Fish Project
Overview
Our second project was to model and rig a fish and then animate it swimming. This project was intended to teach us how to rig a model and how to paint weights. The basic rigging of the fish was easy but painting all the weights so that the limbs moved correctly was difficult and rather tedious.
This project was extremely helpful because rigging and painting weights is vital to character animation and is needed to move and animate all 3D modeled characters.
The Plan
To start the process I brainstormed fish ideas and decided on one and then sketched it out (seen right). I also started looking for videos o fish swimming so that I could see the type of movement involved for when I began to animate.
The Model
To create my fish model I started with a rectangle and then moved around the actor points to create a rough shape of the fish. Next I cut my model in half so that I could work on only one side at a time and mirror it later. I then extruded out the fins and the tail. Next I created an eye socket and placed the eye into the socket by making a sphere. I then mirrored my fish over so that the two sides were identical. My next step was creating the bones (or rigging) of my fish and painting the weights so that everything moved and pulled right.
The Animation
To start animating my fish I created key frames on the fins and tail to make them move back and forth as the fish would swim. I then created a motion path that I would make the fish follow. Finally I parented the fish to a null (invisible object) and then made it follow the motion path.
Robot Model and Rig
Overview
The focus of my robot model project is to practice my rigging and weight painting for more complicated movement. This project will help me learn how to model with animation in mind and making the model rig friendly. The end goal is to create a walk cycle for the robot and learn more about animation in Maya through the use of rigging.
The Plan
I started by looking at many different models of robots that other people had done and finding a design I liked. I then used this idea to start making basic sketches (seen left) of what my robot was going to look like. I also started looking at what coloring I could put on the robot and how I was going to make the coloring. (pictured above) the original idea I found was for a very basic robot model but had the potential to have lots of character based upon the coloring. This was perfect because it would allow me to focus mainly on the walking and rigging and then coloring instead of spending a lot of time on the basic model.
Modeling
To start modeling my robot I put my reference images into Maya so that I could look off them while starting to model. I then began modeling my robot by using basic shapes and altering them slightly. I only modeled one arm, leg, and antennae because I could then mirror them over creating an identical copy on the other side. I then started to put in a basic skeleton for my robot (seen left) keeping in mind how I was going to want it to move.
Coloring
To begin coloring my robot I took screen shots of the two surfaces I was going to create colors for, the face and chest. I then took these screenshots into photoshop and began testing out colors. I settled on a brown base with blue for the accents and then a variety of grey for plating and screws. Next I started to layer shapes getting gradually lighter to create the illusion of depth on the eyes and chest. I finished by adding the plating and screws onto them giving it a robotic look. Finally I imported the images into Maya and used the uv editor to line up the coloring onto my model and then used the coloring tools in Maya for the simpler coloring in the rest of the model. 
