Ident 1: First Draft

This is the first "Complete" version of my first ident. It is set in a science "lab" where a basic but carefully constructed Rube Goldberg machine has been set up in order to turn on a laptop which then displays the BBC4 logo.

All modelling is original and the physics objects were set up from scratch, but textures are adapted from found images. The lighting uses the Radiosity plugin and Daylight (IES Sun & Sky) features built into 3D Studio Max- the tutorial I followed can be found here. This was my first time using these features. Rendering time for this 320x240 @ 30fps video was 15 minutes (I will render in PAL or HD resolution for the final copy). The music is "Lukis Covert Op" from PS2 game The Bouncer.

Further improvements to the video I am considering are tidying up the wires and power switch, making the wire going into the laptop more obvious, and adding some supports for the aluminium slopes. I may also make 100% original textures.

Completed Physics

The physics for my first ident are "complete" (but still in need of refinement, for example the first slope is too sticky)- the scenery still needs building, texturing and tidying up and camera angles still have to be done. In the storyboard, the measuring cylinder another cylinder, which then hits the ON button for the TV. In the animation, I have changed this so the first cylinder flips to hit the ON button (the brown cube). The ON button will be connected to a TV which displays the BBC 4 logo when it turns on.

Ident 1 Beginnings

Above is the current stage of my first ident. It will eventually show a Rube Goldberg machine (a complex device designed for a simple purpose) which will turn on a computer screen showing the BBC 4 logo. To start with, I am building the environment and making sure the physics work then I will tidy up the models, add textures, lighting and create an interesting camera angle.

reactor Physics

Today in class we learnt how to use the reactor physics engine built into 3D Studio. It is based on the popular Havok physics engine so it is easy to use- simply add the reactor properties to the object then adjust the parameters to create the desired effect.

After learning how to use reactor by making a basic bowling lane, I tried something more sophisticated. The ball weighed 1kg and was a rigid body object, the soft body mattress weighed 6kg and the "brick wall" 350kg. The friction was low (0.1) on the ball and high (0.8,1.0) on the mattress and wall. The ball hits the mattress which deforms then bounces off the brick wall. To start the ball moving, I created an auto key sequence which accelerated the ball. The reactor sequence started halfway through the keyframes so it kept the momentum.

Although the settings are not accurate/"earth" numbers, they still look reasonably realistic apart from the gravity. This is because the scene is so huge that reactor's default gravity looks slow. To adjust this, I would change the scale (it is currently 1 unit = 39m) or turn the gravity up.

Favourite Idents

For my ident I hope to create something truly original which is visually interesting and represents the channel of my choice well. A couple of channels which have had unique imaginitive idents include:

Sumo.tv (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tb3qxDrsA0M)

And of course, the BBC Three blobs! (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1zccNjxOaEY&feature=related)

Semester 2: Animated Idents and Bouncing Teapots

For this module, the task is to create an 'ident' for a television channel. To produce this, we are learning basic animation techniques such as using auto and set key frames and gaining knowledge of the curve editor and dope sheet, which will enable me to fine tune my animation.

My first experiment with the curve editor and dope sheet was creating some bouncing Utah teapots. The boucing animation doesn't look that natural, but thanks to this exercise I now know the purpose of these functions and how to apply them in future.

Overall Evaluation

I am pleased with the images I created and feel much more confident using 3D Studio Max than I did before starting the module so I am well prepared to create more complex images and animations next semester. Throughout the creation of these images, I asked family members and colleagues for feedback on my images and their advice was behind most of the changes I made to my images to create the final product. I believe asking for advice and opinions throughout made my images much better as a result.