Tag: Perfect Holiday Destination Project

Having some prior knowledge on the process of rendering out an animation, I knew that due to all the lighting in my scene, my render would take some time. Therefore I bunkered down and make sure my project was done at least 2 days in advance, giving me the last two days to render out whatever camera animations I wanted.

UV mapping the buildings didn’t take too long, with me finding some images of night time office windows and using those as the template for most of the window textures in my scene. I also wanted to try and fill up the barren ground level, given I had devoted most of my time to modelling the buildings and neon signs. Going back to my padlet, I decided to include a vehicle, a few advertisement signs, as well as some trash cans. In hindsight, I would have liked to have added more to the ground level to make it more filled, but my scene was already taking very long to render due to all the lighting elements.

I experimented with a few different methods when it came to animating the camera moving, and eventually settled on two separate animations. One at a high level to show off the lighting, cables, and buildings, and another animation and ground level to show off the rest of the elements of the scene. Just got to render out the ground animation and I’ll be all finished.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project. It allowed me to get used to using Maya, whilst also creating things based on my own passions and enjoyments in life. I’m really happy with how my scene turned out and I think I am a lot more knowledgeable on how to use Maya…especially when lights are involved! (note: my project ended up having over 150 separate light sources 0_0)

I spent a couple days ironing out the exact designs I wanted for the buildings, whilst also looking at the scene to think of any other objects or changes I could add. I liked the idea of having balconies on the buildings on both sides, possibly with wires connected from the neon signs to specific points of the buildings or between other signs. Creating wiring was easy enough, utilising the extruding curve methods I had previously used to create more thin neon signs. As well as creating balconies and wires, I actually tightened the overall space of the scene, making the road thinner and the buildings closer. I think this gives the scene a more city-like vibe in line with the cyberpunk and asian designs I am basing my project on.

In my time working on the project, I have also appreciated the use of the ‘Create Polygon’ tool to help in the creation of certain elements of the scene. While modeling things from hand can be more efficient at times, the tool has heavily helped when it came to the creation of some of my signs. I have a newfound respect for how beneficial concept art can be when it comes to 3D modeling when partnered up with the ‘Create Polygon’ tool sometimes.

I had planned for my scene to have heavy overall lighting, and as such, I needed plenty of ideas for neon signs to create to fill up my scene. Most of the ideas I ended up using stemmed from video games, movies, and other forms of media I personally enjoyed. I had a bit of trouble porting my method of creating the signs to work using Arnold rendering. However, after some trial and error, I created a method utilizing the emission quality in Arnold materials, and mesh lights. Throughout the project, I plan to add more and more signs to the scene to create a vibrant lighting effect hopefully.

You can also see in the picture above that I began creating a more in-depth scene for the overall project, trying to replicate the same sort of vibe Khao San Road gives off whenever I visit there. For now, the buildings are plain compare to the more sophisticated one I worked on separately, but I plan on adding more elements to them, as well as give them specific UV textures for all the elements they have.

I have begun clear work on my models, having made the first few key models for my scene. A lot of my inspiration comes from Cyberpunk media and streets in Bangkok, and I am trying my best to recreate those sorts of aesthetics for my project.

What I have so far:

My idea is to have a street with buildings such as this lining on both sides. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made so far and am enjoying working with the lighting systems in Arnold now I have gotten them working for my neon lights.

Smaller blog post, but after some searching, I’ve found the resources I’m going to use to try and model the assets for my scene. I’ve divided the construction of assets up into the items that are crucial to my project, and those that are additions I can make to try and add to my scene more once the base outline is done.

Core Elements:

Buildings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEPjRN9eS-c or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzkvqGCB72M

Vehicles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeWdke9ZuZU or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbG8Dxz5jCI

Additional Elements:

Trash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYTljSGF1eo or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylzK6gxT1Aw&list=PLSUtzVs5X8USBxDzZYfekV5ufCFIAdtbp

Umbrella: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUaL_k5sNwo

Plastic chairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xhKfayFcdE

Cans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuiBsW2WqaA

I definitely have a lot to watch. I also have to find time to juggle learning these modeling processes, whilst also working on my other projects with the Unity dance video, as well as my work in the GCS.

So my first course of action was deciding what sort of environment I would consider perfect in regards to a holiday. Most people think of beaches, or cultural landmarks and such, while I have rather different views. Having spent a large chunk of my life in Thailand, I have come to adore the streets of Bangkok, and share lots of good memories in places like Khao San Road.

As a result, the environment I wish to craft is comparable to a Bangkok street, with neon signs, food stalls, litter, and rain. I can understand that this doesn’t exactly sound like the most enjoyable of places to be, but given my time growing up in similar places, I can’t help but want to express my love for the neon lit streets.

Currently, I am spending a lot of my free time creating bits of neon art, which I have also begun posting around the internet to a positive response. The technique to create neon signs I followed is linked here:

This technique has allowed me to create some decent models by tracing assets from media I enjoy, and I have also begun learning to draw in hopes to create my own original pieces of art to add to my galleries.

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So as such, I already have some decent assets to use as neon signs for my project. I do need to see about getting the renders to work using Arnold, as currently the Lambert materials I use only give the desired neon effect using the default Maya Software renders.

Once that’s done, I need to move on to creating more of the models I need for my scene, including stuff like buildings, non-neon signs, and food stalls. I have also been messing around with nParticle systems, and have been able to create a decent rain effect that I hope to apply to my final scene. I will need to do further research on how to render my scenes with the active rain effect, as currently each time I try, the rain effect is frozen and does not play.

All in all, I believe I am making good progress on this project, and am looking forward to seeing my final piece.