From learning about inverse kinematics and being given a set robot arm to build (which mine got deleted), I have set about creating my own design. I have added a glass texture to this and a theme for the characteristics for robot arm to have. I have decided to give it female style attributes and characteristics as well as the good versus evil theme. I have used the glass texture on the arms as I want to give it a sophisticated look and feel. This is how far I have gone as to creating my robotic arm. I have also storyboarded and designed it which I will scan in and load later. In this part of the project, I have learnt Inverse Kinematics, Pivot Points, modelling and links/ hierarchies.
The use of triangles in animation isn’t good therefore I have used all polygons that have more than three edges. This means that the rendering and animations of the objects will be more sufficient.
I have added a circular spline and made it into a shape so that the rotations can be in all directions. A spline does not show in a render unless a modifier has been used in it which is useful to use. This makes the wrist pivot point more operative and I can link all of the finger movements and wrist controllers onto this. An IK Chain means that the movements of all of the parts of the arm can be linked and moved in unison with the correct angles. Once doing this, I did have trouble moving the translucent parts of the arms with the rest as they were not all one object even when linked therefore I had attached them all and given them all separate material values. This meant that it would still look the same but operate to a better standard.
To ensure that the elbow has the correct movements, I have used a dummy which allows it to move in the right direction when linked.
Next I had created an eyeball in the palm of the hand using the same sort of features of a realistic eyeball. It has a lens, pupil as a black hole and an iris. The lens I had made translucent which shows that bit of a glint in it.
I had then created the eyelids then used the morpher modifier to create different emotions and expressions which I incorporated into my animations to give it a bit of life. The Mesh Smooth modifier gave it a finished look.
Next I had imported my chess board and pieces then started the animation. I have the good vs evil theme in the pieces with the colours. When animating the chess pieces, I had to use a link constraint which I found difficult to use as it was confusing linking it to the world and the hand. After trying more than once, I had found that you have to do it in a certain order for it to work properly. When I wanted to link it to the world after the hand, it still did not do it properly as I had to use a keyframe for rotating before it had separated. This had made the positioning of my chess pieces inaccurate.
The curve editor was useful as it made the bounces of the rock and the chess pieces more accurate as you could simulate the curve to how an actual piece or rock would bounce or fall.
I had then applied textures to it which made the whole thing more realistic. A rock texture for the ground http://designm.ag/resources/free-stone-rock-textures/ and then the sky texture, I had added in After Effects in post production as it was easier to do and more practical. I had used my own sky image that I had taken myself. The light Omni Light has given the whole thing a focus point.
After watching the complete video, I felt that I could have improved the beginning establishing shot by making it slower; I could have used the camera in 3DS Max better and more smoothly. I could have slowed the whole animation down generally so it was easier to see what was happening. I could have used more camera angles and panning. I should have also rendered in Mental Ray so that the reflections on the chess table had shown.
I felt that my storyline to the video was good and the way I had edited it. I liked the use of my environment and the way I had animated the robot arms with the expressions and movements. The sound effects and music clip I had used proved to be effective. (www.soundbible.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqmWUNiD63M)
I had learnt a whole new range of techniques which I will be using in the future.
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