Week 8

This is it, the week where I will be finishing my modelling. So far I have created the lake containing reflective effects while we can see the reflection of the cliffs and mountains. As I did not mention from the early process, I've added some trees to the field. I simply used from the American Elm from the AEC Extended panel.

Ok so I now have the background and all is needed is the Dredger. As researching of this particular machine. I was unable to find any information/ images regarding any details of how this machine works. But thanks to my teammate Daniel, he has provided a photo that he took of the image of the Dredger at the Museum.

This is the look of how I will model the Dredger.

Now modelling it. I started with both, size did not matter as I will be scaling it after modelling all its details. Segments of 10 was essential so that I can extrude the points to form the shape that I want it to be.

I modelled the top with some wheels as from the real image above. It was hard to tell how it looked like but I assume it spins in circles as this is part of the functionality.

It gets more complicated when you do not know certain parts are called and the fact that cannot see it clearly. The bottom of the dredger seems to have some kind of access which guessing it could be an open doorway. I've started by applying a box, then position it in the centre. Because we will be animating inside the dredger, I've used Boolean to make the open. A roof has also been applied as it shows in the photo.

For the texture, it was hard to say how the colour really looked like. Thinking back, it is set in the 1800's so the texture would be old and so I did a quick search for the materials of rusty metals and luckily I've found some that looks suitable for the dredger.

If I scale it to its right size, this is what it looks like.

I am feeling very pleased with the progress on this subject that because modelling the head was a disappointing result in the end but this group work is turning out to be fun and enjoyable although the lack of time we have to finish off the modelling process.

Nearly there. From the photo I can see smoke from the chimney. Now I have no knowledge in creating smoke but luckily going through tutorials, it wasn't as complicated as I thought. Now creating the smoke. I go to Geometry, selecting Particle Systems and then pick PCloud. The size does not matter as it is dealt in the panel. From the Particle Generation, Particle Quantity. I select Use Total and set as 100, it will display how many objects it will have.

Setting the Particle size: 20.0

Setting the Particle Type - Standard Particles to Sphere


At the moment the smoke will appear as sphere shapes but using the Material Editor we can fade it and add the smoke texture.

From Maps in the Material Editor, I go to Diffuse and select Noise. I set the Noise Parameters as follows:

size - 25.0

Fractal

Levels - 10.0


If I go back to default I can then open up the Opacity Map. Select Falloff.

I need to get the smoke colour correctly and so if I swap the Maps by clicking the arrow on the right end, it will swap maps. Then on the top map, it is empty. I select it and choose Noise. The parameters need to also be set correctly.

Turbulence: High - 0.3

Levels - 10.0

Size - 20.0

The final part creating smoke. I go back to Maps again, drag the Opacity Map down to Bump. It will copy the map and there a smoke texture is completed.








I am close to finish the modelling process, I now need buckets as this will be part of the animation. Very easy I simply use a box and then Boolean the centre.

By zooming in we can see how it looks.

Now the environment still seems small and in my opinion it doesn't look exactly like Switzerland and so by applying more models, I get a larger scale of the background.

By cloning the mountains, I can cover the spaces so we cannot see any water behind. Adding more landscape and trees it will create a larger scale of the environment. After Looking back at the real photo of the dredger I've noticed that the bottom underneath it looks like a boat? and seems to be floating above the sea.

I feel that modelling it is the priority of this task and also it will affect the marks if I don't get the similarity correct and although the boat looks complicated to see the details, I've simply used a box, then used vertex (use soft selection) to get the all four edges. With a small fragment using the Bend modifier, I can get a slight curve setting its x to a minus. For the texture, again it is hard to tell from the photo but noticed the colour is the same as the dredger and so I have used the same for mine.




This is the final completion of the Dredger based in Zurich of Switzerland.

Group


This weeks group meeting went very well. We've discussed what we will need to focus on for week 9 (the animation). We've checked the progress of everyone's individual modelling and we are all happy with the progress so far. I feel that the group is doing very well, keeping the targets up to scratch and hopefully the animation, the hardest part we would complete by week 10.