IN3D Project 1 - Part 1

Story

The story is about a drum pad which happened to roll down the tracks while the train is still on the move. A train travels from station to station. While the train was happily moving along, suddenly, the train was vibrating vigorously. The train could not stop on time although it was moving as fast as it could. Unfortunately, there were blocks blocking the way and the train crashed into the blocks and was hit by the drum pad.


Shape of Drum Pad

Amount and Type of Surface Details: 
- The center of the drum pad where we used to hit on, is a little bit rough.
- As for the rim surrounding the drum pad, its texture is smooth.
- There are also bumps at the bottom of the drum pad.

Number and Type of Primitive Parts:
- The drum pad is mostly made up of cylindrical shapes.
- At the bottom of it, there are rectangles and a hexagon.

Technical Aspects to be used:
- Extrusion: For the rim and the bottom part of the drum pad.
- Beveling: For the whole drum pad.
- Booleans > Difference: To create the hole for the ring and the screws.

Wire frame Sketches

Top View

Bottom View

Design of Original Drum Pad

Top View

Bottom View

Side View

Research - A Snare Drum which is similar to the Drum Pad

Side View

http://www.long-mcquade.com/products/2247/Drums/Acoustic/Pearl/Chad_Smith_Signature_Snare.htm

Bottom View

http://www.massmusic.net/category/Pearl-Philharmonic-Snare-Drums-2346

This is a snare drum which is similar to my final object in a certain way. It is cylindrical in shape just like the drum pad. The snare drum has screws that are extended at the side around the rim, while the drum pad also has screws surrounding the rim. One thing that is different about the drum pad and the snare drum is their parts at the bottom. The drum pad has 8 extruded lines, an extruded ring, a rubber surrounding it, and a hexagon-shaped screw, while the snare drum has a smooth surface with a metal chain in the middle.

Self-Critique - Final Model

Top View


Maya

Original

Side View

Bottom View


Maya

Original

Success of my Final Model:

Extrusion Method - My first conception was doing the extruded part for the bottom part of the drum pad and the rim at the top of the drum pad. I used to think that the extrusion method was needed. However, I did not use that extrusion method because I did not know how to select the vertices since the drum pad was a cylindrical shape. Therefore, I managed to use the rectangle polygon to make the extruded lines.

Beveling Method - I did bevel most of the parts of the drum pad such as the rim, the screws, and extruded lines at the bottom.

Booleans > Difference Method -  For the screws surrounding the rim and the hexagon screw, I used booleans > difference to create empty space in the middle of the polygon shape.

Errors Made:

With reference made from the original picture of the drum pad, as we can see there are a total of 8 screws from the top view, and there are 8 extruded lines at the bottom. However, in my final model, there are only 7 screws at the top of the drum pad, and 7 extruded lines at the bottom.

Another error is the smooth part of the drum pad which is those parts that are made of cylindrical polygons like the rubber at the bottom, the ring and the surface of the drum pad. They are meant to be smooth but somehow I do not know why it cannot be smoothen out when I select the edges. They just seem to be out of shape. I can still see the cylindrical polygons are not as smooth as the original.

Lastly, I was supposed to use the extrusion method for the extruded lines (at the bottom) and the rim (at the top) of the drum pad. I do not know how to extrude them because it was a cylindrical shape. When I select the faces that I want to extrude, the whole part of it will extrude instead of just extruding a single line. Therefore, I decided to use the polygon to create the extruded parts.

Week 4 E-learning

- Does multi-tasking give you a real or false sense of having accomplished something?

From my point of view, multi-tasking may or may not work for me to accomplish something. 

Advantage:

Whenever I have homework to do, I usually do what I can first. Then I will sign in to MSN to see if my friends are online so that I could ask them about anything if I'm having problems with any work. Usually, I will put my status as"busy", and then continue with my homework so that people know that I'm busy doing something and that I may not reply their online messages. This allows me to do my work without distractions.

