Planar & UV Mapping

The images below show the progression and development of my learning when UV Mapping a 3D scene. I have never UV Mapped before so this method is still quite basic. I have used a couple of online tutorials from digital tutors in order acquire a better understanding of the way UV Mapping works. This scene consists of a vinyl record player which will feature as one of the first establishing close up shots of my animation short.

UV Mapping is necessary as it is a method of creating a map for the textures, so that they can behave correctly on a 3D model.

The image above looks a lot better. The light levels seem more in keeping with the lighting of the apartment interior. I believe the desired mood of the shot has been achieved here.

Above is a finished composite. It is clear in this image that the textures are no longer stretched and look is believable and effective. I am very pleased with this. It looks realistic and the detail of the textures are clearly visible. I have applied a bump map to enhance the textures so that the details react to the light in the scene. This scene however may be a little too overexposed. This image may need to be darkened which I believe can be achieved using compositing techniques such as using multiply and overlay layers and altering the brightness and contrast.The addition of the incandescent plane really enhances the record grooves by interacting with the bump map. This is a composite both of the same scene with and without the incandescent plane, so that it was easier to remove the unwanted reflections. I then overlaid an occlusion pass over the top to introduce more depth to the image.

Here I have decreased the value of the bump intensity from 1.000 to 0.091. This looks much better. The grooves have been toned down and softened so they are a little more subtle. I do think however that an incandescent plane may help to enhance the bump.

The image above demonstrates how I was experimenting with the bump map. The bump map here has produced very deep chasms. The bump intensity was set to default. I shall have to decrease the amount because the detail here is far too pronounced, undesirably and distracting.

With smooth preview switched on this really does look great. I am very pleased with this. The mia material is providing a very nice chrome texture. I am not entirely sure about the incandescent plane however. It seems to be overexposing the shot and the bright reflection on the chrome arm and needle head is not something I want. I may have to render the same shot with and without the incandescent plane serving as the reflection so that using adobe after effects I can merge the footage together and deleting the area I do not want illuminated.

In this image I applied a mia_material with its presets set to chrome and a blend of 75%. I have seen that these mia textures/ shaders can be really useful and look very effective. The mia material has already enhanced the image here due to its realistic and believable reflections. At the moment the scene has not been switched to smooth preview. Smooth preview can be applied by enabling mental ray and then going to window> rendering editors>mental ray>approximation editor>subdivision>assign.

Above is where I used a highly reflective blinn for all the metallic components. As you can see this material was not suitable. It is too flat and the texture is too uniform.

Above is the bump map which will be applied to the texture below. I learnt that that decreasing saturation so that you end up with a black and white image works best with bump maps. I adjusted the contrast by increasing it even more so that the wood grain is more defined so that the texture will react to the light in the scene. The wood grain should produce some nice highlights to an otherwise flat texture. Bump Maps provide depth to a texture.

Above is a high resolution 1024 x 1024 texture I created using different wood texture images and merging them together using Photoshop. I sharpened the image and increased the contrast slightly so that the texture is enhanced thus giving more definition to the wood grain and the texture as a whole.

The image above shows the model and lighting setup. I made sure that anything behind the camera was not UVed as there is little point. Any parts of the model which was not visible within the resolution gate I deleted in order to decrease render time.

Once the basic method is complete I then planar mapped the record model so that I could project a record texture onto the faces that are facing upward.

Above is the vinyl record bump map. The contrast has been increased here so that the overall detail is slightly enhanced so that the bump map itself will have more definition.

Above is the vinyl record texture. This was a texture I made using various photographs of vinyl records on the internet.

Above is the UV editor which I used to complete the UV mapping process so that the textures look even better. This graph shows the layout of the UVs. This graph can be used to edit the size and look of the applied textures. The UV's must be edited within the top right of the graph.

I have applied a checkered texture to all the components as a temporary test in order to locate any texture stretches. In this image I had to make sure that the checkered texture was not stretched by using the scale tool in the UV editor so that the checkered pattern formed perfect squares. By this useful technique I can use this temporary texture as an indication to show me where the texture is stretching.

