Midterm Video

Midterm Assessment

For my midterm I decided to work with a simple NURBs sphere with particles and some animation. I started off in the dynamics module and created particles (with the help of online sources) to act as the smoke produced when a missile is launched or in motion. Remembering and testing numbers to adjust the spread, speed, and formation of particles can be very tedious, but the process of learning some of the functions of certain attributes in the attribute editor was good to know. The tutorial also helped me in creating certain expressions for attributes and applying color to portions of the particles. It is something that I will have to keep referencing if I am ever going to learn Maya. I then crafted a simple missile through manipulating a NURBS sphere and then applied a surface color (Blinn) and incandescent color to it from the hypershade. After that I had a tough time figuring out how to attach the particles to the back of the missile as I did not emit the particles from an object initially. Turns out all i had to do was to parent the missile and the particles. Finally, I proceeded to move the missile and add key frames so that the missile would perform a somersault. As an aesthetic approach, I decided to have the missile rotate and lose force as if it were about to die and plummet to the ground.

I am pleased with the outcome of this project but I can honestly say that I do not remember much in regards to particles. I find particles fascinating and I would like to work with them again as well and learn more ways to modeling. I admit that it is intimidating the amount of time needed to fully understand portions of tools and options in such a huge program like Maya. But I will continue to practice Maya and hopefully learn to create a full project without any assistance from a guide.

Midterm "Missile"

Bouncing Ball Demo

Tutorial "Creature" Exercise