Disadvantage:

If I have a project to do, or if there are lots of homework to be done, I cannot sign in to MSN because I cannot focus on what I am doing. It will take me a longer time to accomplish my work when most of the time I have been chatting online with my friends.

- Is learning 3D and design different from learning programming, or is all learning the same? Why?

Learning 3D and design compared with learning programming, I feel that they are not related. 3D and design is about designing objects by looking at them from a perspective point of view. It requires creativity and understanding of the objects' property - like how they should look like. For programming, it means that you are using technologies or software applications to make something work. It is often accomplished by using hard-coding. All learning may or may not be the same, depends on how individual apply the method used for their own learning.

                                                                                                                           

Thinking Outside the Traditional 3D Mindset

Extracts from “Thinking Outside the Traditional 3D Mindset“ by Pete Bandstra.

http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=class&session_id=7160

The access to education resources in today’s web driven world continues to grow with each passing day.

Today’s students are connected to each other through laptops and phones, social networks and other technologies to keep them up to date on what is believed to be important to their lives.

While in lecture, using a laptop to take notes, they will IM with someone in the room or across the country, watch a video, and play a game or check their facebook stats. By taking a short, survey of a class the students learned a great deal about the time they waste with non-productive events.

Although the debate continues on the topic of multitasking and if the distractions have any true benefit for students, research studies continue to prove that; listening to an iPod, text messaging, watching videos and doing homework at the same time does not work and the only benefit is a heightened sense of distraction.

Learning is actually a very complex operation for an individual.

- The article states that “Learning is actually a very complex operation for an individual”. Do you agree with this? Do you feel that you approach your learning in the best way – if yes, how, and if no, how can you change your work style?

Yes, I agree with the statement above. Teenagers nowadays tend to on their computers or laptops often because they feel that they can do their work better. Students like me have a couple of modules or subjects to take. Most of the subjects have their own difficulties in some way. If I do not understand what I am learning, I will not know how to start my homework or how I should study this subject. When someone asks me a question regarding any subjects, I do not know how to give them an answer. Sometimes, there is a need for us to go online to search for resources for our own learning.

I feel that I do not really approach my learning in the best way. I only study when exams are near. I should try to get used to the habit of revising whenever I have the free time rather than doing things at the last minute. Also, I could try to do some practice in order for me to experience what the problem is like.

                                                                                                                                  

The Chronicle of Higher Education

http://chronicle.com/article/Scholars-Turn-Their-Attention/63746/

The students for today’s industry have to have talent and the personality to fit in with the team. As a professional artist, communication is important and the ability to communicate well with other team members is an ongoing struggle. It is well noted that a business's success rides completely on communication and this area is no different. The ability to effectively write an email, give and take constructive criticism, articulate a solution to a problem, and in some situations talk with a client are foundational skills necessary for success.

- What are your thoughts about the last paragraph in the extract?

I feel that students do not necessarily have to have the talent and the personality to fit in with the team. As long as we do our work properly with much effort, people will respect us as what we are. We do not need to bother about what others might think of us. 

- Should your lecturers also focus on your work attitude, or just leave you to sink or swim on your own? Why?

Lecturers should focus on our work attitude without letting us to sink on our own. If they are not there to check on us, we probably would not do any work that is assigned to us. As for me, I sometimes prefer to get help from the lecturers rather than being stuck on a problem. This is because the lecturers know better than us as to what we are suppose to do.

IN3D Week 3 Lab 2

Track Modeling

Extruded Track

Ends of the track with beveling

Using Animation to bend/curve the track


Washboard Modeling

Creating the glass and extrude the faces for the ribs.

Beveling of the edges of the ribs.

Creating the top header, the top panel, and the stringers.

Creating the legs for the sides of the washboard.

Reflection

I found it quite fun to do both the track and the washboard. They were quite simple compared to the previous lab exercises. I managed to follow the instructions accordingly.

