Basic modelling

Before starting to make a 3D model using a 3D drawing package like Maya it is advised that you have an idea as to what you want to create. 2D drawn pictures of your idea, whether it is an object or character, should be drawn showing it from different angles such as the front, side and top elevations. With a lot of companies making 3D animation or games clay maquettes are made so they modeller can directly re-create the model on the computer. This method would probably make things a lot easier as you would be able to pick up the model and move it round to get a clear image of hoe it would move and what it would look like from every angle. It is important to have a clear concept and understanding of what you want to create before you start to model, it will make things a lot easier. Some of my favourite examples of this are the models of the characters and creatures in the film Avatar, the samples I found are from the official book of the artwork for the film. Models were made for the organic creatures in the film and not the mechanical objects; these generally were made straight from accurate drawings of the vehicles onto a 3D modelling package.

I made lots of concept sketches and a final design sheet of my door design before I started modelling in Maya. Maya is a very complicated program and not very user friendly and at the moment I am struggling to get my head round it, this is why I was happy I had a clear idea what I wanted to create before starting. This helped because I learned hoe to do things on Maya through encountering problems with making my door, I was filling in the gaps in my knowledge by figuring out how to makes certain things happen in Maya. I feel that I am now competent enough to be able to make something basic in Maya and understand what I am doing and the outcomes of the processes I make.

One of the things I found most useful was the slit camera angle. With most 3D packages you can split the screen into four so you can see what you are working on. It is helpful because you can see any change you make from all angles of the object, if you are trying to position something from one angle it might look like it is in the right place but from a different angle it could be way off. Using the tool make navigating around a 3D space a lot easier and helps you be more accurate in your model building.

By holding down the space bar a shortcut menu appears, which saves a lot of time and makes it easier to find the option or tool that you are looking for.

Designing my door

After being set the task of designing a concept for a door that would eventually be made in Maya, I set about searching around for different designs of door. I wanted to do a somewhat natural looking door, so I started looking a wooden designs, and natural materials like stone and metals. The first thing i started looking at large heavy wooden doors, like ones in the medieval period. They were all made up of large rough stone arches with thick wooden doors with large iron bolts and nails keeping them together. large metal handles and knockers were pretty standard for these types of doors. 

After looking at old rustic looking doors i moved on to more refined designs, like the large beautiful arches of gothic architecture. Unlike the crude stone arches of the medieval doors these doors are much more elaborate sporting intricately carved arches and wood for the door itself. Usually swirling and flowery designs these doors are usually part of buildings such as churches and cathedrals. in the end i decided that i was taking on way too much if i wanted to do a door like this, the amount of detail i would need to design for the textures would be hard to do.

 






I liked the idea of trying to make textures for a rustic looking wooden door and i like fantasy themed things. i looked for fantasy influenced doors and a lot of small wooden rounded doors that are attached trees. I found that these where called fairy doors and they were seen to be doors that woodland spirits and sprites live in. I looked at a lot of different designs for these and decided that i wanted to create a door influenced by them. 

I found many different examples of these doors and i wanted to include different elements from some of the examples i found. I particularly liked the rounded doors, it looks like a whole has just been    dug out from the tree and then a tiny little door put in front.

My first drawings were mainly expressing what I had originally found, I used pen to draw them as I could get a nice representation of texture with it, texturing will be quite an important part of my design as it is predominantly wood.

My final design was a combination of what I had already done in my previous drawings, I drew up a final orthographic view of the door to work from when making it in Maya, and also a coloured version to show how I want to texture and colour it when it comes to that point.