Unit 66, 67 and 68 part one

Unit 66, 67 and 68 part one

Applications of 3D:

3D modelling has been in almost everything you see on a screen. Whether it watching a TV program or playing a video game. A very good example of uses of 3d modelling in a film would be the recreation of a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Terminator Genisys film. It took them 12 months to create the scenes (approx 30 mins of screen time) with modelled Arnold Schwarzenegger. However in games many of them use programs like Maya or 3D studio max to create their models and environments.  One of most useful things with programs like maya is that you can use it to plan the construction of a building or even completely remake it. In addition to creating static images you can also create animations for them which is useful for for making educational videos more interesting.

                                                     old vs young arnold is terminator genisys (google)
                                                                   



                                                Modelling

                    I have taken a few screenshots from World of Warcraft as a example of modelling in a game



These screenshots show one of my characters and is one of the of the many examples of modelling inside of a game. Normally on a game such as World of Warcraft each piece of Armour is individually modeled and then resized to fit your character's race. This would be because if you got a piece of armor on a smaller race such as a dwarf it'll have to be resized to fit a human. Aside from character models each building would of had to modeled as well.

This is a very large structure in world of Warcraft. (google)

Another example of modelling in a game would be making building whether it is as large structure like the one above or a small abandoned house. The building whether accessible or not would have a purpose, whether it is for scenery or if you have to interact with it in some way.  You'll have to model certain buildings to fit a specific zone. The building above is set in a very icy/ snowy area and the spikes along the walls and building are supposed to look intimidating and the purpose of them i believe is to warm you that the area is very dangerous (which it is). However below is a 2 images which equally fit the area they are in.

This is another dangerous area set in a desert (google)

 

This is another dangerous area set in a swamp the fog amplifies the feeling of  dirtiness it is what you's expect in a swamp                                                                                                         (google)




The areas in all games will have to vary otherwise players will lose interest in the game. In addition to this you have to chose where you place areas correctly. What i mean by this is that i would not be wise to have a snowy area right next to a desert area however having a tropical forest or a rocky area would suit being next to a desert like area. a good example of good placement of environments are the two images below us. Both of which are zones right next to each other.

A Tropical area which is located in the middle of 2 large desert zones. (like an oasis could be) (google)

One of the large desert areas which surround the tropical area. (google)








Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9EsvzcVZv4
This is a short video showing some very basic animations on world of warcraft such as movement (running and walking) swimming, basic combat and falling. (Each race in world of warcraft has unique animations i'm only showing one race)



The animations in a game brings out the life of a character or event and without them your character wouldn't look like it was moving. it'd just be a moving mesh.  Animations are also used for many other things such as in a environment. You could display a sandstorm or moving fog along with a vast array other options.

You can create in game cut scenes through animations using in game graphics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOmRJ-HD5x4
The uses of in game cinematic's could be used to create drama, fear, apprehension and sadness. 


Polygons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pz4DFnXS-4
This us a short video of me showing the polygons and messing around a little. (no sound)

The polygons in Maya are a Cube, Sphere, Ring, a flat square, square based pyramid, a tube (hollow) and a tube which isn't hollow.
There are two common ways to model. These are Box modelling and extrusion modelling.
Box modelling is using a basic polygon to create a rough copy of your final design.
Extrusion modelling is where you create a 2D shape which is the basic outline of your 3D object
When using software like Maya you'll be able to edit a existing shape to create almost anything and if you add more polygons to the existing shape you could turn something as simple as a cube into almost anything


Geometric theory
When creating something on Maya you need to have at least some knowledge on 3D shapes such as knowledge on vertices(a angled point on a shape) edges and faces(the part of the shape which is normally separated by a edge) ETC. In a program like Maya you would use primitive polygons. the ones in Maya are Cube, Sphere, Ring, a flat square, square based pyramid, a tube (hollow) and a tube which isn't hollow. There different meshes which could help you when modelling a object.


Constraints
Obviously the more complex structures you create and the larger they are the file size needed to store them is increased significantly increased. With the file size increased the time to render and when you add it to a game you may need a higher spec PC to use it properly. If you're using 3d studio max you're file will be stored as a 3ds file. whereas if you're using Maya they'll be saved as a mb file.
.
Displaying 3D Animation
Here is a example video of animating a object in Maya (this is not my own video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8fj52htMek

The API's are used for communicating with the graphics card and software the game you're playing uses. The two most well known API's are Directx and OpenGL. The differences between these would be that Directx is Microsoft developed which means it'd only be used on PC's with windows installed on it and the Xbox consoles. OpenGL may have uses on other games consoles and PC's which don't use Windows.
When the API communicates to the graphics card everything you see on screen is because of this.

This is the graphics pipeline which shows the process of  communication to the graphics card and bringing it onto your screen(microsoft website)


There are also many rendering engines (which are used to bring the images to your screen) and each one is better suited to some situations better than others. The v-ray render engine is better for high resolution images, backgrounds and environments whereas the Redshift engine (a very new engine) looks like it could potentially be used for gaming.
The two main rendering techniques are radiosity and ray tracing and each way is suited to different tasks. Radiosity involves a lot of work with lighting and reflections. Ray tracing is where you trace a line of light and then it simulates the shadows/ reflections with the object. 





Ray tracing (wikipedia)