IN3D Week 3 Lab 1 Part 2

Bucket

With flaps at the sides

With holes for the screw

With screws to connect the handle

Final bucket with handle

Reflection

Although it was quite interesting to do this, I still find it tough. I was having problems with the handle part. I couldn't use the soft modification method because it didn't seem to work for me. And at the beginning, I couldn't get the shape of the bucket probably because I missed out a step or I did not quite understand the instructions. So I decided to ask my friend for help.

Wine Glass

Reflection

I know that we were supposed to design a vase, but some how mine became a wine glass. I don't know why it is like that. Any way, I still love the outcome of my wine glass. :D I changed the transparency settings to make it look a little bit more transparent so that it looks like a glass.

IN3D Week 2 Lab

Blocks Modeling

Train

Reflection for Blocks Modeling/Train

It is always the beginning part of modeling the shapes that I find it tough to do. I spent a very long time to model the blocks because I had to use the different techniques such as beveling, or changing the shapes into something else. I could not follow the instructions well, therefore I had to slowly find where are the tools to do the shapes in Maya. Eventually, when i managed to model the blocks, I applied similar techniques to model out a train. Thus, the train was easy for me to do.

Gear

Reflection for Gear

For this exercise, I find it quite fun to create the gear. I did not have as much problems doing it compared to the blocks modeling.

Cardboard Box

Reflection for Cardboard Box

I'm having problems doing the flaps of the box so I just did what I can. It was very tedious because I had a hard time following the instructions on Olive since it is a different version of Maya just like the rest of the exercises. I took a few hours just to get the box into this shape. I tried to bend the flaps to make the crumpled-effect but failed, because when i bend it, the flaps went out of shape. Perhaps I must have done something wrong in the previous step.

IN3D Week 1 Lab 2

Original Robot

Front View

Top View

Modified Robot - Name: KC

Front View

Side View

Description:
KC is a female robot. She is intelligent in such a way that she can invent her own things. One day, she was alone at home feeling bored and restless. Thinking of something to do, she decide to create a toy for her to play with. Despite the fact that the making of the toy may take a few hours to complete it, KC did not give up. She managed to slowly do it step by step, and after 6 hours later, she finally completed her new toy.

A sketch of a companion robot

Ocean Shader Animation

Reflection

I had a hard time doing the robot. At first, I could not get the hang of positioning all the parts together because I wasn't quite used to using the 4 different panels. I was also not sure about which polygon to use for different parts of the body such as the spring in the middle of the original primitive robot. But the more I did, I began to be familiarize with using Maya. As for the ocean, I find it quite interesting to do because I didn't know that we could use Maya to create a real life object, from a sketch to the real thing. 

IN3D Week 1 Lab 1

A Sketch of my Robot - Collection of Primitive Shapes

Suitcase - Using Maya

Reflection

This is my first time using Maya to create 3D objects. My first attempt in creating the suitcase was average. I was clueless as to how I should arrange the shapes together to form the suitcase. I did not really use the 4-panel layout to arrange them together so I just try to arrange them closely.

Discuss the following points:

• BLOG!

  Prisons are meant to be scary, powerful looking places, while Toontown is meant for fun and childlike enjoyment – how is this reflected in the lines and angles of the buildings?

• How does the sense of scale reflect the different purposes of the prisons and Toontown?

Prison 1

Prison 2

Toontown 1

Toontown 2

Images adapted from Olive - http://lms-iit.tp.edu.sg

For the prisons, simple lines and shapes are being used. Shapes like squares and rectangles are found everywhere around the prison because they have sharp distinct features which make the whole building look scary and powerful. The windows and doors are evenly spread out, allowing people to know that the place is something serious. Therefore, the scale of the prison is very big because it is meant for the prisoners to live in.

For the toontowns, geometrical shapes are commonly used. This is to make the place look funny and not scary. As for the spatial part, the shapes are closely arranged together in an unordered manner. This is because cartoons come from all sorts of shapes and sizes which is in an informal way. Finally, the scale of the toontowns is small and a bit squeezy as the purpose for this is to attract children who loves cartoons.