Maya: Modelling

        After familiarising ourselves with Maya's work space and basic functions, the next step in this module was to learn some modelling skills. With a lot of help from a set of written instructions I was able to produce a digital model of a small wooden truck, using polygons which were then snapped together, beveled and extruded.

        At first, watching our tutor demonstrate how to construct the model (it took him just a few minutes), it seemed like a daunting task. However, approaching it step by step, one shape at a time made the impossible manageable.  

        I could really have done with a little more time to let these skills sink in before taking on any more information, but we were also introduced to hypershades, textures and lights. I found this onslaught of information quite overwhelming, and am not sure that I completely understand everything we were told. What is important though, is that I am aware that these functions and tools exist, and am free to further explore them later in the project. At the very least, I managed to colour and light my truck.

        To consolidate what we had learned in this session, we were tasked with creating another model, based on a simple object of our own choosing. I chose a wooden chair; an object with a number of clear components and no particularly complex shapes. Yet it also offered the opportunity to practice beveling edges and snapping polygons together.

        The modelling stage went quite seamlessly. The problems started once I started adding textures and lighting. For some unfathomable reason (despite ensuring I had turned on ray tracing shadows) there were no shadows or reflections in my rendered images, but when I returned to the scene later they suddenly appeared. Slightly less easy to fix was the lighting. We had been told that in order to make the lighting more natural it should be set to quadratic decay (so the light fades further away from the source), yet when I followed these instructions the lights went out entirely. It is small issues like this, with no logical solution which can be highly frustrating (and also why the lighting in my rendered images is a bit harsh).

        While these images are by no means perfect, as a first attempt and a confidence building exercise I am quite pleased with them. Hopefully. with the knowledge I have acquired during these two tasks, I will be able to go onto model more complex shapes and work on constructing more realistic scenes.