Two crazy weeks

Over the last two weeks the Uni set up this intensive study system where the year group would be mixed up and one week would be dedicated to our 3D game production module and the next towards our 2D visual studies module. We would have a project to do in the 5 days which gave us the opportunity to prove that we can work hard and also a chance to revisit skills previously learnt and apply them. The good thing about this was that it again showed how much I was improving in my studies but also it showed how my work ethic had changed and is improving. During sixth form I became quite lazy but now I'm working everyday on my studies and when I have free time I'm practising drawing, digital painting, 3D skills and animation.

The first week was dedicated to 3D and we were tasked with making a street scene in 3DS Max 2013. We had to create diffuse, specular, and heightmaps (to make normal maps) from reference photos and apply them to every object in the scene. This was good because making all the objects like boxes, bins, bin bags, street signs and other objects that would occupy the scene I got lots of quick practice at making objects with good geometry as well as lots of practice with UVW unwrapping which was something I was struggling with but not any more.

One of the parts I enjoyed the most was making the little cluster of the bin surrounded by some binbags, boxes and dirt on the floor.

This is a picture on my sketchfab page:
https://sketchfab.com/show/e3f1dc16606d4a59b015d664aae7e07a

 I also enjoyed making the fence with corrugated iron sheets and posts tied together with strings.

This is a picture on my sketchfab page:
https://sketchfab.com/show/818b6bf385cf4a4c9e1419360cfd5193

The 2nd week was dedicated towards designing a Vehicle from an average object. I chose a lamp, I then looked at the compound shapes that made up the lamp and experimented with silhouettes to see what shapes where made and if I could come up with ideas around what kind of vehicle I could make. In the end after 17 pages of these experiments I decided to develop it into some form of hot air balloon or dirigible airship. This involved researching how they actually work so off to the library I went.

In the end after lots of research and sketches I cam up with 3 different designs all of which were airships. The first was a dirigible that had a boat with fans attached to the bottom similar of early balloon designs. The second was a floating island and the third was a classic Zeppelin type airship with opposable fans.

I then developed my choice.

And here are my finals.

After this project I feel like the amount I've learnt is massive and I can still do more. If I were to do it again I think I would layout the pages in a more presentable way and also do more designs of the cockpit... How does it work? This means that say it was used in a film the prop designers would know what to build.