Problems/Conclusion

Having a lot of problems this week regarding rendering. I tried rendering a scene of the exterior using mental ray but it failed every time. I have no idea why this is happening and I have asked several tutors and students. The only reasonable explanation is that may maya is bugged which is not a major issue. However, this puts pressure on render time as each shot takes about a day to render. The render passes include the colour pass as well as the occlusion pass. Alex Hulse recommended that I export the images as OBJ's, however this didn't rectify the problem completely and it would have meant that I would have had to colour the scene again which wouldn't be possible.

With only one computer operational for render this severely hampers the amount of renders we can achieve in such a short amount of time. 

Chris and I were obviously concerned about this issue, however we improvised and made tough decisions that had to be made. We decided that we would have to submit the final clip without the interior renders which were also having problems rendering. This would mean that there would only be exterior shots of the building. I am disappointed that this has come about but cannot be helped due to technical difficulties.

Looking on the bright side we did have a few outstanding renders that were ready to be composited within after effects. We only needed a few more renders to complete a coherent sequence. Although this is a major issue I feel that we have made the right decision in the light of what has happened. The inclusion of some interior shots would have been beneficial.

However, I feel that we have achieved a vast amount working on this ambitious project. I have learnt techniques in all areas such as modeling, texturing and rendering which have all vastly improved the visual look of my work. I am very grateful for the tutors support as well as several students when working on this project. Although there have been a few technical set backs that could not have been foreseen, I feel that Chris and I have risen to the challenge in creating some awesome work. The project itself was a huge learning curve and I feel that it has armed me with new techniques and processes which should prove useful in future projects.

The project was architectural in orientation and I think it has benefitted my modeling and texturing skills. Doing this project was hugely important in terms of a career move. Understanding architectural drawings and knowing how a building works was vital in making the model of the site. I can use the techniques I have learned and apply them to areas outside animation and concept art and into architectural visualisation.

Storyboard

Chris and I both thought it was necessary to draw up some kind of storyboard that would help us when it came to editing the sequence of images. We wanted the images to relate to one another to  form a visual sequence that informed the client about the sites whereabouts as well as its features. We also needed to know where the cameras would be in each shot and the lighting needed to be right for different shots to truly emphasise the features of the exterior. The storyboard would save huge amounts of render time as we could say as much as we needed to about the building with a few well thought out shots. 

The storyboard itself clearly illustrates the light levels needed for each shot as well as camera angles and camera moves.

Modeling the interior

Using the plan images given to me by Husband and Carpenter I began to model the foundations of the interior using polygon primitives. I started by building a cub and subdividing it to the measurements of the room. I manipulated the vertices to create the exterior walls as well as the bathroom area.

I had some trouble at the beginning making the exterior walls. I think this was due to my lack of knowledge when extruding faces. For some reason when I extruded the faces it created geometry within the mesh which caused problems when I needed more subdivisions. I have an outdated version of maya, so this could have been the cause of the problem. I could only rectify the issue by deleting the internal geometry manually which was rather time consuming but necessary. 

I was pleased with the outcome as the shape was the right scale and matched the drawings perfectly. I now needed to start creating details within the model like the toilet, furniture and tiles. Chris concentrated his efforts on rendering the exterior scenes as well as making the bed, cabinets and bedside tables and the windows. Everything else was modeled by me.

I had a few problems when making the sink and bath tub as I did not know how to vreate organic geometry. I used the booleans tool to cut out sections that made up the recesses. I know realise that this causes problems in the geometry with illegal polygons which cause problems when rendering and texturing. 

Interior

Before we finished the bulk of the exterior, I started work on the interior. I knew that the site had had some interest from travelodge and did some research on what a typical travelodge bedroom would look like. The rooms themselves were neutral in colour with cream coloured walls and blue carpets and white bathrooms. Looking at the plan drawing I realised how small the rooms were. The structure of the bedrooms looked simple enough. For the most part the rooms were squares or rectangles with a bathroom attached. 

Here are a few 3d models that show the colour palette of the rooms.

Final Gather Colour Tests

Here are a few final gather tests that show what the scene will look like when it is lit by a physical sun and sky dynamic. Rendering the scene this way will give the scene a realistic light source highlighting key points on the building. By using the physical sun and sky technique we could recreate lighting that would be realistic enough to resemble the way in which the building would be lit in reality. 

Some of the renders were over exposed, however they could be adjusted in after effects using the brightness and contrast sliders. I was extremely happy with the result and I am very grateful to Fahran Younas who has helped us with the render settings to achieve these awsome images.

Looking at the images now I realize that the surfaces look bleached out and very few of the surfaces have little impact on the way in which the building is lit. The occlusion renders should affect the surfaces and bring definition to the entire piece.

Colour Pass

Once the occlusion renders were done and any discrepancies in the mesh ironed out Chris and I started work on tecturing the building using basic lamberts which combined with the occlusion renders would result in a realistic and accurate building. We had been using images to create the building. These were purely for measurement purposes and were not used for colour reference. We could not leave the building in a state of grey scale. This would not look attractive and would not look professional to an interested client. 

We needed some samples that would best represent the materials that would be used on the exterior panels which would make up the buildings unique and interesting colour palette. Acquiring the right samples took some time and we only received three samples instead of 4. In order to complete the texturing process we would need to create the fourth colour with careful guidance from the architectural company we were working for. Using some artistic initiative we created the colour needed to complete the interesting pattern on the exterior of the building. Looking at the textured model I was excited and overwhelmed with the outcome. The building was starting to take shape and the surrounding buildings gave the hotel a sense of space and scale. Although the modeling process, particularly concerning the production of the exterior took longer than expected the overall outcome was beginning to look like a building that would be a functional one.

I took it upon myself to texture the building once all the components had been modeled. I had the laborious task of combining all the parts that would be similar in colour. The main worry was the intricate panel work on the facades of the building. There were 4 colours that made up the colour scheme and they all needed to be the right tone. We only had three colour samples at this point. It was difficult to combine all the correct panels and colour them accordingly. I didn't want to colour panels in the wrong way as to avoid losing the pattern that had been carefully thought out. Sometimes I missed out panels, however these were very easy to spot when the majority of the building was coloured.

Although the colour pass did not look like much at this point I knew that the building would look more exciting with good lighting and the addition of an occlussion pass to pick out the detail.

Here are  a few renders showing the colour pass.

Occlusion

Here are a few occlusion renders that help in understanding the building as well as the surrounding area. The occlusion itself really helps iron out any discrepancies in the models geometry and the way in which light and shade interacts with the mesh. The way in which light interacts with the surfaces of the model will be key in determining the success of the building.

Lighting itself will be key in showing off the buildings assets as well as how it will react to a change in light levels.