First Session (30/9/2013)

• Started with a quick introduction to the new course and lecturer.
• Stash reminds us to email him whenever we are ill or can't make it in.
• Asked what we wanted to do in the future in which I responded with writing and voice acting.

Module's Main Assignment: 

• Went through the module's main assignment e.g. creating a 3D model character of ourselves. He advised us to to make it for a modern game as armor (especially from fantasy titles) is difficult to model. Modern clothing is also easier as you can take pictures of the materials/clothes you have and use them, thus having less to reference whilst showing initiative. 
• Asked if we were allowed to make ourselves stylised, which we are. However, we still need to be somewhat humanoid.  
• Was advised how to take correct pictures of ourselves e.g. take a picture of the person as far away as you can and then zoom in on them, thus keeping the perspective. Also make sure to take pictures from multiple angles for a complete perspective. 
• Make sure to do the following during our creative process Design, Reference, Blueprint, Model, Unwrap UVW, Texturing - Diffuse, Specular, Bump (Normal), Alpha, Rig, Skin, Pose.  

He then reminded us how to use 3dsmax. Many of the things he showed us I already knew, such as how to animate spinning. However, he did show us how to do the following useful things.

First we were told to change the 'Units Setup' so as to make the measuring of the model realistic. This can be changed depending on the scale of the model your making, but for now we were told to select 'Metric' and choose 'Meters' instead of the 'Generic Units'.

We were then shown that if we right click any of the snapping tools at the top of the screen we can change how are snapping tools work.

By changing the 'Angle' we can also make it easier to rotate our objects more precisely and/or more quickly. Ten, in this case would be too big a jump and one, is far too small. Therefore, you should make it to the power of two for the most precise rotating. To do this go to the top of the screen and select 'Customize' and then 'Units Setup...'.

We were then asked to show him that we remembered how to create simple geometric shapes. Therefore I made the following four.

One incredibly useful technique, we were shown was how to move an object into the middle of the scene instead of struggling to get it all correct. To do this all you have to do is select one of your existing models and then by right clicking the arrows next to the X, Y, and Z axises set them back to the default 0 position.

By right clicking the 'Select and Move' at the top of the screen, when we have an object selected we are shown two boxes. 'Absolute: World' and 'Offset: World'. By putting in numbers in the X, Y and Z axises in the 'Absolute: World' box we change the position of the object. Whereas doing the same in the 'Offset: World' box we can simple move the object a number of spaces in the selected direction.

When selecting an object you can use the 'Break' tool in order to separate polygons.
By right clicking the box next to the 'Weld' tool, when two of the separated polygons are selected we can then reconnect them by increasing the 'Weld Verticles' by dragging the arrow underneath it upwards. Make sure to then click the tick, otherwise it will not stay.

For 'homework' we have to plan to research some existing styles and designs for video game characters so as to decide which style we wish to go with when we recreate ourselves. And, since I prefer stylised characters to realistic ones, I have decided already to design myself in this way, especially since I feel this will be easier to do than a realistic one which I still struggle with.

We also have to create a simple wooden chair. We are to also reference any resources used and explain how we did it. Make sure it looks like a chair and not just a 3D model of a chair.