COSC3P98 Final Project by Alexander Alexandrov #2805067
Jan 7th, 2008





All models were created from scratch. Software used was Autodesk Maya 8.5. Rendering time for 850 frames was 1h30m, playback rate 24fps, playback time 35.4 seconds.
I have provided all binary Maya files (*.mb) on the CD, some sample videos as well as all image files rendered.
I have used various types of shapes, polygons and NURBS surfaces for the models. Also went through numerous tutorials and teaching videos to obtain the needed skills and be able to use Maya's features. One thing is for sure - this software does have a steep learning curve as stated in the project assignment and making a long and quality movie requires a lot of time and patience.
Rendering was also very time consuming. On my machine 35 seconds of movie were rendered in about and hour and a half. Using a dual core processor would probably cut that time in half. The point is that computation of that sort requires some good computing power and time.
For my topic I decided to do an animation of two cars. One of them is driven by a person coming back from work, leaving the office, driving home and parking in the garage.
The second car is driven by a person going to work. The two cars meet half way. The camera is following the first car from behind and at the point where the two cars drive by one another the camera turns and changes the viewing angle to look at the front of the car. When this car gets to its garage, the camera focuses on it. I tried to put as much realism as possible for the time I had to do the project. Notice in the beginning the green car stops at the sidewalk to yield to pedestrians and traffic on the main road. Then it turns and accelerates on its way. I inserted little interior lights in the garages to give the structure some realism. Sidewalks are textured with genuine gravel-stone texture from Maya's library. The cars' metal surfaces are texture using "PHONG" texture to give it some shine, where the road and buildings have "chalk-like" appearance. The cars have some subtle details like car seats (no driver or passengers mind you), dashboard and backseat, licence plate with my student ID on it, transparent windows, and glowing red tail lights.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Screenshots
The car model Car
Car Another Angle
Note the licence plate is my student number. A little touch I thought was original!!!! Licence plate
House and garage
The house and the one-car garage. Nothing sophisticated, but it works.
Each garage has its own interior light    :) Garage lightning
Office Building The office building
A model of a tree. Not sure what kind    :) Tree
Street Lamp Each lamp post has its own light and a nice light pattern on the ground. And also note the texture on the sidewalk


After compiling all 850 frames (850 image files respectively) I ran Maya's FCHECK utility to compile the images into a continuous movie clip. For reference the command I used was:
fcheck -n 1 30 1 anime.sgi.@
from the folder where all the image files are located.
Sample short movies
Click to view DRIVE-BY.avi Drive-By
Park Click to view park.avi
A low resolution panorama of the movie. Click to view full(LR).avi Full
 
To view the rendered complete .avi animation
Resolution 640x480 Resolution 320x240
Enjoy!
 
Many thanks to professor Brian Ross for his efforts to teach us something valuable and making this course one great experience!!!