WK 9 - rendering techniques, cameras and lighting.

For my final lesson this week i learnt how to render out work, created in a suitable manner to gain the highest possible visual quality,  i learnt that there are three main points to consider when reaching this point of a task , these being the light set up ,the model surface, texture and finally the camera , which i learnt the next points how to create effective lighting and shadow rays which add realism to the objects. I learnt that there is generally a three light system , these being the main , fill and back light, through simple exercises shown i was able to ceate different shadows and pick up certain textures in an area set to do so, setting a frame to work with in an area, global illumination was used and mental rays to create reflections and other effects. This reference gives amore in depth reasoning behind the imaportance of setting a scene using good lighting techniques:
http://3dmodelblog.flatpyramid.com/labels/3d%20animation.html
This reference shows a clip were these techniques are used to create realistic lighting and rendering:

I used this reference as the landscape of paris shows a perfect example of the use of lighting and reflections

I found that these aspects of the tutorial were extremely useful to my own interests and relevant, as many professional practices use these techniques throughout there productions in windows , characters eyes and water etc. in which case it is a crucial factor to learn for future practices .
As regards to the success of my work for this, i found it was not successful as i had hoped as i would like to have the reflection on the floor more green and i could not do so after many attempts. I found it hard to navigate between all the different aspects when using illuminations and combining mental rays. Below is the example of work created in the tutorial:

To further develop my practices i would like to spend a great more deal of time using these effects as i can see how useful and effective they are in professional films shown . I want to learn those a lot more and also develop my knowledge in cameras areas were i would like to learn factors such as hand held camera effect and panning over objects and around them.
I plan to do this before my final soundscape project were i feel these effects would be effective and original in my own way if can possibly achieve this, or at least reach a standard were its basic. I hope to achieve this in the next week or two.

WK 8 -Creating joints and using paint weights.

For the tutorial this week i worked further on the hand that i created , and took this further into stages of animation were i created a relevant bone structure to allow it to perform like a usual hand,then learnt to combine the skeleton with the skin texture material. once i had completed this when rotating joints the mesh would collapse so i then learnt how to use paint weights in order to maintain the construction to nature performance without bad features appearing when animating.

This is my inital image of my joint structure on hand needs to be change so that bones appear symmetrical.
now i shall review this and make nessacary changes immediatly, below shows the outcome of my final bone structure.

This screen shot is an improved version of my hand were the joints appear how they should according to my reference of the hand ,it appears a lot more realistic than my previous attempt, in order to animate and use paint weights so the mesh does not distort. i have attached the joints to the skin so now when the hand moves and appears in texture it shall look like a fully functioning C.G.I hand.

i used the reference below of the anatomy of the hand to structure my joints , i fell this was an accurate source to work from.

Looking at other work done by professional individuals i felt that this was another great aspect to learn as its slightly similar to the leg exercise which i did not feel i enjoyed that much this excited me more as it was all my work , and could possibly be why i did not feel my self enjoying the leg task as much. i felt this was relevant in all aspects as again it introduced me to more elements of maya.
Below is my animated hand using paint weights , a few tests were done and i am overall quite happy with the tests undertaken however the footage could not load via blog spot or you you tube.
below is an image of animation in progress using paint weights to reshape any deformed mesh:

Here i found a useful reference were hands were used in  a realistic C.G.I format. This is the trailer for ratatoullie, were a member of staff offers starters to customers and hands and food are in the shot at the start before showing other visuals:

Personally i feel this task was at a basic standard compared to external references i would have liked to perform more tests and added paint weights more effectively i did however give it my best efforts.
Areas in which i would like to develop further are as mentioned aspects with more tests being performed and more effective use of the paint weights, i plan to address this as soon as possible as i would like to have completed it and be happy with the final product coming this far and actually getting tests uploaded.