The render above is a low resolution test which demonstrates how the textures are behaving when the model is rendered.

The image above shows how I have applied a wood texture to the vinyl record player frame as well as a texture to the record model itself. This texture stretching is the result of not UV Mapping the model so the computer does not yet understand how I wish the textures to behave upon the surfaces.

Above is the vinyl record player with smooth preview turned on. This setting can be useful when rendering as it decreases render time due to the fact that it smoothes models using less polygons, edges and vertices.

Above is an image of the low resolution vinyl record player model.

Online Tutorials

I have decided to purchase a monthly subscription to an online tutorial website. It is called Digital Tutors. It covers many different techniques regarding a variety of software. It is a very useful and intuitive learning resource. It does cost a bit of money, however it is in my opinion worth it, because I have already learnt so much in a short amount of time. I have been focusing on learning lighting techniques using the 3D package Maya.

Advice & Pointers

David Bull came in today to provide advice, suggestions and additional story ideas to those who were directing their own animation shorts. He came to me and seemed very pleased with the progress I had made and thought that the idea I had was different and mature. He did say that my piece was ambitious as I have to get across the character's (Frank's) ordeal through acting and animation. His comments were both helpful and encouraging. He gave me a few suggestions in terms of shot and story ideas. He suggested that I begin and end with the exterior of the apartment block. The first shot can be used as an establishing shot and the final shot depicts a sudden flash from within the room along with a muffled gunshot, suggesting that Frank commits suicide. He also suggests that I have a shot of a photograph with Frank and Rachel as a couple to strengthen the link between them for the viewer's benefit so that their relationship is slightly more obvious.

New Story Changes & Shot Ideas

Endings: -

• In the final shot Frank opens the door to be confronted by Rachel, who has been waiting outside. (Or perhaps it is suggested that she dropped the contract through the letterbox).

• Frank meets Rachel who has been waiting for him at the train station.

• Exterior shot of building looking into Frank's apartment from a distance. A sudden flash from within and a muffled gunshot sound effect, implies that he shoots himself.

• In the final shot Frank takes one last puff of his cigar and instead of putting it out he lets it roll on the pavement, suggesting that he will let this contract slide. During the credits a gunshot is heard. (This is rather vague however to suggest that Frank shoots himself).

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The very first shot is an exterior shot of the apartment building. The camera focuses on Frank's illuminated room.

For the final shot a close up of a cigar that bounces and rolls on the pavement before coming to a halt.

To suggest that Frank was not always a gun for hire, I had the idea that there is a a framed photograph of him as a boxer. This suggests that during his younger years he was a successful young man with high hopes.

Additional shot ideas: -

The image above could be used as an establishing shot. It could serve as the first shot of the animation short. This image is an exterior shot looking into Frank's apartment through the windows.

This image is an idea I had for an additional shot to set the scene, this angle has a lovely composition and aesthetic look which I hope to include in the final cut. This shows the vinyl record player playing Air on the G string by Johann Sebastian Bach which Frank is listening to.

This music is supposed to indicate Frank's romantic and gentle side.

The image above is a shot I had in mind in order to strengthen Frank and Rachel's relationship for the viewer's benefit. It depicts Frank and Rachel on a holiday together.

This image is a shot idea I had suggesting that Frank was not always a hit-man, and that he was once during his younger years a successful boxer before gambling and drink found him.

This is another cut-away prop shot to set the scene. This image demonstrates his trouble with gambling and drink.

This image I have used as an exmaple for a shot I had in mind. I had the idea that we first see Frank's face when he leans into the light emitted from the overhead table lamp.

This is a shot idea I had for a close-up of the cigar that is discarded at the end of the film.

This image depicts an alternate ending idea where instead of Frank leaving his apartment, there is an exterior shot similar to the establishing shot. There is a sudden flash from within with a muffled gunshot, suggesting that Frank commits suicide.

Render Tests

The images below are test renders which I am most pleased with. Although these renders are by no means perfect, they depict what I intend the look of the final results to look like. These renders show my leaning progress and development.

