New Skills Learnt

While doing this project I have learnt how to do a few new things to further help me when I am using 3Ds Max.

One of the main things I learnt and also fun things was the wave modifier that I used to make the water move in my Tilbury Fort Animation, this tool allowed a more realistic scene for the Thames.

I also found out while messing about with some tools and options there are pre made models that can be imported from the C:Drive of the University, even though these models are very useful I decided not to use any in my models as I felt that using pre-made models would remove some of the creativity of my project so decided againt this but would be very useful in the future.

Also using camras again for the second time was another challenge trying to find the right camra, the angles and speed to move at was always a challenge but an enjoyable one at that.

VUE Cinema Animation

For the Animation of VUE Cinema I used a Free Target camra.

Heres a quick render of my camra:-

VUE Cinema Final Render

Here is the final render of my VUE Cinema:-

VUE Cinema

For the next part of the scene for Lakeside I had to model VUE Cinema which is situated outside of the main Lakeside building, this was going to made as one render for my lakeside scene, but after importing it into my Lakeside model the computer began to struggle with both models, after a few minutes of trying to make them work together I decided to make a completely separate render.

To begin with the making of the VUE Cinema I started with a simple block and hollowed it out and cut the top and bottom, this would make up the wall's of my cinema were everything will be put inside.

For the material I used a simple white colour around the main building with a black strip around the bottom, I also applied a Dent modifier with the options "chip" and "Fractal" applied.

Here's a render of the outside wall:-

Also using the same design as I used on my Lakeside model made the entrance were my doors would be placed.












I then modeled the roof and floor for the cinema, for the roof and floor I made a simple plane and applied the same white material as the walls, for the floor I used another plane but applied a carpeted material found on the universities C:Drive.

Here it the renders of the roof and floor:-

Ceiling













Floor












For the next part of my model I created the sign's that are above the entrance of VUE Cinema, one being the large sign that has the iconic orange VUE on it and also some custom text I applied.

Here are the renders of the the signs:-





























Once this was done I had to add the glass doors onto the cinema, this was done in the same way as my Lakeside model by just adding some simple planes and applying the glass material to them both to create sliding doors.

Here's the render of the door's:-
















Once I was happy with the outside areas of my cinema it was time to start modeling the inside, this part of the model only took me a short while but also was one of the major reason for the amount of lag time in the model.

To begin with I started by modeling the chairs that I would put into the cinema, as I was trying to copy VUE Cinema I added there armchairs that are widely popular with all VUE cinema's, I added a simple brown colour to the chairs with a small bump map, but because of the size of the chairs the bump couldn't be seen unless a very close up render was made.

Once I was happy with the shape I turbo smoothed the model and copied it multiple times to create the cinema chairs which would fit on the cinema stairs.

Here are the renders of a single chair and the chairs copied:-















For the chairs to fit in the cinema I had to create the steps for the chairs, these were made from simple blocks and just copied multiple times while moving up a little bit each time, I then attached the vertices's to each other to make a solid shape, I then copied each section across to make the stands bigger length ways and attached them again.

I applied the same carpet material to the steps as I did to the floor as almost all VUE cinemas are carpeted.

Here's a render of my steps:-















I then had to make the stands for my steps, these were made from simple blocks, converted to editable poly and then using the vertex tool just morphed them into a nice shape, the stands that run the edge of the steps rise gently to copy the way the stairs rise.

Here's a render of the stand:-
















When I was happy with the main seating area I began to think about what I could put into my cinema screen, as again blogspot wouldn't allow videos to be uploaded I cant show you exactly what I did, but in short I created a short slide show in windows movie maker, converted it to a Avi. File and then imported it as a material into 3Ds max, I then was able to make the slide show work after a few hours of tinkering around with the options.

The slide show was composed of pictures my group had taken for references for our models and gave a nice addition to the final video.

I will add the pictures we used at the end of my blog.

For the last Addition to my cinema I thought the video was a bit boring and bland so I decided to add some posters to the wall as you enter the cinema of three films that are popular with everyone, I chose the poster for Avatar, The Hangover and Saw VI, these were simply done by adding another plane and applying each picture taken from the Internet and then UVW unwrapping the pictures to fit the plane.

Here is a render of the poster's:-
















For the final touch to my cinema render I added the pavement and sky to the scene, the pavement was made by adding another plane and applying a grey material with the dent map applied with default settings and just scaling the dent down, for the sky I used the same sky as I used for all my other models.

Here are the renders of the floor and sky:-

Lakeside animation

As said previously Blogspot would not allow a video to be posted up but here is the render of the camra used to create my final animation of Lakeside:-

Final Render

Once I was happy with all my modelling of Lakeside I could begin animating

Heres the final render with the same sky used on the Tiblury Fort model:-

Inside of Lakeside

Now I'm happy with the outside of my Lakeside model it was time to start thinking about this inside of the model, after a group discussion I decided that the best way to show lakeside was to have lines of shops on either side to show the diversity that lakeside can offer.

To begin with I started by creating the layout for my shop, this was done by creating a simple box and then extruding polygons back into the shape to create the entrance for shop, then taking a picture from google dropped the picture onto a plane via material editor and to show what the shop looks like inside.

Here's a render of the shops:-
















I then copied this layout to create more shops and taking different pictures from google I made a line of shops, I also researched what shops where on the bottom floor of Lakeside.















I then decided to make an information desk with a sign pointing to more shops and the VUE cinema, this was done by using the C-Ext model which create pre-made C shaped blocks, using two of these made up the desk and back of the info centre.

I then added the word INFORMATION onto the back of the Desk and added two i onto the glass back on the desk.

Below is a render of the info desk and the sign:-















I then made the exit sign for lakeside, this was done by using the same method as I did for the main entrance for the text LAKESIDE.

Below are the renders of the exit signs:-
















I also decided to create a small toy stand, the reason I did this, while on a visit to lakeside, outside the Disney shop there was a toy stand selling the little aliens from toy story, I decided to make the stand and the aliens with some spare time I had while waiting for a render to finish.

Below is the alien and toy stand created from basic shapes to get my desired model:-
















Finally I had to add the roof to lakeside, this was done by simply creating a plane and applying the same beige material used for the walls and placing it on top of the opening left by the walls for the roof, I then copied this 3 times to cove the entire roof.

I then copied and rotated each one and applied a white material the same for the walls inside of lakeside so the roof rendered on both sides without going see-through.

Heres a render of the roof:-