this project and everything I have learned has prepared me to go further with the understanding of the programming side and achieve more ambitious projects next year. I'm still learning about new things that can be done all the time, what I've been able to achieve so far has given me more confidence in the areas I want to focus in.

L5 13

Primary Research:
For the structure of the branches I took some photographs of different branch patterns as research.

L5 12

These were made in the animation software Houdini. Houdini has an interesting function that allows you to play around with different variables called L-system "allows definition of complex shapes through the use of iteration. They use a mathematical language in which an initial string of characters is matched against rules which are evaluated repeatedly, and the results are used to generate geometry. The result of each evaluation becomes the basis for the next iteration of geometry, giving the illusion of growth."

Since I am fairly new to using this software I did find getting used to the interface took some time, but the use of the l-system is great because you can easily make huge changes with the small addition of some code. Above are a few examples that came out when I was playing with the different variables, small changes could make very big differences. It will take my some more time before I learn how to properly control this as I found it hard to get exactly what I wanted.


I created a landscape of branches using the inbuilt tutorial in Houdini. Options for varying the size, spacing and rotation of the trees were very easy to use. Instead of having to vary the size of each tree individually and place them all randomly, one by one Houdini has inbuilt options that allows you to configure their a more random placement so that it resembles nature.

Below is an example of what can be done using the L-system in houdini that I found on youtube.
This is something I definitely want to explore and use more.

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These are examples I have found where knowledge of maths can be used in video games to extend the size of the world. I have found this very inspiring.




This is an early test in the minecraft game which shows the generation of new blocks




This video shows how big the spore galaxy is, with 1000s of different planets to explore, they haven't been individually made but are generated.


Ian elmes research:


http://www.ianemes.com/film/alexanders_horns/

"1976

This is about the perception of mathematics, and is an attempt to deal with the concepts of perpetual motion and alternate dimensions. The animation is a visual equivalent of a principle known as Alexander’s Horns, which is a theory of perpetually expanding inner space."

L5 10

L5 9

After wasting about 2 hours of time figuring out why maya didn't have mental ray in the rendering settings options list, I finally figured out it was because I'm not omniscient as the programmers of maya clearly expected me to be when they made the genius decision of disabling the mental ray plugin in the 2011 version and moving things around. Anyway, I eventually found out how to enable it in the plugins by going to Window>Setting/Preferences>Plug-in Manager and then tediously looking for the words mental ray in that list, again apparently I was expected to know "mr" amongst lots of other random letters actually stood for something.

Here are some of my attempts at achieving a realistic metal reflective surface using mental ray.
The first image was my first attempt, however the reflections in the sphere looked warped, to fix this I changed the mapping of the background from spherical to angular. For some reason this made the surface underneath the sphere turn white, who knows why, it's a mystery. Probably because I hadn't set the material of that surface correctly.

Finally I played with the lighting of the sphere to get something I am quite happy with, a realistic looking result.

Apart from all the waffle about irrelevant things and random movements of the mouse as if he was suffering withdrawal symptoms I found this tutorial quite helpful http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjnuPpNQkew&feature=related


For the background I used an image from the "light probe image gallery" on this website http://ict.debevec.org/~debevec/

L5 8

His animation contains a wine glass with reflections and I was asked to research fresnel equations with the intent of making the light and glass look more realistic. This part interests me the most because the science/mathematics behind things in the real world is incredibly useful for adding to the realism and content of virtual worlds and it partly ties in to the programming aspect I want to explore next year.

An explanation of Fresnel Equations:
The Fresnel equations describe the behaviour of light when moving between media of differing refractive indices. The reflection of light that the equations predict is known as Fresnel reflection.

Example of Fresnel reflections:






explanation:
Light moves at different speeds through different mediums, when light moves through 2 mediums that have different speeds of light (index of refraction is a measure of the speed of light through different mediums) both reflection and refraction can occur. To the right is a diagram of this. If you look through a pool of water and you put a ruler in, the direction of the light is refracted and it gives the impression that the ruler has bent.

Reflection            :                         Refraction:

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Dust and rendering with fresnel

 A few examples of dust on different surfaces, the dust appears to reflect a lot in the light and from certain angles appears as a thin film that coats surfaces, there is some variation in the size of the particles on the wooden floor, but on the smoother surfaces like glass the dust appears to be more uniform and smaller in size. When the light is not reflecting from the dust particles the surface generally looks more dull with the colour being less vibrant. Also dust is usually accompanies by finger smudges and marks on more reflective surfaces.

Below are a few examples of dust on different surfaces and objects to show examples of the appearance with clean parts to show the difference in colour and texture when the surface is clean. Depending on the thickness of the dust layer it will alter the colour of the surface more than just a thin layer.

L5 6

Metals - brass

Shiny brassy metals with smooth surfaces, high contrast with small bands of light in areas that give the impression of it being reflective and clean. This kind of texture could be used for the metal stands of lights and bar stools

older metals that have begun to rust or become dirtied by dust, textures useful for showing age.

Textured metal surfaces with smoother shiny metal

L5 5

I met up with a member of the L6 group who was working on a 3d animation in maya , the theme was dark, from what I gathered the animation is about a doomsday event in 2012 that is set in a bar. People are drinking and then you realize they are all dead when the camera pans to their faces and they are skeletons. I think the animation style is going for realism so I have been given the task of researching different textures.

We exchanged emails and I had the task of researching and analysing different materials that could be used as textures in his animation.

These include:

Woods

Metals - brass

reflections and realism of glass

rendering fresnel, how it can be achieved

talk about dust

Wooden Textures:

 These are the 3 examples of old and washed out wood I could find, these could be used to show age on something worn down, perhaps an old chair or an older part of the building. Notice that the first image has parts that have fallen away and splintered off that gives it a depth, this could work particularly well on the end of a piece of wood to add to the realism of the animation.

The grain of the wood stands out here and is easy to see. This is a more coarse texture that would probably be suitable for things like support beams o that are meant for carrying weight or outdoor tables that are able to handle the weather, rather than to look good.

These are more expensive smoother types of woods that would typically be used for tables and bar surfaces, things that people would be able to touch without getting a splinter.

Woods with richer more vibrant colours, I think the one on the right is more typical of being used for something like a barrel or crates that would hold something.

 

Examples of cheaper more disposable woods