3D Digital Literacy (Week 1)

Module Introduction

This is my first blog for the semester two of my first year in university and this semester our first class is on the topic of 3D Literacy. This from what I gathered is going to be on how we can learn to model and animate 3D objects within different software’s. This would be my first time using these software’s and creating anything 3D on a computer. My preferred method of animation is Stop Motion and that is also something that you would create and make a 3D model.I’m nervous to learn how to animate and create within Maya as animating on computers so far has proved difficult for me to learn and understand. I would rather hand draw my characters and layout and so far, enjoyed the 2D animations we have created within semester one, although I know that learning 3D animation will be a really useful skill set to learn and master for my future.

To begin our first lesson within 3D literacy we were learning the first of our software’s, Maya. We were given a quick step by step explanation of what the software Maya includes, what things we could do and create within it and what the multiple controls and options are within. Our tutor’s introduction to Maya was that it may seem quite overwhelming and hard to understand, at first, but that although there are a lot of buttons on Maya. They are all similar to the next and that you can do a lot with just a few sets of buttons.

To begin us off in setting up our page within Maya, we were instructed to always use the orange set of shapes and polygons and to also only watch tutorials that use these buttons within their video. Theses set of buttons will help us complete the tasks and creations which we wish to do and it’s just common to use the videos which appear more suited to what we are learning.

In our lesson we also learnt all the basic buttons that we would need, and the short cuts applied to these buttons. These steps are something I found very simple to understand and a great thing to learn. In order to keep them in my memory I jotted them down into my iPhone notes.

This list of shortcuts was really useful for me to learn and use when creating the in-class tasks we were set to do. I had learned and was able to remember to shortcuts for ‘move, rotate, scale’ and was sure that the rest of the buttons were to be just as helpful. So far the introduction of Maya is less overwhelming bit by bit and I’m eager to see what I can create.

Our first task within class was to create a bookcase, some books and to then duplicate these and place them inside the bookcase. We were able to follow the live tutorial of our tutor teaching us how to create the bookcase, so this made the process easier and I was able to follow along easily and create the bookcase. I was happy with what I created but was eager to see how I would do if I was set a task on my own, without the help with the teacher. The shelves and the frame were a simple process of extruding and multi cut and the only problem I had was that the bottom of my bookshelf must have been cut too much and created a black part to the shelf.

Command and then +D was the shortcut to duplicate the books for the bookshelf and I was easily able to make the books by again selecting a square, downsizing it and adding the final detailing with extruding and multi-cut. Creating my first 3D model on Maya was simple enough when the base of the model was two squares, however extruding and multi-cut seemed to work sometimes and then I would have complications that I have yet to learn how to fix.

In our 3D Literacy introduction, we were also introduced to a website called ‘Trello’ that our tutor will be using to present us our work and any assignments we have upcoming. This is a different website to what we usually use which is ‘Blackboard’ and so far, has a clear layout and easy to access sections. We were then told to use ‘Trello’ too gain access to the weekly tasks our tutor was going to give us, in order to develop our progress within Maya and to help us practice and remember what we would learn in class previously that day.

Our first two tasks were to create a vase, a barrel and that tutorials on how to achieve these tasks were available on Trello. I first attempted the vase and from the video my first impression was that the process to create to vase was simple enough and was a simple process of selected a flat circle and extruding upwards into the shape of a vase. I used the reference of a vase that I found online and my general memory and created the vase, however I did find a problem with being able to make the inside of the vase empty. I tried to follow the tutorial bit by bit and even researched further online tutorials, but was unable to understand how to successfully get the extruding to work, as extruding on the indexes and repeating the shape again which is the method I was shown, was not working.

The next task we had, was to create a barrel 3D model. The first step was to select the polygon cylinder and extrude the details of what a classic barrel would include. I was able to follow the tutorial on Trello and made a successful barrel. The only issue I had was that when I tried to extrude the edges around the side of the barrel and then smooth it out finish the barrel. Although I carried out the steps correctly or to which I thought, the extruding didn’t work the entire way around and the smoothing tool didn’t quite smooth out the model entirely.

With both of the 3D modelling task I was able to follow the tutorials effectively and had made my own versions of the models, I had come across some difficulties and wasn’t able to find a solution yet. I hope going further into the semester I hope to develop my skills within Maya and learn to answer to my problems.