3d Modelling Planning/ Research

For the 3d Modelling assignment I'll be creating 5 game-ready assets using 3ds Max. When creating models in 3ds Max I shall be incorporating a variety of tools and techniques, such as creating different default base objects, converting them into an editable poly for modification, the spline tool, unwrapping, texturing and baking. In order to have my developed models be at a higher standard, I'll be using a variety of reference images for my work found online, as source material to develop from being able to visually see a base structure for my models. I will adding my own creative twists using artistic license while making my models, even when using a reference image, to also truly make the models my own.

Throughout the assignment I want to use various visual styles for my different models, in order to get a large range of variety throughout them, and also to push myself to trying new techniques with each model and learn more as a person. This is so I can find a style that I feel comfortable with, and to gage an interest at what technique may be more efficient than another, but another technique may produce more impressive results overall.

These are the five 3d models I will create for the assignment, each bringing something new to the scene in both visual style and dimensions:

-A cartoon bird
-An office locker/ chest of draws
-A sofa
-A treasure chest
-A top hat

I know for sure I will be using an editable poly on every single model I create beforehand, since that is, in my opinion, the most efficient way to model considering the tools that become available (editing vertices, edges and polys, while also being able to chamfer, inset, extrude, etc) and the various modifiers you can add on top of that can help you build on top of the foundations you started with the edit poly. As stated by the official (Autodesk Knowledge Desk, 2014) website, "The Edit Poly modifier provides explicit editing tools for different sub-object levels of the selected object. Edit Poly lets you animate sub-object transforms and parameter changes. In addition, because it's a modifier, you can retain the object creation parameters and change them later.".

PBR (Physics-Based Rendering) is one of the rendering 'tools' I will use for a couple of my models (specifically the treasure chest, with a tad of lighting/ glossiness to be added to the office locker being shiny and metal if I add glossiness to it adding a type of microsurface to the material). This theory can involve adding multiple texture maps onto it using the material editor, such as albedo, roughness, metallic, ambient occlusions. Such as with this ambient occlusion tutorial video below which explains how you render out the scene, and how it brings out shadows and detail in your model when combined with a skylight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTVBEXCJtc0

PBR works more as a concept or idea than directly being a tool, and a theory behind giving models more realistic lighting that is more similar to our real world as talked about by (Wilson, 2014).One of the ways you could do this is using a various other texture maps alongside your base texture, like a bump or displacement map, as explained by (Russel, 2014). These maps essentially add an extra layer of finish or polish, but while still being recoloured textures of the original texture map, but changed to show which areas should be physically amended more than others. So for example bump maps create the added illusion of depth and detail like gravel on a road, whereas displacement maps actually change the model's shape slightly to add more of an intricate shape. These texture maps when added onto a model can give it a much more realistic undertone, and good texture work can make or break a model when it comes to good design.When using these maps, taking the illusion into consideration is a good idea, as looking at some bump maps at a certain angle can make the extra detail actually look quite flat or fake under certain lighting conditions.

You can also add various lighting effects directly into 3ds Max, to in a way, simulate what a model may look like in an actual game engine. PBR is based off of rendering things similarly to the real world, so adding lighting into 3ds Max itself is a great way to gage just how 'realistic' your model looks under these conditions. There are various lighting tools which can be used right off the bat in 3ds Max. Namely the target lights, free lights and sky portals, each with a different purpose. Target lights can focus on one area in a specified direction, free lights light up an area in a more general direction while dimming out the natural pre-generated light in 3ds max and lastly sky portals are useful for huge scenes that cover a large area. This lighting can then be directly applied to a model's unwrapped UVW texture map if you already have separate 'template' textures applied in the slate material editor, and when using the render to texture dialogue box you can choose to render out a more complete map which includes all of the areas that are lit ready for editing in Photoshop. This is a much more streamlined process than editing the texture directly in Photoshop first, as 3ds Max can generate the lighting for you this way.