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.