Lights, Camera, Action.

After combining the animated model with the environment, it was time to add lighting, cameras and to finally render the model. This was the final stage of work done in 3dsMax.
As the model is out in the open within the environment, it was essential that the correct style of lighting was chosen. This was a decision made by all of the group, and an omni light placed in the position of where the sun would usually be was placed.

The next stage was for me to create a camera motion path.
My idea was to creat a camera that moves around the entire environment, panning and zooming in and around the area, which would then allow for editing later on in Premiere to create the final video.
I initially decided on 500 frames of animation, partly due to the amount of time I was expecting the video to take and also because I felt that 500 frames would provide a reasonable amount of camera movements.
However, during the process of moving the camera into various positions, I was unhappy with the speed it moved between areas, and also felt I did not give the camera enough focus on the model itself. I therefore made a decision to increase the frame count to 1000.
The extra 500 frames provided a much better focus on the main parts of the machine, and it worked well, however I felt the need for a slightly longer focus on the top of the machine, so I added an extra 200 frames to allow for this.

After reviewing the camera several times, it was time to render.
Initially, on startup, the estimated time was 8 hours, however during the first few hours this time increased, and it finally settled on a prediction of 14 hours, though the final count was just shy of 13 hours.
Later on, it became apparent that we needed some more close up shots of the machine, and these short sections were rendered  in an hour, and lasted for 100 or so frames.
This completed the required 3d work in 3dsMax, and the footage was sent to another member of the group, where it was combined with narration, and cut into a more logical sequence.

The Animation

After drawing the storyboards it was time to animate the model.
The best process of animation would be to work in areas moving forward from the back - so this meant that I started with the wheel.
My initial plan to animate the wheel was to insert a series of key frames at different rotations. However this process brought about several problems. The first issue was that it was near on impossible to maintain an even rotation. This meant that between key frames the wheel would make it rotate at different speeds - for example between frames 1 and 15 it would rotate 12 degrees, whilst between 15 and 30 it would rotate 15 degrees.
The second major problem with this process was that Max would animate the wheels rotation by moving it in the quickest process. This made it impossible to use the standard keyframe process, and I had to seek an alternative.
The solution to this problem was to use the curve editor. This is a function of which I had no experience with. To use it, I simply create the first part of the animation that I wish to loop, in my case, I create a keyframe of the wheel rotated at 179 degrees. I then right click on the object and chose curve editor.

From the top panel of icons in the curve editor I chose the button named "Parameter Curve Out-Of-Range Types".
This then presented me with another panel asking me what out-of-range type I wanted. The best option for the wheel would be either Loop, or Relative Repeat.

Loop simply repeats my keyframes on a constant basis, whilst Relative Repeat allows for a repeating animation with incremental value.
For this part of the animation Relative Repeat is the best solution.
On choosing this option, visibly nothing appears in the timeline - however once I click play, I can now see the wheel spinning continuously.
The next part of the animation that I needed to animate was the central part.
This part involved a side to side motion with the central component lifting up and rotating during the process.
Before beginning the process of animating this central section, it was important the map out what rotation the component would be at in ech position, as to create a realistic motion.
I started by creating the side to side motion. This was achieved using the loop setting in the out-of-range setting in the curve editor, and three key-frames with the central section position left, centre and right.
The next part to animate was the rotating central component, and to animate this I started by creating keyframes changing the mechanisms rotations, and then I followed this by animating its surrounding components by creating several more keyframes with the component in different positions. Finally, I used the curve editors out-of-range loop setting to make this animation loop.
The final part of the animtion was to animate the front pulleys.
It was decided that this part was the most complex and it was decided to be animated with two members of the group. Whilst the actual animation setup was simple, litterally a case of creating a back and forward motion with a rotation, it involved a lot of components and also required perfect timing. Once again, the curve editor proved useful, and the loop sequence was used again to ensure repetitive motion.
This completed the animation stage, which took several hours, mainly due to the fact that it was essential to line everything up correctly as well as time everything right.
The next stage was for another group member to add textures, bump maps and to then place it into the environment. From there, it was up to me to create some camera angles and to render the final product.

Model Storyboard

For anything animated, a storyboard is the best way to plan how the animation will run. Below is the storyboard showing how the models animation will work:

Re-inventing the Wheel

The best strategy for creating our model was to start by splitting up the tasks into areas.
The four main areas of the model are: The Environment to surround the machine, the main frame and components, the casing of the machine, and the wheel at the rear of the machine.
I was given the task of creating the wheel. This is a fair load smaller than the other parts of the model (excluding the environment), so an agreement with the group was that I would take a little more than everyone else in the animation part of the model.
To create the wheel, I started by creating a circle. At this stage, I felt that it would be best to create the wheel as a solid cylinder and then to use pro Boolean to removed the inner features, such as the centre and the ridge around the edge. Below is an image illustrating how I will separate my workload.

To create the ridge, I then created another cylinder which I then placed on top and using pro Boolean, I subtracted this smaller cylinder from the large one.

I then started work on creating the triangular shapes to punch through the central section of the cylinder in order to make the gaps present in the wheel. This initially caused problems as the sides on the triangular shaped wholes of the wheel are not all straight – one side curves to follow the shape of the wheel. This caused me a major setback, as I was unable to use any default tool within 3dsmax, and it took many attempts with the Bezier tool to create a curve which matched the outer edge of the circles curvature.
I then positioned the shape on top of the cylinder and arranged them into a position where there were six triangular shapes.

However, it was at this stage that i realised the shapes were not in exact positions, and that there was no clear way for me to be able to align these shapes to make the wheel accurate – So I had to return to the drawing board and look at an alternative method.

My solution was to remove the centre of the wheel completely, and then to create the spokes using a hexagon for the centre and then rectangles as the spokes to the edge of the wheel. I created the shapes using the splines tool, and then I extruded them to create the shapes centre.

This process completed the wheel, and I added a simple colour scheme to it, which will stay until we add a material to it.