Portfolio Reflection

        This first semester e-Comm was definitely not what I expected. It was a lot tougher than I expected it to be. It wasn't the classes that were tough, it was the struggle of not having the correct resources to work outside of the classroom. All in all, it's been a very entertaining semester. Below are five of my favorite projects so far.

MultiPanel Scenery

       

       Animation was not always as advanced as it is today. During the beginnings of Walt Disney Studios, animations and moving scenery were created using multiple panels that all went together. They would get lined up and then a photo was taken, then each panel was moved a specific amount and the process was repeated. This is what I did, except it wasn't as complicated. I learned how to make scenes move as if you were driving by in a car. It was super simple, just time consuming. I began in Photoshop where I created each part as a layer. the ground layers were split into front, middle and back. Once everything was how I liked it, I moved it over to AfterEffects where animated it with keyframes. I picked this project for my portfolio because I love the way it turned out and it was a such a huge success for me. This will definently help with future animations by making it seem more realistic. I would change the speed that it moves because it seems a bit fast and I would spend longer on it. In the end, this, by far, is probably my favorite project.

Ice Cream Animation

   
        My IceCream animation was also very fun to make. I learned how to animate in Maya and other useful skills. I picked this project to showcase because it is one that makes me proud because I struggled and it turned out really well.  The part I had the hardest time with was the bump textures. They wouldn't turn out how I wanted them to. As you can see in the animation,  my texture rotate as the model rotates.  Animating in Maya will help me in the long run because it's easier than AfterEffects.  Next time I do a project like this, I will change the lighting so it's not so dark and the textures will not move. Nevertheless, I'm proud of this.
     

Goblet

This goblet was the easiest thing I've ever created in Maya. All it took was a lined profile and the revolve tool.  It's very helpful when creating circular objects that are the same all the way around because it starts out 2D and ends up in 3D. I've found it very useful, especially when making my pen.





Castle


Maya is a program used by animators everywhere, usually for 3D renderings. My castle (to the left) is my introduction project to this platform. The whole point of this simple venture is to familarize myself with Maya.

        To start out, we (my class and I) began by creating the towers on all four corners.  We made 2 cylinders and combined them using the difference and union tool to make a tower.  Then, we added turrets by using the Extrude tool. I took a creative license by adding a cone to the top. Command-D (duplicate) came in handy because it allowed me to do less work.

         The walls came next; they were much easier. They were just the cube tool. The turrets were made  the same way. The door opening was made with a cylinder and a cube, using the difference tool.

        This was very helpful in learning the beginnings of Maya. I learned how to create shapes and other different techniques.


Pen Model

 This pen was my final project for this semester. It was the hardest project I've had all year. The pen itself wasn't the hard part. This lid was a nightmare though. The clip gave me a lot of tears and stress. This is a great success for me because it looks a lot like the real thing. This as a way to showcase all I've learned this semester into one project. There isn't a lot I would change because i believe, for my skill level, that it turned out very very well.