Above I have added some secondary lighting to the scene. The blue light is created using a spot light with and area light attached to it so that the edges are softer and have a nicer drop off. This technique needs some tweaking as it is still not quite right and there is not a lot of opportunity for interesting light streaks to be created by the venetian blinds. On the other hand I do not want too much secondary light that it becomes distracting.

Above is a similar apartment layout, however the lighting technique is different and in my opinion far more effective. Instead of using the basic default area light, I went into the mental ray tab in the area light attributes and went to the use light shape option. I changed the area light from the basic default rectangle/ square shape and changed it to a spherical shape. That way the light behaves more like a light bulb and light is emitted outward in all directions. I gave this light some nice softer ray trace shadows so that the edges are not so harsh. I gave the light a little colour too, by adding a pale yellow tint. What I am most happy about however is the way the lamp shade looks now. It looks far more believable and looks as if it is being illuminated from within. To acquire this effect I included a very small percentage of transparency to the overall lambert applied to the lamp shade as well as a fair amount of translucence. This will enable the lambert to allow some light to penetrate the lamp shade model. I added an orange colour to the lambert material to achieve a similar look to the initial concept. To get smoother edges to the shadows I increased the shadow samples to a higher setting. Although it is not so obvious I did also apply a (mib shadow transparency shader) from the mental ray nodes under shadow shaders. This should allow the lamp shade to cast shadows that were not so black and corresponded to the colour of the lamp shade. I really like the lighting here as not all of the room is completely visible, however I feel that the room seems too illuminated. The intensity of the light itself may need to be reduced. I am particularly pleased about the mood that is portrayed within this render. I wanted the lighting to be quite dark yet warm in terms of colour and high in contrast between light and shadow. I do feel that the shadows need to be softened somewhat as they still seem to be consuming the scene too much. Perhaps this look may add to the sense of mystery and may provide a nice artistic look. The absence of light can in some cases make a shot more interesting and dramatic. Blade Runner is a good example of this in terms of the use of lighting in certain shots.

Above is a test render of the apartment room interior, so the settings were generally low. Thus the quality is not as good as it could be. All of the crucial furnishings are in place with simple blinn shaders applied to them. I wanted to get a rough idea of what the apartment interior would look like with colour textures and lighting. This test was a pleasant surprise. Although it is by no means perfect it provides me with a good idea of what the final result may look like. This render also gave me confidence that if done well the final result should look impressive. An occlusion pass I believe will make this render look even better because it will add depth and surface shadows to the surfaces within the apartment.

The most important issue at the moment with this render is the lighting. It is not quite right as the table shadow is far to harsh and distracting. This could probably be softened by adjusting the Accuracy and Point density in the Mental Ray settings tab. The suspended table lamp in this particular render in my opinion does not look good enough. I shall see if I can look at some digital tutor tutorials online which may help to get a better lighting setup. All in all however I am pleased because we have a representation so very early in production which demonstrates what I intend the final result to look like. The very essence of my animation short is depicted within this image.

The render above I thought turned out rather nicely. The lighting here is particularly effective. I really like the soft shadows that are created by the lamp shade upon the wall. There is also a very nice glow effect on the walls where they are closest to the light source. The lambert applied to the walls may be a little too red, but I do like the warmth of these colours in this image. Red could be used to symbolise that there is blood on his hands or that this warmth comes from Frank's love for Rachel.

Above is a simple light setup where I was experimenting with light fog to create a cone of light. This effect is a good way of suggesting a smokey atmosphere. It may not be essential to the final renders however it was a feature I wanted to learn more about as it had until recently eluded me as to how to use it effectively. I did not really understand how it worked. I have since discovered that in order to use this feature you must use depth map shadows instead of ray trace shadows.

I was pleased with this render. Adding colour to the lights really brought it to life. I was glad that the lighting here is starting to resemble the lighting in my concept illustration. I think the scene here is still too dark and needs an ambient light to introduce more light to the scene.

This was the first render I did using an area light as well as an incandesent lambert texture on a crude bulb model. As you can see it works a lot better. It still needs work but the mood is there. I was rendering in black and white so that I could focus on the lighting setup rather than worrying about colour for the time being.

In this render I used an incandescent lambert shader applied to a simple plane to serve as a light source. This method created nice reflection patterns. This is a very simple and effective method of creating an illusion of a light source without using regular lights. The glass effect was achieved by applying an Anisotropic Shader to the model.

Lighting Reference & Mood

The images below were found on the internet. They are a collection of lighting and colour examples which shall serve as useful reference.

Although these images do not depict the exact suspended lamp design that features in my film, these images do however have the components I wish to emulate in as far as lighting and mood.

I am focussing on the warm colours that are featured in these images such as yellows, oranges and reds. I am also looking for specific light gradient examples within the lamp shades and I am paying attention to potential texture examples. I am looking for a reasonably classic design.

An interesting lamp shade design. The variations in thickness in fabric create nice light patterns.
A good lighting example. The glow on the wall due to light proximity is very interesting.

The colours here are a perfect example of the type of lighting I am looking for.

I love the nice gradient of warm colours here. I want the lamp to be partially translucent, so that light can be seen within. This will give a nice glow to the scene. The fabric texture on the lamp shade is also very interesting. I wish to replicate the lighting, atmosphere/ mood within the photograph above.

Venetian Blinds

I want to try and create something like this for my own scene. I really like the streaks of light created by the venetian blind strips. It is a nice effect and I think it will add some realism to the scene.

Lighting Details

I love the light that is created by the lamp shade. The translucence of the lamp shade is causing a glow on the surfaces in close proximity to the light. I shall attempt to mimic this using area lights and translucence.

Lamp Shade Texture

Below are some new lamp fabric textures. I used two different textures that I found on CG textures and manipulated them in photoshop to create a new texture. I found that the previous texture was too simple and wasn't working that well when applied to the geometry.

New Lamp Shade Fabric Texture

New Lamp Shade Bump Map

This is a good example of an effective lamp shade texture. I took the original photograph and made some alterations using Photoshop. I used rough pastels to give the material a bit more of a rough texture and then I duplicated this layer and introduced some poster edges to add some interesting textures to mimic that of fabric. Hopefully this should be a very effective texture/ material shader when applied to the lamp shade 3D model.

For lighting research I decided to focus on looking at mainly film noir lighting and its typical techniques and methods of using a high contrast between light and dark, its long shadows and dimly lit and moody environments. After all my short animation is a thriller and concerns itself with a hit-man. Film Noir films in the 1950s were black and white and usually focussed on the crime thriller genre and hit-men did feature in these sort o films. I particularly chose to research film noir purely for its effective lighting which helped to convey a particularly gritty and mysterious moody atmosphere, which also managed to have a very artistic slant. Great abstract techniques can be used to achieve some very interesting lighting setups which can make the shot have more of an emotional impact. For example slits of light were used a lot to highlight the eyes of an actor or actress to achieve a dramatic shot to convey fear, shock or thought.

Film Noir "literally means "black film" or "dark film" which French critics named these new unusual but artistic American films. Film Noir generally utilizes strong directional lighting and deep shadows that initially derived from German expressionism in the 1920s.

I also looked at lighting used in Blade Runner (1982) as it is probably the best use of lighting I have every seen in a movie that is used as a tool to convey the period, emotion and mood. Despite that "Blade Runner" is set in the future and filmed in colour, it encompasses all of the classic elements of Film Noir in both plot and visual style. Ridley Scott did use "Citizen Kane" as a template for the look that he wanted in Blade Runner. Themes that link most Film Noir films together are moral ambiguity in plot and characters, a sense of pessimism and alienation.

What I hope to achieve is to replicate these examples and methods of lighting. I intend to use light to help to tell the story and convey emotion. My favourite genres are fantasy and science fiction, however with this project I wanted to do something different and more mature in content. This is why I have chosen to do a story about a hit-man in an awkward situation. I want the visuals in as far as composition, mood and lighting to be an homage to the Film Noir genre. I want to emulate a classical feel in a contemporary setting, and instead of black and white I shall use colour to convey the protagonist's morality, motivation and emotions to the audience.